Back by popular demand, I present to you the holiday gift guide for the grumpy dovetail cutter in your life. Hand tool woodworking is certainly a niche. Whether you’re a hand tool purist or one of those “hybrid” woodworkers, most folks need some hand tools in their woodworking shop. As the holidays are almost here and you may need some last minute gift ideas, I present to you some high end and low end options for near everything.
Many of these items I own. Some I do not. My wife won’t be reading this and she doesn’t buy me tools anymore anyway so this isn’t really for my benefit but for yours.
Japanese Hand Tools: Zetsaw Kataba, Genno, and Framing Chisel
Saws
If you’ve been following along on social media and YouTube you may be aware that I’ve really gone in on Japanese tools heavy. It’s a big wide world of really expensive hand crafted artisan stuff and saws for them are really no different. However, with that being said, for whatever reason they at least seem to have touched on the industrial revolution with hand saws. Whether it’s a ryoba or a spined dozuki, there are extremely affordable options and the best part about these affordable options is that you don’t have to learn how to sharpen your saws, which seems to be required for western back saws. All of these more mass produced saws have replaceable blades which are also incredibly affordable as well. The link below is for the Zetsaw Kataba with cross cut teeth. I will add that even though it has cross cut teeth, it does effectively rip as well, it just does it slower. If you’re into a more high end option check out Suzuki Tool. Custom saws may be ordered from Japan and those start at $540 and have a pretty significant lead time. Clearly a substantial difference in pricing from the $25.50 Zetsaw price tag.
Sharpening
Man… if I had a dollar for every time I spoke on the importance of sharpening. If your tools aren’t sharp, then you’re not working. The amount of time and care I spend sharpening my blades is substantial. There’s a couple of things to note: 1) I work on a four stone system so to speak. I have a two sided diamond plate and a set of three stones, 1000, 3000, and 8000. I then strop with green compound on a piece of leather. For the money and for their wide availability, Shapton glass back stones cannot be beat.
Now it appears that the supply chain maladies of the world have impacted the availability of the 1000 stone on Amazon. Therefore, I’ve linked the 500 stone above. However, the point is that you don’t need to be maniacal about fairly large jumps in grit. You do however need to have a substantial range to have the highly polished surfaces and create an appropriate burr. The benefit of the glass back is really simple: it prevents the stones from flexing from prolonged use. One of my favorite things about these stones is that they are not traditional water stones. They do not need to be soaked or stored in water. They simply need to be spritzed with water or a lubricant like windex and used.
And yet again, the exact DMD diamond plate I use is unavailable at this time. As I said before, I have a 120 and 400 sided plate. I lap with the 120 and use the 400 for getting out nasty cracks or chips before moving to my glass backs. However, if you’re looking for a lapping plate and don’t want to spend $200 or more, the above is definitely an option. After reviewing some of the Amazon comments and ratings, which I should add are primarily positive, the biggest complaint appears to be its weight. And yes I understand that these lapping plates are extremely light. However, they are flat and they are cheap, and they remove material well. The fix for light lapping plate? Well dummies… just take the plate to the stone as opposed to taking the stone to the plate. Believe me when I say that this is a phenomenal option that I actually discovered after being referred to it by master Takami Kawai.
If you’re one of those folks that refuses to take the plate to the stone as opposed to the stone to the plate, then the DFM Lapping Plate is for you. It’s significantly less expensive than it’s counter part made by DMT (not to be confused with DMD) and it’s got that heft that most people expect from a quality lapping plate. I’ve had one since JT released these a couple months back and I’ve been more than pleased. While it could be larger (that’s what she said), the weight and it’s grit are perfect for flattening. As a bonus, I flip mine over and use it as an “anvil” of sorts when I’m tapping out doing uradashi on my Japanese steel. It’s flat and weighty and that’s what matters for that.
Japanese Planes
Japanese planes are a dangerous and expensive rabbit hole to go down. And when I say dangerous I mean for your bank account not necessarily… for anything else. As a significantly cheaper and less labor intensive option, these Kakuri planes aren’t that bad. The steel is not as high quality as a hand forged artisan option, but from what I understand they sharpen easily and the dai doesn’t take an excessive amount of tuning. It’s also certainly a better option than just buying a blade itself and having to cut your own dai for the first time. Take it from me… I know. However, if you’re already an aficionado let me direct you to Suzuki Tool once again for your hira-ganna. You can buy just the steel, you can get dais for most. They do take a little time and man… some of them can be wicked expensive. But a couple things to note: these are heirloom tools. They are hand crafted by some of Japan’s finest blacksmiths and furthermore the customer service from Suzuki Tool is unmatched. In fact, when I purchased my plane from them recently Suzuki, the owner of Suzuki Tool called me to ask me about my experience with Japanese planes, what I’m going to be using it for, the kind of wood I’m going to be planing, etc. all to get a feel for whether or not the purchase is the correct one for me. Now THAT is service.