I just got back from a meeting of the north-suburban branch of Michigan Military Moms.
It was my honor to represent the Hobbit Hole, and speak to all those great moms (and dads). I packed up a big box of the “stuff” we do, and they politely sat through two hours of my dog-and-pony show.
It was also my privilege to meet one of the sons who received one of our knives. He said to say thanks to all the great folks here in the Hobbit Hole. He said he was “stuned” when he saw the knife.
If any of the MMMs visit here, let me say it was a thrill for me to attend your meeting, and we all admire the patriotism of you and your sons and daughters.
300WM
November 16th, 2005
Winmag is back in production and has knives to send (he describes the delays in his post below), but there is something of a backlog he is working through from all of the great troops that have requested knives.
It takes Winmag about a week when he gets a shipment of knives, to get them engraved, tuned and ready to ship. Mail transit time to Iraq has been running about 15 days… So those of you who are waiting, please be patient if you can 
They’re coming!
Which brings up something that has come up, if you are a soldier who is within a month of coming home, we might be better off shipping to your home address… We’ve had troubles of knives following troops all over the world on their way home, but always arriving too late.
August 25th, 2005
Thanks to everyone who has participated in our thread at Free Republic and have passed it along or sent donations. I hope our soldiers know how many people support their efforts!.
Free Republic Thread: Help us support our troops! [Knives for Soldiers]
August 8th, 2005
We have completed a redesign of both the mission of our project and the look of our site.
Mission update: We had to take a hard look at our mission because of the sheer volume of knife requests we’ve gotten of late. This little project that started out as a good idea from Winmag and a small group of friends who all pitch in, has grown to something very big, very fast. We’ve shipped over 700 knives to date, and more are on the way!
That our knives are being received and appreciated throughout our military bases both at home and in the desert makes us very proud indeed. 
But constraints as mundane as limited money have forced a couple changes. We will continue to try to send our basic folding pocketknife to any deployed soldier who requests one. But we can’t promise that any of the more expensive sheath knives will continue to be available. We hate to admit it, but “we were so successful we had to quit”. At $50–$100 per sheath knife, we simply can’t afford to continue to keep up with the demand we created. We know that winmag will continue to seek great deals on really neat tools our soldiers can use, but barring any windfalls in the form of $$$$ or donated knives from one of the companies we’re working with, we’ll have to go back to basics. Currently the standard Hobbit Hole folding knife is the Camillus 904S pictured below.
We are also beginning to actively seek donations from outside our little group. We have added a Donate link to the site and hope that all who read this site or know someone who has received one of our knives will consider donating. We are not an organized charity, we have no interest in seeking 501(c)3 status, we aren’t tax deductible, we are still just a group of friends with an idea, but we’re asking for help. How much help is helpful? Any amount is appreciated, but in terms of what it will buy, $25 will buy one Hobbit Hole pocketknife including the shipping to Iraq.
Site changes:
1. - A Donate link!
2. - Archiving of older support projects such as our comfort packages to Afghanistan and Iraq. They are still accessible through the links on the right sidebar.
3. - Addition of a Gallery for troops who have sent us pictures, with and without their knives.
4. - Addition of a Troop Email page to post the letters we’ve recieved from troops.
5. - Clarification of Who We Are & What We Do
July 29th, 2005
The Hobbit Hole has been mentioned on the baghdad band-aid blog by the recipient of one of our knives. Thanks, Chad!
July 29th, 2005
