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You may want to consider using a 5" or 6" thick block of wood to use as a planing bench at which you'd sit and pull back on the kanna. It's very amenable to installing planing "jigs" like stops. I'll...

Sure looks like the plane on the right has developed a crack in the top center of the dai, which would provide some room for movement when the blade is inserted (see Des' marked up photos above).
...

Gadge, from what I've seen, the hardest part of metate is adjusting the taper, not tooth sharpening (although in some configurations, that's no piece of cake either). Also, Mark had to work pretty...

He seemed most interested in passing on his craft, and he did that with aplomb.

Pam

But I forgot to mention how wonderful Inomoto-san was, he and Harrelson taught me how to make Japanese planes.

I don't feel particularly bad about these other experiences, more like very tired...

That's what I thought, too, until I experienced a couple of events in California, and keep in mind it's a 2000 or so mile trip, so some effort and money required: 1) Yataiki seminar, at the beginning...

Aha, you're thejapanstone Alex, nice to see you again.

Pam

Might be if you're male and speak/read Japanese; otherwise you may as well stay home, take some expensive classes, buy lots more tools, whatever.

Pam

I was going to suggest a traveling show of users that meets here and there to see the latest tools produced in a given area; but then I realized how silly that would be. :)

Pam

I contend that it's the area you use to sharpen that must be flat, not the entire stone if you don't use it. I'm so cheap that I've never flattened some of my natural stones. Instead I've often used...

Well, let's at least agree on what's obvious: Gumi handle, bachi nomi (fishtail), hooped.

So, how long ago and where did you buy them?

Pam

Sure, 330mate and/or 330mate_com; but in checking this out, he only seems to have a couple of items there. Maybe his web site is a better choice.

Pam

Tomonori is one of my favorite Japanese tool sellers, he's most easily available on ebay. I started buying from him in 2001 or earlier when I started getting into Japanese tools and don't recall...

Thanks, raptor. I've seen the "corner plane" description several times in the last few months, had no idea; but it appears to be what I've seen called an adjustable chamfer plane.

Why do you need...

Sounds like a lot of productive fun. One question: why is a corner plane called a corner plane? Any chance you'd like to post a head on bottom view?

Pam

I keep a single diamond (Atoma 400, Stu at Tools From Japan) for waterstone flattening and use the waterstones for edge sharpening. This has worked well. Among other things, I don't appreciate the...

I think it's cool that I'll be able to sell some tools for more than I paid, and I expect to get this done for most of my metal planes real soon now. I didn't buy them as an investment.

As for...

True enough, but I wasn't really talking about Japanese tools, I've never tried to sell any; however, the LN and LV that I no longer need I expect to go for somewhat more than I paid, same with...

Well, like it or not, the better the tool the higher the resale value. That is, you're much less likely to lose any money for using a top quality tool when you resell it. So always opt for leather...

I've bought a couple of items from shin109-jp on ebay, generally good deals until he gets into weird handle finishes.

So, what's the secret of shopping from Japan? Not fair to make such a post and...

Very interesting, this whole topic of a combination of natural stone with synthetic binding. I was guilty of thinking that this was how all synthetic stones were made, from crushed stone rubble plus...

Don't know about quickly, but one of the goals of a smoother, western or eastern, is to follow those undulations. This is why smoothers can be so short, like coffin smoothers with flat soles.

Pam

For what it's worth, many flatten the soles of their joinery planes; or, a smoother does not a joiner make.

Pam

For mortising I use a mix of Tasai (4 or 5), Imai (2), and several hiramachi (by Shinto, or something like that) for larger mortises, plus a set (my one set) of western pigstickers. My favorite...

Like a greatest hits summary of chisel posts, thanks; so it's with great trepidation that I add even the tiniest bit of advice: once I obtained all the quality, specialized chisels I needed, I no...

Never, I was feeling real bad for having wrecked a perfectly good thread. (:

As to drawings and maths, that's pretty much what I expected, I just have to decide to do the work.

Pam

PS...

I'm really enjoying reading your posts, but they're also a bit off putting. It's very hard for me to visualize from line drawings, and Sketchup drives me nuts; but maybe a course like this would make...

Of course; but I have to say that if I'd been a boy, my academic and work life would have been very different.

Pam

Well, when I was 12. Mother wrecked it all by holding me back when informed that I tested 4 grades higher in math, "oh, she's too immature." At that point I stopped communicating about anything that...

Same here, I've never learned to cook Italian or Chinese because we like to eat out/bring in something different. Of course, these days with all the crap in normal food I'm much more hesitant to eat...

Thanks, guys, I've put it in my cart for a "real soon" buy. Don't know how I missed it first time around.

Pam

Oh, yeah, very comfortable. I've never studied knife holds. Where is this info hidden?

Pam

Thanks, Derek. I've always been very good at math, excluding geometry, so an updating review of tangents et al is very welcome. I suspect it's going to be very slow going though.

Pam

That's a bummer. All I can say is that I've been buying from him for more that 10 years, probably 12, with no problems whatsoever - fast deliveries (mostly woodworking tools), as described, and...

Glad to hear all is working well. By the above, I meant I just got
http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l180/pict/330668469713_2.jpg


Japanese Carpentry Drawing, Volume I. Having a little...

Derek, I've been thinking about a bit of refinement that could make chopping straight a little easier. How about cutting out/off/whatever the now missing part, but not sloped? Instead make it...

I feel the same about most anything I think is just too expensive, in general, whether crackers ($3!), smart cell phones (> $60!), knives, etc. So I was quite pleased to find that my old friend...

Yes, I did see the slope, and I see how that could effect the chopping angle. However, it doesn't make any angle difference logically if you chop an extra 3" or not. Straight from top to bottom is...

So why didn't you cut away the now missing part before starting the mortise? I understand your approach when cutting mortises in things like curved chair legs or if you were to eventually cut away...

Thanks, Neil, I can now see this marvelous knife.

Pam

Thanks, Neil, but all I got was a price list. Usually I can take an image copy from a web page, save it on whatever computer I'm using, then place it on a discussion page. On the Mac this is done...

Thanks, Steve.

I'd love to look at this, but alas, I get nothing but the Chefs...... logo above a blank black page, I click the link that actually takes me nowhere. This is on a Mac. Help?

Pam

Yes, true, but I think the vise is used to shorten the attachment, thus making the drilling depth longer.

Pam

Cool. I forgot to mention that it might help in this difficult situation to add a little trapezoidal shape to your mods, very slight.

Pam

At the business end of a 2-3mm chisel, there's not that much difference between a mortiser and a bench edge, most of the difference is between the shanks. Also, it's difficult to get the size...

Neil, me, too.

Ern, very interesting thing to try. Please let us know how this works out. My understanding of how a single bevel may be better at sloughing off the cut pieces is when one is...

I strongly recommend that you get a LN or LV low angle, bevel up, jack plane. Work right out of the box, take quality shavings, and can take you from roughing to smoothing and all points in between....

There's a cooking show in the US on PBS called "America's Test Kitchen" that I usually watch, very good show. They blew me away last night with a review of vegetable cleavers, which included both...

I don't know, guess I prefer to ask someone who might actually know something. When I ran a software development company, I'd often help people who most likely wouldn't pay me immediately, especially...