soatoz
2nd March 2007, 03:12 PM
I just had a chat with my friend over email and I thought this conversation might be interesting, so I'll post it here.
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A question for you - how can one recognise a jo-shiko kanna unless you actually use it.
Yeah, good question isn't it.
I understand that the mouth is likely to be very fine and the blade with cap iron set very close to the edge of the blade.
I also realise that the dai bottom may be very slightly scraped off so that contact is limited to 3 points but what else?
Yes, but these are what the users do by themselves AFTER the purchase.
NONE of these are done at the time of purchase, if it's a new one.
And if it's an old one it would even be much much worse. Usually the block has to be changed to a new one, chipbreaker to be adjusted, and of course the blade needs a MAJOR maintenance. Sometimes the back cavity is almost gone! Then you'd have to have it sent to the pro to have the hollow made again. We can never do it by ourselves. The hollow is very
delicate. If you over grind, you'd poke a hole in the steel, and can't use grinders in the first place because the heat will over temper the steel making is brittle and useless.
The mouth isn't even opened enough for the blade to come out and the user have to open it himself. Beginners without much knowledge of Japanese tools crack the dai pounding the blade so hard, wondering why it won't come out...
This is why I like to sell my planes fully adjusted. A beginner user can see at least once how an adjusted plane performs, and if he is keen, he should wonder why after he had adjusted and sharpened, the performance went down, and start learning.
Whereas if it was unadjusted, beginners might think that Japanese tools aren't that great. I would really want to avoid that situation, but I guess it would be inevitable in the near future. I am getting way too busy getting so many contacts and stuff, I won't be able to adjust all the tools I sell. But for now that's what I'm doing, and without any extra charge.
Anyway, if you are wondering how you can tell "when it's being sold", you'd have to look for something else right?
I suppose I would have great difficulty in distinguishing between a chu-shiko and a jo-shiko.
Actually, it is distinguished by the user! Not by the maker. More expensive ones are intended to be used as jo-shiko, but you can still use them as ara-shiko or chu-shiko too.
So,,, see it's like this. A common person would consider a Honda S2000 (do you know?) a luxury car. But for a millionare it is just a daily car used for shopping or something, when they own lots of Ferraris and Lambourghinis,,,
Do you know what I mean? Some people use very expensive planes for Chu-shiko, even for Aara-shiko, something which many people would consider a great Jo-shiko.
Basically, the difference between Chu-shiko and Jo-shiko is defined by the adjustment done by the user. The width of the mouth opened, and the depth of the shave on the sole (ju~st a little deeper for Chu-shiko.)
Also if it's an Aara-shiko, the blade would be sharpened slightly rounded to the sideway, so that the whole width of the blade won't bite on the surface, because if it does it would be too heavy to pull.
But there is one thing you can check "as a guidance." If the mouth is opened wide showing large amount of bevel of the blade (it's called Normal mouth = Futsuu-guchi) then it is "usually" intended to be Aara-shiko
or Chu-shiko. If the mouth is "Tsutsumi-guchi"=Coverd mouth, which conceals the bevel as much as possible is intended to be Jo-shiko. But sometimes the quality of the blade is too good to be used for Aara or Chu-shiko, then the user make a new dai for it with Tsutsumi-guchi style and use it for Jo-shiko.
Also, for chu-shiko and especially for ara-shiko, it is better to have an alloy steel for the blade, because the endurance matters. And unless you are using it on very hard timbre (then you don't need a jo-shiko. you would sand after chu-shiko) pure carbon steel blade is better because the edge would be sharper than alloy steels. So, the most expensive planes (over $1000) are almost always pure carbon steel (WS#1, Swedish steel, and Tama-hagane) and not an alloy. There are only few exeptions (various Blue super steel, Tougou steel. these are my favorite!!!)
====
A question for you - how can one recognise a jo-shiko kanna unless you actually use it.
Yeah, good question isn't it.
I understand that the mouth is likely to be very fine and the blade with cap iron set very close to the edge of the blade.
I also realise that the dai bottom may be very slightly scraped off so that contact is limited to 3 points but what else?
Yes, but these are what the users do by themselves AFTER the purchase.
NONE of these are done at the time of purchase, if it's a new one.
And if it's an old one it would even be much much worse. Usually the block has to be changed to a new one, chipbreaker to be adjusted, and of course the blade needs a MAJOR maintenance. Sometimes the back cavity is almost gone! Then you'd have to have it sent to the pro to have the hollow made again. We can never do it by ourselves. The hollow is very
delicate. If you over grind, you'd poke a hole in the steel, and can't use grinders in the first place because the heat will over temper the steel making is brittle and useless.
The mouth isn't even opened enough for the blade to come out and the user have to open it himself. Beginners without much knowledge of Japanese tools crack the dai pounding the blade so hard, wondering why it won't come out...
This is why I like to sell my planes fully adjusted. A beginner user can see at least once how an adjusted plane performs, and if he is keen, he should wonder why after he had adjusted and sharpened, the performance went down, and start learning.
Whereas if it was unadjusted, beginners might think that Japanese tools aren't that great. I would really want to avoid that situation, but I guess it would be inevitable in the near future. I am getting way too busy getting so many contacts and stuff, I won't be able to adjust all the tools I sell. But for now that's what I'm doing, and without any extra charge.
Anyway, if you are wondering how you can tell "when it's being sold", you'd have to look for something else right?
I suppose I would have great difficulty in distinguishing between a chu-shiko and a jo-shiko.
Actually, it is distinguished by the user! Not by the maker. More expensive ones are intended to be used as jo-shiko, but you can still use them as ara-shiko or chu-shiko too.
So,,, see it's like this. A common person would consider a Honda S2000 (do you know?) a luxury car. But for a millionare it is just a daily car used for shopping or something, when they own lots of Ferraris and Lambourghinis,,,
Do you know what I mean? Some people use very expensive planes for Chu-shiko, even for Aara-shiko, something which many people would consider a great Jo-shiko.
Basically, the difference between Chu-shiko and Jo-shiko is defined by the adjustment done by the user. The width of the mouth opened, and the depth of the shave on the sole (ju~st a little deeper for Chu-shiko.)
Also if it's an Aara-shiko, the blade would be sharpened slightly rounded to the sideway, so that the whole width of the blade won't bite on the surface, because if it does it would be too heavy to pull.
But there is one thing you can check "as a guidance." If the mouth is opened wide showing large amount of bevel of the blade (it's called Normal mouth = Futsuu-guchi) then it is "usually" intended to be Aara-shiko
or Chu-shiko. If the mouth is "Tsutsumi-guchi"=Coverd mouth, which conceals the bevel as much as possible is intended to be Jo-shiko. But sometimes the quality of the blade is too good to be used for Aara or Chu-shiko, then the user make a new dai for it with Tsutsumi-guchi style and use it for Jo-shiko.
Also, for chu-shiko and especially for ara-shiko, it is better to have an alloy steel for the blade, because the endurance matters. And unless you are using it on very hard timbre (then you don't need a jo-shiko. you would sand after chu-shiko) pure carbon steel blade is better because the edge would be sharper than alloy steels. So, the most expensive planes (over $1000) are almost always pure carbon steel (WS#1, Swedish steel, and Tama-hagane) and not an alloy. There are only few exeptions (various Blue super steel, Tougou steel. these are my favorite!!!)