Thread: woodshop climate

Hi,

As I told in the previous thread, in my appartment kannas were as simple piece of wood. After receiving them blades were stuck, so I have to waite some time for dai acclimatisation.
Right now kanna live in my appartment with enough stable environment, but at the future conditions, especially humidity level will change, so I put kanna at the closed case. At the future I plane make a dedicated box for all my wooden planes.
It seems to me the keeping wooden planes and kanna too in the tight wooden box will help from seasonal distortions. Probably this wooden toolbox will do as a 'tools humidor' and will keep more stable conditions for tools.

But it's only my opinion.

Serge.

A "tools humidor" is an interesting idea!
My new Tsunesaburo Meigo-Ryomou kanna is gradually getting back to the condition it was in when I purchased it a few months ago. Bringing it into the house has allowed the dai to relax so that the blade is now very close to fitting into the opening as it did upon it's arrival from Japan last April. However, a week ago, there was no way it would fit after spending some time in my very hot workshop. (I was allowing the dai to acclimate without the blade inserted.. mistake? So it, aside from the effects of humidity and heat, is as it was from manufacture. Should I have left the blade in?)

I really am curious how my fellow woodworkers deal with the variable nature of a wooden plane body. Seasonal dai sets?

As my shop is all hand powered tools and sun/kerosene for light..
I did find a very interesting solar powered roof vent-fan from Farmtek in the US:
Roof-Mounted Solar Fan w/Panel - FarmTek

The only person I can think of who lives in a hot/dry summer area of Australia and who uses a lot of wooden body planes (not necessarily Japanese) is Derek Cohen in Perth. His website is here. He may have some advice.

Des King, who works extensively with Japanese planes, lives on the Gold Coast where the summers are humid so his experience will be different, but he may know of others who live in hot/dry areas who may have advice for you. His website is here.

My old shed (zinc alum iron sheeting) used to get up to 55ºC+ in summer (now it is insulated and lined, and if I am in there I can turn on an air conditioner!) and played merry hell with tools containing wood. I made some wooden mallets out of well seasoned WA red gum and sheoak in 2006 and hung these from the ceiling (so they were immediately just under the roof) of the shed so they were essentially cooked at 60ºC for several hours of the day for several months. The redgum ones dried out so much the heads became really loose on the tapered handles and one of them dried out so much the head fell off! The Sheoak mallets were much better and only became slightly loose - nothing that a little tap didn't fix. I have only made 2 small wooden bodied shoulder planes from Sheaoak and Jarrah and these do not seem to have been affected at all by the high temperatures but these are stored inside wooden drawer cabinets about half a metre from the floor. I do know that Sheoak one dried is very stable and works very well for this sort of thing.

Hey
For japanese kanna users has anyone tried to store your kanna dai in vaccum sealed plastic bags you can use in the kitchen like a Tilia Food Saver VAC 750. I have not but it seems like an intriguing idea. Alx

Originally Posted by alx

Hey
For japanese kanna users has anyone tried to store your kanna dai in vaccum sealed plastic bags you can use in the kitchen like a Tilia Food Saver VAC 750. I have not but it seems like an intriguing idea. Alx

Me either, but reckon it should work if the kanna isn't left out of the bag for extended periods of time.

Interesting links! Thanks a bunch!

Bob- that's hot. I felt a little better for my situation after reading yours.

My barn (something like 12 by 16 feet) is all wood.. raised off the ground by a bit. My work area is a low (coffee-table height) bench in the center of the room. So I cut an opening under the bench.. in the floor, screened and grilled it to keep animals out.. but it does seem to allow an updraft of cooler air from the shady underside. This seems to help. I do wish to invest in a solar panel enough for a roof or gable fan though.

As for the humidor/vacuum sealing idea .. it seems that an airtight tool chest could be made with a large pvc pipe coming out of a side. One would then just need to, with an internal plunger set within the pipe, pull the plunger outwards to rarify the air within the chest.. thus creating a vac by increasing the toolchest's internal space. I wonder how tight a seal could be made.. leakage being the issue. This might be easier however than using the plastic bags especially if one were using the tools on a daily basis.

My new kanna (Tsunesaburo Meigo-Ryomo and a scraper) are ready to adjust after remaining in the more stable house climate. Sitting in the barn really made them tight.

I'm up to my fourth season here in Japan now, and can tell you that the climate varies a LOT. If it is cold it is dry, and if it is hot it is humid - drippingly so. I'd be inclined not to worry too much, as the natural habitat for these tools is pretty severe already.

My workshop ranges from around 5C to 45C. I run the a/c when I'm in there and that of course also adds big humidity variations to the mix. I don't use Japanese planes but have a lot of DIY turning tool handles with ferrules, and those of Redgum or Blackwood are most likely to move. In fact to drop initially well-fitted ferrules. So regrettably (cos I still think it's a cheat ) they now get a dob of glue.