Japanese Chisels - Why?

[Admiral]

Any recommendations?  Links?

Thanks!
John

Stu at "Tools from Japan".  http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store/inde...5907bd52eb

He used to hang out here in the not so distant past, decent guy, quite knowledgeable, ask him for a recommendation in your price range and he'll be honest with you.

[Derek Cohen]

Stu at "Tools from Japan".  http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store/inde...5907bd52eb

He used to hang out here in the not so distant past, decent guy, quite knowledgeable, ask him for a recommendation in your price range and he'll be honest with you.

I would love to recommend Stu, but at this time be aware that he will be slow with completing your order as he is still in mourning for the loss of his mother. Our thoughts go out to him.

Stu has a huge heart and even greater amount of knowlege, which he freely gives. He is a great guy, and I hope he gets back to full service soon. In a month or two, he would again be my automatic recommendation.

In the meantime, I would consider getting the Koyamaichi dovetail chisels (good for bench work as well) from Lee Valley: http://www.leevalley.com/us/Wood/page.as...at=1,41504

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Belle City Woodworking]

I would love to recommend Stu, but at this time be aware that he will be slow with completing your order as he is still in mourning for the loss of his mother. Our thoughts go out to him.

Stu has a huge heart and even greater amount of knowlege, which he freely gives. He is a great guy, and I hope he gets back to full service soon. In a month or two, he would again be my automatic recommendation.

In the meantime, I would consider getting the Koyamaichi dovetail chisels (good for bench work as well) from Lee Valley: http://www.leevalley.com/us/Wood/page.as...at=1,41504

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thank you Derek!

All the best,
John

[Martin S.]

Sorry to hear about Stu's mom.

He gave me great advice when I was shopping for water stones.

Derek, can you recommend a good Gennou source?

I have some Japanese chisels, but I confess I have not set the hoops yet, so they have been in storage for over a year.

Yes, I am the world's slowest woodworker.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Martin

Use my amazing tool, below, to set your hoops. The development costs were outrageous, and it is yours for free!




Hammer the hoop down, and then fold the wooden end over the hoop ...



The best gennou are available from So Yamashita (in Australia, who imports them from Japan): http://www.japan-tool.com/

Regards from Perth

Derek

[daddo]

Made in china has taken the place of; Made in Japan.

But you may not remember those days.

We were wrong, and rarely on both accounts.

[Belle City Woodworking]

Ok,

I am convinced and I am going to pull the trigger and try one....

I will start with one and then add as needed.  

New Question:

This One:


https://www.japanwoodworker.com/products...-matsumura

Or this one:


https://www.japanwoodworker.com/products...231a000033

Both are 1/2"

Thanks again,
John

[Tony Z]

Just a bit of information: if you look on Amazon, you'll find Narex offers a "Japanese style" chisel. Bear in mind, this chisel is made only to look like a Japanese chisel. The steel appears to be the same as their other chisels and the style/size of the Narex offering appears to be a true Japanese chisel on steroids, meaning it is about 1-1/2 times (at least) the size of a Japanese chisel. I have one, bought out of curiosity, and it is not comfortable for any tasks, be it bench work, paring or dovetail work. They are fairly inexpensive, though!

[hbmcc]

I don't know the difference between 'blue' or 'white' paper steels. Even 'yellow' shows up in the sales blurbs. I don't know the status of Japan Woodworker after the Woodcraft group bought that company. There are several shops in Japan producing these tools. Matsumura is one. The refined faces (ground) you see in the first group is cosmetic. I would be leary of the large area of unprotected hard steel. You can snap the hard steel in normal use. I did going into one of the firs. 

For a first, price is always a good determinant. And unless they assure perfect preparation, you will wonder why all that money for the $150 tool didn't give you a ready-to-use chisel. User final tuning is synonymous with Japanese chisels. That preparation can be a lot of work. Look to set the hoop and flatten-hone the blade bevel yourself. The face may need to be flattened, too. A hardness of 64 almost demands diamonds to abrade the steel. 

Stu at Tools from Japan has a good amount of information on that region's chisels. It has been problematic to get service because this is a hobby for him. His knowledge is direct.  Here is a link: http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store/inde...fd6e5070a2

Oh, don't forget, Japanese tools are sized in metric, and even their own dimensions. It's one of the things that had me worried about mixing and matching several standards.

Ps. Tony, a Narex imitation is not the real thing. I have a Chinese knockoff with the hard lamina at about 1/32nd thickness, if that much; probably 1/64th. It looked real. It chipped in minor use. Go the full monty, John. It cost me a chunk of change getting real tools from Stu to overcome a bias that the burn of a $14 Grizzly knockoff caused.

[hbmcc]

Once you finish admiring fish eyeballs on Derek's http://www.japan-tool.com/ link go to the 'Technique and Knowledge' page for setup guidance. I followed it the first time I tuned a chisel....... ED. Crap! Crap!! It's a dead link! It's bits and pieces from the net, now.

Wow, Japan Tool has expanded since I was there last............ Oh. The "SOLD" items just remain, and grow.