The Modern Merc

The Modern Merc A sassy little modern Montana mercantile offering custom engraving

Modern Merc SaturdayIt’s been one of those Saturdays around the Merc where Jen and Dave have both been bouncing from one...
09/12/2026

Modern Merc Saturday

It’s been one of those Saturdays around the Merc where Jen and Dave have both been bouncing from one thing to the next. A couple orders have been packaged and shipped, Jen has been taking pictures of finished projects, and Dave has been working on some fun stickers for a friend, knocking out invoices, and figuring out what’s next.

After a late night finishing orders, Dave is dangerously close to having free time. And anyone who knows him knows that usually means he starts designing something we didn’t know we needed. He already has a couple new cribbage board ideas cooking, so there’s a pretty good chance the laser won’t stay quiet for long.

And as always, a huge thank you to everyone who continues to trust our little family business with your projects. Every order, every recommendation, every share, and every person who comes back with another crazy idea for us to make is what keeps this little hobby growing into something we never expected.

All in all, it’s been a pretty good weekend around the Merc. We might even do something really crazy and take a little time to relax.

Maybe.

As we all take a little time today to reflect on a day that obviously hits closer to home for some than others, we thoug...
09/12/2026

As we all take a little time today to reflect on a day that obviously hits closer to home for some than others, we thought we’d lighten the mood a little with a look back at Dave’s birthday celebration while he was out doing real-job things.

His team took a few minutes to make sure his birthday didn’t go unnoticed—and apparently decided pink was the only appropriate color. Between the boa, glasses, cake, and full “Birthday Princess” treatment, they definitely went all in.

And honestly, the pink didn’t seem to bother Dave one bit. When you’ve raised three daughters, it takes a whole lot more than a pink feather boa and some ridiculous glasses to shake you.

All joking aside, as you settle in tonight and get ready for the weekend, take a minute to reflect on where you were 25 years ago today, what changed for you, and remember those whose lives were forever changed that morning.

Some days are worth slowing down and remembering.

Friday means another chance to give a shout out to a local business that trusted The Modern Merc with their hats.Today i...
09/11/2026

Friday means another chance to give a shout out to a local business that trusted The Modern Merc with their hats.

Today it’s Bell Construction.

When someone trusts you to build something they’re going to be proud of, your name goes on that work. We feel the same way about what leaves our little shop.

Bell Construction came to us with a pretty good-sized hat order, and we were happy to make it happen.

Local businesses supporting local businesses is a big part of what keeps our little hobby growing.

Thanks to Bell Construction for trusting The Modern Merc with your hats!

Modern Merc UpdateWell, rumor has it Dave actually made it home Wednesday night.After a little downtime, it was back to ...
09/11/2026

Modern Merc Update

Well, rumor has it Dave actually made it home Wednesday night.

After a little downtime, it was back to the real job to dig out from under the emails, get gear cleaned up and put away, and generally figure out what happened while he was gone.

Then it was finally time to head out to the shop…where apparently every delivery driver in Montana had been stopping by while Dave was away.

Boxes. Leather. Hats. Supplies. More boxes. Apparently they missed us.

So the first part of the night was spent getting inventory caught up, sorting through projects, and figuring out which order on the growing list gets to be the lucky one that goes first.

Once we had some sort of organized chaos going, we finished cleaning up the last of a hat order and moved on to some custom leather coasters for Hydrometrics. We sure like how those are turning out.

We’re also going to start mixing in a few hats just for fun and putting them up for sale. We’ve got some pretty cool patches and plenty of Richardson hats on the shelf, including this 250 Years of America patch that we couldn’t resist putting on a red, white and blue hat. Sometimes you just have to make something because you think it’ll look cool.

Now it’s time to work our way through the order list over the next week or so, while sneaking in a few of these ready-to-buy hats along the way.

As projects get finished and head out the door, we’ll share pictures.

Good to be home. Good to be back in the shop. And apparently that whole idea of having some “free time” still isn’t working out.

Monday Update from the Modern MercWell, it sounds like this road trip is finally coming to an end and, if everything goe...
09/07/2026

Monday Update from the Modern Merc

Well, it sounds like this road trip is finally coming to an end and, if everything goes according to plan, Dave should be back home Thursday. It’s been another stretch away doing the real job, and while we’re never quite sure when that phone is going to ring or where it’s going to take him, it’ll definitely be good to get home and spend a little time back around the shop.

After taking a little time to get settled back in, there’s a pretty good chance the lights will come back on and things will start moving across the shop bench again.

And there’s definitely plenty waiting when he gets there. We’ve got a hat order to finish up, some bags to work on, maybe a cribbage board or two, and a pretty good-sized coaster order now that the supplies showed up while Dave was gone.

So yes… apparently taking a few days off from the shop doesn’t make the work disappear. Who knew?

The other big thing we’re hoping to get moving on is our new shop space. It’s been patiently waiting while everything else has kept us busy, and we’re ready to start making some progress toward getting the Modern Merc moved into its new home.

For now, Dave still has a few more days of the real job to take care of, and then hopefully it’s home Thursday, a little time to reset, and back to the smell of wood smoke from engraving, burning leather, pressing hats, and seeing what else ends up on the bench.

As always, we appreciate everyone who continues to support this little adventure and especially those patiently waiting on us while Dave is away. We’ll be back at it soon!

