Tool Maker of The Month - Mike Wenzloff & Sons
My passion for sharpening began when I was young. While growing
up, we lived for a time with my grandparents. My grandfather was an
Honor Camp guard for the Washington State Prison system. His
shifting was such he worked for two weeks and had two weeks off.
As a young boy who idolized his grandfather, this was as near a
situation as could be. During the summers, we typically would go
camping the entire week and over the weekends, he would sharpen any
saws dropped off by local farmers on Saturdays. My great uncle, who
logged and built roads for the local loggers, would bring down saws
from Machias Pass in northern Washington.
It was then I first
sharpened a handsaw. I have been sharpening saws off and on since
even though my day jobs were of another nature. It provided spare
money for what else...tools and wood.
Four or five years ago, I began sharpening more frequently and by
the end of 2005, usually have several arrive in any given week. Early in 2005 after experiencing some health problems, my wife
and I decided we needed to close the furniture business and my two
sons who worked with us went off to other jobs.
About the same time I made some saws for a group of
collectors/users patterned after one of the ones I had made for
myself, which is the half back.
As time went on, I received requests for more saws. As I
continued to sharpen saws through this period and the amount of
sharpening began to pick up, I found that not only did I enjoy
making saws more than anything I have done since I quit falling
trees in 1989, but that it was also something I could do in my
current health. I cannot be on my feet all day like when I made
furniture is the main issue.
So by the last quarter of 2005 we made the commitment to begin
fulltime production. Now one of my sons is back working with me and
it is simply great. Hopefully the other will be able to rejoin by
the end of this year.
While the saws we list are patterned after saws of our choice, we
really will make any saw one desires. For instance, we might be
making one patterned from one found in Moxon's book. As its size is
roughly the size of the small end of our large tenon saws [14"], its
pricing is based upon that saw. There is an up-charge for metal
work--the Moxon example has a somewhat ornate metal work at the
toe--and a new pattern will be made for the handle, the two of those
"extras" carry a $10 charge each. This raises the price a mere $20
over the cost of the large tenon saw. Not bad for a fully custom
saw.
Once the redo of the website is finished it will be turned on and
ordering will be enabled direct from the web site. As time permits,
I'll be altering the current website with static pictures. |
