Books + DVD's

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Videos worth watching:

 






And books worth a read - or at least a look:






















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Ari shakuri kanna (dovetail plane) - dai rebuild

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Ari shakuri (jyakuri) kanna  - dai rebuild: Knowing that I had many sliding dovetails to make,  I looked on eBay for a solid, undamaged, and relatively unused kanna that would suffice as a plane for sliding dovetails. I found this:  I expect old kanna dai to warp over time and this one was no exception, but at least the blades were better than expected.  You will notice this is a fixed (no adjustable fences), single purpose, skewed rabbet plane (cuts 90 degrees), not an ari-shakuri-kanna. However, I originally thought I would alter the dai and main blade to deliver 77 degrees. Once I saw the kink in the dai and the otherwise nice condition of it, I opted to just create a derivative of it and leave the original alone. 
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Kyoto natural sharpening stone shop visit

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While at the Kezuroukai in Odawara, Japan last year I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of natural sharpening stone ( ten-nen-toishi) sellers there. Most were from Kyoto, the epicenter of the natural stone mining business, and where we were heading in a couple days.  Most sellers at Kezuroukai brought select stones to sell, but nobody was set up for you to actually try the stones in a meaningful way. When we spoke to a few of the more talkative sellers, they were quick to invite us out to their shops where they have their full inventory and encourage visitors bring blades and try everything. 
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Product Review - Mitsukawa Juntaro saw set

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This is a bit of a departure from my usual project-driven posts but maybe it will help somebody debating a tool purchase, plus there are not many reviews out there that I could find. Mitsukawa Juntaro is a third generation sawmaker in Japan who creates a wide range of saw types. His saws span from machine sharpened semi-production up to traditionally forged, sharpened, and tuned works of blacksmithing art. This set is handmade (at least partly) but I do not know exact details. Usually this is a set of 5 saws, but the little shop in rural Japan I went to only had these 4: Flush trim, rip, crosscut, and hybrid (crosscut with raker teeth). Price for the set of 5 is approx $250 and you can get them at Hidatool.com and elsewhere. 
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