Great News: Hoosier Profiles NOT closing at the end of the year.
Joe Andrews just made this post on Facebook:
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This is terrible news for the metalshaping community. To my knowledge there is NOBODY that comes close in terms of quality, regardless of price. |
I visited several colleagues. They do a good job. Their molding equipment is appalling. They don't know EW. They don't want to invest in equipment.
I understand them wrong paying them for their work. Therefore they work without love for work and therefore do not invest. I was very surprised. Maybe the answer ... |
Thank you Joe and Peggy for your support of our hobby -passion-business over the years. I am always disappointed when people are unable to turn a profit and eventually walk away. Sometimes no matter how hard you work there comes the time to know when to call it a day. That’s a tough decision to make. It takes courage and I applaud you. I will have a chat to Peter T and see if we can get his anvils to the US at a good rate. As the Aussie dollar is falling by the week and will probably bottom around $0.59 it may present an affordable alternative. Good luck with your future endeavours. Kind regards Kiwi John
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The exchange rate is a huge issue for me. Currently it is just under 15/1 and getting worse. I have looked at a few of their products, but all I can do is look.
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Hoosier are a wonderful business to deal with, as well as friendly and making superb tools.
What a shame! Good luck for the future Joe and Peggy, Cheers Charlie |
Tough news. I hope the process can be resolved as well as possible for Joe and Peggy.
I only purchased wheel & anvils from them for my HandBuilt English wheel and have no complaints. I would have liked to purchase more from them, but as a one-off specialty manufacturer myself in an incredibly difficult market, it's tough to make all the numbers work. Think about what you value & then think who and what you actually support. |
This is sad news indeed.
I updated my upper yoke years ago to fit one of their 8x3 upper wheels, but never placed an order. I've spoken with Peggy, and am placing an order for a hardened wheel and anvil set for my upgraded yellow noodle. I feel like you can't have a proper wheeling machine unless it has a set of Joe and Peggy's wheels and anvils on it. Best of luck to Joe and Peggy in the future. |
Sad news indeed. I've purchased uppers and multiple sets of lowers for my english wheel from Joe, and have always been impressed with his workmanship. I just bought his adjuster and some dies for my HF bead roller, and am equally impressed. I'm just glad I was able to order while they were in business, as their level of quality repays itself in the work we can do with their tools.
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Over the years I owned Imperial Wheeling Machines, I purchased about 400 sets of anvils from Joe through the 3 different companies (CNC Solutions, Hoosier Pattern, and Hoosier Profiles). We had our issues over the last 16 years and a couple times I looked for alternative suppliers.
Long story short. There isn't one. NOBODY in the country is close in terms of quality. NOBODY in the country is close in terms of price even for lower quality until you get down to Chinese junk. Joe makes rollers for just about every ewheel manufacturer except for MetalAcew/Trick tools who, unless they've changed, makes theirs out of 1018 steel. But at least they are concentric. And this doesn't address all the other things Joe makes for the community like planishing hammer tooling, Eckold adapter plates, etc, etc, etc. I expect Joe will see a bump in orders because of this news and he should. If anyone on this forum is considering getting an ewheel or upgrading theirs, I'd suggest trying to swing an order before it's too late. |
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Wow, this is really sad for the shaping community! Luckily, I bought all my anvils from Hoosier when economic times were still good here in South Africa! Was still hoping to someday order a set of full radius lowers, but guess not so anymore.
To my knowledge, I was the first international customer who had Joe machine holes in the upper anvil so as to reduce the weight and thereby halve the shipping price (Joe's idea, BTW). This clinched the deal. I was so impressed with Joe's entrepreneurial foresight when, the very next day, he had posted a notice on his website which read something like "New for international customers....only $45 shipping!" Best wishes to Joe and Peggy for the future. |
yikes!
This is really bad news! I had just designed a custom set of dies I was going to order. I'm not sure what to do now.
Actually I didn't think Hoosier Profile's dies were that expensive AND they were sure the best I had seen. But anyway, all the best to Joe and Peggy in any future endeavors. |
Very sad to hear. I don't want to stray too far from the topic here, but at least in regards to Wheeling Machine Uppers and and lower Anvils, if you happen to purchase a wheeling machine from Peter Tommasini (or if you did build your own)I would recommend purchasing the set from Peter directly in the absence of Hoosier's being available anymore.
When I purchased my machine from Peter, I ended up buying the anvils and Upper from him as well. EXCELLENT quality; high quality bearings and the pieces were heat treated AND nitrided as well . Peter machines his from what I believe is the equivalent of D2 steel here in the States. I have no financial stake or gain in this and I paid for all of my parts I purchased- it's just an FYI as a viable option to obtain high quality upper wheel s and lower anvils with the closing of HP. |
Sorry for my koment.
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Yes it is sad. Unfortunately, I use everything that spins and is usable for shaping. It's hard to sell me the finished product. All my tools are the product of improvisation, compromise and economy. When I will have in the future enough money to invest , I will no longer need investment at that time. When will they come for me ..., they won't know what things it is that can be for used , and will throw it all into waste.
The end of the company is always painful. You need to stop in time and think about the future. Today we living is the century of looking in the displays. Nothing tangible, all is virtual. Everyone is afraid to get dirty from work. Unfortunately, quality is not always an economic advantage. I'm the wrong customer example for bussines sells. Attachment 53324 Attachment 53325 Attachment 53326 Attachment 53327 Attachment 53328 Attachment 53329 |
It is sad when some one supplying a specialty service like they are , is not viable to continue, I wish them luck with there new endeavours
I am a bit surprised as to there main export market been Australia with only about 25 million people and the USA with about 300 million people isn’t a big enough market to support them |
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That's because people in the US are too busy screwing with their I phones to do anything creative. |
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Aussie is a very small market but it punches above its weight particularly in our tiny metal shaping community. I would guess that the majority of our activities are based in or around Melbourne for the simple reason we have an incredibly gifted and generous teacher. Pete opens his doors to us and the community group grows. Unfortunately he has stopped posting here as have other professionals who earn their living from the work they do not the paid courses they run. It’s incredibly hard to make a living from producing tools for this market as the very people involved have a natural tendency to want to make their own tools. I have Peters anvils and will vouch for their quality but joes were probably just as good. Unfortunately this administration doesn’t really support anything other than US companies and as your economy slides so will your choices. We are supposed to be a community but the field ain’t even close to level. I can’t believe that Pete is not listed on the resources page but as this is probably my last post I will admit that I am not actually surprised. I wish all of you well cheers John
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John: Please don't leave. I know first hand how tough it is to sell product to talented folks that have the skills to make their own tools. There are a lot of factors involved. I used to ship my TuckPuck product all over the planet for $11 US. Then our postal service more than tripled the rate to the $36 range. That made it too cost prohibitive for folks outside of the US to purchase my product. I did ship quite a few to Australia and New Zealand before the price hike.
Regarding the "resources" section of this forum, That was put together years ago. My business is not listed there either and that is because I never really asked to be listed there. I just never got around to it. My fault , not theirs. I am confident that if I had submitted a request, it would be listed there. The owners/moderators of this forum have a lot on their plate and they rely on input probably more than memory. So please reconsider your decision and stick around. Carey |
Sad News: Hoosier Profiles closing at the end of the year.
Sad news in deed.
Best wishes to Joe and Peggy for the future. |
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