Remembering Jan Svancara

[Ken S]

Jan Svancara was one of the brightest stars on this forum. He shone in so many aspects of sharpening.

My first memory of Jan were his restoration of his grandfather's ancient mortising chisel. His love and respect for his grandfather resonated with me. While honoring his past, Jan was also forward looking. He was a professor of engineering in his native Czech Republic. He took great joy in tutoring his thirteen year old granddaughter in physics. As part of her learning program, she regularly followed this forum.

Always wanting to broaden his mind, Jan studied with an English language tutor. He balanced this with sharing some of his Czech heritage on the forum. He could balance his highly trained engineering mind with well grounded practicality. I felt honored when he saw the value in my kenjig (based on Dutchman's tables). One of Jan's favorite sayings was "Iron sharpens iron; one man sharpens another". Jan was an early believer in the kenjig. He adopted my 139mm Projection into his knife sharpening technique. Jan's vote of confidence and his improvements made me a sharper man and the kenjig sharper.

When Jan passed away, he left us with his many posts. Those of us who are innovative would do well from studying his posts. Jan often used a building set similar to an Erector set to construct his ideas. Among them was a very solid drill bit jig.

Jan was a good man; I miss him.

Ken