Ron Hock is the owner of Hock Tools, a twenty-five-year-old cottage industry that makes acknowledged superior blades for planes and other woodworking tools. Hock started the business when, as a struggling knifemaker, students at James Krenov's Fine Woodworking program at The College of the Redwoods in Fort Bragg, California, came to him for plane irons for the wooden planes they were making at the school. He tooled up for plane irons, learned about plane-making and found a niche-market of discerning woodworkers who appreciate a superior tool. In the ensuing quarter-century since making his first plane blades he's learned about tool steel metallurgy, cutting edge geometry, hand woodworking tools and sharpening.