Sharp & to the Point The Hock Tools Newsletter

Photo Album: Mark Ketelsen’s Go-To Smoother from #4 — 2015

T he European Woodworking

Show brought in crowds Satur-

day and Sunday, Sept. 12 & 13.

We were thrilled to be part of it all and

are already looking forward to next

time.

Located at (and in) the impressive and

inspiring 13th century Cressing Temple

Barns between Witham and Braintree,

Essex, the European Woodworking

Show opened its doors to handtool

vendors, woodworking exhibitors, de-

monstrators, workshops, competitions,

food carts, woodworkers of all sorts. It was big, it was plenty, and it was

definitely worthwhile.

The immense farmstead Cressing Temple was granted to the Knights

Templar in 1137 by major royal supporter, Queen Matilda. Its Barley and

Sharp & to the Poin t The Hock Tools Newsletter

Advancing Handtools: The European Woodworking Show 2015 from #6-015

Cressing Temple’s Wheat Barn’s south door. The brick roof weighs 44 tons.

Wheat Barn interior 2 minutes prior to 10:00 opening time on Sunday.

A cathedral for farm & grain? Indeed!

Wheat Barns, which housed many of us woodworking toolmakers, were

built in the 13th century and are now among the oldest timber-framed

buildings in Europe. These Barns grandly rep-

resent the few surviving Templar buildings in

England. Tree ring dating suggests that The

Barley Barn – the oldest standing timber-

framed barn in the world – was built between

1205 and 1235. Hock Tools was located in the

larger Wheat Barn, which was

built 50 years after the Barley

Barn—and with newer technolo-

gies—of timbers felled between

1257 and 1280. In the U.S., we

just don’t get to hang out in

buildings that old.

Each minute there we felt the

history of working wood green

(the lofty cathedral-style timber

frame was built of pliable green

wood—bones good to this day!)

and felt the strength and craft of the secret notched-lap joints above. Af-

ter such an experience, you can’t help but understand what it took to

build something absolutely utilitarian that is large, a monument to a be-

A bit of focus on the interior bones in the ceiling of

the Wheat Barn at Cressing Temple. I don’t know what a secret notched-lap joint is,

but after 800 years and counting, I guess it’s keeper woodworking!

On the way to the Barley Barn (left), 50 years older than the Wheat Barn,

with a twin 44 ton brick roof and similar, timber framed interior.

Cressing Temple includes a restored Tudor

Pleasure Garden. I was able to capture the two

roofs of both barns from inside the garden with

my cell phone. It was all utterly delightful. And,

unlike where we are in California, green as can

be. Essex is statistically the driest section of

England. These people do not know dry!

lief system that would last hundreds of years (800 and counting), and is

not a church (well, not per se). Yeah – wow!

But, I digress. Not only did we have the great pleasure of being at Cress-

ing Temple, we joined and were joined by woodworkers and toolmakers

from across the pond and other countries in Europe, a couple of whom

Ron has known through e-mails, phone calls, and reputation, yet had

never met in person. For instance, David Charlesworth and Ron recog-

nized each other right away, and got along swimmingly; two minds

melding – the woodworker and the blade guy. Talk, talk, talk.

Of course we spent a great deal of

time with Mike Hancock and his fab-

ulous crew at Classic Handtools, our

“stockist” in the U.K.—more a treat

then I can ever express. But, we al-

so got to pal around with Dave Jeske

from Blue Spruce

Toolworks and his

delightful wife,

Dawn (we spent

time with them in

Ireland, too – fun

and more fun). We

had a few special

moments with our

old friend Michel

Auriou from Auriou

Toolworks at Forge

de Saint Juery who

flew in from France. We hung out with ready-for-

anything Chris Vesper of Vesper Tools in Australia. We

visited with Vic Tesolin, who manned the booth for Lee

Valley Toolworks/Veritas Tools (more later on Vic, aka

the Minimalist Woodworker, and his new book The Mini-

malist Woodworker). And, we actually found time to

have dinner in the hamlet of Coggeshall with David

Charlesworth, and Deneb Puchalski from Lie-Nielsen

Toolworks. It’s so nice to sit for a meal and chat.

