Walter Rice, 1912 to 1998
Walter Rice was Henry's second son. He was born above the shop in 1912. He swept sawdust at six and ran the lathe at twelve. He sharpened his first plane iron at nine, with his grandfather Samuel watching.
Walter took over the shop in 1931, at nineteen, when Henry's health failed. Henry died in 1935. Walter kept the woodworking orders going and moved the sharpening bench to the front window, where customers could see him work.
In 1942 Walter enlisted in the Navy. He served as a machinist's mate on the USS Alabama in the Pacific. His job was to keep cutting tools true: drill bits, lathe tools, and the galley knives for a crew of 2,500. His wife, Ruth, kept the shop open for four years. She ran the sharpening bench alone and turned away no one.
Walter came home in 1946 with a set of Japanese waterstones he bought in Yokosuka. He used them for the rest of his life. After the war, factory furniture replaced custom joinery and the woodworking orders slowed. The sharpening orders did not. Restaurant cooks, butchers, and barbers from Little Tokyo and Boyle Heights lined up on Saturday mornings with their knives and shears.
In 1961 Walter closed the woodworking side and moved the bench to a small shop in Highland Park. He worked there six days a week until 1994. He taught two apprentices and one grandson.
