My Blog Hiatus and the Japanese Hand Plane in Depth

I was on a podcast recently and the host indicated that I hadn’t posted a blog entry on my website in over a year. It was quite the wake up call at how much I’ve been neglecting this side of my business, something that I really should be paying far more attention to. This should be the hub of my work and my brand, and much like dental floss for the vast majority of the world’s population, it’s usefulness, benefit, and practice was ignored.

However, a lot has gone on since I was last on here. Shortly after promising to re-vamp my blog posting last year, we found out that my wife was pregnant. I closed out all commission work and eliminated the back log in honey-do projects as well as custom work I had outstanding. Amidst all that, I was still able to put out a few YouTube videos last year and in October, our baby girl Rowan was born. She’s been a fun and beautiful addition to our family.

After releasing a video early this year about a built-in library I did for my father-in-law, I had decided to sack up and finally create a video on the Japanese hand plane: kanna. Kanna simply means plane in Japanese and being able to provide an instructive, step-by-step tutorial on this was not only intimidating, but really for me, signified a coming full circle and an achievement in my Japanese tool journey.

Let me tell you why…

Nagadai Kanna in American white oak.

I first got into Japanese tools during the pandemic. While I had some Japanese chisels, it was virtual schooling through the Florida School of Woodwork, classes led by Dylan Iwakuni, that taught me the concepts of center line layout, order of operations in joinery, and gave me the basic skills to tackle any joint regardless of complication. Sure there’s an element of speed and skill that needed to continue to be fostered, but the very basic foundations were laid and an addiction began to take hold.

After seeing Dylan effortlessly paring away and creating glossy smooth end grain shoulders, I needed to know where he got his chisel from. To my surprise, he said that he got his chisel from an American blacksmith and carpenter, Jim Blauvelt. I immediately reached out to Jim and purchased a paring chisel, that he also called a dai makers slick. He had to still forge a ferrule for the chisel, so it would take some time to get to me.

Well, I was patient, and indeed, it did take some time. Somewhere around six to eight months after I ordered and paid for the chisel, he asked for my address so he could ship it out to me. Because of my patience, he offered to send me out a plane blade. I’d never used a Japanese plane before and other than watching viral Kezurokai videos from Japan, had never really even seen one in use. I ordered Toshio Odate’s book on Japanese Woodworking tools, got to studying, and the box arrived shortly thereafter.

Admittedly, I didn’t study that hard because once I got the handle set up on the chisel, I got to cracking on making a dai for this blade. I’d never tapped out a blade before, so I opted to flatten the back on float glass and pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) lapping film. I’d never sharpened without a jig before, so I sharpened this blade until my finger pads wore through from touching the stones. I used a block of soft maple that was given to me by a local friend and I hacked this thing apart with mortising chisels until I had the basics of a dai. And you know what? I skipped the part in Odate about tuning the bottom, and I was pulling shavings with it in western red cedar.

Uradashi or “tapping out”. Displacing the laminated iron to alter the shape of the hard steel hagane beneath.

The plane itself, while haphazardly made, and barely functional, still kind of worked. And the surface it left was incredible, even at my complete lack of skill level.

That sparked a relationship with a tool dealer who gets the best treasures from Japan. I also purchased a V1 blade from Andrew Ren of which I also cut a dai for, and did much more skillfully. I purchased and set up dai through Suzuki Tool. I started performing uradashi on my blades. I got quality water stones and learned the importance of flatness in my stones. And then, with a number of basic reps took an in-person class at the Florida School of Woodwork with Andrew Hunter. Andrew’s class was excellent for someone like me trying to level up from mediocre-poor to passable. I continued to take more Zoom classes through Kez-USA, learning from David Wood and continued to improve my own skill set through practice and repetition. I’ve now read Dale Brotherton’s book, “Sharpening and the Japanese Hand Plane in Depth” at least a dozen times and I still learn something new every time I read it.

Using kanaban to check for blade flatness.

All of this culminated last year at the Maine Japanese Woodworking Festival. It was my first in person Japanese woodworking event. I sharpened and pulled shavings all weekend. I really did little else. I wanted to see if I could elevate what I was doing and although there was a planing competition on the schedule, I was unsure if I would compete. I watched Andrew Ren use his own V1 in an Osage Orange dai that he had cut pull what I could only deduce were probably 7-10 micron shavings with ease. I had the opportunity to hold his plane, look at his settings, and even take a couple pulls myself. Even using his own plane that he set up, I still found that my shaving quality wasn’t nearly as good as his just due to his skill set. Jude Noteboom who was also present gave me a lot of tips on Kezurokai style planing technique, the Kamijo footwork, and how to set up beams for planing.

