I don’t know when the last post I made here was, and don’t have the time or gumption to go check, but I know it wasn’t this year, which is nearly 1/3 over.

Here are the simple facts of the matter.

As you may or may not be aware, the value of the yen has dropped by . . . → Read More: When is it?]]> Hello Stranger,

I don’t know when the last post I made here was, and don’t have the time or gumption to go check, but I know it wasn’t this year, which is nearly 1/3 over.

Here are the simple facts of the matter.

As you may or may not be aware, the value of the yen has dropped by about 20% in the past 6 months, and the drop is against all other currencies. As a result, the Tools from Japan store is, effectively, having a 20% off everything sale, compared to mid-late last year.

You might have guessed (correctly) that this was not a secret. After all, absorb any kind of news media, and they’ll be telling you with regularity “Hey, the yen has dropped in value!”

And many of you out there have taken the opportunity to ‘get’ while the going’s good.

Many, many, MANY of you…

But ‘many’ doesn’t quite explain things adequately…

So, here are some vague numbers.

We’ve processed in the past 3 and a bit months more orders than were processed from January to August last year.

And it’s not slowing down. Not at all.

As a result, time is very, very tight around here. I do have help in the form of the mother of my children, but she can’t answer emails (English is her second language), she can’t prepare parcels for shipping (we tried, didn’t work) and she can’t add new products to the store (she can use a computer, but the store’s software is beyond her). What she can do is process paperwork and order in products we need. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s very much a case of 1 + 1 = 2 1/2.

But still, I still have a lot of emails to answer and a LOT of orders to process. And I simply can’t coax enough time out of a day to get it all done in a reasonably timely manner. I consider myself fortunate that I am able to function very well on a scant 4-5 hours of a sleep a night, and I’m using that ability to the maximum. But even putting in very long hours isn’t enough to get everything done.

So adding new products has gone on the back burner for a while. Which is a pity, as there is some really nice stuff that needs to be added, and a lot of it.

And writing here? Not a chance.

So that’s the basics of it all. I’m simply stretched too thin and I need to put my best efforts to where they’re needed first.

The upshot of all this is that we’re better able to keep stock of the more popularly ordered items so we can ship them quickly. We still don’t have a lot of space, but what little we do have is crammed with items that usually don’t stay long enough to gather dust.

This is a good thing, but still, we do often need a little time to process orders. We really do need that time. Unfortunately, not everyone realises that we are very, very small and simply can’t manage to keep everything on hand at all times. It’s very frustrating, but that’s how it is now and will be for the immediate future.

Anyway, that’s about it for the time being. We’re trying real hard, but it’s not easy being constantly too busy for our own good.

That’s about it I suppose.

Thanks for reading, and I hope this explanation makes some sense. I also hope this nice, new computer I’m typing this on gets used for the purpose it was bought for, editing video…

Stu.

I have no other excuses for my lack of posting here other than being ridiculously busy these past months, and unable to do anything but keep my head down and get done what needs to be done.

In that time however I was able to do a few ‘extra’ things, . . . → Read More: Where does the time go?]]> Hello again long suffering, patient and faithful reader,

I have no other excuses for my lack of posting here other than being ridiculously busy these past months, and unable to do anything but keep my head down and get done what needs to be done.

In that time however I was able to do a few ‘extra’ things, purely extravagant I’m afraid and I hope you’ll allow me the luxury of having taken the time to do them.

First, was a weekend away from home, away from the store, email, anything electronic (as my garbage phone goes flat for the fun of it!), just myself, my co-pilot and two vertically challenged monsters, all piled into the car and off to Awaji-shima which is a rather long island between Shikoku (where I live) and Honshu (where everyone else lives) and specifically it’s where the bridge from Shikoku (where I live) and Hyogo (where the tools are) connects to.

We spent a day exploring, playing and having fun. The first actual day dedicated to just doing nothing but having fun in over 6 years for us.

I’ll spare you the details, other than I hope we can do it again soon but I fear that we cannot afford to do it very often.

The following day was spent exploring some more, and then a half-day at the Miki Kanamono Matsuri (Hardware festival) where we met some people, caught up with others and general ‘stuff’.

