Japanese Planes

Posted by Easy WoodCraft on

Nov 21, 2016

I'll admit that I was quite excited to try out my first Japanese plane (right photo). Since I had quickly grown so fond of Japanese saws, I thought the planes were sure to find a treasured spot in my tool chest. Although these planes can be very sweet when tuned properly they do require a substantial amount of fiddling just to get them to work properly. As with any woodbodied plane, they also require constant attention to make sure they're cutting true. The wood sole can twist or warp and will need to be periodically trued.

Don't get me wrong, I have quite a few wood-bodied planes in my shop; I just don't use them all the time. If I'm in a hurry, I'll stick with a metal-bodied plane that I know will be relatively square and able to get to work right off the shelf. If you don't mind tinkering a bit, you may enjoy a Japanese plane. They do take some getting used to—unlike their Western cousins, Japanese planes cut on the pull stroke.

The body (or dia) of the plane serves as its handles. You wrap your hands, or hand, carefully around the body and pull to create a nice, thin shaving. The simplicity of a Japanese plane (left drawing) is also one of its primary drawbacks. The laminated blade fits into tapered grooves in the dia, and the chip breaker is held in place by a metal pin. The absence of a frog means you'll have to devote time whenever you use it to properly adjust the blade to the desired depth of cut.

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