Japanese Tools Catalogue

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For the princely sum of 41 Euros, you can get a Japanese plane blade, chip breaker and block of oak, then make yourself a plane. That, by the way, is cheaper that I've seen them in Japan! :oops:
 
Chiba,
That is pretty cheap!
By the way, do you know how to close the mouth up on a Japanese plane- on the one I bought from Tilgear the mouth is quite wide ( about 2.5mm). Any suggestions?
regards,
Philly
 
Hmm, 2.5mm sounds like a lot. My big new 58mm bladed plane has a mouth opening (wood to wood) of about 11mm. With the blade seated to cutting depth the opening's only about 1mm. For old, worn planes the wood can be cut out and an insert added, but as yours is new it seems wrong to have to do that. I've read elsewhere (sorry - I forget the URL) that the openings do vary quite a lot, so maybe just get it set up and give it a try? Toshio Odate's book, "Japanese Woodworking Tools", is probably the best reference in English on this. Having just taken a quick look, he recommends a mouth opening of "just wide enough for the shavings", and also mentions adding a hardwood piece. Kind of serious - I'd give it a spin first then think about surgery later...
 
Chiba,
Yes, the mouth is really wide. In use the plane is really sweet-as long as its a straight grained piece of wood. As soon as i try any interestingly grained piece-big tearout! And yes, the blade is set for a really fine shaving.
So, it looks like i need to fit an insert-any ideas?
thanks,
Philly
 
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