D.W. thanks for the buyee info looks like a really good source.
D.W. thanks for the buyee info looks like a really good source.
I've bought off of yahoo auctions via buyee a few times and you do get access to a lot of planes, chisels and tools you'd rarely see otherwise and you can get some well priced items. I purchased a few Matsui marking gauges and squares at prices imcomparable to western sellers. Along with a few tataki-nomi from Tsunehiro that would rarely be available outside of japan nowa days for example. Just be cautious as if you buy multiple lots their combined packaging and postage costs seem unreasonable. One time I received two planes and a few chisels in a box that could have easily fit three times as much stuff and the postage cost was over $120. This was prior to the GST that is now added on at purchasing time now, too. If you buy multiple items from the same seller on yahoo auctions through buyee, they are still sent to buyee warehouse seperately, still incur their own seperate postage costs and they still need to combine them at the warehouse prior to sending to you if you elect for that.
On the plus side, you get the chance to try planes from unknown or not so common makers and you can score a good deal. I got a 坂田春雄 Blade for around $80 that had a bit of light surface rust, made a dai for it and honestly it's hard to pick up any other plane.
According to So's father, I probably had a togo reigo blade that was made by the grandfather of the current generation of Tsunesaburo.Quote:
Originally Posted by D.W.
The hardest blade I have tried to sharpen.
I did't keep it as it was too hard for me and I gifted it to someone else. I was never going to get enough use of it to appreciate it.
I have a forged Japanese kitchen knife (deba) made from old Swedish Udderholm steel that was made at about the same time as the Andrew Co was making 'togo reigo' steel, which I understand was also sourced from Sweden. The steel in this knife is also very hard and brittle, but being a knife that is not such an issue, unless you drop it!
It is an excellent place to basically buy things and be out nothing if you don't like them (as in, you can sell them pretty easily once you've tried them and break even or better).Quote:
Originally Posted by thumbsucker
In case I didn't mention it, you'll find most tools that have any rosewood in them to be restricted and something you can't bid on. If an auction has a bunch of sexy chisels with rosewood handles and they missed making it domestic only, I wouldn't bid on it. They don't do a good job of dealing with that when the tools get to their ship center. They identify them as having rosewood in them and then send you an email basically telling you that you'll never get them, and you won't get your money back either.
I have so many tools and stones that I shouldn't be looking over there, but I had a 40 chisel lot in my watch list from last time and see that it sold for $185. It had about half chisels of the 2000 yen type (hardware store, like basic iyoroi) and then another half vintage chisels that would likely be much higher quality. It's possible that you'd be able to recoup the entire amount on the modern chisels. Despite the relatively regular appeal for people to go through dealers because they'll get junk if they don't, I find those older chisels to usually have half or so of the assortment as good as anything you can buy at any price.
I did see a 12 or 14 chisel more modern set a few years ago that was thinner multihollow chisels and really liked them and bought them. They are wonderful. Since they were all matching, I did have to pay for them ($325 US), but you couldn't go through a dealer and get anything remotely like them without spending four times as much or more. There is just a little risk in buying things like that, but not much. One out of ten things you buy may not be as represented, but you will have paid for two or three "things" worth even at japanese dealer prices with the ten that you purchased and be way ahead.
In my opinion, dealers and buying the "guaranteed to be the best work" is something for beginners. The potential scenario of deciding you don't want your current makers' tools in 20 years will leave you getting a tiny fraction of what you paid unless you are extremely lucky (if someone had found a nice set of kiyotada chisels or ichihiro chisels and took good care of them in use, they'd do quite well). I'm not aware of much other than a couple of things like that - when the maker dies, people seem to move on to the next living maker (someone like kiyohisa now).
(actually, I've never seen any of the ichihiro sets actually sell in the US - they just persist on ebay at close to five figures, and have done so for longer than I can remember. Where I grew up, we call that pricing when you're not really looking to sell. The only thing you have to watch out for with the "not really looking to sell" price is that someone may eventually buy something you forgot about and wanted to keep. I did that with a guitar earlier this year - forgot I'd listed it, listed it at a price I'd sell it, and someone asked a question and I tried quickly to remove the listing and the guy bought it between when he asked the question and I answered it. It was closer to market price, but more than I paid, and i'm not usually "that guy", buying things and doing anything more than passing along my good fortune in buying something well to the next guy when I'm tired with whatever it is that I purchased).
As valuable as kiyotada's chisels are, if they have any significant wear, the value goes way down. For example, a nearly unused parer may be worth 50,000 yen, but one with a fair bit of wear is probably 1/4th that. I purchased two here in the states for $100 each from a maker who got them from So for only slightly more than that. So doesn't give anything away.
I had a chance to use the chamfer plane on a work stand. A few observations:
- the distance you set the skates / runners apart is not the width of your chamfer. It takes a little guesstimating and testing to set the distance.
- the best way to use the plane is much in the same way one use a plow plane short strokes on the near end working backwards (remembering that the plane is pulled)
- the plane works well even if pushed
- the small insertion dai block can be moved left to right so that you slowly move / reveal fresh sharp blade in the area between the two skates. So you do not dull a small portion of the blade, but use the whole bevel.
- as far as Japanese planes goes it’s one of the easiest to use and I could see that most woodworkers would find a use for these little planes.