I decided I’d at least try and qualify, so after taking a few shavings and having Andrew Ren measure them with the micrometer, he walked me over to another beam and asked me to take another shaving. I backed the setting out a little finer and pulled a shaving that was somewhere just north of 20 microns.

“Try softer pressure.” He said.

I looked at the translucent full length and full width shaving that was coming from the throat of my blade.

“That’s a good one.” He said.

The micrometer pinched down on the shaving.

“14 microns.” He smiled.

I grinned so hard my face almost cracked. Number one qualifier for the finals.

Checking the mating surfaces between the kanna blade and the uragane.

I didn’t win the whole thing, and that’s okay. My eyes were opened to what was possible and what I could possibly achieve through diligence, practice, and patience.

This video, at this point in my Japanese woodworking tool journey, is the culmination of all my education and experience. From someone who built a shit plane out of wood that doesn’t even grip the blade correctly, to someone who can regularly set up a plane with a minimum amount of screaming and cussing. This video, has been one of the most requested by my small but dedicated audience and I’m happy and proud to provide it.

The chatoyance of a kanna finish on mahogany.

Filming this video was not easy. I tried to talk through in real time a lot of the steps. For some reason I got hooked on the term “overcooked” and said it about four times in thirty seconds at one point. The work is time consuming, so certain sections have to be sped up to be able to show how long some of these processes take, but make it tolerable to watch. I used “thought bubbles” to try and convey certain ideas and concepts after the fact because the subject is so deep and so nuanced that I couldn’t accurately and succinctly convey things with spoken word alone. I recorded the entire section on the uragane (chip breaker) without audio on the first go around and had to go back and record an after the fact tutorial on it. In my opinion, that section is unfortunately the biggest failure of the video. However, there’s clear dedicated chapters so that the viewer can use this is a reference material later during set up and tuning and I believe that all the major components are there, especially if one is utilizing the books suggested in the closing comments of the video.

A 42 mm Yamamoto koganna with Swedish blue steel in mahogany.

Hope you like it. Let me know if it’s something you found helpful and if there’s other things you’d like to see on the channel moving forward.

How to Make a Japanese Hand Plane | Kanna Plane

Since I’ve gotten into Japanese Woodworking and Carpentry, a kanna plane, or Japanese hand plane has been on my woodworking to-do list. I gave my best attempt at this thing in conjunction with the #planetrain2021 instagram challenge and while this worked to some extent, I’m chalking this up in the loss column. Here’s why.

So let’s begin from the beginning. Japanese hand planes came into fashion much later than their western counterparts, with the first basic hand planes appearing around the year 1500 and versions with chip breakers on the iron not until 1900. Japanese planes are meant to be used on the pull stroke and consist of a simple low rectangular plane body also known as a dai, and a thick wedge shaped iron. Some models have chip breakers and a retaining pin, whereas others do not. I opted to go for the more primitive model, without the retaining pin. 

Traditionally, plane bodies in Japan are made from Kashi wood (not the cereal) or Japanese oak. This shouldn’t be confused with white or red oak, as it is a bit more closed grain, and that closed grain actually helps the shavings eject from the throat more cleanly. The wood I’ve gone with is soft maple, which is really the generic name for a number of different species that is simply not hard maple. It does not necessarily dictate the actual Janka hardness of the wood. For the most part, due to their low center of gravity, low height, and the body positioning during planing, Japanese planes tend to be more stable during planing than their narrower soled western relatives. And when making a Japanese Kanna plane, it is important to start with properly milled, flat, and square stock.

Now let’s get into the layout. The layout gets confusing a bit so I’ve included the above photo in an effort to try to minimize the headaches. Basically, whatever your overall length is, you’ll divide that into a 6:4 configuration, with the dividing point being your reference line. I went with 25 centimeters as my length, so my mark was at 15 centimeters. How did I arrive at that? 25 divided by 10 is 2.5. 2.5 x 6 is 15. I prefer using the metric system in this application because it feels a little more exact and I don’t need to fuss with fractions. Then, depending on the type of wood you want to work with for the plane, you’ll set your bed angle or shikomi accordingly. I went with 38 degrees since I want to use this plane for more timber framing applications involving pine and cedar. However, 45 degrees would be for more standard hardwoods like maple or walnut and 52 degrees would be for extremely hard woods or exotics, acting almost like a scraper. You also need to draw from that line a 7 degree line which will leave room for shavings to eject from the throat. Then traveling up that line 4 millimeters, you’ll use that intersection point for the opposing side of the throat, at 105 degrees. The final angle is the measurement from the top of your ejection point to the base of the plane. In this case it’s 135 degrees. However, if you’re using a higher blade angle, that number will change accordingly. Whatever your blade angle, you need to add that seven degree angle to ensure proper functioning otherwise the shavings won’t eject and jam your throat and mouth.

