Need advice on Japanese smoothing plane blade size
Hello fellow woodworkers,
I am a long-time woodworker who sheepishly admits to relying overly on machines and sanding. Now I’m trying to develop my hand tool skills. I’ve had inexpensive old planes for the most part, a Craftsman #4 smoother dating from the 70s, a much older Dunlap #5 upgraded with a Hock blade, and a variety of small block planes including for the past several years a Tsunesaburo 42 mm plane set up as a smoother, which I like very much. My Craftsman smoother fell on the floor at one point, has a small crack in the casting, and it is in need of replacement.
I’m ready to spend some money to get a good smoother at this point, as I’m starting to surface my wood with hand tools instead of a combination of machine and sanding. I’ve been taking my time figuring if I want to invest in a western style plane or go east, and am favoring the latter. I think I have enough experience now tuning, sharpening and using the smaller plane that I could now move to a larger Japanese style plane.
When I look at the ones available from Suzuki or Hida, when you move up from a block plane size to smoothing size, you have a choice of blade widths from 50 to 70mm, and the cost is about the same for all sizes in this range (only a few dollars saved for narrower blades).
My question is: should I get the widest blade because it is the best value? My worry is that the blade on a #4 smoother is about 50mm or 2 inches, and that a 70mm blade at 2 3/4 inches will be hard to pull through cuts. My intent is to use this plane for surfacing table tops, etc., mostly in hardwood. My budget and amount of use is such that I don’t see having a range of widths of this type of plane. I’m hoping others with experience using these planes can help me decide.
Thanks in advance for any advice offered.
Happy woodworking!,
Mark L.
Replies
2-3/4 is a lot of blade to push through a board. More than I care to use. Wide blades on a jointer aren't a big deal when you're trusting up narrow edges. But in smoothing it's a killer.
You've gone through the same evolution that a lot of us have. A few pretty crappy planes, lots of time tuning them, then aftermarket irons and chipbreakers. The money adds up, and the time really adds up.
It's not the question you asked outright, so I apologize. But my advice is to save the time, money, and frustrated experiments. Buy a Lie Nielsen number 4 and be done with it.
Thanks, John. I still go back and forth a bit that way in my mind.....
I’ve recently fallen under the spell of the Japanese hand plane as well. I have several and I believe my widest is around 70mm. If the body is tuned well and the blade is set correctly it will perform well on table tops.
I have a 48mm block plane, 50mm jointer, 50mm scraper, and 70mm-ish smoother. I wanted to add a spoon bottom for seats soon and call it good for awhile.
It seems to be a long road to really mastering these tools, but as you know you can get good results relatively quickly if you put in some time. You need to get really really sharp and make sure your two contact points are really dialed in. If you haven’t listened to STL with Andrew Hunter, do yourself a favor and give it a listen.
Are you looking for that planed finish? I assume not since we’re talking about table tops.
I think you’ll learn to use whatever you end up with, but keep in mind that if you go wider its a whole extra 20mm you gotta keep tuned. Also consider that the blade gets about a 1/4” total from both sides of its blade ground away to make clearance for the chip breaker to do its thing.
John’s advice might be the most sensible as if you are getting into these planes, its not gonna stop here. That being said, a #4 can never achieve the planed finish of a well tuned wooden plane in skilled hands. I’m lucky to share a shop with a Japanese man who worked as a shoji maker for a stint. I was working some particularly honery cherry and he showed me a trick where you lightly wipe the wood with water before planing. It worked great. Like all things, if you can find someone with more experience that is willing to show you some tips and tricks, it’ll go a long way.
I’ve enter the natural water stone phase of my Japanese tool sickness. There are many rabbit holes.
Last thought, message the people at Suzuki or Hida. They are very willing to help and will advise as needed.
Thanks, Chuck. I have watched the Andrew Hunter video and read his articles, and he has not addressed this specific question I have not yet joined Kezurou-kai, but that would also be a route for info. Your point that the corners are beveled in is a good one; the cutting edge on a 70mm plane would actually be more like 2 1/4 inches.
Have you looked at making a plane like Krenov .The blades are available and the body is easy to make
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