Common kanna questions.
I often get asked a lot of questions about planes, and most specifically about Tsunesaburo planes. This is a collection/refinement of these questions, which will hopefully answer most of these questions before they are asked, or even need to be asked. Can a plane with XX° angle of bedding be made? Yes. Any blade bedding angle from 35° to 90° is possible. Angles from 38-42° are 'normal' and readily available, anything outside these angles means the dai must be entirely hand made, which adds to the cost and the time needed to make it up. Do know that kanna tend to work better (i.e; reduced tear-out, reduced effort) at lower angles than metallic planes so very high angles are usually not necessary and may be more trouble to use than expected. Can I have a plane made with unusual specifications? Yes! We've had several requests for planes with skewed blade bedding, scraping rabbets, etc. Again, these must be made to order and take a very long time to be made up. A drawing will be helpful and in some cases, essential. Where is my plane!?! We do not keep planes in stock. Tsunesaburo's policy is for a plane to work, out of the box*. The only way we can ensure this policy holds true is to ensure all planes are freshly made, i.e; freshly adjusted. As the environment here in Japan will likely be different to where you are in the world, the less time between a plane having been made up and arriving in your hands, the better the chance for the plane to function once it arrives. So we have all planes ordered in only as needed. Not to mention that with all the possible options available, to meet any possible combination of options available we'd need to keep over 1000 planes on hand, as well as the secure, environmentally stable storage space that many planes would require. Also, while Tsunesaburo planes can be ordered as a 'standard' item in the store, this is not the same 'standard' Japanese delivered planes are, which are what Tsunesaburo tends to keep in stock at their factory. So almost all planes we procure are 'made to order, strictly to order'. This does take time, and while we try very hard to make sure planes are made up as quickly as possible, we can't force them to be made up faster than they take to be made. Sometimes this means a plane takes longer than expected. Please know that while the waiting time might be longer than we'd all like it to be, the wait is usually proven to be worthwhile. *working out of the box = the plane adjusted to a point where it can and will function as a working hand plane. It may not be adjusted to personal taste, it may be a little 'tight' or 'loose', but it should be capable of functioning as soon as the box the plane is enclosed in is opened, and the blade adjusted to take a shaving. Perfect adjustment is impossible, and the plane will require periodic adjustment as it acclimatizes to it's new home. All we can promise is that the plane is, as made, ready to use and to get it to you as soon as possible to ensure it will work when you get it.
Additional questions will be added as time goes on... |