Kanna springs - Source

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Brian
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Kanna springs - Source

Thu Jul 14, 2016 4:35 pm

Howdy Folks,

I recently bought another 70mm kanna with designs on modifying the dai to make a hikouki kanna, similar to that which Inomoto made for John Reed Fox, Iida and others. I've sourced solid sections of bamboo but I'm a little bit up in the air on where to find the springs, which are presumably flat springs, that push down the bamboo pressure bar.

I have designs on building some shoji, one side of my house gets direct sunlight in the afternoon/evening and can't think of a better way to make that more appealing. Closed curtains and pull down shades look kind of not great.

I digress....any help is appreciated.
John Whitley
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Re: Kanna springs - Source

Thu Jul 14, 2016 7:23 pm

I needed a refresher on the hikouki kanna, so I'll add some info here. tl;dr: it's a Japanese depth-skid plane, often used for precision thicknessing of shoji/kumiko parts. For more about this plane, especially the particulars of the bamboo spring, Daed Toolworks has a nice blog post that shows and explains more.
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Brian
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Re: Kanna springs - Source

Thu Jul 14, 2016 7:39 pm

John, Gabe Dwiggins' post is really comprehensive;

http://granitemountainwoodcraft.com/201 ... ing-plane/

That said still vague on the springs, lol.
nyamo_iaint
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Re: Kanna springs - Source

Fri Jul 15, 2016 3:15 am

What I understood was was going to use spring steel, and that he planned to cut up an old saw to get it. That makes some sense I think, as I vaguely recall coming reading somewhere that saw plates can be made from spring steel. The main point he made was not to use a induction/case hardend blade, as that might be too brittle. Then there was a bit about hammering and anvils to shape it.

I think here (Sydney) it would be far cheaper and easier to get an old saw than to buy spring steel from a supplier, as I doubt I could get anything less than metres of the stuff... Anyway, I don't know if this was much help, or just told you what you'd already managed to get out of reading it.

On a not-so-related note: when I first read the post I was perplexed by the concept of aeroplane planes, but I guess the idea of a "flying going" kanna makes sense too. Sometimes knowing a small amount of Japanese around here is just confusing. [飛行機 (hikouki = airplane) vs 飛行機鉋 (hikouki kanna = these things)].
Iain T
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Brian
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Re: Kanna springs - Source

Fri Jul 15, 2016 7:15 am

That's where I am at, everything spring related seems to come in large quantities. I found springs I think would be perfect but I dont need 25 of them....

When I look at the Inamoto kanna dai it appears to have just a strip of spring steel locked into a mortise, but not 100% sure on that.
nyamo_iaint
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Re: Kanna springs - Source

Thu Jul 21, 2016 4:35 am

I thought about this a bit: isn't what you're looking for a bit like a wind up coil spring for an old-school alarm clock or the like? Maybe scavenge one of those if you can find one.

With further searching I found some hobbyist "constant force springs", which turned up some results for Amazon and a few other US (and Australia!) based suppliers. I think they are the things you get in those pull back and let go car toys. I have a few of those at home, perhaps I should secretly "borrow" them from the children and have a look. Although the springs for those might not be strong enough given their likely thickness relatively short length needed.

Kumiko are something I might build one day, but the plane itself is interesting to me as well, so I'm interested in knowing where you end up with this.
Iain T
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Brian
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Re: Kanna springs - Source

Thu Jul 21, 2016 8:14 am

I'm not sure those will work since they do not appear to apply alot of force over a small area, I appreciate the suggestion however and it has led me to some manufacturers.

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