While there, I managed to catch a presentation of a chisel being made…

And as I also had a camera that was able to take video, I did just that.

(It’s the camera you have that counts. Even a not-so-hot camera is better than none!)

The footage it took can be seen here;

Making a Japanese chisel.

Which brings up another important point.

While this video is admittedly not the greatest quality, it still needs to be converted from raw footage into something that is at least watchable.

This video is 15 minutes long, which meant chopping down 25 minutes of footage, addition captions and generally tweaking it, then converting it into an actual video file and then uploading it to the interweb so it can be viewed by anyone who wishes to see it.

In the past, my reliable old Toshiba laptop (being the fastest and most capable computer in the house) got the job of doing all that.

As I said, it’s a reliable beast, but it’s old. And video editing/converting is one thing that does not willingly tolerate ‘old’, needing as much computer horsepower you can lay your mitts on to get the job done.

This kind of video would take about 1-2 hours to edit (constantly slamming into the limit of the laptop’s abilities), another 2 hours to convert into an actual video file and another hour or so to upload through an ADSL internet connection. After all that, you might be lucky to get an actual video file because the computer is working so hard it gets flustered and makes mistakes, which means a lot of time wasted. While the computer is slaving away, it cannot do anything else, so consumed with effort it is. Then uploading, you run the gauntlet of tying up the computer for another hour or so, hoping that it all works.

Frustrating. Very, very frustrating. So much so that I never really had the time (or patience) to do it very often.

But, and it’s a really big but, the reliable old Toshiba has been put into semi-retirement…

In it’s place is a shiny new computer that allowed me to edit that video without slamming into any limits of the computer at all. Never even stressed the thing. Converting it all into an actual file took under 10 minutes and the upload was a mere 5 minutes.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am now the proud, and very pleased owner of some of the very finest, most powerful hardware Intel, Lenovo, nVidia and Samsung can muster and it’s connected to an equally spanky new fibre optic internet connection.

(Fast? Not even close to mere ‘fast’…)

So, it looks like I’ll finally be able to do something along the lines of actual videos for you all.

Expect more of them.

Soon.

Lots of them.

I promise.

For now, it’s 3AM and I should be asleep. Maybe I already am?

Thanks for reading and watching.

Stu.

My apologies for not writing here for just over a whole month, for some unusual reason it’s been a busy August, which has usually been a very quiet month.

First up, thanks to all of you who’ve made the previous month so busy. T’was supposed to be summer (vacation) time, but I’ve been flat out . . . → Read More: What happened to August?]]> Hello again all,

My apologies for not writing here for just over a whole month, for some unusual reason it’s been a busy August, which has usually been a very quiet month.

First up, thanks to all of you who’ve made the previous month so busy. T’was supposed to be summer (vacation) time, but I’ve been flat out just keeping up.

Next, there are some new additions to the store in the form of some measuring gear from Matsui-Siemitsu (Precision).

There are, last time I checked, at least a half dozen Japanese brands of measuring and marking gear.

(Note, I did NOT state Japanese manufacturers because most of them have their products made in Japan and ‘elsewhere’, and it’s not always made clear…)

However, there is one distinct hold out, only making their products in Japan, and as you might expect, they’re very well made, albeit not at all ‘inexpensive’.

No prizes for guessing it’s Matsui-Seimitsu, which is good because it means we don’t have to pick and choose which products we can and cannot list, we can just make almost all of them readily available with some restrictions for common sense’s sake.

(We’re called “Tools from Japan” not “Tools from Japan that may be made in Japan or surrounding areas, maybe if we’re lucky”. There are standards we must maintain!)

At the moment we have listed a few rulers, straight edges and their ‘kebiki’ marking gauges.

The rulers are nice, simple and inexpensive and available in a not too common 200mm length. This is a really, REALLY handy size especially since I often find a 150mm ruler is not quite long enough, but don’t want to drag out a bigger ruler. The 200mm is just a little longer, no thicker and no wider than the 150mm model. And it’ll stretch the full length of a standard sized sharpening stone. Being made of hardened stainless steel, I just found my new sharpening friend!

