THIS SIDE UP -- a hundred yen, a bit of curiousity, and 15 minutes later...

[Luke Dupont]

Japanese Tool Afficianados, you may wish to avert your eyes, for I have sinned.

this-side-up-1.jpg
this-side-up-2.jpg
this-side-up-3.jpg
this-side-up-4.jpg

Basically, I was intrigued by replaceable blades for those little hobby planes which are sold everywhere here. Two blades cost like 230 yen or something... so, like $2 and some change.
And I thought, geez, that's cheap for some nice tool steel. I wonder if it's sharpenable?
Apparently the steel is SK-5 which is supposed to be not so easy to sharpen, but it sharpened just fine on my Washita.

So, 15 minutes later, and a very crude spokeshave was quickly whipped up.
I was really just goofing around. No, it's not layed out correctly. And I made plenty of mistakes, just for lack of care and proper layout. But hey, I had fifteen minutes free and wanted to see if I could make a functional tool!

Well, somehow, it works surprisingly well...

I'll make a more serious nankin kanna with a real plane iron, and a body that I actually took care to make, but I had fun goofing around.

I may try cutting up more of these blades to make other tools such as marking knives, cutting gauges, etc... if not making more abomination planes!

[Edward Weber]

I say go for it
The spokeshave is great. Now you've proved it can work, you can fool around with size, weight, bed angle and all sorts of things.
I wouldn't consider myself a Japanese Tool Aficionado, more of a devotee to a small degree.
What I do know, is that a great many Japanese tools are hand made purpose built one of a kind items, so I think yours fits the bill.

[Jim Koepke]

Good going Luke.

I made plenty of mistakes

Learning from mistakes has made me a very learned man…

jtk

[Luke Dupont]

Good going Luke.



Learning from mistakes has made me a very learned man…

jtk

Precisely!

I actually value this sort of "messing around" and making things quickly and crudely as a beginner, because iteration is important. You can sometimes learn more quickly by iterating through many quick and dirty experiments before making the "real deal."

I don't actually know, for example, what bed angle I want, or what curvature if any on the underside, or what the most ergonomic shape for the handle is. By messing around with cheap and easy to make and iterate planes, I can figure out what I really want before sinking the time and money into making a nice one with a nice iron.

I think there's also something to be said for being able to whip up functional, if a tad crude, tools quickly when the need arises and you're lacking some specialized implement.

[Jim Koepke]

I think there's also something to be said for being able to whip up functional, if a tad crude, tools quickly when the need arises and you're lacking some specialized implement.

Yes there is.

It is also a good idea to write a note on the 'specialized implement' when it is made. There are a few of these around my shop and my mind goes blank trying to remember for whatever they were made and used.

jtk