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HOCK TOOLS PHOTO ALBUM:
Joe Ulman's Own Tools | Woodworker Joe Ulman sent these inspiring photographs of the tools he makes using Hock Tools blades:
A Disassembled Circle Cutter using a custom blade similar to one of LMI's, but longer.*  The Rosette/Circle Cutter is used to make a channel for inlaying the rosette in the soundboard and also to cut out the round soundhole.
Joe explains that, "the design was taken from pictures of a Buchanan style cutter I found either in a book or online, I don't remember, which I modified somewhat. The cutter is paired with a 1" thick workboard with a vertical hole for the pivot pin (in this case a brass door hinge pin) that fits snuggly and allows the cutter to be raised and lowered easily for setting and checking the cutting radius. The blade for the cutter is a special one that Ron made for me that's a longer version of the one he makes for LMI's rosette cutter; longer at my request to make setting the depth of cut and honing easier. The wood used is Tigerwood."
 Spokeshaves on Joe's Bench.
Joe's Spoke-shaves
using
Hock Tools
Blades.
 "The spokeshaves are made from maple with ipe soles. I used Hock Tools' free online instructions but modified the shape to a more traditional shape. They use Hock blades 1/8" X 5/8" X 4 7/16" w/threaded posts 3 15/16" #SP062, and 3/32" X 7/16" X 2 1/2" w/threaded posts 2 1/4", #SP044."Very Impressive!
Thanks so much, Joe Ulman!
*Hock Tools makes custom blades. E-mail Ron at ron@hocktools.com for info. And, FYI, he will want a good drawing. |
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Please Join Us!
Hock Tools Celebrates
What's that you say? Well, Get Woodworking Week is brand new, the first ever this year.
Here's the story: It all began with visionary and passionate woodworking bloggers who --
ahem -- were drinking together one evening in Covington, Kentucky, during Woodworking in America 2011.
Imagine the bar, please. Imagine the bloggers, beers in hand and orders up. Together they fret and cry aloud.
"We are concerned that the appreciation of finely-crafted furniture will be lost in this disposable world we so love to hate! If we do not cultivate a new group or even a whole new generation of woodworkers, who will we bequeath our tools to once we've planed that last plank!"
After drinking to that, an idea formed through the refills and froth and a pact was made: Woodworking bloggers all over this country will, as Tom's Workbench's Tom Iovino describes so eloquently, "get folks off the sideline and into woodworking as a hobby."
Please stay tuned between February 5 - 12 when woodworking bloggers across the Internet will merrily band together to galvanize the novice and soon-to-be-novice woodworker. They'll cover topics as diverse as how they got started in the craft, which affordable tools a beginning woodworker needs, and which techniques are essential to begin. You will find discussions on locating wood on-the-cheap, what sources of information are reliable, and how making mistakes can - and do - make you a better woodworker.
Tom Iovino's got it all covered at Tom's Workbench.
And, Ron will join in on his Sharpening Blog. His blog roll includes woodworking bloggers and will help keep you in the loop. So, join in and Lets Get Woodworking -- pass it on!
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Greetings!
This year we celebrate our 30th anniversary at Hock Tools. We can't do that without a big thank you to our customers. So, THANK YOU for using
 | | Ron in the Hock Tools' Shop |
Sincerely,  Ron Hock Hock Tools(888) 282-5233
(707) 964-2782
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P E O P L E P R O F I L E:
GUITAR MAKER JOHN BOGDANOVICH
 | John Bogdanovich
Working in his Shop |
Ron first met John Bogdanovich back in 1997 when he arrived in Fort Bragg and entered our world of handtools. Already a classical guitarist, Bogdanovich became the first student at College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking Program to build a classical guitar for his thesis project. That guitar was pure passion and everyone around the school in those days felt it.
 | | You Can Make This! |
Plus, it took no time at all before J.S. Bogdanovich became synonymous with building world-class classical guitars, and the leading resource on how to build one.
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Learn to Create
a Fine Rosette
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Ron and I know John as Jack. One of those ancient language and name morphs: Jack is a common nickname for John and Jack is what comes to my mind when we speak; nicely familiar. On the phone the other day, Jack told me something very simple, and so true to his heart. No, not about his name! He is still Jack to me. About something more important: about his work:
"I am a classical guitarist who makes guitars for guitarists. From the very first guitar it was a go. Now my focus is to help people make their own guitars and to get them into guitar making. There is nothing like it! I teach people who have always wanted to build a guitar, which sometimes means having something to pass down to their grand kids, to people who want to play a guitar they made themselves, and on to those who want to become professional guitar builders. I get to teach and be part of that whole gamut."
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Classical Guitar Making; A Modern Approach to Traditional Design
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The excitement in Jack's voice when he describes building and teaching people to build guitars is contagious, even over the phone, like those days as a student in 1997-1998 when he built that first guitar. His book on building classical guitars, Classical Guitar Making: A Modern Approach to Traditional Design, was published by Sterling Publishers in 2007 and today commissions for Bogdanovich Guitars, his workshops, and DIY products make for a very busy guy -- who can hardly keep up with his e-mail inbox filled as it is with thank you notes and questions from people who have read the book, watched his instructive videos, used one of his templates or molds, or other products Jack has developed for making guitars.
 The Bogdanovich | |
The Master Kit
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You can check this all out at jsbguitars.com. Jack's website will make you want to build a classical guitar!
Jack describes how to build
a compass plane on his Plane Making DVD , where you can see how he uses the Hock Tools radius edged Plane Iron Assembly.
 | | Bogdanovich Compass Plane w/ Hock Tools Radius Edged Plane Iron Assembly |
Bench and compass plane kits are part of the J.S. Bogdanovich Guitars line of tools. He is a very tool conscious and tool savvy woodworker, which means you can well understand how proud we are that Jack is a Hock Tools' reseller of blades and breakers for both the Bench and Compass Plane right on his website.
(This You Tube preview says "ours," but it's Jack's)
And, so it is through premier classical guitar maker John S. Bogdanovich that we at Hock Tools get to play a small role in the long-standing tradition of passionate luthiers, musicians, and beautiful music. People like John Bogdanovich help Hock Tools be part of an amazing world - and that does mean Jack!
-- by Linda at Hock Tools
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G U E S T C O N T R I B U T O R:
When I was growing up my mother would drop me off at school on her way to work. That put me there an hour before anyone else except the janitor, so I would go to the music room, get out my drum, and practice. I still do that today, although now I drive myself, my school is my shop, my drum is my bench, and I am also the janitor.
Tool-making, along with everything else that requires practice, is a process of discovery. Most of the time there are more questions than answers. When I am looking for answers, I go over and over the same thing, sometimes without thinking at all. I try different approaches and go back and forth between them. Pausing between trials, I reflect on the results, which frequently include mental and physical anguish.
Then, something happens. I can't say what. But small changes creep into the process. It could be the result of just picking up a tool in a different way, or reflecting on how something felt after not noticing that is was different to start with -- the placement of a finger or my stance behind the bench. Sometimes there is a conflict between my posture and my vision. Alternately favoring one over the other somehow leads to a new way of standing at the bench, or looking. Then when I think I am there; I am, albeit briefly.
You can catch up with Glen-Drake Toolworks at glen-drake.com
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