It's What's Between You and the Wood - Quality from Your Hand to Heirloom
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Greetings!
June is around the corner, which means Father’s Day, the cool summer on the Mendocino Coast (unlike most everywhere else), a long-awaited visit from dear friends, and all those things that keep us busy at Hock Tools.
In this newsletter we share with you a note we received from Richard McCormick. Though I’m not a woodworker, Richard and I have in common the profound influence of James Krenov. Krenov’s writing and teaching have ignited many thousands of woodworkers’ passion for the craft. And he launched my blade-making career -- Hock Tools started out by supplying JK and his students’ blades for their wooden handplanes. If you’ve been a student of Krenov, either in person or literarily, I think you’ll appreciate Richard’s heartfelt telling of his path to craft.
Linda thinks it’s time to mention our carving tools. She has this thing about her Hock Tools #CK100 that she uses in the kitchen. The other thing about our carving knives, any or all five of them, is that they are the perfect Father’s Day gift, or belated Mother’s Day gift – your choice!
Of course, if there’s anything you need from Hock Tools, please let me know.
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Ron Hock
Hock Tools
(888) 282-5233
(707) 964-2782
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Richard McCormick Looks Back
on Forty Years as a Professional Woodworker
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Richard McCormick sits at his bench with a variety of wooden
handplanes he’s built and has used over the years.
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Ron recently received an email from long-time customer Richard McCormick. We were both moved enough by it to share it with you. I know in my heart the email began as a thank you and a desire to connect over the quality of Hock Tools products and what Richard has built in his woodshop. As he wrote, his email developed into a personal reflection on how Richard began woodworking in the ‘70’s, what his choices were as he studied and grew into a fine woodworker, and how he approaches the work today, 40 years after his first moments in his first garage-turned-woodshop. I hope you feel the emotion Ron and I felt reading what began as an email to Ron and became a woodworker’s reminiscence and find it as inspiring as we do.
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Honoring
One of the Oldest Forms of Woodworking
&
Thinking of Father's Day
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Marquetry and chip carving master, author, instructor, and now Executive Director at the
Philadelphia Furniture Workshop,
Craig Vandall Stevens
helped Ron design the Hock Tools' carving knives.These carving knives are the perfect gift at at $32.00 each or as a set for $160. Comfortable to hold and easy to hone, each blade is made of the same steel our high carbon knives and plane blades are made from.
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Paul Mayer described his experience with his Hock Tools #CK100, the 1" Carving Knife for
Woodworkers Guild of America
, “The knife is beautiful. Part of the beauty is in its simplicity. Ergonomically, it is the perfect size. There is nothing wasted in the design, and when you hold it in your hand, it feels like it belongs there. And the blade, oh my, the blade. My old woodworker mentors were right. I felt like I was introduced to Ron Hock when I examined the blade, with its beautiful steel,perfect bevel,
and insane polish...”
Note:
Prices in Paul's article have changed. Please see current prices and links above.
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You say
Carving Knife
, I say Garni Knife. Our
#CK100
is one of the
best
kitchen knives ever! And not only to hull strawberries quicker than a draw, but for all sorts of garnish jobs, modeling and gouging, like that black spot on a potato, treating carrots as extra special and managing pith and seeds in peppers, carving individual pieces of dough for the top of a pie. These knives stay sharp, and I feel like a pro when I put on my apron and take my
#CK100
out of the drawer. -
Linda at Hock Tools
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Hock Tools Photo Album
I’m so glad I found this kit and will continue to use it in the future...Thanks for the awesome blanks.
-- Butch Sullivan
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Butch Sullivan Made These Kitchen Knives
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Picture frame maker
Butch Sullivan
told us that he is not a knife maker. He distinguishes himself as a
picture framer
who loves making kitchen tools for others.
Butch began his
Chef’s Knife
project when a close friend asked him to make a set of knives for her to give as a gift. Butch found
Hock Tools Kitchen Knife Kits
online, and says, “I fell in love.” His friend so liked the first set he made that she decided to keep the knives and asked Butch to make more, which he did!
He also posted a picture of a finished knife on Instagram
@0Sully
, which garnered several messages from people wanting Butch to make them one, too. Since then Butch Sullivan has made about a dozen kitchen knives using the
Hock Tools 8-inch Chef Knife
kit.
At first Butch made a few knives
without
the patina you see above, “…and people would ask why the blade was "stained." He tried to explain to them that nothing is wrong and that the chef's patina is what normally happens to tool steel. He even copied and pasted the “care and handling” directions from the Hock Tools website to send to his new knife customers. And then, Butch began using mustard to create a forced patina on the blades. It seemed to solve a problem of understanding and further explains, “that, and I like the look!” Butch's special patina became his own mark of creativity and is now an integral part of his knife-making.
Butch uses various woods to make the handles, all stabilized woods with resin. You can see buckeye burl with pearl resin, red mallee burl hybrid, curly koa hybrid, as well as maple burl hybrid. All with brass pins.
Butch Sullivan may be a professional picture frame maker, but at Hock Tools we see him as a professional knife maker, too!
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Previous Edition of
Sharp & to the Point; A Shameless Shill for Hock Tools
:
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Reminder!
If you would like to update your subscriber profile by changing your
email addresses, your name, etc., please scroll down to the bottom of this newsletter to click on
Update Profile
in the Hock Tools footer below.
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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 7 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 Past-President
& now Treasurer of
Continuing the Legacy
of James Krenov
with Awards & Scholarships for Woodworkers.
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