Lazy day, but looking forward to some mayhem ( and saw straightening #3).

Cats have got it all figured out.

After a hectic and stressful week on the mainland, punctuated by a distinct lack of sleep, I'm back home in Hawaii, thank god.

Gabe (http://granitemountainwoodcraft.com/) has got me thinking about files, you know, the ones used for cutting steel. As everything gets progressively cheaper/crappier, there are increasingly more people that are searching for a decent file.

Handmade tools can elevate the mundane to the sublime.

Beautiful.

Anyway, after thinking about files all morning, I remembered that Sebastian's "Project Mayhem" begins soon, and I am woefully ill-prepared. I need to finish up some of these tool projects that I've been working on.

A few weeks ago, Sebastian sent me a wonderful tsuki-nomi ( like a really huge chisel) and I have slowly been making it shiny and new looking. After scraping the handle clean, you can see that there are a few areas of iron staining near the ferrule.

 

Bring on the Jasco "Prep and Prime", a dilute phosphoric acid mixture that is commonly used to treat rusted metal. I find that it ( or "Oxpho", same stuff different name) is one of the only ways to remove the rust stains from wood without causing any appreciable change or discoloration to the wood itself.

Just dab a bit of the solution on the afflicted wood, then let it sit for a while. 15 minutes....1 hour, or in this case, overnight. Iron stains....vanished!

The real reason that I pulled out the PnP is that I need to get back to my Japanese saw renovation project. Since the phosphoric acid darkens the steel slightly, it serves as a dual purpose indicator dye.

After a few minutes, the saw blade has darkened nicely.

 

 

I like the phosphoric acid for rust treatment because, being roughly as thin as water, it will wick into any little nooks and crannies, slowing or stopping any new rust formation. The forge welded tang on this great little saw would be an unfortunate place to develop any corrosion.

And while I was waiting for the rust converter to "convert".....

My anvil has seen better days, and the face has been pockmarked by errant blows of the hammer. Since I am getting serious about tuning up this saw, I had better tune up my anvil a bit as well. A smooth anvil makes for smooth work.

 

My little shoeing anvil will never have a totally smooth face, but at least I can knock down the high spots, haha. 30 minutes of work, using a carborundum stone and bearing down hard, has it looking better than it has in years. Wonder of wonders, it's even flat!

Still, 30 minutes......Sometimes I miss having electricity.

So, the point of darkening the blade of the saw is that now all I need to do is take a few passes with the stone and the high spots on the saw plate are revealed.

 

I don't want to grind away material, as that would leave a saw with thick/thin spots. Probably not the end of the world, but it's not what I'm after.

The amount of work remaining on this saw is minimal, but requires more finesse than I have been using so far. Now, in a perfect world I would be using a nice little cross-peen hammer for this but I don't have one, so I make do.

I am going to start referring to this as my "Swiss army" hammer. One side for ura-dashi, the other side for saw straightening.....this hammer does it all.

I have slightly eased the corners and curved all edges, to minimize the likelihood of leaving any new marks. Oh yeah, it drives tacks, too.

 

A round of light tapping using primarily the corners of the hammer, followed by a brief stoning, shows how effective my hammering has been.

After one round of tapping, the bright spots are both smaller and more numerous. I am only using light taps, barely more than the weight of the hammer. You could do this all day and not get tired, as the rebound from the anvil does nearly half of the work.

Better yet after two rounds. I unpacked a pretty little Washita stone to use, instead of the big carborundum I was using. Not only does it fit the scale of the saw, it also just feels better.

Some very interesting patterns are beginning to be revealed. Underneath the random lumps and bumps is the evidence of structure and intent. This saw was shaped and carved. Very cool.

Unfortunately, it's getting late and my light is fading. I am looking forward to tomorrow's daylight.

