Craftsmanship in Wood

I have a soko shakuri kanna in need of some adjustment. The blade is proud of the right side of the dai (as seen in use) by ~1-2mm. Any thoughts on how to rectify that? I can't grind down the side of the blade without grinding into the hollow. I suppose I could laminate a piece to the side of the dai, but it's a rather nice dai with an inlaid ebony sole, so I'd like to leave it alone as much as possible. Besides cutting a whole new dai, those are all the ideas I could come up with. Is there anything I haven't thought of?

Post a picture of the tool please. How did the blade end up to far out of alignment? Is this a new tool, or a used purchase or what?

I'll get a photo up in a bit, as soon as I get my camera out of its box (I just moved). The kanna was a used purchase, so I can't say if it ever fit perfectly, but I don't recall it being so far out when I received it. It's been acclimatizing for a few months, so it's likely that the dai shrank. Right now, it is as humid here as it ever gets, so I don't think I can count on the dai expanding any further to take up the space.

Oh, and thanks for responding!

Alright, here are the photos. The amount of protrusion is exaggerated somewhat by the camera, the blade actually sits 1.9mm proud of the dai. And yes, it clearly needs to be sharpened.

Re-deck the side surface and glue on another cheek to bring the dai to the width of the blade. You can see that the two ebony cheeks are not equal in thickness at this stage.

Thanks Chris. As much as I'd like to leave the dai alone, that was pretty much the answer I was expecting.

A related question: just how much blade protrusion should such a plane feature? I've seen examples, both Japanese and western, with blades both flush and slightly proud. I would think that, like a saw's set, a slight protrusion would help prevent binding. If so, are there any thoughts on how much is appropriate? My guess would be, 'as little as is necessary.'

I like the blade to be a tiny, tiny bit proud. With a tiny bit I mean maximum 1/10mm, less is better. Just enough to make sure you can plane the bottom of the groove without the dai binding.

Thanks Mathieu, that confirms my thoughts.