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S h a r p & t o t h e P o i n t
A Shameless Shill for Hock Tools
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The Hock Tools Newsletter
#5 /2017
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Greetings!
Our hearts and admiration go out to Houston and surrounding areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. I share the sorrow for those lives taken. I don’t even know what to say that has not been said, nor that extends the depth of my concern for individual and family trauma that is and will be the mark of Harvey. And yet, what fine community and optimism exists there! It gives me hope and I hope it does you, too.
We’re bringing out those promised scraper plane kits and I’m pleased as I can be with them. Isaac Fisher is excellent at designing and making tools for himself, and I'm proud he uses Hock Tool blades. This kit comes from Isaac’s hands, the details from his own woodworking experience. We basically make a blade according to Isaac’s specs. You are in good hands!
Also, please read Linda’s articles on Luthiers Sans Frontières and Gary Rogowski’s upcoming book, Handmade: Creative Focus in the Age of Distraction. I think you’ll be interested in both.
Also, if you don’t already know, I'm sad to share that our friend Lee Marshall at Knew Concepts died this summer. He was a great guy, known all over as “The Saw Guy,” and an excellent toolmaker. Things will go on as usual at Knew Concepts. Brian Meek, who is the other half of Knew Concepts, is also a great guy and an excellent toolmaker – just like Lee was, Brian’s an upstanding member of what we still like to call the Proud & Unplugged.
Linda and I look forward to the European Woodworking Show September 16th & 17th at Cressing Temple Barns in Essex, UK. After that – and I know this is difficult to believe – we’re taking a vacation in Italy. Yup, a two-week vacation! Linda and I will catch up with you sometime soon after we return.
In the meantime, if you need anything from Hock Tools, feel free to let me know. If it’s urgent, I’ll take care of it best I can with text or email, or ask Mark to give you a call.
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Ron Hock
Hock Tools
(888) 282-5233
(707) 964-2782
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A v a i l a b l e
O c t o b e r 1 s t !
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Perhaps We should Call Them the Phoenix Kit.*
The Easiest Way to Make Your Own?
Made for us by Isaac Fisher
.
Although available October 1,
you can order now.
We'll ship when ready.
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*You may already know about the fire at our kit designer and maker
Isaac Fisher's workshop in June. We lost all but a few of our new scraper plane kits and have been taking orders. Things are looking much better for Isaac since that tragic moment, and we are happy to say that we will soon have new scraper plane kits in stock.
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precision-made from jatoba, a
hard wood with a tan or salmon color
stripped with black accents that
over time turn to a deep and rich red.
The O1 Hock blade is bedded at 95° and hardened to Rc56 for burr "rollability".
And,
to allow for necessary blade access and a comfortable grip, know
that the parts are taller than our
Krenov-style Plane Kit
.
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Here's a Helpful Hock Tools Scraper Plane Kit Q&A:
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Why is the blade bedded at 95°?
...because the back ramp of a scraper plane is really more of a wall than a ramp. The iron should be set at about 95 degrees to the bottom of the plane, giving it a slight forward lean.
Why is there no chip breaker?
...a chip breaker doesn’t help in a scraping situation.
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Why is the throat of a scraper plane bigger than that of a regular plane?
... there is no benefit to having a super-tight throat, but there is a definite downside.
What's the downside?
...if you are not careful, the blade can slip right through the bottom of the scraper plane when you adjust it. Use all caution when loosening up the blade in your scraper plane!
Safety First!!
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What's with these crinkly shavings?
...don’t be alarmed when you see that scraped shavings do not curl up and out of the plane in the same way that normal plane shavings do. Instead, they crinkle up because scraping is a very different action when it comes to cutting wood fibers. While a shearing-cut severs fibers cleanly, a scraping-cut mashes the fibers until they fail and are scraped off the surface. These fibers cling together, flattening themselves against the blade accordion style.
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If you haven’t already met, let me introduce you to
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From Luthiers Sans Frontières-USA's Project in Trinidad. Left: Josiah Charles.
Center: Akil Patrick, Ute Zahn, and Dionne Smith. Right: 4 Hock Tools Violin Knives onto
which
Ute Zahn
put handles of walnut, maple, lilac & cherry.
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At the beginning of the summer (or was it late spring?) I received a call from Ute Zahn of
Luthiers Sans Frontières-USA
. I had not heard of LSA-USA and was smitten by the thought of it, and by the thought that a few violin knives from Hock Tools could make any difference in LSA’s mission to provides repair services to musicians, orchestras and ensembles in areas where no local services are available.
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I never believed in the adage that if you want something done, ask a busy person. Busy people are busy, leave 'em alone! But then,
Gary Rogowski
- who has built, operates, sweeps, and is the lead instructor at
Northwest Woodworking School
in Portland, Oregon, writes articles on woodworking, and who has already written books and is invited all over the known universe to teach and spread his boundless knowledge - goes and writes yet another book!
Why would Gary take scarce time to write this new book? Well, this is what he has to say about that:
Woodworking seems to have devolved into a mosh pit of voices and faces and images of "The Right Way to . . . [insert technique]". Or "Rules for . . . [insert technique]". Or "[insert century] Methods for . . . [insert project]. Woodworking is not just about those many valuable bits of information.
It is quite simple instead. We are at the bench to be quiet with ourselves. We are there to make sense of an out of control world. We are there because we are curious, problem solvers who love tools, and we love to get our hands on them. They help us to make a connection with our brain that nothing else can for us. Finally for many, it is a way to forgive ourselves. To do something of value when everything we've been told or done has pointed at our constant failure.
I say that our school, The Northwest Woodworking Studio, is a School of Thought. I hope that this book of stories and essays will help people to think about their own approach to the craft and its value as they stand at the bench. For me it is to learn patience, to learn the value of practice, to learn forgiveness.
These are humble and ardent words about the value of making, and the ideals and integrity gained from the process of making things with your own hands. What a joy to read these thoughts on what is, in my opinion, increasingly endangered, and therefore more than ever relevant and worthwhile. On top of that
, now that I'm proven wrong about busy people, you just know that I'll think of something to ask Gary to do, believe-you-me!
--
Linda at Hock Tools
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Handmade: Creative Focus
in the Age of Distraction
by
Available December, 1st. Place your order now in time for you-know-what for
Handmade:
If not for yourself, for your best woodworking friend.
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T h a n k Y o u
f o r
C h o o s i n g
H o c k T o o l s !
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3 5 Y e a r s
o f E x c e l l e n c e
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L e t 's G e t S o c i a l
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Ron Hock is a member
of the Board of The Krenov Foundation.
Continuing the Legacy
of James Krenov
with Awards & Scholarships for Woodworkers.
If you would like to receive
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