 

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First step- "Point of sword" knife

I am a reader, not a writer, so the process of constructing these posts takes far too long. There is too much stuff bouncing around in my head, and it needs to get out! To that end, I am trying to increase my writing out put, but that will be at the expense of what negligible quality that there is. As if my photos aren't bad enough....... This might turn into a sort of "stream of consciousness" kind of horror show.




I bought a Japanese plane, a hiburka-ganna. This was a while ago.....

http://dougukan.jp/contents-en/index.php?id=233

This is one of those few tools that, if you don't have one..... Get one. How often does a groove need just the tiniest bit of trimming, to get the proper fit? This will do it like nothing else.

The problem with my plane was that the iron was too loose of a fit and seemed to protrude too far from the sole.... So what is the proper way to adjust one of these guys? I couldn't find the info in English. I couldn't find the info in Japanese, either, which leads me to another thing......


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I don't read or speak Japanese. I use Google chrome and it's automatic translation function. It's far from perfect, but it helps. Almost every bit of what I know has been inferred from trying to decipher the translated info, and from watching whatever video I can find. There are quite a few Japanese documentaries about traditional crafts, so YouTube is a great help.

Lots of the Japanese guys know as little about their tools as we westerners do. Any information is a help. Hopefully we don't get it too far from correct!

I couldn't find any first hand info. I suspect that it's one of those "Just make it work" things, and that's what I did. But it would be nice if there was more info.

I began writing this blog, mostly to get some new information out there, but also just to help me remember what I was doing at a given point in time. My mind (and enthusiasms) jump from one topic to another with alarming frequency, so the subject matter will change over time, probably. One of the more useful services that I can provide, is to document my mistakes. Too many people only print the good stuff. That makes it hard to learn. Mistakes can be as informational as a success!

I AM NOT A "PRO "! I am an enthusiastic amateur! I am figuring this out as I go, and with alarming frequency, I am finding MY images and information popping up in Google search results. What was I expecting?!! Frankly, I find that awfully troubling. Still, more information is always a good thing. That I do believe!

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Japanese tools are leading me to into blacksmithing. My first real project is a " Point of a sword " knife. Here are some real examples.....

http://www2.odn.ne.jp/mandaraya/daikudouguno-kensaki.html

Kiyohisa!

Chohiro, I think....I like this one best

It looks like a very large, double edged marking/scribing knife, but is actually used for trimming and fitting joinery. Pretty cool, but kind of rare. I think that it's a good first project for me. No way in hell am I gonna make a plane blade!

Yesterday I hammered out the blank.

The edge steel is Nicholson O-F, slightly misaligned. The urasuki back hollow is roughly forged.

I took the remaining section of file steel, ground it to a gentle arc, then quenched for full hardness. This will be my ghetto style "Sen" (a type of scraper), for carving the hollow to a more refined shape.

FYI, there is baling wire under the tape....



I drew an outline of the desire shape, then got to work. The hard steel hasn't been hardened yet, so it can be scraped using normal means. Once it's been quenched, though....... TS!

This is also my first foray into sen land. More learning is needed. The cutter has a tendency to gall the metal. A little bit could be seen as evidence of the makers hand, but this tool will have enough of that as it is. The ura is VERY important!

It needs more work. I found that initially grinding the hollow using a bench grinder is nerve wracking, but established a good groove pattern, a base to begin the hand work portion. An evenly textured surface made it less difficult to "start" the sen.

The tricky part, for me, will be to guess the amount of curvature that the quench will cause. The tool will bend towards the hard steel side, so I need to induce with a slight reverse curve, in hopes that after quenching, the blade will be straight/flat. I should've tested, but all of this is good practice.

In between, I'm still filing. This is this morning, at start.

After thinking about this last night, I have decided to work on the urasuki more. It can be better. I will make a new sen.

There is curve, it's not just camera lens distortion.

A problem. I have high standards, but low personal expectations. I fully expect to horribly botch these early attempts, but have been getting lucky, which presents it's own concerns.

