soatoz
17th February 2007, 11:44 AM
There seems to be a lot of forum members who are interested in my tools, and infos, and some of you have already contacted me or purchased from me through eBay.
I learned that some of you don't do eBay, but if it was posted here would be interested to read and/or buy. So, I decided to post this one, part my ad, part some fun information on Japanese tools. The information isn't too organized but it should at least be a fun read. I will post this in the buy and sell section for now, but if this is also suitable for other sections, moderatos please tell me and I will post it there too!
If you are interested only in the information, then just ignore the part where I go "I can get you blah, blah, blah" or "If you want, blah, blah.":2tsup:
===============
If you need, I can get you a high quality Japanese rough grit stones (that grinds steel as if they were iron!) good for shaping the tools, or fixing larger chips.
There are enormous numbers of brands and grits, so you can tell me what you want, or ask me what you might need if you're not too sure. But it'll take time (about 3 months) and cost you a bit for the shipping fee. If you don't have them it is definitely worth the trouble getting them. I personally think Japanese tools are unsharpenable without good quality Japanese stones, espesially rough and mid grit synthetic stones.
<!--StartFragment -->The starters set would be 2 coarse synthetic (#250,#400), 2 medium synthetic(#1000, #2000), 1 medium natural, 1 fine synthetic(#8000).
Some people omit the midium natural, but I think it is much easier if you put this one extra step between the medium synthetic and the fine synthetic. These 6 (5 if you want to omit the med natural) are a must.
And if you want to try using natural finishing stone, you need one more and total of 7 stones.
This is the least numbers of stones you need to get, and as your skill develops, and especially if you find interest in natural stones,,, there is no end. Depending on the type of steel, there are different kinds of stones that suit them. I have I think about 50 stones at the moment, half of them are natural finishing stones.
If you want to enjoy the process of learning how to sharpen, then you should start with soft stones for every grit. And you should be able to keep using them without problem for at least couple years, no matter how gifted you are. You can then start switching to a little harder stones if you want to further your sharpening skill. Although I am all for getting a higher quality tools as much as your wallet (and wife?) lets you, I don't recommend getting a hard stones in the begining. It's like starting to drive on a F1 machine when you just got a license.
I can basically get you any kind of stones, whether synthetic or natural. Synthetic stones are a lot cheaper and easier to use and they are getting better and better, whereas the natural stones are quite expensive and very difficult to use until you get used to them, and gradually running out of stock since most of the mines are closed. But the result is unsurpassed.
Although for sharpening butt chisels synthetic stones are good enough, I would recommend fine natural stones for paring chisels and planes. Nakayama, Okudo, Oozuku, Shinden (these are either name of the moutain or mine)are the most famous and expensive. $100 to $3000 (of course there are even more expensive ones as much as price of a car.) depending on the size, shape and colour, and most importantly the quality - fineness and ease of use. The most expensive stones have very fine surface yet very strong cutting strength, with even texture, without any hard metalic lines (suji), square in shape, light in colour (the light colour enables you to see how much steel is being cut from the water turning black with oxidized steel particles, as well as the aesthetic value. Cheaper ones are a little coarse and lack in cutting strength, have lines you need to either avoid or dig before use, not square or flat, dark in colour. So the price is all depending on these specific factors, usually... Any stones over $1000, you should consider them as a form of art objects. They are just so beautiful. For daily use, I think good sharpening quality stones with less atractive looks and odd shape is good. If the shape and colour isn't good it significantly brings down the price, even if it sharpens very well.
The quality and the price differ greatly between each stones, so you really need to be well informed to get a good natural stones. It might be fun to start from cheaper natural stones and see how different they are from synthetic stones. Even the cheaper stones are significantly better than the synthetic stones when it comes to fine grit finishing stones. They are cheap usually because of the unappealing looks (shape and colour) ranging from $20 to $100. If you have never used them you would be quite surprised how nature can produce such an incredible sharpening tools.
====
I will be selling some Japanese tools sporadically (on eBay for now.) Basically what I would be selling are either something very cost effective, or something that are rare even for Japanese.
I probably won't be selling anything popular and expensive, like Ichihiro chisels, Ishido planes, Tasai chisels and planes, Usui Kengo planes, etc. At least not on eBay. But if you are interested and don't mind the very high price tags (thus cannot accept any cancellation once ordered, and would have to ask you for some deposit in advance. Sorry!), I can basically get anything, I think,,, I'm not sure if my price is the best in Oz, so if you are interested you can ask me for the quote and compare it with other stores, but I think my price will be at least among the best or possibly the best, but above all I can get things that are very hard to find even in Japan. (I am not a merchant by the way. Please consider me as someone who really likes woodworking and good hand tools.)
