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Thread: Kanna Selection

  1. #1

    Kanna Selection

    Hey everyone,

    I'm considering getting a kanna to use as a smoother, and to start learning how to work with the different style of metal forms that the Japanese tools employ (ura, etc.). I've looked online, and I've been in contact with a gentleman near me in Canada who sells kannas. He recommended a Hitachi blue steel Yamamoto plane. I've seen a plane from Japan, Wago is the brand, and it was 54mm blue steel #1.

    I have no experience with Japanese tools and I've read through most of B.Holcombe's blog posts, which has encouraged my asking for a Kanna for my birthday. Before I decide which one I might mention to my family members, I wanted to get some input on the worth in getting one of the previously mentioned planes. They're not outrageously expensive, and I think that makes some sense to practice on with never having tapped out a Japanese tool, etc.

    Any input would be appreciated thanks. I'm not even going to bring up the bevel edged chisel that are relatively cheap at Lee Valley... Oops... I guess I did 😈

    Rick

  2. #2
    Disclaimer: I'm not an expert on kanna. I have two of them, and they each cost less than $70. But me not being an expert might actually be helpful here.

    I would suggest that you not get a nice kanna as your first one. There is a lot of setup involved, and there's a good chance you will do something to it that you will regret. I say this from experience. On both of the kanna that I have, one side of the blade fits more tightly than the other side. Normally you'd fix it by paring away more of the bed on the tight side, but I can't do that, because the blade is already kind of loose. The reason it's loose is because I fit the dai to the blade in the winter, when the air is very dry, and now in the summer the dai has expanded, causing the blade to be a bit loose. So now instead of paring down the tighter side, I've shimmed up the looser side with tape.

    There are a lot of subtle things like this that are difficult to get right on the first try.

    If you get a nice kanna for your birthday, I suggest you also buy yourself a relatively cheap one, learn to set it up, and once you've done that, set up the nice one. If you spend around $50, you can get a decent plane -- one that's certainly good enough to learn about kanna setup.

    Oh, and another tip: For flattening the plane's sole, a really fast, effective way to do it is to use a long metal plane, like a jack or jointer (with a non-cambered blade). You don't have to flatten the entire sole; just get the two or three touch points coplanar (depending on what style of setup you decide on) and then you can scrape away the hollows. As for scraping the hollow sections, you might have heard that one can use a chisel or card scraper to do that, but it's much faster to use another plane and plane across the dai in the regions that need to be hollowed out.

    I've tried other ways of flattening the sole, but that's what has worked best for me. I've flattened with sandpaper on granite, but it's kind of a pain and takes a surprisingly long time, probably because I was rocking the dai along with some convexity and/or twist that was there to begin with, and because the oak is dense and doesn't sand very quickly. Dealing with twist by scraping each section is kind of a pain. Easier to just hit it with a jointer plane (after backing off the blade so you won't damage it, of course).

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Kapolei Hawaii
    Posts
    3,236
    I'm no expert by any means, but I do have some insight. Search on line for tuning kanna planes. There's a lot of info out there. You can probably figure what is sound and bogus advice. The one thing that I want to say is to NOT hit any part of the kanna with a metal hammer. The blade is set by it's own inertia, when you hit the kanna with a mallet. If it doesn't move anymore, the blade is too tight and some wood removal will be needed. Being in Hawaii, vintage kanna pop up a lot. I have seen some the the blade has been mushroomed over from getting hit with a hammer, and the plane is cracked. The blade is wedge shaped in the vertical and horizontal axes. With enough hits with a hammer you can crack the kanna in either direction. Yes, I have see both ways of cracking.
    They are wonderful to work with if you can get them tuned. Unlike western planes, they detune themselves. It can be set perfect today, and not tomorrow. Good news is a hit with the mallet is usually good enough.
    Good luck! Hope you get your birthday wish!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    South Coastal Massachusetts
    Posts
    6,824
    You have a trade offer in your PM.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Stone Mountain, GA
    Posts
    751
    When Stu (Tools from Japan) was active he had a "Koyama" brand 65 mm kanna for about $65. I bought one and was not expecting much given the price, but it is actually pretty nice. Not sure where you can find that now, unfortunately.

  6. #6
    I'll throw in my two cents (and experience) on this... I wanted to get into using a kanna about a year ago, and read everything I could, including BH's blog posts... watched a whole bunch of YouTube videos on setting one up, and ordered a few different ones that were "recommended"... After a whole bunch of time and effort, I got them working (tuning one is a long process to get them working halfway decent... (depending on the one you buy... more on that later...)) and was not totally unhappy with the performance, but it was nothing like I was expecting... and I found myself constantly going back to my LN and vintage Stanley planes for smoothing... Then I came across a bunch of old threads where BH was talking about kanna selection... I sent him an email, and he put me on the right path... which was getting in touch with Stan (Covington and Sons)... What I found out was that all of the kanna's that I was using were effectively the equivalent of a big box store version of a plane... think the smoothing planes that you find at HD or L's or even HF... not much good for anything... Not that they can't be set up and made to work, but in learning how to use a Japanese tool, it is -way- more enjoyable to start with one that doesn't require knowing how to do setup that you aren't familiar with right at the start...

    The price of a "basic" kanna almost sent me into shock, but I was very disappointed in what I had, so I took the plunge and got one from Stan... when I got it, right out of the box it was working like I had seen in all of the videos... and with a -very- small amount of tuning, it turned out to be the most amazing tool that I own... I was smoothing particularly nasty birdseye maple a few days ago, and where my LN #3 that is very, very sharp couldn't get through without any tearout, the Nakano san blade polished it beyond anything that I could have thought... The difference in the steel in the blade, and the construction of the blade is worlds different than the other kanna that I have...

    Just some information for you to consider... I wouldn't want you to be frustrated like I was trying to get an inferior tool working... but the price difference is substantial, although I am now firmly in the "buy once, cry once" frame of mind, especially with Japanese tools... (same thing applies with chisels and hammers, btw...)

    Feel free to PM me if you have questions... I'm happy to share my experience...

    Hope this helps...

    JH

  7. #7
    I second the Stan Covington recommendation.

    And Takeo Nakano is largely underrated....amazing smith. Stan's chisels are also the best I've used.

  8. In Europe, I would recommend dieter Schmid fine-tools.com: https://www.fine-tools.com/jhobm.html as an "easy way" to get your hands on Nakano’s and other masters planes. From 50 to 400 euros.

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