These twisted dovetails (or nejiri arigata in Japanese) will give any piece an exquisite handmade look.

And not only these dovetails look great, they will handle pulling forces both sideways and lengthways.

This piece features exquisite exposed joinery that take the build to a higher level of craftsmanship. The three way miter is one of my favorites on this piece.

Enjoy….

• Butternut Cabinet – joinery samples

Handplanes

Choosing the first handplane may not be an easy task, there are many models to choose from and while each one has it’s funcion, some of them are quite versatile and can be used for various tasks.

When looking for handplanes, some advocate that old is better and that you should get a Stanley or other antique brand name from a local flea market. I don’t agree, specially if this is your first handplane.

A vintage tool will require some restoration and tuning before it will perform well enough to compete with the tools produced these days – significant tuning if you want it to perform as well as the top brand names like Veritas and Lie-Nielsen. This is not impossible, but you really need to know what you’re doing.

If you’ve never used a well tuned handplane before, how will you know how it is supposed to perform if you’re buying a second hand vintage tool? This is why I recomend that for your first handplane you should buy the best tool you can afford.

Quality handplanes sold these days can use some tuning and they’ll perform even better, but out of the box they can perform quite well. Sharpen and hone the iron and you’re good to go.

But which ones should I get?

I would say you’ll need three planes in your basic set: a low angle block plane, a low angle jack plane and a large shoulder plane.

Here are my reasons:

The low angle block plane, preferably with an adjustable mouth, can be used on end-grain and face grain, you can use it as a small smoother to handle difficult grain by changing the bevel angle on the blade and it’s a very handy plane when working with small pieces for small projects.

The low angle jack plane can be a really versatile tool. It can be used as a small jointer to flatten a small board and by closing the mouth and setting the blade for a fine shaving it can be used as a smoother. It won’t replace a full size jointer or a smaller smoothing plane, but as a first handplane it will be a tool that will accomplish many tasks.

The shoulder plane will be useful to adjust tenons, rabbets, and whenever you need the blade to extend all the way across the sole of the plane so you can reach a tight corner. This will be the third plane to get.

From here I would say you should get a dedicated smoother, a jointer plane and then you can dive into specialty planes like the router plane. Or you can start to make your won wooden planes.

Next installment: Shaping tools

Like with western chisels, the back of the blade must be flattened and polished to a mirror finish and it has to be sharpened to a very fine edge.

With Japanese chisels however, the tool is not ready to be used, the hoop on the top of the handle must be permanently set.

Here’s how:

• http://www2.woodcraft.com/pdf/77B66.pdf
• http://www.imcclains.com[...]JapaneseChisels.pdf
• http://japanwoodworker.[...]instructions.pdf

This may seem like a lot of extra work, but I guarantee you that it will be quite rewarding. There is nothing more satisfying than working with a sharp tool that is properly tuned.

What the heck is a dovetail chisel or fishtail chisel? What’s the difference between Western bevel and Japanese bevel? And where do you recommend to buy them?

As I wrote before, Japanese chisels are forged with two types of steel that are welded together during the forging process. One thin layer of very hard steel and a thicker layer of softer steel that will support it. The hard steel will become the back of the chisel and the cutting edge and this is the reason Japanese chisels will keep a sharp edge for a longer time than a western chisel.

Some tests like the Bench-Chisel Review published by Fine Woodworking Magazine will give you a clear evidence of this.

All Japanese chisels that I know of have a hollow (or more than one in wider chisels – see top photo) in the back which makes it easier and faster to flatten the back. Otherwise it would require a lot of work to flatten a large surface of very hard steel.

Usually Japanese chisels are somewhat shorter than western chisels, and I like this feature since my hand is closer to the work and I find it easier to control. Other than these I would say there aren’t any more differences between Japanese and western bevel edged chisels.

As far as the shape of the blade goes, you can find chisels in many different shapes and some are best suited for certain tasks. Bevel edge chisels are the most common since they are the workhorse of a cabinet shop and useful for most tasks.

A timber framing chisel, often used for more heavy duty tasks, won’t have bevels on the sides of the blade and while these can be very good tools for chopping large mortises in a 4×4″ or for paring tasks, for smaller projects you’ll find that the lack of bevels will usually become a problem when reaching the tight corners of a small mortise.

A dovetail chisel on the other hand has a triangular section, which means that it will get into the tight pin socket between two tails (provided that you’re cutting thin tails like our friend Kaleo Kala enjoys – the photo on the homepage of his website is a good example of this) and this is the task where they really excel.

You should avoid to use these for more general tasks as they’re not as strong as a bevel edge chisel.

Currently you can find western type dovetail chisels, i.e. made with just O1 or A2 steel like the ones made by Ashley Iles or Blue Spruce Toolworks.