Saturday Update from The Modern MercWith Dave out in Eastern Montana doing the day-job thing over Labor Day weekend, we ...
09/05/2026

Saturday Update from The Modern Merc

With Dave out in Eastern Montana doing the day-job thing over Labor Day weekend, we wanted to take a minute to say THANK YOU.

We’ve highlighted a few of our local business customers lately, but there’s another group that deserves just as big of a shoutout — all of you.

The folks who have trusted us with cribbage boards, can koozies, custom signs, hats, gifts, badges, patches and a whole bunch of other things we probably never imagined making when this little adventure started.

That list has gotten a whole lot longer than we ever expected.

You’re the ones showing your projects to friends, sharing our posts, passing along our name and coming back with another idea for us to figure out. That word of mouth has probably done more to grow The Modern Merc than anything else we could have done ourselves.

We may not always get the chance to recognize every customer individually, but please know how much we appreciate every order and every person who trusts us to make something for them.

And while Dave is off doing his day-job thing, Jen is holding down the Merc — keeping an eye on orders, going through supplies as they show up and probably adding a few more things to Dave’s list for when he gets home.

Because apparently the best way to welcome Dave home is with a stack of orders and a laser that’s ready to go.

We wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thank you all for continuing to support this little business of ours. You’re the reason we get to keep doing it.

Thankful Friday — K & S MeatsToday’s shoutout goes to K & S Meats, another local small business that played a pretty big...
09/04/2026

Thankful Friday — K & S Meats

Today’s shoutout goes to K & S Meats, another local small business that played a pretty big part in where The Modern Merc is today.

They were actually the first ones to ask us if we could make hats.

“Just a few,” they said.

Dave’s response was pretty much, “Yeah…we can probably do that.”

So we did what we seem to do best around here—we started reading, researching, found a leather supplier, figured out how to make patches, bought a hat press and started experimenting. Before long, K & S had some new hats.

Then came the leather Koozies. Then cutting boards. And just like that, another whole side of what we do at The Merc started growing.

That’s really how a lot of this little business has happened. Someone comes to us with an idea, we say “we can probably do that,” and then we figure out how to make it happen.

We’re thankful K & S Meats took a chance on us early on and trusted us with their business. One local small business supporting another—that’s what this is all about.

Thank you, K & S Meats, for being part of The Modern Merc story!

Thursday Customer Spotlight — Bar Lazy KC BuildersFor this week’s Thursday Customer Spotlight, we want to recognize Bar ...
09/03/2026

Thursday Customer Spotlight — Bar Lazy KC Builders

For this week’s Thursday Customer Spotlight, we want to recognize Bar Lazy KC Builders and an order that ended up having a much bigger impact on The Modern Merc than we ever expected.

They originally came to us looking for custom hats as customer appreciation gifts for their customers. Along with the hats, we added custom leather can koozies, and before we knew it, we were working on what felt like our first really “big” order.

Looking back now, that order was a turning point for us.

It pushed us to do more with leather, experiment with different products, and really see what we could create. That little push into custom leather work has since created a huge surge in our business and completely expanded what we’re able to offer — from hat patches and koozies to leather stickers, bags, Velcro patches and plenty more.

Sometimes one customer and one order opens a door you didn’t even know was there.

A huge thank you to Bar Lazy KC Builders for trusting our little business with those customer gifts and helping ignite what has become such a big part of The Modern Merc.

We appreciate the support, the trust, and especially the opportunity to keep learning and growing.

Busy Wednesday night at the Merc!We had a rush order for some badges hit the desk—and by rush, we mean they needed to be...
09/03/2026

Busy Wednesday night at the Merc!

We had a rush order for some badges hit the desk—and by rush, we mean they needed to be ready today. So we dropped some wood in the laser and got to work. 144 badges later, we had them knocked out and ready to go.

Meanwhile, because apparently that wasn’t enough to keep us busy, we fired up the hat press and worked through a couple hat orders too.

It made for a busy, late night in the shop, but that’s the life of this little side business. Sometimes you shuffle the schedule, put your head down, and get it done.

Another good night at the Modern Merc, and as always, we appreciate everyone who continues to trust us with their orders—rush jobs and all!

Tuesday Customer RecognitionOne of the coolest parts about this little business we are building is the people we get to ...
09/02/2026

Tuesday Customer Recognition

One of the coolest parts about this little business we are building is the people we get to work with along the way, and today we want to recognize our friends at XX Bar Farm & Ranch.

What started out as them reaching out to us about making a couple signs has turned into one of those relationships we really appreciate.

They originally wanted some signs for their Farm to Market storefront and Farmers Market truck. We kicked a few ideas back and forth, made a couple things, and like a lot of our projects seem to go, one thing led to another.

Next thing we knew, we were giving their whole storefront a little upgrade with custom signs for each of their freezers and their egg refrigerator.

Since then we’ve done some canvas bags with leather patches heat pressed on them, a few other odds and ends, and now we’re working with them on some hats.

This is exactly the kind of thing we love about The Modern Merc. Someone comes to us with an idea, we kick it around, figure out how to make it happen, and pretty soon we’re talking about the next project.

Even better when it’s another local small business right down the road. Local supporting local is what it’s all about.

A huge thank you to everyone at XX Bar Farm & Ranch for continuing to trust us with your ideas and supporting our little business. We truly appreciate you guys and always enjoy seeing what you’re going to come up with for us next!

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Helena, MT

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