New Plane day

[Kenneth Fisher]

Got home today and had this waiting for me
image.jpg
It's a 60mm wide smoothing plane, and that's about all I know about it. The gentleman I purchased it from said he tuned the sole and sharpened the blade. It's the single sharpest blade I now own, and that includes the two straight razors I use .

I'm excited to try it out and see how I like it, I have a feeling it's only the beginning. I need to let it sit for awhile and acclimate to the shop before I start using it.

[Lasse Hilbrandt]

Nice!! how do you plan to keep the blade sharp ? Do you sharpen by hand ? Lets see som shavings

[Allan Speers]

Kenneth, that's a Japanese Kanna.

They are a bit tricky to fettle really well, but those who use them say it's well worth the trouble. We have a few members here who are near-experts on these planes.

Personally, I use Japanese saws exclusively & LOVE them, but I don't get along too well with kannas.

[Paul Fisicaro]

The kannas are incredible. I ruined my first two that I bought, they were mini kannas 40MM. They were shipped from Japan and the wood was so swollen that I couldnt get the blade out. And of course, I forced it out and that was it, once the that throat gets a little bit too large (gouged really) everything gets sloppy and its toast. You would think I would have learned from the first one but nope, I did it on the second one too. Now when I tap it with a hammer to set the blade it goes way too deep. They are pretty much useless now. I want another one so bad but I wasted too much money on them now. Im afraid to mess with them.

Good idea that you are letting them acclimate. Very smart....

[Terry Beadle]

Just a comment on a loose fitting blade on a Kana. I have a kanna that has a loose fitted blade ( my mistake of course ) but fearlessly I cut strips of masking tape and stuck them to the bed of the blade in the loose areas. That tighten up the blade fit and the plane has been used in that condition for over a decade. From time to time ( usually more than a year ) I'll have to replace the tape. I have tried to glue some thin wood shavings so as to have it last longer between tight to loose but I've found the tape works just fine and is easier to maintain.

Don't give up on those loose kana die's. Kana's are really a great plane and with a little home work and care, out perform my expectations and that includes comparisons to my LN, Clifton, and Stanley workers. If you have a really tough piece of wood, a Kana is a "go to". IMO

Once a year I check the flatness of the sole. Usually I just use a card scraper to adjust and it takes just a few pleasurable minutes to tune it up.

Enjoy the shavings !

[Alfred Kraemer]

If the sole is already tuned right and the iron sharp, you just have to set the iron right. I would give it a try. Even if it doesn't produce super thin shavings, it should still be a good plane. I have never felt that I needed to tuned my kannas to cut super thin shavings. The a well sharpened iron usually leaves a superb finish.
Regarding loose irons: if they are not extremely sloppy, the chip breaker pressure should help hold the iron in place. My most used japanese plane is one that I bought pretty cheap but it had a somewhat loose iron and the chio breaker had been lost. I made a wooden, makeshift chip breaker, and this is the plane I use the most. It has become my jack plane.
I'm careful with the edge. It can be a lot of work fixing a chipped edge, and the steel on these planes is more brittle.
My suggestions: see how it works, and look at some basic maintenance instructions for kannas.

Alfred

[Kenneth Fisher]

Spent some time tuning it up last night.

Not super thin, but better than most of my other planes.

[Patrick Chase]

Is the blade extension more on one side than the other?

[Kenneth Fisher]

That particular shaving was because of the board, a little after that it evened out and was a nice full width even thickness shaving.

When I started tuning it the blade was seated crookedly, one side was tighter than the other. I did pare that down till the blade seated evenly.

[Tony Shea]

There is a wealth of information out there on how to properly tune a Japanese Kanna. Please do some research before going too far in tuning this place if you have done so already. As has been posted above a person can get too heavy on removing material to get the blade to protrude through the sole. My preference is to use a "scraper chisel" to remove material from the bed in order to get enough blade projection. The "scraper chisel" is basically just a chisel that I have taken to the grinder and blunted the edge to approx 90 degrees. This is just an amazing tool for working the bed of any type of plane western or eastern styles.

To the person that has gone too far with too much blade projection I would highly recommend not counting those planes out. Gluing thin veneer, paper, or tape to the bed will get the plane back in working condition. Do some research and try bringing your planes back to life. Do not count on the chipbreaker for holding your blade in position, that is not at all the design of these planes. Use the wedge shaped abutements to hold the blade in position.

I could write an extremely long tutorial on how to tune up a Japanese plane but this has been covered extensively, just break out some Google-Fu and you should come up with plenty of tutorials.

Good luck with your trip down the slippery slope of owning and using Japanese Kanna. Once you get your plane singing it almost becomes and addiction. Something about these planes really transforms the wood underneath that I can't mimic with western hand planes.