Jumping the line
Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 8:43 pm
Several months ago So Yamashita contacted me and said that a couple of chisel sets by Kiyohisa were near complete and that one of the sets might be available to me. He was unsure if the buyer for one set would follow through, and the contact information for the other fellow was apparently no longer good and he couldn't manage to get in touch with the fellow.
I did a little poking around and found the contact information for the second fellow, who was a luthier out in California. I sent So the guy's contact info in case it was correct. I wasn't sure, but it seemed a likely match.
It turned out that I had in fact located the correct person, and he was good on the purchase completion, so that took care of a 16-set of chisels. And the other fellow completed his purchase as well, which meant that neither set was available. That was too bad for me, but I was glad to have been able to help.
I had held off ordering a large set of Kiyohisa chisels simply because the wait time is super long. I'm thinking it is probably 5~6 years now at least. I've been waiting on a couple of bachi nomi from Kiyohisa for at least one year now, along with another member of this forum. Otherwise, i've acquired the odd specialty Kiyohisa chisel here and there that happened to be still sitting on a dealer's shelf.
Well, I guess that So Yamashita felt a strong sense of obligation to me - giri as the Japanese call it - for putting him in touch with that luthier. He felt so obligated in fact that he went and asked Kiyohisa (Watanabe Kyoei is the smith's name, BTW) if he could slot in an order for me sooner than later. And it could be a chisel order that was whatever I liked - totally custom. I didn't know that was even possible to jump the line, but by accident I seemed to have unlocked a door.
Well, talk about Christmas arriving early! I realized right away that the opportunity was just incredible, and today we just finalized details on the set of chisels I will be getting. I guess they'll be made in the next several weeks. It will be expensive for sure, but it is a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing, and the cost really seems almost irrelevant.
I've ordered a 16-set, 3mm to 60mm, in a special kiri box. The chisels are of the hiramachi body type with flattened shanks, with all chisel heads in the kaku-uchi shape. All the ura will be hand scraped by sen. These chisels are longer than oi-ire nomi, more like tataki nomi in length. All handles are gumi, 5-sun long, and both ferrules and handle hoops are of the hammered form. Finish is in the standard black, including ura.
I patterned these off of a special type of hira-machi chisel that Mandara-ya sells (fine chisels but not made by Kiyohisa though). Here are some pics showing the general dimensions:
The body alignment is a straight line from head through shank:
Well this chisel set represents pretty much my ideal in terms of the perfect all-around versatile chisel design, and I intend this set to be my go-to set for a lot of work - until I'm dead and they can be pried from my cold hands.
I also took the opportunity to order a couple of Konobu chisels, isuka type, with tsuge handles, which I have no experience with whatsoever. So Yamashita highly recommends the maker, and the waiting time is reasonable, so I thought I'd give them a try.
I have now reached, I do believe, the point where I will no longer need any more chisels. Let's hope so. I'll be a poor man with nice tools for the next few months, I do believe.
I did a little poking around and found the contact information for the second fellow, who was a luthier out in California. I sent So the guy's contact info in case it was correct. I wasn't sure, but it seemed a likely match.
It turned out that I had in fact located the correct person, and he was good on the purchase completion, so that took care of a 16-set of chisels. And the other fellow completed his purchase as well, which meant that neither set was available. That was too bad for me, but I was glad to have been able to help.
I had held off ordering a large set of Kiyohisa chisels simply because the wait time is super long. I'm thinking it is probably 5~6 years now at least. I've been waiting on a couple of bachi nomi from Kiyohisa for at least one year now, along with another member of this forum. Otherwise, i've acquired the odd specialty Kiyohisa chisel here and there that happened to be still sitting on a dealer's shelf.
Well, I guess that So Yamashita felt a strong sense of obligation to me - giri as the Japanese call it - for putting him in touch with that luthier. He felt so obligated in fact that he went and asked Kiyohisa (Watanabe Kyoei is the smith's name, BTW) if he could slot in an order for me sooner than later. And it could be a chisel order that was whatever I liked - totally custom. I didn't know that was even possible to jump the line, but by accident I seemed to have unlocked a door.
Well, talk about Christmas arriving early! I realized right away that the opportunity was just incredible, and today we just finalized details on the set of chisels I will be getting. I guess they'll be made in the next several weeks. It will be expensive for sure, but it is a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing, and the cost really seems almost irrelevant.
I've ordered a 16-set, 3mm to 60mm, in a special kiri box. The chisels are of the hiramachi body type with flattened shanks, with all chisel heads in the kaku-uchi shape. All the ura will be hand scraped by sen. These chisels are longer than oi-ire nomi, more like tataki nomi in length. All handles are gumi, 5-sun long, and both ferrules and handle hoops are of the hammered form. Finish is in the standard black, including ura.
I patterned these off of a special type of hira-machi chisel that Mandara-ya sells (fine chisels but not made by Kiyohisa though). Here are some pics showing the general dimensions:
The body alignment is a straight line from head through shank:
Well this chisel set represents pretty much my ideal in terms of the perfect all-around versatile chisel design, and I intend this set to be my go-to set for a lot of work - until I'm dead and they can be pried from my cold hands.
I also took the opportunity to order a couple of Konobu chisels, isuka type, with tsuge handles, which I have no experience with whatsoever. So Yamashita highly recommends the maker, and the waiting time is reasonable, so I thought I'd give them a try.
I have now reached, I do believe, the point where I will no longer need any more chisels. Let's hope so. I'll be a poor man with nice tools for the next few months, I do believe.