Blog post on adjusting the dai (call for fluent Japanese)

[Chris Pyle]

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/ariari_1946/e/397 ... 16e7288a01

In this blog post I can only get so far as the pictures and awful english translation. It appears he is is sanding his dai instead of scraping but I can't tell what this is supposed to offer over a scraped surface. Is there something to this? Is it just an easier way to achieve the correct profile?

[Chris Hall]

Is it just an easier way to achieve the correct profile?

Yes. He notes that after doing the sanding one must take care to scrupulously clean the dai of any sanding grit, or nokori-kasu (残り粕).

He mentions at the beginning the orthodox methods of using a dai scraping plane or a scraper. He glues up some T-shaped blocks and then glues some sandpaper on the blocks. Then use the blocks to rub down the high spots on the dai sole.

[Dennis]

Sanding dais is a supposed convenience that came into the picture quite a number of years ago. I think it started when tool dealers started to offer a long and narrow special abrasive paper with an adhesive backing, specifically marketed for the dai shaping purpose. About the same time a similar type was offered for flattening sharpening stones.

I don't believe that using sandpaper on dais ever has gained much popularity in Japan. Now that there are hardly any shops that will take on apprentices, and many of the technical schools that once taught woodworking have closed up, just about anything being done is possible as far as methods, however. Wanting to publicise some of them is a rarer thing, however.

More on the amateur side, maintaining dais is one of the technical aspects that is problematical for people wanting to use planes. I see planes that get brought to me sometimes that people are confounded with and want to have work. With some brief discussion, it is easy to determine how much effort has gone into understanding the aspects of it. Often there has been almost none. Purists might disagree, but if there is no hope that someone could ever get to using the more traditional method to keep a plane body in good order, and is often the case that those planes see limited use, I guess sanding would be ok, imo.