The straight edges are nice, uncomplicated and accurate. For what they are, they are not ‘cheap’ but they are competitive price wise.

The Kebiki are incredible. Very well made, precision fitted everywhere and just wonderful. Again, not inexpensive but considering how well made they are worth every ‘nominal unit of currency you wish to use’.

A large number of smaller Tsunesaburo planes have been added, and more are coming as time allows. These are the joinery and special purpose planes, not too many ‘normal’ planes to come.

(And a lesson has been learned. Do not order bespoke blades over the summer. Nobody fires up the power hammer when it’s humid² and hot³.)

What’s coming?

Mostly filling out existing listings. A lot of Koyamaichi and Ouchi chisels, some more Mitsukawa saws, more planes, etc, etc.

Plugging holes in the listings too. We expect to be able to start offering some ‘proper’ hammers, axes and similar gear in the near future.

We’ll also be adding some more files and rasps. The arrangement is still in the works, but it’s an old file making company in Hiroshima who seem to pop up everywhere. They’re keen, offer a nice range of files and rasps and they’re quite popular here for offering a good quality product at a nice, wallet friendly price.

They’re files, not a terribly sophisticated bit of kit but a good file is a nice thing to use, a bad file is a lesson in frustration and in recent times, the trend is toward mediocrity in filing. It’ll be nice to have a steady supply of good files available.

A few other things coming along as well, but no details just yet.

And that’s about it for the present moment in time. Just very busy trying to get things done.

Thanks for reading, as always,

Stu.

It would seem that my previous blog post here, “Why I put a ‘back bevel’ on plane blades” has attracted a few comments, actually more than a few and certainly more than is usual.

It’s surprising, and very encouraging to see the comments, and while it might seem like there’s a little disagreement going . . . → Read More: ‘Back Bevels’ expanded…]]> Hello again Faithful Reader,

It would seem that my previous blog post here, “Why I put a ‘back bevel’ on plane blades” has attracted a few comments, actually more than a few and certainly more than is usual.

It’s surprising, and very encouraging to see the comments, and while it might seem like there’s a little disagreement going on, actually I don’t think that’s much of the case.

So, in no particular order…

David W, yeah, I know. Folks don’t like having their heart felt beliefs challenged even when presented with overwhelming evidence. That’s ok, but what I get disappointed with is when those same people tend to push others toward their beliefs. While few people will admit to have a ‘vested interest’ in these things, the truth of the matter is that most people do have a vested interest of sorts. Having someone else take up their torch and wave it gleefully is a vindication that they’re ‘right’, which everyone naturally wants to be, that is ‘right’.

For myself, I sell these things and the way I am wired means that if I sell something, I’m not comfortable if that ‘thing’ doesn’t do exactly what I say it will, which is why someone bought it in the first place from me. Typically, I’m very conservative with what I recommend, preferring to under promise-over deliver than the other way around.

I find doing so gets me my own torch bearers!

David C, I sharpen so many things with so many different sharpening devices I tend to forget that not everyone has the confidence I do now. I agree, a prop of some kind is important and do use a thin ruler more often than not, but still just ‘wave the back’ on the stone free hand. Because the bevel on the back is so small and shallow, I find it can be erased easily even if it’s slightly ‘steep’. I have used ‘feeler tape’ which is constant thickness steel strip used as a feeler gauge, you just cut off as much as you need when you need it.

The ruler I use is a 150mm Shinwa hardened Stainless Steel one, nothing special but it’s made in China and actually too short. I’m not convinced it’s the best thing, but a small ruler is cheap and it works. No point trying to re-invent the wheel.

(I have plenty of feeler tape though, so it gets used as well. Pity it rusts just as quickly as a feeler gauge does!)

Dave from VA, I too have, in the past, used a steep back bevel to raise the effective angle of attack of a plane’s blade. I don’t tend to do so now, finding that judicious use of chip breaker, experience in reading the wood and keeping both the blade sharp and the shaving thin seems to keep me out of trouble more often than not.

