What kind of company releases a wax called ‘Shithot’ and markets their goods as ”Products with a gimmick…THEY WORK.”?
An “All Australian and proud of it” brand of course. A brand called U Beaut. U Beaut is the extraordinary brainchild of a proudly ordinary Aussie bloke called Neil, who we’ll introduce later.
But first, in an industry increasingly dominated by the soulless big corporates, we thought we’d introduce you to a couple of back-shed family businesses bucking the trend…
You little beauty
U Beaut Polishes are a brand of Australian-made polishes and waxes born from and aimed at tough Aussie conditions, that are so effective they’rw now distributed as far and wide as Europe and the UK.
And okay, so while we admit that neither of two companies quite fit the backyard shed moniker anymore (although they did not that long ago) the point remains that there are manufacturers out there that don't pretend to be anything they're not, and don't get caught in any of the tripes of modern marketing - they simply rely on their quality to do the talking. There's something to be said for a website straight out of the 90's after all.
The fact that they’re so uniquely Australian in their ocker attitude has worked to founder Neil J. Ellis’ advantage – he’s not just the owner of a successful yet down-to-earth business that never forgets its roots, he’s also the founder and principle tutor at the Central Victorian School of Woodcrafts.
Woodworking runs through Neil’s veins, the inventor of Shellawax, Woodturners Wax Stick and Traditional Wax also moderates his own thread on Woodworking Australia’s woodwork forums.
But that’s not all – Neil also publishes the bible of polishing ‘A Polisher’s Handbook’ which it’s best to leave up to the man himself to describe:
“A Polishers Handbook is intended to give the reader a better understanding of finishes without bogging down with a lot of theory and irrelevant bulldust,” Neil’s stated.
“It gives the confidence to use fine finishes the reader may not have been able to master in the past, to introduce some new and exciting finishes and to give enough enthusiasm for the reader to not to only try them, but also have a go at experimenting with new styles.
“It has more jokes than ever, quotes, comics and words of wisdom – a very enjoyable to read on account of its overall casual tone, occasional touch of humour and short concise style.”
But somewhere within the waxing comics there’s still room in this expert’s arsenal for abrasives, stains, dyes, lacquer, polyurethane, oil and wax finishes, revivers, marbling, gilding and textured finishes with gesso and scumbling.
After all, while we may love him as a bloke, it’s his unbridled expertise that makes Timbecon a proud stocker of U Beaut’s unique and sensationally Aussie range.
But from our own backyard to the unforgiving planes of the Nevada desert, U Beaut aren’t the only proudly family-oriented business that’s keeping it real all the way to the bank.
Laps Around The Competition
Ezelap are getting so big they’ve had to up their shed into a little more of a warehouse, but there’s a reason why every store worth their mettle want to stock this nifty little brand - The EZE-LAP Range of Diamond Sharpeners will sharpen anything, from knives, plane blades, chisels, routers, secateurs or chainsaws.
Who would have thought diamonds could be a man’s best friend?
To their credit, Ezelap certainly don’t muck around – they’ll happily toot their own horn when it’s justified, because they only stick to what they know. As the company proudly explain:
“EZE-LAP has been a pioneer and originator of diamond sharpeners since the early 1970’s. Our unique diamond process and modern technology allows EZE-LAP to produce the finest quality diamond products for the lowest possible price.
“We boast about its quality. We are proud to offer the flattest, most consistent production diamond tools avalable on the market today. Even after years of satisfaction, EZE-LAP customers are still amazed at the quality and consistency of the finishes that are achieved by the diamond tools. This kind of quality is achieved by a product entirely made in the USA and we take pride in that!
“The unique process of heat treatment that bonds the highest quality industrial grade diamond particles in a stainless alloy to a precision matched metal substrate has been imitated but has never come close to being duplicated. The resulting suface integrity from the EZE-LAP process measures about 72 on the Rockwell C hardness scale.
“By utilizing our technology, EZE-LAP has created a surface that works on carbide, ceramic, tool steel, hardened materials and newer stainless steels that are utilized by most major knife manufacturers today.”