Hi Ron,

Nice to hear from you and thanks for the encouragement
:) but we don't intend on hitting the WW stores as
that was never our intent.  Just stay small with no
OH.

I've talked to many more learned folks than myself and
they all said anything higher than Rc 59/60 for A2 is
too much for our application - knots= blade chipping .
 So that's where we left it.  End of story.  Of
course, this can be debated forever...and I'm sure it
has here and elsewhere.  Perhaps Rob Lee will chime in
and let us knwo why LV left theirs at Rc60 too.  

Cheers

Vlad

--- Ron Hock <ron@h...> wrote:
> 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@h...)
> 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
> 
> --
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>  

=====

Cheers.

Vladimir (Vlad) Spehar

Spehar ToolWorks.

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