Regarding Japanese blades, funny you should mention that…

I was talking with Mr. Uozumi Snr. (Tsunesaburo II) about such things. Specifically I’d asked about changing the way in which their Stanley blades were prepared to help ensure that lusted after ‘flat back’. He said he’d look into it as his little project, but got back to me that changing the method did help, it still wasn’t quite good enough and added too much complication for not enough result, so back to the old way which makes the blades quite flat, but not dead flat. I simply told him that I personally tilt the back to get that edge sharp, and showed him with a ruler how I usually do it.

That spawned into a mildly animated discussion about what’s actually going on at edge there, at the back. I’ll go into detail at another time, but basically what we agreed upon is outlined in the original blog post. The steel does get damaged by scratches, corrosion and wear. It’s completely unavoidable, and all you can do is to try and make sure that every time the blade comes off the finishing stone that it’s left behind fresh metal. Japanese chisels allow this quite easily with the back hollow. Japanese plane blades allow this through regular tapping out, allowing that ‘defective’ metal to be removed (other reasons for tapping out too), the ‘Uradashifuyoh’ blades (no tapping out) allow it by design as the back is narrow and on Western plane blades, you get it with a small back bevel which replicates the effect of ‘uradashifuyoh’.

As I said, there’s more to it than just that, but the basic premise is that maintaining a flat back and simply ‘wiping off’ the burr isn’t a great idea. You’re hamstrung with a Western chisel to some extent, but chisels are usually narrower and it’s easy to keep that steel back clean and defect free.

And now, I don’t do back bevels to change the angle. I either make a plane for the job or order up a dai to suit. I’m not a fan of using an edge that’s not ‘sharp’, and anything less acute than 30° just twists my guts into knots. Yeah, I’m being a purist!

Archie, if that small bevel was simply maintained, then yes it would soon be pitted and scratched. The idea is that that small bevel on the back is constantly being put into fresh steel. It’s not a case of a ‘quick lick’ on the back to wipe off the burr, you do need to actually take off some metal each time. I don’t know about anyone else, but when I sharpen a blade I’ll use it, touch it up once or twice on the finest stone I’m using at the time, then drop down to a ‘middle’ stone to get that face bevel into fresh steel again, which also shrinks the back bevel. When I’m not longer happy with the edge, I drop down to a #1000 stone to make sure all evidence of the previous edge is eliminated and I start again.

It’s a blade, it’s meant to be used up. It’s a fool’s errand to preserve bad steel for the sake of ‘speed in sharpening’, because steel that’s not fresh and clean won’t get as sharp and won’t stay (less) sharp as long as good steel.

It’s funny, I used to follow what the ‘experts’ said with regard to sharpening, trying to get the time actually sharpening as short as possible and get to cutting wood again. When I was actually ‘cutting wood’ trying to put food in my kid’s mouths, I ended up paying less attention to the ‘experts’ and doing what I thought was right, which was pretty much re-build the edge almost every time the blade came out of the plane.

I can’t prove anything as I didn’t take pictures, didn’t record video and didn’t write anything down but I did feel that I could keep working for a lot longer and got better results when I made a fresh edge rather than ‘touching up’ the edge. The time spent was about the same in the end I think, and I didn’t spent much time solving problems with the planes, they just worked.

That pretty much all the professional planing folk I’ve talked to here ‘re-build’ their edges quite often adds some credibility to my thoughts, but that kind of talk is way too controversial to bring up in genteel woodworking circles.

And besides, it “uses up more steel and stones. I sell them so I must want you to buy them all from me so I can get even richer!”

I hope that covers everything, and because there’s a 2 week limit of comments here, this might allow the discussion to carry on without being cut off.

Thank you all for the comments and for reading. I can only hope that someone learns something new.

Stu.

Just recently, something came up that ‘got my goat’ and that was mention that a ‘flat back’ on a plane blade was good enough. Add in several “+1!” posts, and I couldn’t just leave it alone.

I mentioned that I don’t believe a ‘flat back’ = ‘sharp blade’ based on a ‘flat back’ being chock loaded . . . → Read More: Why I put a ‘back bevel’ on plane blades…]]> Hello again,

Just recently, something came up that ‘got my goat’ and that was mention that a ‘flat back’ on a plane blade was good enough. Add in several “+1!” posts, and I couldn’t just leave it alone.