Our booth was located between Blue Spruce Toolworks

and Philly Planes, so we also enjoyed the ever-smiling,

David Charlesworth, left, and Ron Hock, right, yuck it up with good English ale

from the UK’s St. Peter’s Brewing Company. Upon close of the show on Saturday,

we were treated to an outdoor dinner. David and Ron, who had been on their feet pretty much all day, quickly found a place

out of the way in what is either the plough stable or forge barn.

Mike Hancock of Classic Handtools. Mike and his staff

organize the European Wood-working Show.

Not a lot of time to take photos, but I took a few and so did Ron. The b&w photo be-longs to luthier Kieran Binnie. Left, top—bottom: Deneb Puchalski packing up the Lie-Nielsen booth; Chris Vesper of Vesper

Toolsl; Ron Hock planing with David Charlesworth’s Stanley 5-1/2. Middle top—

bottom: Phil Edwards of Philly Planes (right); Kieran Binnie w/ Ron Hock, Michel Auriou, Auriou Toolworks at Forge de St. Jeuery demonstrates stitching a rasp for

woodworker Richard Wile. Right top—bottom: Vic Tesolin in his signature red braces; Dave Jeske, Blue Spruce Tool-

works; Planemaker Bill Carter enjoys an ice cream; in the Lie-Nielsen

booth, Ron Hock pulls a thin shaving using David Charlesworth’s Stanley 5-1/2 David

fitted with a Hock blade.

good vibes emanating from Phil Edwards, whom I met for the first time. I al-

so met for the first time planemaker Bill Carter as well as luthier Kieran Bin-

nie and Crimson Guitar’s Ben Crowe.

On top of that, Johan Lyrfalk from Rubank Verktygs in Stockholm, Hock Tools

rep in Sweden, dropped by for a chat, as did customer Vincent Lavarenne,

teaching member of the very active woodworking group Les Passionés du

Bois, who also came all the way across the Channel. (You might like to check

out Vincent’s sweet self-made spokeshave in Issue #5 of Sharp & to the

Point). Plus, we saw woodworking blogger Richard Wile, of Rich’s Woodcraft;

Rich happened to be in London at the time and came out to Braintree – unlike

Ron and me, this isn’t even his first EWS; check out Richard’s EWS blog post!

If this isn’t enough, we also met Harriet Spriggs! You may not have heard of

Harriet; she is not avid about publicity or even having electricity in her home.

Yet, Harriet is one of those makers who

gets the work done without videos or

workshops, without much support at all.

She apprenticed as a teenager, learned to

make the tools necessary, lived small vil-

lage life, and when there were few men

about because of war, was the go-to gal

who knew how to make windows, boxes,

tables, chairs and cabinets. I can’t tell you

what a thrill it was to meet Harriet and to

be shown a couple of the tools she made

in the ‘50’s -- just doing what came natu-

rally, no fuss, no muss, finding a piece of

blade, welding on a handle, sharpening

without a book, and moving on with

things. If I had my way, everyone would

know about Harriet Spriggs and what a role model she is for us all, especially

women.

As much work as they are—I complain to Ron about being on my feet on hard

floors and about this and that—at the end of the day woodworking trade

shows are really about face-time. And, boy-howdy did Ron and I enjoy face-

timing it with customers, colleagues, old and newly made friends at this

year’s European Woodworking Show 2015! — Linda at Hock Tools

Thank you for Choosing Hock Tools!

Hock Tools The Sharpening Blog The Perfect Edge

Woodworker Harriet Spriggs, center, took time from a rather busy schedule

to come to EWS 2015 from Norfolk . Her friends furniture maker Michael Knight and plane maker Bill Carter made sure

we were properly introduced.