Setting up Japanese Planes

[Alan Frazier]

I have been looking for a good guide on setting up japanese planes but can't seem to find one. Does anyone know where I can find one?

[Manny Hernandez]

Go here:
http://daikudojo.org/Archive/robert_meadow/
and download the article The Plane Truth.
That should get you started. To supplement that you can try to find an article written by Robert Meadow that was published in the March 1989 edition of Fine Woodworking magazine. It is in one of the old "The Best of Fine Woodworking - Bench Tools" books. I believe it's out of print but you can still find them at used book stores.
I found these to be more helpful than the book by Odate as far as actually tuning a plane.

Manny

[John O'Neill]

Harrelson Stanley has a DVD called Kanna, The Japanese Hand Plane. It is very thorough tutorial. (about 3 hours of every aspect of Kanna). You can find it on japanesetools.com

[Brent Smith]

Hi Alan,

Here is probably your best source for step by step info;
http://www.japanesetools.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=90_92&products_id=5528

If you look at the banner at the top, you'll find a link to their forum also.

EDIT.....Looks like John types faster than I do :).

[Wilbur Pan]

There's also a more recent FWW article by Carl Swensson about setting up Japanese planes. It's from Fine Woodworking #145, and the article is available on the FWW website, if you have a website subscription.

[Alan Frazier]

Thanks everyone with all this info I should be able to do it. The fine woodworking article looks great and I might even have the '89 magazine if I look for it.