A visit to Howard Hitchmough (pic heavy)

Steven65

Steven65

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Howard Hitchmough has been my friend since 1984 when I lived in London and began buying knives from him.
He now lives in New Hampshire and I recently spent 5 days with him and his wife Virginia Lee.
Here are a few pics of his shop and some of his beautiful knives......

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Every pattern requires a complete set of unique tooling to make. This can take almost a week's work in itself to put together.
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These are boxes of patterns with their unique tooling. Howard seldom makes more than a few of each pattern.
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What a great shop. I aspire to get mine that clean one day. He and Virginia Lee are the best.
Bobby
 
Bobby Branton said:
What a great shop. I aspire to get mine that clean one day. He and Virginia Lee are the best.
Bobby
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If I could get mine that clean? I would be scared to use it again?......:D

Looks like you had a great time, thanks for showing us.


TA


.
 
Great photos of an amazing shop! That's what I want my shop to look like one day.

Phillip

P.S. Nice lens.
 
I very much like his work!!! I have had the pleasure of meeting of meeting Howard & his wife at the Marlboro knife show.
 
Thank you for your kind words folks.....
Here are a few more for you......

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solar powered, too? Man, he must be quite a guy. You can tell a lot about a person by their shop, I always thought.
Great knives, too. He's got mojo.
 
Keith Montgomery said:
Where's the photo of the bowie he is holding?
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Hi Keith.
That is a special piece he is making for the Boston invitational show next year so he did not want me to post any pics of it. He hardly makes any fixed blades anymore but he really loves Sheffield Bowie's so he occasionally makes one.
Contact him directly if you want to know more. He would be most happy to talk to you. PM me if you want his contact details.
 
GREAT pics Alphaholic. I used to see Howard quite often when he attended the NCCA shows.

He and Virginia Lee are ALWAYS so gracious and a PLEASURE to chat with....and his knives are as SMOOTH as a knife could possibly be!

They are so nice I would just look at them, and he ALWAYS said "pick them up" with a smile. After handling them it would be me smiling. He uses the best engravers and each knive is a work of art.

Thanks for posting the pictures.

Peter
 
I met him and his lovely wife Virginia Lee last year at the Milan Knife Show and I can only echo Peter's words. They are two of the nicest people I have ever met.

Keith, there is an other Bowie in the picture (first pic - bottom right) that can be shown. Here are a few pics. Enjoy.

Marcel
 

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WoW, what an outstanding shop. Must be a heck of a pleasure to work under those conditions.
Love to visit maker's shops.
Thought much of the tools/equipment are similar, shops vary a lot.
Find the little specialty tools that each maker creates for making specific jobs easier most interesting. There's some really cool anvils out there too.
 
I don't understand clean knife shops. I admire them, but I don't understand them. :)

That was a really enjoyable report with some really beautiful knives shown. Many thanks.

Roger
 
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