What I would basically be selling would be brands you'd probably never heard of. I would explain what is so special about them as much as possible. Usually I would personally sharpen them and see what kind of quality they are and explain, but sometimes I would just sell it if I'm familiar with the brand or the maker. The construction style in Japan has drastically changed over the years, and the tools that are used have seen many inventive changes as well. The change of construction style for example, has brought down the price of old large chisels (Tataki Nomi) since all the mortice and tenons are made by machines now. Handsaws are replaced by electric saws, and even the handsaws used for interior fine works are now taken over by replacable blade saws. The handmade forged old-school handsaws cost more to resharpen than the price of these replacable blades, thus the old stocks are sometimes sold half the original price.
But everyone admits that the handmade saws that are forged from carbon steel cuts far better and easier to control the cut, since it has fine cavity throughout the body which lessen the friction, and also because it is flexible. It's just the cost problem for the pros. They want to use them but can't. Among the pros, only the temple builders who take pride in their work so much and to some extent don't even care if it doesn't pay off, still uses them. New generation carpenters sometimes have never even used them.
What I would like to sell are these items. Old used or unused good handmade tools that are sometimes sold very cheap. These are still very precious for hobbyist woodworkers who don't have problem spending time and effort. I am not sure about selling handmade handsaws since there are no saw specialist who can take care of the saws here, so you'd have to send it to Japan to have it repaired. These specialist are getting extinct even in Japan now that 99% of the professionals are using replaceable blade saws. And reparing (sharpening the tooth, fixing the minute warping, etc.)these saws requires tremendously high skill, layman can never do it by himself unlike chisel and plane sharpening which is difficult enough. You can try but the saw is destined to be ruined. I once tried, gathered all the tools you need and contacted one of the sharpeners but his responce was, that you train for 10 yrs and you're still halfway... But despite these troubles if you still want to feel the joy of these great tools I would be more than happy to get them for you. You would be surprised how much better they are to replacable blade saws that are considered to be great themselves.
=====
Sorry for the patchworked information, but I hope this was somehow helpful.:)
I learned that some of you don't do eBay, but if it was posted here would be interested to read and/or buy. So, I decided to post this one, part my ad, part some fun information on Japanese tools. The information isn't too organized but it should at least be a fun read. I will post this in the buy and sell section for now, but if this is also suitable for other sections, moderatos please tell me and I will post it there too!
If you are interested only in the information, then just ignore the part where I go "I can get you blah, blah, blah" or "If you want, blah, blah.":2tsup:
===============
If you need, I can get you a high quality Japanese rough grit stones (that grinds steel as if they were iron!) good for shaping the tools, or fixing larger chips.
There are enormous numbers of brands and grits, so you can tell me what you want, or ask me what you might need if you're not too sure. But it'll take time (about 3 months) and cost you a bit for the shipping fee. If you don't have them it is definitely worth the trouble getting them. I personally think Japanese tools are unsharpenable without good quality Japanese stones, espesially rough and mid grit synthetic stones.
<!--StartFragment -->The starters set would be 2 coarse synthetic (#250,#400), 2 medium synthetic(#1000, #2000), 1 medium natural, 1 fine synthetic(#8000).
Some people omit the midium natural, but I think it is much easier if you put this one extra step between the medium synthetic and the fine synthetic. These 6 (5 if you want to omit the med natural) are a must.
And if you want to try using natural finishing stone, you need one more and total of 7 stones.
This is the least numbers of stones you need to get, and as your skill develops, and especially if you find interest in natural stones,,, there is no end. Depending on the type of steel, there are different kinds of stones that suit them. I have I think about 50 stones at the moment, half of them are natural finishing stones.
If you want to enjoy the process of learning how to sharpen, then you should start with soft stones for every grit. And you should be able to keep using them without problem for at least couple years, no matter how gifted you are. You can then start switching to a little harder stones if you want to further your sharpening skill. Although I am all for getting a higher quality tools as much as your wallet (and wife?) lets you, I don't recommend getting a hard stones in the begining. It's like starting to drive on a F1 machine when you just got a license.
