How It's Made... Schlag Style!

The first step in any product we make is finding the right Schlag! All Schlags are sourced from greater Minnesota. A variety of red oak, birch and other Minnesota native trees have been used in our products. The logs are hand cut by chainsaw to the specs that we require, which is at least 3 inches thick and 10-14 inches in diameter.

Once the Schlags are cut, they are all checked for quality. The ones that do not meet our standard are used for bonfires at our team meetings where we are dreaming up ways to grow the Schlag brand! The ones that are selected go through a drying process, called kiln drying, which removes all moisture and bacteria to ensure a pleasant playing experience.

As the logs are drying out, we don’t just sit around and play Minneschlagen, we build our boxes for our sets, which is also quite the process. It starts with cutting the boards to size and sanding. Once we have all 10 boards cut and sanded, the assembly begins. We use a standard nail gun and the strongest glue on the market so our boxes don’t break when Schlagers are “giving it their all!” (We still just encourage a tap of the nail. ;)) Once the box is fully assembled and engraved, we let it dry for 24 hours. When the glue is fully dried and we are confident the box can withstand the brute force of Schlagers, we then cut it in half. Yes, you heard that right. To ensure the grain lines match on all sides of the box, we cut it in half. Once in half (looking like the briefcase it is as a finished product) we sand down the edges, top, bottom and inside to ensure a smooth finish. The next step is the golden oak stain to give it a nice finished look! While all of this action is happening we’re also engraving the log to the design of your choice.

Now for the final touches, we add the hardware, including the liftoff handles for more convenient game play and the rope handles for ease of transport. We hand pack the instructions and other inserts along with the hammer and 100 nails. Then we seal the box and send it out to schlagers to enjoy for years!

On average, creating a Minneschlagen and Scharts set from start to finish takes 50 total hours. We take much pride in our product being handmade by Minnesotans and most components sourced in Minnesota (with the exception of the hammer, nails and liftoff handles).

There you have it, the making of a Schlag! Schlag On!