We make limited quantities of specialty sleds in our Silverton, Colorado workshop, including the following:

Elegant Flyer,Royal Flyer, Bambino Superior, Silverton Kicksled, Double Kicksled

Why aren't all of your sleds made in Silverton?

We've had real trouble recently getting the cooperation from the Town of Silverton that would allow us to continue making sleds here. Starting in October 2009, the local building official and town planner began pushing very hard to shut down our operations. 

For the moment, although the Town has tried to stop us, our sledmakers are still hand-crafting Silverton-made sleds, and our warehouse is stocked with the sleds we design here but have made for us overseas. 

Where are they made? 

Our imported Mountain Boy sleds, wagons, push carts and ornaments are designed in Colorado and made in Taizhou, China, by our good friend Mr. Yu and his crew 

In his small, family-run workshop, he makes sleds the same way we do - by hand, paying attention to the beauty of the wood, selecting the best materials, getting all the details right. He buys sustainably harvested birch logs, and has planks cut from them to just the right thickness.

 All the little pieces are used to make ornaments, and the sawdust is used to fire the wood-drying kiln, so there’s very little waste. In his shop, he carefully prepares all the materials: each plank is planed by hand, and each willow branch is peeled and sanded by his crew. When he assembles the sleds, he makes sure that all the parts match and have no flaws.

Mountain Boy sledmaker Brice Hoskin is fluent in Mandarin, and travels to China to inspect sleds several times a year. In our long relationship working with Mr. Yu, Brice has been able to closely monitor not just the quality of the product, but also working conditions and the way the workshop is run.

The 8 to 10 skilled craftsmen who work in Mr. Yu's shop have chosen his company because of its commitment to safe working conditions and dependable year-round employment. Mr. Yu provides housing for all of his workers and their families to ensure that both the work and living environments are as hospitable as possible. One of the most remarkable things we've noticed is that Mr. Yu's employee retention is incredible -- the craftsmen who started making sleds 7 years ago are the same ones making them today. 

Is there any lead in that paint? Definitely not.

All of our sleds are made with non-toxic finishes, and we have them regularly tested so we are sure that they are lead-free. We use wood dyes to bring out the color and figure of the wood, and then a clear lacquer or polyurethane on top. We put on four coats of lacquer or three coats of polyurethane to create a marine-grade finish. Please contact us if you'd like a copy of the test reports. At the same time, we have all of our products tested to make sure they meet child safety standards, and they do.