I mentioned that I don’t believe a ‘flat back’ = ‘sharp blade’ based on a ‘flat back’ being chock loaded with imperfections such as pits of corrosion, deep scratches and other nasties.

I got called on that, I suppose because I’m not ‘known to know anything’ and don’t write for any magazines, so what on earth would I know what I’m talking about. Right?

For your perusal;

Exhibit A;

If was can accept that this blade is generally flat, smooth and polished, then we’re in agreement. Obviously, I’m using a Pentax DSLR camera here…

Exhibit B;

The same blade, at the very edge under 200X magnification.

Note the deeper scratches on the right side, the small rust pits in the upper area, the relatively smooth and clean surface at the edge where there is a very small ‘back bevel’ put in place by use of a ruler on the stone, ala “the ruler trick”.

Chisels are a different problem altogether, and you pretty much have to accept the edge isn’t going to be ‘perfect’ but at the same time, a chisel isn’t usually as wide as a plane blade nor is ‘absolute sharp’ quite so important, unless of course you’re driving your plane through the wood with a hammer…

Any questions?

Stu.

Finally (finally!) got these gouges rehandled, and figure that since I have pictures I can put them up here.

Also, the first look at the Koyamaichi ‘tiger’ engraving…

(Now we do know what they look like.)

Ok, not great pictures but pictures all the same.

Handles are jarrah (nasty, evil, hideous stuff), gouges are Koyamaichi (of course!).

That . . . → Read More: A few gouges to look at.]]> Hello again faithful reader,

Finally (finally!) got these gouges rehandled, and figure that since I have pictures I can put them up here.

Also, the first look at the Koyamaichi ‘tiger’ engraving…

(Now we do know what they look like.)

Ok, not great pictures but pictures all the same.

Handles are jarrah (nasty, evil, hideous stuff), gouges are Koyamaichi (of course!).

That is all, and I hope that suggests I’m not sitting around here doing nothing of value…

(Also, a few new Suehiro stones are listed in the store. More coming and the Tsunesaburo ‘Miki’ planes are going up in price within the next few hours. If you can beat me to the price changes, then you get them at the old price.)

Stu.

(Getting tired of these updates yet?)

Having spent much of what was a very nicely weathered Sunday bashing on a keyboard, clicking a mouse and uploading pictures (must check how much space I have left on the server) there are now 120 Ouchi oire-nomi listed, with 4 different handle options makes for 480 chisels now . . . → Read More: Ouchi oire-nomi x 480]]> Hello Faithful Reader,

(Getting tired of these updates yet?)

Having spent much of what was a very nicely weathered Sunday bashing on a keyboard, clicking a mouse and uploading pictures (must check how much space I have left on the server) there are now 120 Ouchi oire-nomi listed, with 4 different handle options makes for 480 chisels now order-able through the Tools from Japan store here;

Ouchi Oire-nomi.

It’s a start, but we’re not done yet.

If you happen to be interested in Ouchi chisels, I must urge you all to avoid delaying the decision. There will be a price increase coming by year’s end, exactly when we do not know, so until that time the pricing is at the ‘new’ price, with a 20% discount applied to bring them down to the proper, current pricing.

If you’ve recently acquired Ouchi chisels, I can only say one word.

Sorry.

At the same time, do not forget that there are only 2 weeks until the price of Tsunesaburo’s ‘Miki’ planes will also increase by 20%. I wish I did not have to pass along this price increase, but 20% is not small potatoes.

There are more products coming, as fast as I can manage to list them.

Yes, this blog post is pure promotion.

Thanks for reading my blog-o-mercial.  

Stu.

I read Green eggs and ham tonight, so please excuse the heading there. It just seemed so appropriate.

After a little prodding and poking, I’ve finally made Koyamaichi chisels available in 5 and 10 piece sets, in boxes.

See them here; Koyamaichi chisels.

Still working my way through Ouchi, then onto some stones and then some . . . → Read More: Will you take them in a box?]]> Hello again Faithful reader,

I read Green eggs and ham tonight, so please excuse the heading there. It just seemed so appropriate.

