Information on Japanese hand planes

Re: Information on Japanese hand planes

Wiley Horne

>Stephen,

Try to get a close-up of the logo markings on the main blade. One of us may recognize the mark. Second, is the chipbreaker plain, as is likely, or does it have a mark also?

Look at the dai (the wooden body) carefully--does it have marks? If so, try to get a closeup.

Measure across the blade and get the width--this is of general interest.

Wiley

Enigma wrapped in a mystery

jim reed @ tallahassee

>Most markings on the blades identify the maker. Often the best ones are the most elaborately marked. Look at the steel for lamination position. Blade should have curved back--the edges hold the blade in place and the back is curved so there is less metal to remove in order to get a flat cutting edge.

Re: Information on Japanese hand planes

Thom D

>One shortcut you could consider would be whether the sub-blade/breaker is laminated and chunky, like a main blade, or a stamped steel breaker of one piece, often of mild steel. There should be a visible lamination line on the laminated SBs, and often other elaborations, like a grainy iron surface. Also the laminated SBs are often about twice the thickness, say 3/16" vs. 3/32".

If the SB is laminated, you can carry on with the identification process just as suggested by others in this thread. If the SB is stamped, you have a cheap plane and who made it is not of great interest. However, the plane can still be an excellent user. Even cheap stamped SB blade sets I bought 25 years ago for 10 bucks still outperform in performance/quality any western blade I have ever used. If the dai is in good condition and reasonable quality, there isn't any reason why a superb plane should not be the result.