I can basically get you any kind of stones, whether synthetic or natural. Synthetic stones are a lot cheaper and easier to use and they are getting better and better, whereas the natural stones are quite expensive and very difficult to use until you get used to them, and gradually running out of stock since most of the mines are closed. But the result is unsurpassed.
Although for sharpening butt chisels synthetic stones are good enough, I would recommend fine natural stones for paring chisels and planes. Nakayama, Okudo, Oozuku, Shinden (these are either name of the moutain or mine)are the most famous and expensive. $100 to $3000 (of course there are even more expensive ones as much as price of a car.) depending on the size, shape and colour, and most importantly the quality - fineness and ease of use. The most expensive stones have very fine surface yet very strong cutting strength, with even texture, without any hard metalic lines (suji), square in shape, light in colour (the light colour enables you to see how much steel is being cut from the water turning black with oxidized steel particles, as well as the aesthetic value. Cheaper ones are a little coarse and lack in cutting strength, have lines you need to either avoid or dig before use, not square or flat, dark in colour. So the price is all depending on these specific factors, usually... Any stones over $1000, you should consider them as a form of art objects. They are just so beautiful. For daily use, I think good sharpening quality stones with less atractive looks and odd shape is good. If the shape and colour isn't good it significantly brings down the price, even if it sharpens very well.
The quality and the price differ greatly between each stones, so you really need to be well informed to get a good natural stones. It might be fun to start from cheaper natural stones and see how different they are from synthetic stones. Even the cheaper stones are significantly better than the synthetic stones when it comes to fine grit finishing stones. They are cheap usually because of the unappealing looks (shape and colour) ranging from $20 to $100. If you have never used them you would be quite surprised how nature can produce such an incredible sharpening tools.
====
I will be selling some Japanese tools sporadically (on eBay for now.) Basically what I would be selling are either something very cost effective, or something that are rare even for Japanese.
I probably won't be selling anything popular and expensive, like Ichihiro chisels, Ishido planes, Tasai chisels and planes, Usui Kengo planes, etc. At least not on eBay. But if you are interested and don't mind the very high price tags (thus cannot accept any cancellation once ordered, and would have to ask you for some deposit in advance. Sorry!), I can basically get anything, I think,,, I'm not sure if my price is the best in Oz, so if you are interested you can ask me for the quote and compare it with other stores, but I think my price will be at least among the best or possibly the best, but above all I can get things that are very hard to find even in Japan. (I am not a merchant by the way. Please consider me as someone who really likes woodworking and good hand tools.)
What I would basically be selling would be brands you'd probably never heard of. I would explain what is so special about them as much as possible. Usually I would personally sharpen them and see what kind of quality they are and explain, but sometimes I would just sell it if I'm familiar with the brand or the maker. The construction style in Japan has drastically changed over the years, and the tools that are used have seen many inventive changes as well. The change of construction style for example, has brought down the price of old large chisels (Tataki Nomi) since all the mortice and tenons are made by machines now. Handsaws are replaced by electric saws, and even the handsaws used for interior fine works are now taken over by replacable blade saws. The handmade forged old-school handsaws cost more to resharpen than the price of these replacable blades, thus the old stocks are sometimes sold half the original price.
But everyone admits that the handmade saws that are forged from carbon steel cuts far better and easier to control the cut, since it has fine cavity throughout the body which lessen the friction, and also because it is flexible. It's just the cost problem for the pros. They want to use them but can't. Among the pros, only the temple builders who take pride in their work so much and to some extent don't even care if it doesn't pay off, still uses them. New generation carpenters sometimes have never even used them.
What I would like to sell are these items. Old used or unused good handmade tools that are sometimes sold very cheap. These are still very precious for hobbyist woodworkers who don't have problem spending time and effort. I am not sure about selling handmade handsaws since there are no saw specialist who can take care of the saws here, so you'd have to send it to Japan to have it repaired. These specialist are getting extinct even in Japan now that 99% of the professionals are using replaceable blade saws. And reparing (sharpening the tooth, fixing the minute warping, etc.)these saws requires tremendously high skill, layman can never do it by himself unlike chisel and plane sharpening which is difficult enough. You can try but the saw is destined to be ruined. I once tried, gathered all the tools you need and contacted one of the sharpeners but his responce was, that you train for 10 yrs and you're still halfway... But despite these troubles if you still want to feel the joy of these great tools I would be more than happy to get them for you. You would be surprised how much better they are to replacable blade saws that are considered to be great themselves.
=====
Sorry for the patchworked information, but I hope this was somehow helpful.:)