If too much time is spent trying to achieve perfection, less gets accomplished. This can be detrimental to the whole. I could make ten of these tools this week, but is that better than making one good one? I would choose the one.... If it was good. This is close to being decent, but will not be perfect..... How good is good enough?

Tool haul 3-1-2014

I have a stack of unopened packages, just full of old tools from Japan. Some days you just need some instant gratification. These were from my tool pusher, eBay seller yusui, always ready to feed my habit......

A great, very solid 30mm groove cutting plane, a soko-shakuri kanna. 

Pretty much ready to put to work. I will give it a few swipes on the finishing hone, even though it doesn't need it (Nearly ALL of the old Japanese tools that I get are usably sharp. Maybe it's a cultural thing?).

Two Nankin ganna, one a flat radius, the other rounded. 

The blade is a bit loose in one of them, but other than that.......

Both have mouth inserts, to help prevent tear-out. These are well built, quality tools. Not boutique, but definitely pro quality, with hand carved detailing. I love the hand made aspect. Only the cheapest DIY tools look like they are made in a factory. 

An old Umehiro kote-nomi 32mm. A cranked neck chisel for trimming grooves and other awkward areas. I have been wanting one of these for years, decades actually, and the Umehiro tools are high quality, long gone now....

This one shows evidence of a few misplaced hammer strikes, fingerprints of the blacksmith.

This tool had been sitting on the shelf of a hardware store, probably for well over 30 years. It still has the original price tag, 3400 yen ( about $35 USD). Very expensive, for the 1970's. 

Japanese tool makers, from 1955-1975'ish,  formed the Tokyo plane manufacturers co-op and the Tokyo chisel manufacturers co-op.....also the National chisel manufacturers organization, which Umehiro presided over for 16 years ( don't hold me to any of this! My grasp is very weak!). 

This otherwise nondescript chisel.....

.... has the stamp, right above the makers name, on the shaft.  I am excited to polish the blade. I wonder what the lamination line looks like?!

A burly cutting gauge.

You can't have too many planes, can you? 

Very little use, (chipped!) wrought iron (ren-tetsu) blade and laminated chip breaker/back blade. I like buying chipped blades, it means that the steel is hard! My old, soft tools just bent or folded. If the blade is TOO brittle, I can easily draw the temper a bit, making it a bit softer. It is MUCH harder to make a soft blade hard.

At least, I THINK that the main blade is wrought iron. I'll find out when I sharpen it. The natural waterstones bring out the detail in the metal, while the synthetic stones tend to homogenize and obscure. Some detail is ONLY visible after using a certain TYPE of stone, and that is the intention..... WAY cool! This blade isn't THAT special, but I expect it to be a very good cutter.

To finally see these tools in person, to handle then for the first time, it is always a surprise. Often, the tools that I was most looking forward to are....... something less than I was expecting. Things never look the same as in the photos, and so many of the important details, the heft and texture for example, cannot be conveyed.  

The converse is also true. I was particularly pleased with these small kanna.....

A matched set, hollow and round 22mm. Funny, I don't remember planning that..... Buying a set.

I am REALLY happy with this VERY old soto-maru (outwardly round) kanna. I thought that the body of the plane was pretty well used up, as was the blade. It turns out that the blade still has almost 1 inch of steel left and fits its dai like a glove (although the body has a LOT of character!). It could be a user! I love the patina, the engraving, the wataboshi shape to the head....... I feel an unaccountable affection.

Sharp, and even after god know how many years of use, is barely deformed. This tool was cared for, was valued.

OK, that's my show-and-tell for the now. There is more..... Another day.

Sticking my head up out of the rabbit hole...

The recent cold snap has burst the pipes in our other house..... oh joy. Few things compare to subzero plumbing, unless it's wintertime outdoor car repair. Variations of a theme.

The positive angle is that I can come up for air.......

http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com

OMG! OMG! OMG!

Speechless.