Naga dai Kanna length

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Chris Hall
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Re: Naga dai Kanna length

Fri Dec 30, 2016 10:23 am

If the sub-blade is tuned and set correctly, a standard bedded 42˚ plane will perform well in most materials. A 60˚ plane is helpful for really uncooperative woods, but keep in mind you will need to significantly steepen the blade bevel angle.

If I were working a bunch of Lignum vitae, I might consider a 70˚ bedding angle or greater. That stuff is truly hard to plane, literally and figuratively.
Vips
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Re: Naga dai Kanna length

Fri Dec 30, 2016 10:39 am

Thanks Chris.

I think I will make a secondary dai at 45 degrees to handle the moderate hardwoods. If and when I encounter the more painful woods, I think it will be better to consider a new Kanna with a higher bedding and blade bevel angle.

As for the Wenge edge on the naga-dai, I will make the dai in Beech and perhaps add a Wenge edge if I find the dai wears too quickly. The plan is to use it on a planing beam edge for sizing the components for shoji as well as shooting board. I'll post some pictures once done and possibly some words on the result if that would be any use to anyone.
Vips
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Re: Naga dai Kanna length

Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:53 pm

I'll have to bin the idea of using the beech as I found a few woodworm holes, which has proved quite annoying.

I have a piece of Afrormosia which is wide enough, but only 32mm thick. I was considering a lamination to make the piece thick enough to allow enough holding on the blade. Failing that, I will have to purchase some more material and allow to season for a while.

Here is what I think is an example of a laminated dai. http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/new_alces/27074217.html
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Chris Hall
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Re: Naga dai Kanna length

Fri Dec 30, 2016 6:42 pm

Vips wrote:Here is what I think is an example of a laminated dai. http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/new_alces/27074217.html
Yep, that's fairly typical. It is especially common to make laminated dai for super wide planes.
dmccurtis
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Re: Naga dai Kanna length

Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:59 am

Here's a related question that I've wondered about from time to time: why is it that naga dai kanna typically seem to be considerably shorter than western jointers? I've seen dai up to 60cm long, but vastly more around 39cm. I can imagine that in the past, prior to powered jointers, longer kanna were more common, but I would still expect to see them around. Perhaps they are still more common in Japan, and what is available on the used market in the west is unrepresentative? Or is there another reason?
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Re: Naga dai Kanna length

Sat Dec 31, 2016 8:41 am

I don't know the answer to that conclusively, but it might relate to the relative thinness of a Japanese dai, and once you go beyond a certain length it may flex to a sufficient extent such that it is no longer a reference for a flat - i.e., it would be all to easy to plane a concavity into an edge with it.
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Brian
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Re: Naga dai Kanna length

Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:13 am

I see sashimono-shi using them in conjunction with shooting boards.

I have doubts that they were used in the exact same fashion as a western try plane. Those who I've seen flatten panels seem to use all versions of the same length plane setup differently for the majority of their work.
dmccurtis
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Re: Naga dai Kanna length

Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:47 am

I hadn't considered the thinness of the dai as a limiting factor, which makes sense. It does invite the question, though, of how Japanese woodworkers were jointing and flattening long stock. Like Brian, I've mostly seen naga dai used on shooting boards, and panel flattening being performed with standard length planes. But if longer planes are unnecessary for that kind of work in the Japanese tradition, why are they so much more commonly found and used in the west? I doubt if there's a singular answer to that question, but it does suggest differences in methods of work, and I wonder what those might be. Smaller scale Japanese furniture? Fewer long edge joints? Differences in equipment setup somehow making shorter planes perform as longer? Or maybe my presumption that they are uncommonly used is flawed to begin with.
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Re: Naga dai Kanna length

Sun Jan 01, 2017 8:42 am

I certainly never see long planes used in carpentry work, where the framing elements are longest. When they are used with shooting boards, the board itself keeps the dai from flexing too much, but then, if you think about it, since the shooting board edge is providing the straight line reference, what need really is there for a long dai in the first place? It seems to me the place where it would find greatest usefulness is for planing door edges. Again though, i'm sure my understanding is incomplete in this area (not to mention many others :roll: ).

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