Fishtail chisels are yet another specialty chisel. The cutting edge is shaped in a way that it will get into the tail sockets of half-blind dovetails and you can use them to clean the left and right side of the sockets. An alternative is to use skew chisels (usually sold in pairs – right and left skew angles) but this will require two tools instead of one.

Again, like the dovetail chisels, you can get western type fishtail chisels. It’s just a question of preference. I tend to favor the Japanese ones.

As far as where to buy them, I would recommend you to check out the online stores (these will often have a wide range of brands and prices to choose from) and then see what’s available locally.

In Europe I would recommend you check out:

• Dieter Schmid
• Dick

In the US you will have more choices but these are my favorites:

• Tools For Working Wood
• The Japan Woodworker
• Garrett Wade

In the end you can’t go wrong with either a good quality western or Japanese chisel, some will prefer the western tools while others will favor the Japanese ones.

Chisels

If you are on a budget, a set of three bevel edge chisels (1/4″, 1/2″ and 3/4″) will get most of the job done. It’s nice to have a few more sizes, but I’d rather have only these three and have quality chisels than have all the sizes available from 1/8″ to 2″ of lower quality steel.

A lower quality chisel will be a rather disappointing tool. It wont keep a good edge for long, it may chip or get blunt easily and even when properly sharpened they won’t cut through wood effortlessly.

There’s nothing worse than cutting wood with a blunt tool. It tears the wood fibers instead of slicing them and your exposed joinery won’t look very good.

These days Lie-Nielsen chisels are rated very high, these are expensive tools but you get what you pay for.

In my shop I have some western style bevel edge chisels but the ones I wouldn’t live without are my Japanese chisels. These are easy to sharpen and hone and will take a very sharp edge that will last for a long time.

Japanese chisels are somewhat different than the western ones. They are forged with two different types of steel, one that his very thin and hard and will become the back and the cutting edge, and on top of this is a softer steel that will support it.

Furthermore there is a hollow in the back of the chisel so it is easier to flatten the back that is made of very hard steel. Some of the better chisels will have multiple hollows in the back for extra support. A good feature on larger chisels.

Due to their construction, the Japanese chisels can’t be hollow ground and must be sharpened on a waterstone or oilstone. And if you want to keep your chisels for a long time, never lever chips of wood if you’re cutting mortises with them. Take it easy on these and get a mortise chisel for the job.

So, what is on my set of chisels? Here’s what:

• 3mm (1/8″) Japanese dovetail
• 6mm (1/4″) Japanese dovetail and western bevel edge
• 12mm (1/2″) Japanese fishtail and western bevel edge
• 19mm (3/4″) Japanese bevel edge (multiple hollows)
• 25mm (1″) Japanese bevel edge (multiple hollows)

As you can see, I managed to get all the sizes from 3mm to 25mm but instead of just buying a set I built my set based on my needs. For small sizes I chose dovetail chisels, these are quite useful for working in small joinery, and for larger sizes I chose standard bevel edge chisels which can take a little more abuse.

The western chisels are somewhat redundant but I’ll use them for more coarse work and will save the edges of the Japanese chisels for the finishing work.

The fishtail chisel is what I’d consider a specially tool, it has a very thin blade and excels at cleaning the pins on half-blind dovetails.

My next purchase will be a long paring chisel around 36mm, but this one will have to wait.

Next installment: Handplanes

I’ve been meaning to try a few Japanese tools for quite some time but only recently I decided to buy one. I chose to go with one of the most popular types of Japanese saws, the ryoba, which has teeth on both sides of the blade, one filed for crosscut and the other to rip along the grain (see photo above).

The other very popular Japanese saw is the dozuki, similar to the western backsaw, and is mostly used to cut fine joinery like dovetails. This is the saw to use when you want the finest cut.

But why Japanese saws? Are they different to the western saws?

The main difference is that Japanese saws have their teeth filed in such a way that they cut on the pull stroke, which makes it possible for the blade to be much thiner than on a western saw. This is because as you pull the saw to make the cut the blade is under tension, while on a western saw, the blade is compressed as you push it along the wood, thus the need for a thick blade.

The thinner blade means that it is possible to have a very thin kerf and together with the very clean cut that these saws leave, even on end grain, they are very popular in fine woodworking.

On a quality dozuki saw, the blade can be just .25mm thick with a saw kerf of .4mm. Yes, than thin!!

My experience with this saw has been great, I find it easy to control due to the long handle (nearly as long as the blade) and it produces a very clean and smooth cut. Even on end grain pine, it only takes a couple of swipes with a block plane to leave the surface ready for finishing.

Next to try are the Japanese chisels, but more about that on a future post.