Planemakers and their Blades: Other Regions

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Chris Hall
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Planemakers and their Blades: Other Regions

Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:47 pm

Here's where all the plane blade makers who do not reside in the three main areas for blacksmithing in Japan will be cataloged.
Werner
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Re: Planemakers and their Blades: Other Regions

Thu Jan 08, 2015 9:04 am

Here is a 70 mm blade of Heiji-san. It is specially made for kezurou-kai competitions and is made of carbon-steel.
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Last edited by Werner on Fri Jan 09, 2015 10:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Chris Hall
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Re: Planemakers and their Blades: Other Regions

Thu Jan 08, 2015 9:25 am

That's Heiji - the characters on the blade are 平治

How do you like the plane - what can you compare it to?
Werner
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Re: Planemakers and their Blades: Other Regions

Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:25 am

Chis, this kanna works quite different, because there is a lower angle(36°) and therefore difficult to compare with other kannas. Carbon steel blades is made for softwood of course. The softer the wood the sharper the blade must be. But the consequence is: You have to sharpen ths blade very often for perfect results.
Carey
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Re: Planemakers and their Blades: Other Regions

Sun Aug 06, 2017 9:29 pm

I don't know who the maker is so I'll try putting this 42mm koganna blade here. I think it's my favorite blade, hard and gets quite sharp. Love to know
the blacksmith!
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42mm koganna omote.JPG
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Carey
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Re: Planemakers and their Blades: Other Regions

Sun Aug 06, 2017 9:34 pm

Here's the ura:
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42mm koganna ura.JPG
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Carey
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Re: Planemakers and their Blades: Other Regions

Sun Aug 06, 2017 9:45 pm

A last closeup of the mei:
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Chris Hall
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Re: Planemakers and their Blades: Other Regions

Sun Aug 06, 2017 10:15 pm

On the ura side, the two kanji are 入魂, read as nyūkon, and meaning 'intimacy, familiarity', literally to enter, 入, the soul, 魂.
Carey
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Re: Planemakers and their Blades: Other Regions

Mon Aug 07, 2017 12:48 am

Thanks very much, Chris. I like those thoughts. I wish the blade had been better cared for before, and will do what I can to make a nicer ura-ba (?) over time.
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Re: Planemakers and their Blades: Other Regions

Mon Aug 07, 2017 10:31 am

The kanji on the front of the kannami, 木口, are interesting. The characters are read as 'koguchi', and aren't, to me, looking much like the inscription of the smith's name by the way they are simply scratched in there. The term '木口', also refers to a koguchi-ganna, which is a type of plane that has a skewed blade like a kiwa ganna:

582649a996f77dfba70a50c3cc87a630.jpg
582649a996f77dfba70a50c3cc87a630.jpg (77.27 KiB) Viewed 5838 times
The kiwa ganna is on the left, and the koguchi-ganna on the right.

The difference is seen when you look at the soles of the planes:

2a9734e1ce183ff7a5670f63b2b17fdd.jpg
2a9734e1ce183ff7a5670f63b2b17fdd.jpg (93.79 KiB) Viewed 5838 times

Besides the dai difference, the kiwa-ganna blade comes to a sharp point at one corner, which the koguchi-ganna uses a blade in the same form as that of a regular plane.

'Koguchi' refers also to the end grain of wood, and this plane is especially suited for that:

3d85488419c486e747286cbd8314a652.jpg
3d85488419c486e747286cbd8314a652.jpg (71.25 KiB) Viewed 5838 times

If you pair a kiwa ganna with a koguchi ganna, you obtain a set referred to as dō-zuki ganna - yes, just like the name of the saw with the stiffening back. Confusingly, some Japanese sites will call a left-right pair of kiwa ganna a dō-zuki ganna set, which I think is in error.

Looking on the Takenaka Tool Museum http://www.dougukan.jp/tools/30 listing, it has a listing for koguchi ganna. It also describes the tool as similar looking to a kiwa-ganna, distinguishing them in the fact that with the koguchi-ganna, the "side slope of the plane mouth faces the opposite way".

I'm guessing your plane was originally used in a koguchi-ganna. Did you purchase only the blade? It looks also like you have made a new dai for it, yes?

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