[brynnbee]

The claim he failed seems like hyperbole. He couldn't find an existing manufacturer for chainmail in the US but this is a fairly trivial and niche thing to create, and is more a reflection of how uncommon it is for people to need that specific type and size of chain mail than it is that the US is incapable of making it. The other part is from Costa Rica only bc he hasn't yet made the injection mold for it, like he did for the handle itself.

[probably_wrong]

I disagree with that conclusion: even if the chainmail were indeed very uncommon (no idea), getting it from China was so easy that he even got it when actively trying to avoid it. And since the chainmail is the revolutionary part of the idea (and the most expensive part) it might as well be the product.

He set out to get "100% made in the USA", settled for "no part made in China", and couldn't even get that. That definitely feels like a failure of the US manufacturing industry.

[Aurornis]

> That definitely feels like a failure of the US manufacturing industry.

The US manufacturing industry moved on to better paying, more stable contracts because they could.

They have no incentive to do niche things for small time YouTubers who won’t be generating repeat business.

Even the small machine shops I know now have more high paying work than they can handle. They’re just interested in doing some niche temporary work in a race to the bottom with another country that can pay workers a fraction as much and ignore all of the health and safety regulations.

[brynnbee]

An industrial jumpring making machine is currently on ebay for $2500. I don't think a problem that can be solved so cheaply can be classified as a failure of an industry.