Items Made In USA

A thread in the 'Complain' Forum got me thinking about this. It seems I frequently look at where items I purchase are made and am surprised at which items are made in the USA; sometimes it is really some "odd" stuff. I bought something recently(but can not recall what) that was made in the US. It was just a small inexpensive item, but it surprised me somewhat.

This post is just for whoever wishes to participate. If you buy something that you notice is made in the US(regardless of how big or small), just add it to the list. This is just somehing I am curious about.

I did order a wooden bed from LLBean earlier this month that was made in Maine. It is solid wood and very good quality.

Thanks in advance to anyone that wishes to participate.

Darian Rachal said:

A thread in the 'Complain' Forum got me thinking about this. It seems I frequently look at where items I purchase are made and am surprised at which items are made in the USA; sometimes it is really some "odd" stuff. I bought something recently(but can not recall what) that was made in the US. It was just a small inexpensive item, but it surprised me somewhat.

This post is just for whoever wishes to participate. If you buy something that you notice is made in the US(regardless of how big or small), just add it to the list. This is just somehing I am curious about.

I did order a wooden bed from LLBean earlier this month that was made in Maine. It is solid wood and very good quality.

Thanks in advance to anyone that wishes to participate.

Hi Darian:

It's tricky sometimes to decide. My favorite telescope and mount are 100% made in the USA in my view, but TEC buys the critical optical glass from Japan and Astro-Physics buys the critical motors from Switzerland. These products would still qualify as "Made in the USA" under anyones view I think.

I would not necessarily consider my TeleVue eyepieces to be "made in the USA" but all of the innovation and hopefully a lot of the profit end up in New York. Where do you draw the line between TEC and TeleVue? I like buying from both of these US companies.

One of my cars was made in Indiana and the other in Ohio, but they are Subaru and Accura vehicles! Are they "Made in USA?" I'm not sure.

A lot of my hobby stuff is marked as Made in the USA. My fly rod and reel for example, but I'm not sure if the component parts were actually fabricated here.

Other than really small craft or specialty items, it seems that everything has some "world economy" aspects to it.

Jim

Darian Rachal said:

A thread in the 'Complain' Forum got me thinking about this. It seems I frequently look at where items I purchase are made and am surprised at which items are made in the USA; sometimes it is really some "odd" stuff. I bought something recently(but can not recall what) that was made in the US. It was just a small inexpensive item, but it surprised me somewhat.

This post is just for whoever wishes to participate. If you buy something that you notice is made in the US(regardless of how big or small), just add it to the list. This is just somehing I am curious about.

I did order a wooden bed from LLBean earlier this month that was made in Maine. It is solid wood and very good quality.

Thanks in advance to anyone that wishes to participate.

This interests me as a very good friend of mine owns a company that produces cooled CCD cameras for photomicroscopy, and they are a leader in the field. They produce large boom-style microscope stands (for autopsies and other large subjects) and optics as well. Their products are made in the USA and are very high quality, very expensive, and are warrantied for pretty much forever. He said that his experience over the years is that if your product is made in the USA, is high quality, and you stand behind it then you are likely not going to be able to keep up with demand. No matter what the price is. That's a good lesson (I think Roland learned that lesson long ago, too).

Brian

I recently got some SAS (San Antonio Shoes) comfort shoes. They're made in USA. I also got some jeans from the All American Clothing Company. Tools are one thing that's easy to find. I always look at the labels and reject, if possible, the non US tools.

Andreas

This is a little OT, but I always get a kick out of reading ads for night vision goggles:

"Note! Export of this device described herein is strictly prohibited without a valid export license issued by the U.S. Department of State office of Defense Trade Controls, as prescribed in the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), Title 22, Code of Federal Regulation, Parts 120-130, and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce. For further information contact the Office of Defense Trade Control and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce."

I'm sure the Russians are dying to get their hands on such cutting edge technology, all hidden inside a $400 pair of goggles. Now available at your favorite retailer. FREE SHIPPING

Darian Rachal said:

A thread in the 'Complain' Forum got me thinking about this. It seems I frequently look at where items I purchase are made and am surprised at which items are made in the USA; sometimes it is really some "odd" stuff. I bought something recently(but can not recall what) that was made in the US. It was just a small inexpensive item, but it surprised me somewhat.

This post is just for whoever wishes to participate. If you buy something that you notice is made in the US(regardless of how big or small), just add it to the list. This is just somehing I am curious about.

I did order a wooden bed from LLBean earlier this month that was made in Maine. It is solid wood and very good quality.