After a little prodding and poking, I’ve finally made Koyamaichi chisels available in 5 and 10 piece sets, in boxes.

See them here; Koyamaichi chisels.

Still working my way through Ouchi, then onto some stones and then some measuring and marking gear. Some really, really nice measuring and marking gear…

Thanks for poking your head in the door,

Stu.

On this just past Wednesday my co-pilot (Akiko!) and myself took a drive in Miki city to pay a visit to a few folks.

First up, was a lunch date with Mr. and Mrs. Koyama(ichi) at a Japanese style restaurant that Mr. Koyama found out about with his tennis club friends. (Yes, . . . → Read More: Road Trip; Ouchi chisels.]]> Hello again Faithful Reader,

On this just past Wednesday my co-pilot (Akiko!) and myself took a drive in Miki city to pay a visit to a few folks.

First up, was a lunch date with Mr. and Mrs. Koyama(ichi) at a Japanese style restaurant that Mr. Koyama found out about with his tennis club friends. (Yes, he plays tennis.) However, as we were running a little late, we missed our intended rendezvous point and had to leave our car (with camera inside) at the tennis club while we got chauffeured to lunch.

(A word of warning, if Mr. Koyama offers you a ride, make sure you pop a few brave pills first. He drives fast.)

So, as we had no camera with us, no pictures are to be had. I’ll remedy that problem in a few weeks.

Lunch was good, I fought with Mrs. Koyama over the bill and won (and kicked generations of Japanese manners in the teeth in the process. Sometimes it’s good to be a non-local!) and then we went as saw their house, all freshened up.

But the key mission on this trip was to meet Mr. Ouchi, who makes chisels.

(Ouchi is pronounced Oh-oochie. It could be written in English as Oouchi or with an accent on the ‘O’ to extend it’s sound. It is most certainly not pronounced ‘ouchy’ as in “that hurts”. Although you might say that if an Ouchi chisel cuts you…)

To those of you who are unaware of Ouchi, they are ‘the other brand’ that is very prevalent in Western Japan. Take a visit to any decent tool store west of the Kansai area (Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka) and you will most likely find chisels from Koyamaichi, Ouchi or both. They’re the brands bought by folks who hang off a chisel for a living buy when they need to get the job done and need a tool they can rely on. Perhaps not the top tier of makers who can command very high prices and have long waiting lists, but their tools are all function, little flair. Of course, as part of that function, they’re very well finished and performance is without question good. There are definitely other brands of chisels out there and readily available, but in my travels throughout much of Western Japan, I always seem to find Ouchi and Koyamaichi. Maybe it’s some kind of magnetic attraction?

So, that’s who we went to see.

After arriving, the first thing to do was to actually find Mr. Ouchi which wasn’t an easy task. The workshop is spread out over several buildings on both sides of a small but busy road and includes his house as well. As it turned out, the other side was a warehouse area, but the sign was up there and a surprise was lurking inside the ‘warehouse’.

After tracking him down, walking past plenty of well used (but not recently) equipment in a couple of out buildings, we found ourselves in the current workshop, which is actually quite small.

All that is inside there are a couple of power hammers (leaf spring type), a forge (for making stuff hot, coal fired) a string of grinders along a wall, a few other bits and pieces and a small office area.

Starting with the power hammers;

This one here does the shaping work of the necks, the further one does the ‘hard’ work. Note that the area is not so large, but it’s not a problem as there’s only one fellow working here at any given time. Not neat and tidy, but not cluttered. And dirt floor!

The reverse side of the previous power hammer. Unlike the massive air powered hammer at Tsunesaburo, this one has a moderately sized electric motor driving the main shaft up the top. Working in the reverse to a steam train, this turns rotary motion (from the motor) into linear motion via a crank and connecting rod you can see at the top. The motion is transferred to the leaf spring which then transfers the motion to the ‘hammer’ toward the bottom of the picture here.

(That’s Mr. Ouchi in the background.)

Looks like an awfully complex arrangement, but as the hammer must have some ‘give’ to it, the spring allows the head to do it’s job over a broad range.

