Western vs Japanese chisels

[Keith Mathewson]

When I was first introduced to handtool work I was taught the Japanese approach by retired Japanese temple builder. This was a vast departure from my work as a professional woodworker which was predominantly machine based. The chisels which I acquired were a single hollow back style, which as a western based tool worker I found to be awkward to use. I have been recently been presented with the opportunity to purchase high-quality single hollow Japanese chisels. I do not want my previous experience to prejudice my views on the use of a single hollow back chisel as it relates to future purchase. For those of you who are familiar with Japanese chisels how do you deal with slicing and pairing issues with a single hollow chisel.

[Brian Holcombe]

On the rare occasion that I'm using a jig I just make the jig considerably oversized. When you're not using a jig then most often you have to lift the chisel a slight bit to start a cut and so the back isn't touching. On occasion I'm working from a reference face I'm going to use the chisel appropriately sized to put the whole back on the surface.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Keith

I have both Western and Japanese chisels, and have used them interchangeably for some decades without being consciously aware of hollows or construction issues.

Both types have pros and cons. The advantage of a Western bench chisel is that it is a good allrounder. If it has fine lands, it may be the better for dovetailing. Japanese bench chisels tend to have wider lands, although they can be found increasingly with fine lands. Japanese bench chisels are really designed to be used with a gennou (hammer) and, while you can push them with a bare hand, are less comfortable held this way than a Western chisel.

Japanese bench chisels tend to have a shorter blade than Western chisels. I like this and, together with a gennou, find that they offer the most precison among different chisel types.

Regards from Auckland, New Zealand

Derek

[Stanley Covington]

Slicing and paring with a single-ura blade takes some getting used to.

The key is to realize the ura is there, and to be sure the lands to either side of it are used to guide the blade, not the curved bottom of the ura. This is more a matter of feel than measurement.

In some cases, for example when paring diagonally beginning at the corner of tenon, it is easy to let the handle end of the blade drop as the tenon's corner rides the hollow ura. This is the most challenging situation that comes to mind right now. With practice, you can develop a sense of the whether or not the blade is parallel with the tenon when making this paring cut. If this does not come easily, it may be better to approach from the side rather than the corner.

The advantage of the hollow ura over a flat blade in this situation is that the cutting edge is what guides the blade, and that hollow ura does not get in the way as much as flat surface which is bumped up and down by every imperfection.

But its a double-edged sword, obviously, with advantages and disadvantages.

Multiple-ura blades can help with this. The downsides to multiple ura blades, however, are greater intitial cost, more difficult to sharpen, and the relatively narrower, and accordingly shallower, ura wear out quicker, as seen in my Ichimatsu chisel.

I am not generally in favor of multiple ura for oirenomi and tataki nomi, but it's a detail that makes sense for wider paring chisels, and the large Ootsukinomi slicks used for timber framing.

Stan