Thanks in advance to anyone that wishes to participate.

The only things I can say that we routinely buy that's American made are the followinig:

1) Food. When I do the weekend grocery shopping for our family (wife and two daughters still with us), I make a big effort to buy US foodstuffs. I particularly like being able to buy Indian River Orange Juice. The Indian River area is about 150 south of where I was born and raised.

2) Running shoes. I always buy New Balance shoes since they seem to be more stable running shoes and come in extra wide sizes appropriate for my hooves. 8O I compromise between American made and cost by getting pairs that at least are "assembled in the U.S.)

3) House.

4) Vacations. We always take them in the U.S. and always will. Given that it's about three and a half million square miles, the U.S. will offer more than enough for us to see as long as we live.

That's about it. As for my astro-gear, except possibly for an older Celestron CG5 mount - 2003 bought here in 2003, my last two telescopes and all accessories have come from mainland China or elsewhere in the far east. I did have - one at a time - two American made reflectors - a Criterion RV6 around 1970 and a Sky Research Dobsonian reflector (dob) from California in 1980. But I've turned into a refracto-fanatic and my last two telescopes have been refractors. Being a family man and budget minded, I made the obvious compromise and settled for achromatic refractors (achros). The first in 2003 (arrived in early 2004) was a 4"F-sixish achro; last year I replaced it with a 5"F6.5 achro which is here to stay. In making these purchases, I looked a little to see if any American made or at least American assembled achros were available. But I already knew the answer - none except for the ones from DG. But having got used to a 4"F6.5 achro, I was looking for a 5" of F8 and the fastest one from D&G is F12, so that was that. My 5"-er is the Explore Scientific AR127.

At somepoint I'll want to get some kind of reflector to complement it. I'm leaning toward a Cassegrain type reflector like a Schmidt Cassegrain telescope (SCT) or Maksutov Cassegrain telescope (MCT). If an SCT, it'll be a Celestron or Meade, the one now making their SCTs in China, the other in Mexico. The thing that concerns me a little about getting one of them is where would I send it if something in it broke, especially a control component. The only MCT made in the US is from Astro-Physics and aside from the price, 12" is too large for me. So if it's a MCT, it'll be from Russia or China.

I am leaving the door to getting a Newtonian reflector - which most definitely would be a dob. This is the best chance for me to get an American made telescope. If I settle for something 8-10" I could find a nice American made dob for the cost of a similar size SCT and less than for a similar size MCT.....

Best Regards,

At the low end, I recently bought a Poof "Nerf" Ball at Walmart and that was made in U.S.A. While real "Nerf" balls are made in China and cost more. On the high end, I had a Flying Scot sailboat for many years and it was made in Maryland. When I bought it, I picked it up at the factory and got to see how it was made. It was a very cool experience and it was a great boat that served me well for many years.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7865870/sailboat_review_the_flying_scot.html?cat=15

Darian,

I tend to go out of my way to buy USA made products, not for my own rectitude but simply because I prefer US quality & craftsmanship and like to support domestic manufacturers and workers. Often this costs me more time (finding them) and money but I feel it's worth it. I only resort to foreign made products when they are clearly superior (like my wife's Bernina sewing machine) or there are no US made products of the kind available (like my MacBook).

Some USA made examples are:

- Hand and power tools; Craftsman, Snap-on, Channelock, Klein, Vaughan, Vise-Grip, Stanley (old), Corona, Rockwell, Delta, Baldor, Starrett, Lufkin, etc.

- All my firearms (except one); Smith & Wesson, Colt, Remington, Winchester, Marlin.

- Most all my flashlights; Mag-Lite, Sure-Fire, Streamlight, Pelican.

- My telescopes, mounts & eyepieces; TeleVue, Losmandy.

- All my astro equipment cases, brief case & travel suitcase; Pelican.

- My pick-up truck; Ford (most of it anyway).

- My lawn mower; Honda (made in Alpharetta, Georgia).

- My pocket knives; Case, Buck, Bench Made, Chris Reeve.

- Most all the appliances, furniture, dishes, pots/pans and silverware in my house are US made.

- Even the cup I'm drinking from right now is US made; Tervis Tumbler - a great product with a lifetime guarantee.

... and the list goes on.

Any more, I look at the country of origin on virtually everything I buy and take that into careful consideration before I plunk my money down.

I bought a surfboard last weekend. It's a Made in USA (San Diego) KG (Kane Garden) 9'3" longboard. I traded in my foreign made 8'4" Bic, plus cash, for it.

Andreas

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