John Cullen, woodworker.

     These photos were sent by John Cullen who made two different hollowing planes out of pepperwood, one in 1997 and one in 2004. The planes are still occupied by their original Hock Tools blades, sharpening after sharpening, use after use.

John's two hollowing planes. But wait, there's more to the story.

John's First Hollowing Plane, 1997.

     The first plane John made was to a design described by Yeung Chan, author of Classic Joints with Power Tools, in a 1996 article he wrote for American Woodworker.

     "Yeung Chan gave me some hints on how to make a flat plane into a hollowing plane. I made that plane in March 1997."

John's Second Hollowing Plane, 2004.

     John built his second hollowing plane, a copy of one of Bob Darr's planes, in 2004.

     Two sweet wooden hand planes still in use and with the same blades originally purchased for them. 

     These planes fit John's needs and are friendly with his hands; they are John Cullen's hand made wooden hand planes! Custom, beautiful, satisfying to use. 

Ron in the Hock Tools' Shop

     FYI and well in advance: we plan to go to Woodworking in America 2012 in Pasadena, October 12-14. How perfect for us, just a drive down most of California - and a beautiful drive at that.   

     I was born in Pasadena, so in a way, it will be like going home for me. October is usually warm there in the San Gabriel valley and mountains, named after the Gabrielino Indians who called the Los Angeles basin "The Valley of Blue Smoke." So, L.A. has always been inclined toward a haze during certain times of the year and that's because of the inversion layer caps the coastline.               

     October, though? It's great! Bring your short sleeves.

Pasadena is inland, nice and tidy against the foothills - a gracious town with museums, the Rose Bowl, Wriggly mansion and of course the Gamble House and other Greene & Greene architectural wonders. If the Gamble House garage looks a bit familiar, that's because its beautiful door acted as the front door to Doc Emmet Brown's house in the film Back to the Future!

     But WIA is a ways away and Joel Moskovitz and Tools for Working Wood, and making your own handmade wooden plane  is here to stay. Please read on...

Sincerely,
 

P E O P L E   P R O F I L E: 

An Interview with Joel Moskovitz -- 

Tools for Working Wood and Gramercy Tools   

     
     Ron and Joel Moskowitz have been good friends since they met at "Plane Day," a gathering of toolmakers at the Popular Woodworking Magazine

Joel Moskowitz. Ready to answer questions with his cup of coffee, his name badge, and a bit of mischief in the eye!

offices to share whatever it is they had to share, and to provide the editorial staff all sorts of content about handtools.

     These two have a lot in common, not the least of which is their love of tools, engineering and making things with their own hands, their ability to see in three dimensions and desire to manufacture high quality tools relevant to woodworkers today. I tell you this because many people still believe all that binds Ron Hock and Joel Moskowitz is their mutual delight in eating Indian Food.

 Click here to continue interview
with Joel Moskowitz.

 

Planes Across America; History Repeats Itself in a Good Way! 

     Many years ago, Ron and I viewed an incredible historical exhibit about Pompeii after the 79 AD eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. We saw a hand plane, alone on a little shelf, elegantly lit from above. This little artifact was all cleaned up and looked as though you could have used it right then and there. I was stunned, and then I realized that Ron had not just stepped into the 19th Century to use his 20th Century Masters of Fine Arts degree, he'd stepped as far back as man, heat treating, and thwacking at a log with something sharper than a stick.

This plane found at Pompeii is one display at the Naples Museum and is not quite the same as the one we saw, but you get the idea. Thanks to and w/ permission from Roger B. Ulrich, Professor and Classics Dept. Chair at Dartmouth College & author of Roman Woodworking, Yale University Press.

A plate from Andre Jacob Roubo's L'art du Menuisier, a treatise on 18th C. woodworking.

     And so it became even more impressive to me to realize that Hock Tools provides blades for at least three plane making courses scheduled for this summer; at College of the Redwoods in Fort Bragg, California, Anderson Ranch Arts Center,  and The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine.  

           


             

Craig Stevens' own hand made wooden smoothing & jack planes. Craig will teach at Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Portland, Maine, July 9 - 13.

  
     Learning the powerful skill of building your own hand plane places you smack inside history of woodworking itself. A pretty dramatic point in our world of built-in obsolescence, advanced electronics, and obviation. Since whenever that first hand plane was invented - the first blade honed and set securely in its little house for use, and then the difference between grinding down a wooden surface with abrasives as opposed to shearing wood fibers with a sharp blade was first understood - great woodworkers have been teaching about it.  

     Why? For the custom fit and personalization of a tool, satisfaction of experience, and perhaps most important for incomparable performance.    

Made from bocote, this a little hand plane given to Ron by James Krenov. You can see how he customized this plane for the comfort of his own hands, having shaved it down here and there.

     Building your own tools is a specific skill dedicated to a specific outcome in a specific craft and is passed on from master to apprentice, mentor to student. Making your own plane is a course in liberation; a simple you can do-it-yourself type of thing. Not only do you master the work and decision making it takes, but building your own tools provides you an opportunity to personalize the fit to your hand, to your own process at the bench. Along with the ownership of process as well as the competence that comes with an "I-made-it-myself" plane, making tools helps any student develop beyond an instructor and beyond acquired project plans. It  enlightens and expands your own possibilities as a woodworker.

Furniture maker Mollie Ferguson's shelf with wooden hand planes at College of the Redwoods Fine Furniture Program. If you look closely, you can see Hock Tools Plane Assemblies in them!

      David Dalzell, a student at College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking Program in Fort Bragg, CA, made several planes during the past nine months as a woodworking apprentice. He puts it this way:  

       "Before I came to the CR Fine Woodworking school I used only the commercial type of hand planes, Stanley, Bailey, several high quality new hand planes by Veritas, etc. They worked and I was quite pleased with them.  

     But here at the school the first exercise was to build three hand planes from wood. A jointer, a smoother, and a coopering plane.   

David Dalzell at his workbench.

     After building them I started using them. What a revelation. They feel so good in the hand and make a sweet sound as they pass over the wood. A totally different experience from using metal planes. You feel much closer to your wood. You can shape the plane body to perfectly fit your hand and style of planing.

     After some experience with a wood plane you begin to feel the shaving separating and slicing away from the main piece. You can tell by the feel whether it is a wispy, thin, thick, clean, spotty or whatever cut. A wonderful feel and very useful, and I can't feel this with a metal plane.  

     For surface planing I have stopped using anything except my shop-made wood planes. I have made my planes using maple, purpleheart, cocobolo, and jarra. My next plane will be a 1" wide jointer using Rosewood with lignum sole. I already have a number of extra Hock blades I can select from. For me wood planes cut better, feel better, and sound so sweet. I now have nine woodies and there is no going back."

The Dalzell bench; year 2012 in a hand plane continuum.