Japanese kanna users in the north east

[Geordie1]

Hello everyone, and happy new year to you all.

I came back from a recent trip to Japan with a new kanna. Ive been trying to get the thing Woking but my results haven't been great. Certainly not as good as what I get from my old smoother. I've watched a few videos on YouTube to help get the plane set up, but I'm posting here to see if there is anyone in the NE of England who might be willing to show me what's what in setting up their japanese planes.

Any pointers greatly appreciated.

 

[tobytools]

those type of planes are a life tool and used daily buy their masters ect, the iron is usually passed on to the chidden and so on. its the body that is just replaced.
what im trying to say is you have to keep using it, till you develop a better understanding of how the tools is used and made, continue to fettle and play and one day it will click....
i for one gave up on that concept and only use western style plane.

not much help i know..
TT

 

[Kodama]

One could easily write a whole book just about kanna it's use and setup. That aside there are quite a few good resources about how and why. Two books come to my mind the really famous one by Toshio Odate and also Des King's book about shoji has a really good chapter on kanna setup.
Chris Hall had a really nice series of posts on his blog a while ago.
Getting it to work is one thing. Making it perform really wel is something else. Pulling micro shavings and getting that perfect shine on anything from Western Red Cedar to some kind of curly burl wood is something that will take time but can be achieved by anyone if you ask me.

I would love to explain you in person but the distance is not really helping. Check the above resources and post any question you might have here afterwards. I will try to give you some direction if needed. It's is good to be specific when you ask a question. How to set up a kanna is too broad of a subject to explain well.

 

[MIGNAL]

Seriously. How difficult can it be? Where are the moving parts, the cogs, the escapement wheels?
Get a reliable straightedge and check the sole. You will almost certainly find that it is out of true, possibly with a concavity just ahead of the blade. The rest is getting the seating of the blade 'right' and getting the blade truly sharp.
They are pretty simple affairs but rely on certain aspects that need a close tolerance.

 

[Kodama]

Seriously. How difficult can it be? Where are the moving parts, the cogs, the escapement wheels?
Get a reliable straightedge and check the sole. You will almost certainly find that it is out of true, possibly with a concavity just ahead of the blade. The rest is getting the seating of the blade 'right' and getting the blade truly sharp.
They are pretty simple affairs but rely on certain aspects that need a close tolerance.

Your comment really makes me wonder wether you speak out of experience?
I am sorry if I might have discouraged someone or gave the impression that a kanna is too difficult to use or setup. This is certainly not the case and I can only encourage anyone to use them. They are not only fun but setting them up maintaining and using them teaches you a lot about planes and the wood you are planing in general. But I can assure you that there are many subtleties to understand and to learn to adjust to realize optimal results.
I believe there is a large difference between just pulling some shavings, good enough to square up a piece of lumber, or finish planing it's surface to the smoothest possible finish.
I have always wondered wether we missed something along the way during the development of western style planes? We came up with all these mechanisms like you describe. They should be beneficial for the performance of the tool and still it seems more difficult to get comparable results to what you can do with a kanna when it comes down to finish planing. How difficult can it be? Let's keep it simple and get rid of those gimmicks.

 

[MIGNAL]

What are these subtleties then? I've looked at Japanese Planes and there simply isn't that much to adjust. The variables are extremely limited. Do these subtleties also apply to western wooden planes?
BTW Over the years I've made over 30 wooden planes, if you include every type.

http://linuxplane.awardspace.com/

 

[tobytools]

A little secret with jap planes is using paper shims.

TT

 

[jimi43]

Anyone know where I can get a short piece of rail track?

Jimi