Hello Galoots!

First I'd like to say that anyone who spends half a day flattening an
iron is doing something wrong. In a half a day, I think I could flatten
a blade down to where the back meets the front.

To clear up a few things:

We made everything right here in our little shop (400 sq ft -- no
kidding) until about 5 years (and many thousands of blades) ago when we
outgrew it, couldn't keep up with demand and started "outsourcing" much
of our production. We are a much smaller operation than most realize and
our shop here doesn't have the machinery to grind blades flat after heat
treating so we use all the tricks we know to keep things as flat as
possible (those blades that we make here, you know, the gray ones that
you have to flatten...) Otherwise, all of our standard Stanley- and
Record-style replacement blades are being made elsewhere (including
France) where they are cut out of oversized sheet stock with lasers,
hardened, then ground to the finished thickness (and flat -- though
"flat" is a relative thing; there is no such thing as "dead flat".) 

So I apologize for all the time you've spent flattening our blades. It
was the best I could provide for all those years while this industry was
re-growing and getting a new set of legs under it. We still make all the
small-quantity and custom items right here (all the gray ones) (that's
'grey', Jeff) like the Krenov-style blades, violin knives, etc; Larry's
out there right now turning cranks. Come by for a visit some time.

By the way, this seems like a good opportunity to say thanks to all of
you for all of your help, advice, patronage and encouragement in the
years since I started mouthing off to this group. You Galoots have made
a real difference to HOCK TOOLS and I appreciate the opportunity to
participate here and I sincerely hope that I've been able to offer
something back (other than just blades.) Thanks.

My best regards to you all,
-- Ron

PS: I'd like to wish Vlad luck in his blade-making start-up. Though
imnsho, Rc60 is too soft; Our irons are Rc62 (and have been for over 20
years) so they'll hold that scary edge longer.

> > > > Vlad @ STW
> > > >
> > > > we grind our irons FLAT!  Who else takes the time
> > > to
> > > > do that!
> > >
 
-- 
Ron Hock (ron@hocktools.com)
HOCK TOOLS -- http://www.hocktools.com
16650 Mitchell Creek Drive  Fort Bragg, CA 95437
(707)964-2782 toll free: (888)28-BLADE [282-5233] fax (707)964-7816