John Neeman’s new wares
If you haven’t heard the scoop already, master bladesmith John Neeman of Neeman Tools, whose dazzling photos and videos of deliciously hand forged woodworking tools have whipped up a lot of excitement over the past year, has now branched away from his namesake company and is heading AUTINE, a new family company dedicated to creating stunning, and absolutely top quality axes, knives, chisels, and more.
It is unclear how the split between John Neeman and Neeman Tools has occurred, and it’s certainly confusing that his name is still the brand for the company that he has detached from, but regardless, we lucky tool fetishists now have two incredible sources for excellent hand forged tools.
AUTINE: John Neeman’s New Company
From the AUTINE website, we can finally learn a bit more about John’s background in bladesmithing, and the new family company’s dedication to quality and a lifetime tool guarantee:
John Neeman is a bladesmith from Latvia who has achieved his reputation by manufacturing some of the best performing woodworking tools in the world. Axes, chisels, drawknives and other craftsman tools made by John are used by experts of industry in more than ten countries. John’s way to success started with his interest of metal working technologies and knowledge about work methods of ancient bladesmiths acquired from many experts. After obtaining special education in Latvia and engineering studies in Danmark, John Neeman returned to his homeland to start a bladesmith workshop named after him together with some like-minded friends.
At the end of year 2012 John Neeman’s bladesmith workshop is proceeding to next phase. Founding new and creative team of professionals, John Neeman establishes company AUTINE. This small family company combines already well-known performance of John Neeman with more extensive possibilities of design, new patterns of tools and higher standards of quality, giving a lifetime warranty to all tools made by AUTINE.
Master Bladesmith John Neeman
So far, the lineup includes damascus steel kitchen and hunting knives, a range of axes, and chisels and slicks, and presumably, more designs are yet to come. Everything is, not surprisingly, drool-worthy, and some of the designs appear to be exactly the same from the Neeman Tools line (such as the broad axe).
More Hand Forged Tools
I think we are blessed that folks like John Neeman are dedicating their energies to the craft of hand forging tools, especially in this age of “more and faster is better”. The future is bright, and I am excited to see what John has up his sleeve.
Check out the AUTINE tools lineup here, and news and updates can be found on the official Facebook page. A here’s a video introducing the new company:
p.s. The new Neeman Tools crew has been introduced, too, and their bios are featured on the shop website.
John is a true craftsman and I love to watch him work and would love to learn his metalergy skills. I make all of my own handles for my axes mauls and hammers using a drawknife ,I even had to make handles for my drawknives and it is very enjoyable to work with your hands.My new project is to build a twelve string classical guitar, so I have my work cut out for me. Long live the old craftsmanship ways and keep up the excellent work john.
John is a true craftsman and I love to watch him work and would love to learn his metalergy skills. I make all of my own handles for my axes mauls and hammers using a drawknife ,I even had to make handles for my drawknives and it is very enjoyable to work with your hands.My new project is to build a twelve string classical guitar, so I have my work cut out for me. Long live the old craftsmanship ways and keep up the excellent work john.