Most impressive about these hammers is that they are very old, not very clean except where the important slides are located, where they are both polished smooth and spotlessly clean. I was also surprised at how light they appeared to be, with the main frame being little more than (big!) angle iron.

At the bottom of this particular hammer;

A pair of dies to form the round necks on chisels. No particular size (refrain from impersonating Tom Jones here please) just a general ’round’ to get the shape mostly forged into shape.

What I did notice was that the upper ‘pulley’ was flat, and the age of these hammers put them right into the ‘line-shaft’ era of tooling.

What does that mean?

Well, long before electricity became the mainstay of motive power in industry, there would be a long shaft running through a manufacturing building that each machine would take it’s motive power from through a wide leather belt. Often these shafts would be in the ceiling, driven by a steam engine, water wheel or some other large, reliable and powerful prime mover of some kind.

A quick inspection showed that the line shaft was still in place…

Note the large, flat ‘wheels’ on it, they’re the pulleys that would drive the leather belts that would drive the machines.

What was very interesting was that at some point (or even as an original installation) this line shaft was driven by a very large electric motor, as you might be able to see at the very top of this picture, with three v-belts connecting it to the line shaft. I think this is most likely a retro-fit of some kind, but perhaps not. I didn’t ask!

And the power hammer that is used for most of the hard work, situated right next to the forge on the right there.

What might not be obvious is the pedal situated on the right side there. This connects to a clutch on the upper shaft so that the speed and power of the hammer can be easily adjusted on the fly.

This contraption is a shear, again a relic from the line shaft days, retrofitted with it’s own electric motor. Used to trim steel to size quickly.

Tongs anyone?

I suppose this is an ‘anvil’ but it’s more like a block of steel than anything else. Chisels don’t come in too many shapes, so something simple and flat is perfectly adequate.

What’s going on here?

Both of these chisels are the same width, thickness and have bevelled tops. The only difference is that round part the socket rests against.

One of them is ‘Kanto’ style, the other is ‘Kansai’ style…

Kanto translates as ‘related to the east’, or more commonly known as Tokyo and surrounding areas.

Kansai translates as ‘related to the west’, or more commonly as Osaka and the surrounding areas.

(You might have realised that that the large international airport serving Osaka is called Kansai International Airport…)

I know which is which, but do you?

Take a guess, the answer will be shown at the end of this blog post. Good luck!

(Hint; if you’ve got a Japanese chisel handy and you know where it was made, take a look at it. It might help, but it might not too!)

A baby chisel, recently hatched. When it grows up, it’ll be pointy.

Some of you may have read something about Japanese tools needing their ‘beauty sleep’.

If not, here goes.

A Japanese tool is made by forging a thin layer of very hard steel to a softer piece of steel or iron by way of welding in a forge. That’s what the forge and power hammer are for. The steel used in many (but not all) Japanese blades is often referred to as ‘white’ steel or ‘blue’ steel. This relates to the paper wrapping on the raw material as supplied to the blade smith.

White steel is a very clean steel alloy of iron, carbon and anything else reduced to a point where any detrimental effects are functionally eliminated.

Blue steel is white steel with the addition of tungsten and chromium to improve it’s abrasion resistance (tungsten) but without making the resulting steel too brittle to use (chromium).

For blades that will benefit from improved edge life due to abrasion resistance, a measure of rust resistance and will not be subject to jarring and undue shocks such as plane blades, certain knives and paring chisels, then blue steel is an ideal edge steel.

For blades that need to stand up to some shock/abuse, be easy to sharpen (and repair if damage does occur) and will benefit more from superior toughness than edge life such as struck chisels, saws and some knives, then white steel is the better choice.

Yes, using one steel for another task is generally ok, but the above is a generally sound rule to abide by.

Either way, these Japanese steels have been bashed around during the welding process and smacked around some more getting them into shape. The heating and cooling that occurs during these processes introduces stresses in the steel and between the steel and soft iron/steel backing material.

And a blade that is stressed will lash out in the form of chipping, cracking and general misbehaviour, exacerbated by the way in which these blades are heat treated which leaves them very, very hard.

