Kanna for softwood finish?

Carey
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Kanna for softwood finish?

Wed Apr 26, 2017 1:39 am

Hi All- hope I'm posting in the right place... I plan to buy a finish plane soon for spruce, cypress and cedar. Probably single-blade, maybe white steel, good+ quality. Talking to one vendor about
a Yokoyama WS #1 blade. Very open to any opinions and suggestions... Thanks- CW.
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Brian
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Re: Kanna for softwood finish?

Wed Apr 26, 2017 8:21 am

There are some people capable of working with single irons, and only single irons. Truly they will give a better finish that a double iron.

That said, I would plan on utilizing a chip breaker, even in perfectly clear VG lumber you can get grain reversals that will drive you crazy if you are using a single iron. A single iron is typically my choice when I am working with material that I've sized by riving.

Yokoyama WS#1 will certainly fit the bill!

Just as important is the finish stone that you will be sharpening with. If you dont have a good natural stone, then you may want to start investigating, as it is a critical aspect of getting plain HC steel to perform at its peak.
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Chris Hall
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Re: Kanna for softwood finish?

Wed Apr 26, 2017 5:36 pm

Brian wrote:There are some people capable of working with single irons, and only single irons. Truly they will give a better finish that a double iron.

That said, I would plan on utilizing a chip breaker...
Would tend to agree with this. if you have other WS smoothers, and feel like adding a ichimai-ba to the stable, then that is another matter.
Brian wrote:Yokoyama WS#1 will certainly fit the bill!
Agree. Keep in mind that Yokoyama planes tend to be on the 'rough and ready side', and can require a fair bit of shikomi to get them flat and free of twist. Great steel tho.
Brian wrote:Just as important is the finish stone that you will be sharpening with. If you don't have a good natural stone, then you may want to start investigating, as it is a critical aspect of getting plain HC steel to perform at its peak.
Not convinced at all as to that. Kunimoto has shown that synthetic stones, with a different sharpening technique than for natural stones, can produce excellent edges and has obtained 3μm shavings using only synthetics to sharpen the blade. Werner, a member here, has obtained shavings in the same thickness range using synthetic stones. They are not a limiting factor to getting sharp.

Nothing against natural stones mind you, they're great! They are also complicated in their diversity and can be quite expensive.
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Brian
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Re: Kanna for softwood finish?

Wed Apr 26, 2017 9:47 pm

Fair point, I'm likely biased in my opinion. I tend to think of natural stones and HC steel blades as natural allies, they work beautifully together typically.

Yokoyama Kunio planes never fail to test me, I was able to achieve Ito-Ura recently setting one up, but it was no easy task. I've taken to the marker and granite plate method, doing the majority of the work using ura-dashi. Likely I will update that practice to dykem and granite soon.

All which I've encountered so far have required straightening, and all have required extensive ura-dashi. Combined with the fact that the steel is usually very very hard, it makes it slightly unnerving at times.

As bad as it sounds, I actually look forward to it, but when setting up the first one it was a bit daunting.

Maybe it's just me, but the great majority of the blades I've received have required fairly extensive work, not all requiring the same level of effort but many are pretty close to it. Some easier than others.

I've heard alot of good things about Kiyohisa being practically ready to go out of the box.
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Chris Hall
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Re: Kanna for softwood finish?

Thu Apr 27, 2017 1:35 am

Yes, Kiyohisa planes require very little work to set up. They come very flat, without cupping or twist. Funahiro planes also require very little work.
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Brian
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Re: Kanna for softwood finish?

Thu Apr 27, 2017 8:08 am

Good to hear, though acquiring a Kiyohisa plane currently is likely a bigger challenge than setting up a Yokoyama Kunio plane :) Funahiro is probably less impossible to find.

Have you had any experience with Keizaburo planes? I've heard good things about them, but no first hand experience.

Soon enough I'll have some first hand experience with Konobu plane blades, excited to see how they are. I'm so far assuming they will be very similar to the chisels, easy enough to setup but certainly requiring ura-dashi.
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Chris Hall
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Re: Kanna for softwood finish?

Thu Apr 27, 2017 9:24 am

The Konobu special-order chisels I obtained last year had a fair amount of sori. The finish otherwise was on a par with Kiyohisa.
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Brian
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Re: Kanna for softwood finish?

Thu Apr 27, 2017 10:48 am

I found the same. Did you find that you had to use ura-dashi on practically all of them to get a nice even ura? I certainly did, extensively, then actually went back and did the same on the ones I had setup a year prior and was happier with the results.
Carey
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Re: Kanna for softwood finish?

Thu Apr 27, 2017 2:12 pm

Thanks for the detailed replies. The Yokoyama kanna I'm considering is apparently called 'Waduchi'. Haven't seen mention of that model before. I did mention to the vendor my concern about this maker's (sometime? often?) need for extensive setup, without mentioning names, but he did not address the issue.

This kanna would be for finish work on softwoods only. I do have a couple of kanna set up with chipbreakers, but my two favorites, one an eBay rehabber and the other a modest Ishihisa, are both single-blade and I generally get good results with them. For getting Stuff done the double-blade setup is
safer for sure, but I do like the feel of a single-blade in use. Maybe showing a bit of ignorance
or hubris here, though I hope not. :) I follow the fine work both of you do, and will carefully
consider the advice given. I've never had a sun-hachi kanna before, and hope to choose a
good one! Uchihashi is another possibility, though with a six month wait-time, as I understand it.

A final thought: Yesterday I was reading one of Chris's blog posts from 2013, "On the Japanese Craftsman"
I think it was called, and it makes me consider again whether I'm getting everything I can out of
the tools I have now. Still hashing that out..

-CW
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Brian
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Re: Kanna for softwood finish?

Thu Apr 27, 2017 6:52 pm

I'm making no attempt to warn you away from them, they're amongst my favorites. But it is good to know what you are getting yourself into :)

If you are good with ura-dashi, then you will be fine. They're hard blades though, so do not get super aggressive. What's your ura-dashi setup like?

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