Shooting end grain with kanna
Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2018 11:03 pm
I ran across an interesting article today illustrating the planing/shooting board setup used by Takuji Matsuda for use with kanna.
A Visit to Takuji Matsuda’s Kiribako Shop: Part 2 – Planing and Shooting Platform for Japanese Planes
The sixth and seventh photos are of particular interest to me. Matsuda is using his kanna to shoot the end grain of a board, holding the plane against the squared side of the planing board. In contrast to a Western style shooting board, Matsuda’s setup allows a conventional smoothing kanna to be used with the blade skewed. No kiwa-ganna needed(*).
I’m curious if anyone here has experience with this approach to shooting with kanna and can comment on it. As I get the new shop up and running, I realize that I have renewed interest in avoiding a disc or edge sander. I’ve used these in the past for tackling end grain on the posts and rails of my takadai, and they certainly do the job. That said, I’d prefer to go for planed finishes all around, which goes hand in hand with wanting to avoid sanding machinery in the shop(**).
(*) I’ve seen reference to using kiwi-ganna for shooting, but it seems a rabbet plane with the correct skew would plane away the entire registration surface on the edge of the shooting board. Does kiwa-ganna also refer to a skewed plane that’s not a rabbet plane?
(**) I now wonder if I’ve set myself on the path to owning one of those Japanese disc planers one day...
A Visit to Takuji Matsuda’s Kiribako Shop: Part 2 – Planing and Shooting Platform for Japanese Planes
The sixth and seventh photos are of particular interest to me. Matsuda is using his kanna to shoot the end grain of a board, holding the plane against the squared side of the planing board. In contrast to a Western style shooting board, Matsuda’s setup allows a conventional smoothing kanna to be used with the blade skewed. No kiwa-ganna needed(*).
I’m curious if anyone here has experience with this approach to shooting with kanna and can comment on it. As I get the new shop up and running, I realize that I have renewed interest in avoiding a disc or edge sander. I’ve used these in the past for tackling end grain on the posts and rails of my takadai, and they certainly do the job. That said, I’d prefer to go for planed finishes all around, which goes hand in hand with wanting to avoid sanding machinery in the shop(**).
(*) I’ve seen reference to using kiwi-ganna for shooting, but it seems a rabbet plane with the correct skew would plane away the entire registration surface on the edge of the shooting board. Does kiwa-ganna also refer to a skewed plane that’s not a rabbet plane?
(**) I now wonder if I’ve set myself on the path to owning one of those Japanese disc planers one day...