In order to relieve the stresses, the blades require what I call their ‘beauty sleep’.

This sleep can be in the form of a short, warm sleep or a long, cool sleep. Either way, precluding this step will result in a very poor blade. The oft recited criticism that “Japanese blades (chisels!) are brittle” results from insufficient rest between forging and heat treatment.

In the case of Tsunesaburo, the sleep is a short (3 days) hot sleep in a large, gas fired kiln. For Koyamaichi, it’s a long cool sleep in a bucket of ash for a month.

Ouchi chisels get a short, warm sleep in the device shown below.

This is basically an electric heated kiln filled with carbon rich material. The chisels go in, they get heated up and allowed to cool down again slowly, relieving stress and making for a happy blade.

Once this is done, the chisels are finish ground and buffed smooth before being heat treated (hardened, then tempered) and the back hollow is ground into the blade after the heat treatment is completed so that any de-carburisation that may have occurred during the process is removed, resulting in a tool with no ‘bad’ steel in it, and it’s ready to use (after being sharpened) and won’t behave badly.

Then the chisel has it’s handle and socket fitted, any extra details are done and the chisel is ready to go.

And that’s about it really.

There was this picture hanging on the office refrigerator though…

His name is Otsukasa Nobuhide.

(If you take a close look at the Wikipedia link, you might be able to connect the dots…)

Oh, the surprise in the ‘warehouse’?

Well, if you didn’t know already, Mr. Ouchi likes (loves!) a certain motorised transportation device made in the U.S. commonly known as a Harley Davidson….

There was one hiding in one of the outbuildings, a fairly standard looking one. I didn’t know there were any ‘standard’ Harley Davidsons, I thought they were all modified in some way.

But hiding in the warehouse was one that was decidedly ‘un’ standard…

It’s a terrible picture, but it’s the best of the pictures we have.

(Yes, I need to lose a little around the middle and some off the top as well…)

Thanks for reading, and I hope you found our tour interesting.

Stu.

(The chisel question? The left one is the Kansai style, the right one Kanto. The Kansai style is left extra thick so the socket and neck can be smoothed out as a combined unit, giving a clean finish. The Kanto version will be rounded and fitted with a suitable socket to match the size, having a slight notch where the neck and socket meet. There is no difference in performance, only in how they feel in the hand.)

As I sit here, 1AM in the morning with the email telling me the currency rate automated doohickey just did it’s thing, I am suffering from some lack of sleep but need to get in a few words here all the same.

Yesterday, we (as in my Co-pilot and myself) drove into Miki city, . . . → Read More: End-o-the-month update.]]> Hello again Faithful Reader,

As I sit here, 1AM in the morning with the email telling me the currency rate automated doohickey just did it’s thing, I am suffering from some lack of sleep but need to get in a few words here all the same.

Yesterday, we (as in my Co-pilot and myself) drove into Miki city, Hyogo to see a couple of people.

First up was to go have lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Koyama(ichi) and see their recently renovated house. Not much to say here, other than lunch was good, the company better and their house looks great.

It was only our second visit to their house, the first being nearly 2 years ago now (I think!) and back then it was just a normal, quite old house. Cluttered and dark. Now, bright, breezy and very comfortable.

Nice enough that I hope I can get back to it more often.

After lunch and ‘house inspection’, Mr. Koyama showed us where Ouchi chisels are made.

Of course, that was part 2 of our visit, to go see Mr. Ouchi, and take some pictures (300+), talk a little, learn a lot and get the ball rolling with him. Which we did.

The pictures of that visit will follow soon enough, as will a small write up of it.

Interesting stuff.

While we were away, the silver truck tried to deliver some new stuff here. Of course, we weren’t home and I had to wait until today to get the new stuff.

No prizes for guessing what arrived…

(3 sharpening stones.)

Chances are that whoever you are reading this humble little blog, you don’t have these stones.

Chances are you may never own these stones.

Chances are you may never even be able to try these stones.

And that, ladies and gentlemen is a very, very sad thing.

Extremely sad because these stones are mind-bendingly good.

More to follow as soon as I can manage it.

Stu.