I recently was shopping for barrel work and while I tried to "buy local" it was easier and cheaper for me to ship it to ADCO Firearms on the mainland.
Why?
- it was cheaper even with shipping and insurance
- fast turnaround: barrel threading and bead blast I had it back in 7 days and that was including the 4th of July. A local smith said he was going to take about 30-45 days for the job and wanted 1/2" of barrel just in case he messed up the threads

- easier, I went to ADCO's website and purchased the service online, printed it out, packaged my barrel, paid postage online at
www.usps.com, printed label and dropped off package at post office near work
- ADCO's detailed explanation of its services on their website and presence on boards showed me that they are not only smiths but knew what they were doing; they explained things on their website and are active on other boards. They are also multi-disciplined shooters. I had confidence in their work.
In addition, I've used White Oak Precision and Compass Lake before largely in part because of they are accomplished shooters and have a solid reputation for good work.
While I know many may argue that I should've been patient and paid more to "buy local" and support vendors in Hawaii; the cost, service and satisfaction doesn't warrant a decision to stay local. I can only guess that it is very expensive to maintain a shop here but if you have the desire these are some points that I take into consideration: confidence in your work and overall service. Trying to contact some local smiths was rather challenging.
Don't get me wrong, I do buy other products and may spend a little more to support retailers here.