Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Japanese Plane Storage - Ideas?
Scott in Douglassville, PA
>I'm inspired to build a little plane caddy, reminiscent of Eric from Little Rhody's shelf (planning to inlay some RE magnets to hold the iron planes a little more reliably). However, I have a few Japanese planes, as well, and am curious what people are doing to store them. Throwing them haphazardly on a shelf doesn't seem quite right somehow...
Anyone want to share their methods?
Re: Japanese Plane Storage - Ideas?
Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI
>all of the ones i've seen at auctions or garage sales just had a hang hole drilled in the bottom, or a screw eye turned into the front ;)
Re: Japanese Plane Storage - Ideas?
Wiley Horne--Glendora CA
>Hi Scott,
Well, I keep some of em in a drawer under the bench. However, I always have three of them in easy reach when I'm working, so will tell about them. I made an open box with a low front, and screwed it into the wall behind the bench. The box is just deep enough to take the thickness of the Japanese plane, 1-3/8" or whatever. The box is wide enough to accept three planes, and I put in interior partitions to divide them, so that each plane has a little cubby.
The front wall of the box is low, coupla three inches high, so that you just drop the plane vertically into its compartment, letting the blade catch on the low front wall. The planes stand up straight, with their blades all aligned looking like crows sitting on a wire.
I have noticed some people just perch em on a rail under their bench top, again, using the blade top as a hook of sorts.
Wiley
Re: Japanese Plane Storage - Ideas?
Steve Kubien
>What Wiley said is the way I've seen most often. The hanger bar (for lack of a better term) is much like a towel bar. Make the space it comes from your wall (or cabinet back) as thick as the body of the plane (I think this is called the dai) plus a wee bit and the "bar" part can be thin for the iron to hook over.
You can see a small picture of this on page 10 of Odate's "Japanes Woodworking Tools: Their Tradition, Spirit and Use". This is a pretty solid book if Eastern tools are your cup o' tea.
Take care,
Steve Kubien