Praise for the Perfect Edge by Ron Hock

[Gary Curtis]

High praise. I've just burrowed through the opening chapters on metallurgy and hardening. What an eye opener. Like others here I've taken a few demo classes on sharpening. And when I bought my Veritas Mk II power sharpener, the Veritas guy spent some time showing me how on plane blades and chisels. Even to the point of eliminating a burr using stops and compounds. So, for 6 years I've scrubbed away.

I thought I knew my way around edges. And I read Ron Lee's sharpening book. Hock has a different slant on matters. Some readers might find the discussion of crystalline structures in various forms of steel overly complex or technical. Just read those pages a few times, however and you'll have a mental picture of that phantom that us Galoots (Neanderthals) forever chose -- the perfect edge. I now use tools according to a plan. And sharpen them accordingly.

My first step was to go out to the shop and identify the steel in all my planes, chisels and saws. The O1 tools are now designated for soft woods. The A2 are dedicated to hard woods. That alone will reduce the maintenance workload tremendously. (if you don't know what you are dealing with, you can gauge by the spark color and pattern by briefly touching the blade to a grinder wheel. My dad, a machinist, showed me this technique in the early 1950s. But what teenager listens to his dad?)

For those motivated by economy Hock explains all the methods, including the use of only two stones instead of 5 or 6. :)

[Glen Butler]

Sound like a book that's right up my alley. I like learning about the science behind what I do.

[Trevor Walsh]

I just got a custom hock blade for a mitre plane I want to make for dedicated shooting. The blade arrived wrapped in an informative tissue with sharpening instructions. In it Ron alleged that these were the finest blades made. I sharpened it, and I agree. It's something special. The blade is O1, and I love it. I'm sorry that I haven't built the shooter yet.

[Gary Curtis]

The town where Ron Hock has his shop is a 2 hour drive north of San Francisco. Ft. Bragg. He has 2nds and blemished items that he will sell at a hefty discount. But only if you show up at his door. My new house is 3 hours north of there, so I stopped in to see him. I bought irons for 8 of my planes, along with a few sharpening knives. Speaking with the man in person was one of the highlights of my woodworking experiences.

[Matt Owen]

I've got his book and think it's fantastic. Full of great information, it's a wonderful addition to my library.

[Tony Shea]

I also found the book to be a decent read. Ron has a great way of getting accross this information about different types of metals to us woodworkers who are not neccessarily interested in the subject of metal. Ron has inspired me to become interested in metal properties and how they affect my wood surfaces and way of work.

Gary, I don't really agree with you designating your 01 to soft woods and A2 to hardwoods. I think you're losing many of the great qualities of 01 if you just stick it to the soft woods. Not sure where you picked this up as I believe Ron even states that his favorite metal for WW tools is 01. May not hold its' edge as long but certainly gets incredibly sharp. I prefer most of my chisels in 01 as long as i'm not pounding the snot out of them. I also prefer my smoothing planes in 01. IMO, you've gone about the designation in the wrong manner. I think you should designate the 01 tools for more delicate paring/finishing tasks and A2 for the rougher work. But this is my opinion and what I typically do in my shop. To each their own.

[Gary Curtis]

Tony, you are right. But, I sort of went hog wild when I started out and now have so many chisels, and duplicate plane blades that it is easy to lump them into two groups. (I do have to swap out the plane blades). This notion of mine is only a week old. Who knows, maybe it will die along with Chairman Mao's Great Leap Forward. You know, every Chinese peasant was instructed to set up a charcoal-fired iron smelter in his backyard and contribute to the national steel output.

Realistically, I've noted in my brief woodworking career how annoying it is to have a tool dulled 15 minutes into a work session. Especially with saws.

[Mike Holbrook]

Interesting thread. I have been making some wood hand planes from Steve Knight parts. I bought the last of his inventory, which includes about a dozen plane blades. I am told these are 01 steel, although they seem to sharpen more like my LV A2 blades. These blades had very rough bevels which I have been trying to grind & stone into something usable on my planes and it has turned out to be more challenge than I was expecting. Not sure where Steve got his blades from, although Hock would seem a logical supplier.

[Gary Curtis]

Hock gets his steel from France, the only Western country producing these materials. Sweden has to make tool steel, but perhaps not for plane blades. As is explained in his book, and also in Leonard Lee's sharpening book, the attraction to harder steels is edge retention. This comes at a cost. They tend to be more brittle, but also they can be tough to sharpen. That's what you have apparently observed.

Get a tougher abrasive. I'm not through reading those chapters yet, but Hock lists them all. Silica, used in most sandpapers, is the weakest. Aluminum oxide found in grinding wheels and automotive wet/dry papers is harder. A Diamond steel plate or lapping compounds are at the high end of longevity.

[Tony Shea]

Interesting thread. I have been making some wood hand planes from Steve Knight parts. I bought the last of his inventory, which includes about a dozen plane blades. I am told these are 01 steel, although they seem to sharpen more like my LV A2 blades. These blades had very rough bevels which I have been trying to grind & stone into something usable on my planes and it has turned out to be more challenge than I was expecting. Not sure where Steve got his blades from, although Hock would seem a logical supplier.

Mike, I would think that grinding your rough bevel on a high speed grinder and honing the hollow grind should take no time at all. Even if the steel is very tough the small amount of metal being actually honed should allow for a speedy edge. Hopefully it doesn't create a brittle edge though, depending on the tempering.

[Trevor Walsh]

Also not all of Ron's blades are made in France. There are still a large portion made in the US (though no idea where the steel comes from). They found a place in France that could provide the quality they need allowing them to expand production.

[Joel Goodman]

Hock gets his steel from France, the only Western country producing these materials.

That cannot be true that no other western country produces the material. I doubt that Ray Isles, LN, LV etc all source steel from France.

[Gary Curtis]

The comment struck me as odd when Hock talked about his source. I might have it wrong. Certainly Sweden makes steel for tools. At least for Chisels and Saws. Don't know about Plane Irons. American foundries sold their steel formulas to China in the last decade. (carbide is an entirely different matter). But Hock gets his steel from France.