Since this is my first time making one of these, I’m using pencil and laying everything out with some various layout tools, squares and protractors. However, when I do make my next one, I’ll probably use ink as these layout lines in graphite get faint with all the handling. A little trick for more accurate layout lines is to slide your measuring tool to the point of your marking instrument, to ensure that it tracks off the pen or pencil point, instead of tracking off the side of the layout tool.

The mouth of the Kanna originates at the 6:4 reference line. Draw two lines, one at 3mm and 6mm toward the rear of the plane and use the plane iron itself to mark the overall width of the plane. You’ll be starting with the portion further towards the rear of the plane when it comes to clearing out the waste.

As with any chiseling, start by severing across the grain first along your marking lines before trying to clear long grain material as that’ll ensure that tear out is limited or prevented altogether.

Clearing out the throat is a tall task and you’re going to want to sever the grain all around before working from both sides to the reference line of the mouth. I’m going to use a jig to do the 105 degree angle, so you can stay away from that line pretty well and manage to keep things clean. 

On the 38 degree side, you’ll just have to eyeball things as best as you can. These Kanna irons have a bit of a hollow where it makes contact with the bed, so you’ll not only have to chisel freehand to 38 degrees, but you’ll have to also take into account the curvature of the iron which helps keep the blade in place during use. In my case, the iron had about a 1mm curve from side to side on the back or the part that makes contact with the bed, so when marking out I took that into account.

Prior to getting started, I cut some maple to make a double sided jig. Essentially I’ve got 105 degrees on one side and 45 degrees on the other. The CA Glue and blue tape technique is an often used tactic for holding temporary jigs. Tape both surfaces, glue one, spray activator on the other, smush, and secure. Use coupon code “cowdogcraftworks” for ten percent off Starbond products here. Once the throat was pared down, I went to the side of the mouth that was yet to be cleared, the side toward the front of the plane, and secured the 45 degree jig and pared accordingly to open the mouth.

The side grooves that hold the iron are a bit tricky to clear out. I use the mini square pinned up against the mouth and aligned to the reference line for the top of the blade to strike a line. Then using a small detail saw, I saw the groove on both the top and bottom of the iron before clearing it out with a chisel and as I get closer, a file.

Using a pencil, I’ll color all over the Kanna iron to create essentially a graphite rubbing instrument. Then, when I’m doing the test fit, I can tap it in till it stops, pull it, then see where the graphite is rubbing off and pare accordingly. You want to do that until you actually make contact with the mouth, and then you’ll pare that open to allow the blade to pass through (this sounds a lot easier than it actually is).

Once the iron passes through, you want to get it adjusted laterally and get the depth adjustment right. Adjustment is pretty simple. I use a small brass mallet to give it a few taps to micro adjust it into place. If you set it too deep, just tap it the rear of the plane (the butt if you will) and the blade will back out slightly.

Now if you’re looking at this picture or watching the video, you should know by now that I in fact messed this plane up. I took too much material off the bed, and then made one of the channels a bit too wide, and then on top of all that discovered that the blade was cracked during the forging/smithing process and some nasty chips appeared pretty quick. Since I wanted to still try and see if this thing could pull a shaving without just throwing it in the fire pit, I went ahead and used some blue tape as a wedging/thickening device to be able to get it set. It didn’t solve the issue of the blade angle being slightly askew (the left side is a bit higher than the right), but it did allow me to pull a few shavings that were actually somewhat comparable to some well dialed western planes I’ve used. The nicks in the blade however were unavoidable. I had to heavily skew the body of the plane in order to minimize the appearance of the nicks and reduce the plane tracks they created.

So in conclusion: making a Kanna is hard. It’s not hard because it’s so complex, but really it’s hard because it’s deceptive simplicity requires extreme precision. Even the smallest misalignment can create issues and frankly, I’m not experienced enough in making them to be able to troubleshoot them effectively along the way. Since the iron had issues that were from the blacksmithing process, the blacksmith himself offered to take the iron back and regrind it. This actually might be a fix for me and I’m pretty encouraged to see how it goes when it comes back. Essentially, when regrinding the bevel, the overall width of the bevel, and the taper itself will change. That might cause it to fit more snugly in the side groove, but only time will tell. If not, I’ve got plenty of this maple left to try for another go.

Be sure to watch the video and let me know in the comments if you’ve got any questions!

Help support my work through the following affiliate links, all products utilized in the making of this project:

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japanesewoodworking #japanesehandplane #kannaplaneI tried, I gave it a fair amount of blood, sweat, and tears, but at the end of the day it was a failure. B...