Japanese Shaping Planes at Lee Valley

[Dave Zellers]

Does anyone have any experience with these planes from Lee Valley?

http://www.leevalley.com/us/Wood/page.aspx?p=55065&cat=1,41182

They look pretty low end (thus the price) but the only thing that matters is do they work?

I'm puzzled by the lack of a wedge to hold the iron in place. Is the iron simply a friction fit?

[Matt Lau]

They work, and work well.

They look just like the ones that used to be sold at Japan Woodworker in Alameda.
When they went out business (Fred wanted to retire), they were sold at $10 each (I was kicking myself for not buying a bunch).

The blades are held in by a very tight friction fit into the dai.
If I'm not mistaken, the dai grabs onto the blade in a spring fit.

-Matt

ps. If you want to see what they're capable of, see Michihiro Matsuda's facebook photos.
While he largely uses his foredom, he prefers using these tiny planes for shaping the swoopy line angles on his instruments.

[Dave Zellers]

Thanks Matt. That's exactly what I was looking for.

Another thing I'm looking at is, since these work well, I'm wondering when the need arises, about taking these irons and making a new body that would fit the exact arc of the project I'm working on. That seems quite doable which would be awesome.

I may pull the trigger on all three of these during this current free shipping event. At under $50 each it's not that much really.

I say that wishing you hadn't mentioned the $10 thing from before.... :eek:

[Matt Lau]

You may also want to try Stu at ToolsfromJapan...wait, they only have the compass plane.

BTW, you might find this fun: http://www.core77.com/posts/36044/The-Kanna-Finish-How-to-Get-Glass-Smooth-Surfaces-in-Wood-Without-Sandpaper-or-Varnish