Over the past five generations, this family’s style of craftsmanship has changed. But the quality has always been there, and always will be.
The Schiwerks Way
(1/28/2018) – First things first, thank you thank you thank you for being interested enough in our company to click on this. We’ve worked hard and come a long way, and along that way, every single person that’s “liked”, “shared”, bought, or commented on any one thing that we’ve done has meant more to us than you’ll ever realize. In today’s world of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc., you would think building a website and driving enough traffic to it to generate an income wouldn’t be all that hard. But I’ll tell ya right now, it has not been easy. It has been hard, it has been frustrating, and at times, even a little maddening. We’re not even close to achieving what we know we can, and without you, none of it is even possible. So, sincerely, thank you.
Now, to the reason I’m writing this. We want you to know who we are. What we stand for. Why we’re “different”.
If you’ve had any interest in us prior to this point, you’ve probably figured out that this company consists of Sam, the owner, and myself, Jesse. We’re a couple of brothers who are probably more alike than we’d like to be.
Growing up, we spent a lot of time in Dad’s wood shop. And he did the same with his dad. Four generations of this before us. Somehow, in a town of less than 400 people, he managed to make a living and provide for Mom and their four children. A woodworker. In a town of less than 400. And he made it work. Churning out some of the best damn woodworking you’ll ever see. Hell, his projects have even made the newspaper! It was a horse-drawn hearse, and it was frickin’ impressive. He’s the purest definition of a craftsman.
Sam and I, while we did “dabble” in wordworking a little bit, it just wasn’t for us. Out of high school, Sam went to college for collision repair and mechanics. Up until January 1, 2018 that has been his life.
I don’t know how much you know about automotive paint. But it can be a real pain in the ass. Now, we’ve both been doing it long enough where it just kind of comes naturally, it’s not really something we have to think about. Of course, there are still times when we’ll get our ass kicked by color-matching a white pearl tri-coat, but that’s a whole different story.
What we’ve developed an eye for throughout the years are tiny little imperfections. Imperfections that most people would never notice, or if they did notice, probably wouldn’t even care about. Not only did we develop an eye for these things, we both grew to REALLY hate having an imperfection in our paint. We both know we can create a perfect finish with relative ease. So why let that one little thing fly?
Body work and paint translates perfectly to what both of us do. For Sam, cerakote is just another day in the shop.
Myself, I was kind of a computer guy. I decided to go to college for Computer Aided Drafting. Sam was working in Kansas City, and I had just been accepted down there. A few hours after I graduated high school, I drove down there and moved in with him. That went….poorly, to say the least, and before I even started school, I moved back home and started working construction.
After about a year of that, we were on vacation, and I still had no idea what I was doing with my life. We were sitting on a dock at the Lake of the Ozarks, and my oldest brother said, “Well, why not do what Sam does?”
Yeah, why not? I’d had an interest in cars before, I had just never really thought of it. A couple months later, I was done working construction, and I’ve kind of been unintentionally following Sam’s footsteps ever since.
I’ve been doing collision work now for eight years. I loved it, for a long time. And I probably will for a long time to come. But at this point, I need a challenge. I need a change. I need something bigger, something that matters. I can’t speak for Sam, or why he chose to start Schiwerks. But I do know that he is passionate about what he does, and that neither of us will quit until we succeed.
At first, making holsters was just a nice change of pace from the monotony of beating out dents. A nice hobby. Then Sam asked if I’d like to sell them under Schiwerks. There’s the challenge. An even bigger challenge: helping him create a brand that can make a difference.
Although expert craftsmanship has been in our blood for five generations now, and we’ve both learned to be maybe a little bit over-critical of our work from our time as body-men, giving you a superb product isn’t our lone top priority.
We put everything we have into our products. Our time, our money, and on multiple occasions I’ve put quite a bit of blood into it, never cried though. Man stuff, ya know. And when we’re done putting in, we put out. Err….donate. Sorry.
We recognize that without our military, we wouldn’t be where we are, doing what we’re doing. We aim to give back to those who deserve it most. To support those who defend us. Who’ve literally given their everything.
We’re just a couple of freedom-loving brothers, and we’re just getting started. Just wait until you see what we can do.