Japanese Hand Planes: Comprehensive Beginner’s Guide by a Master Craftsman

Hand Tools

In this session, a Japanese carpenter explains how to use a hand plane, tailored for beginners in woodworking. If you’ve landed on this page, you’re likely intrigued by the use of a Japanese hand plane, aren’t you? The wood plane is indispensable for the finishing touches in Japanese architecture. Moreover, it’s not only valuable for finishing but also as a convenient tool for shaping wood. Even if it seems daunting at first, gaining a bit of knowledge about wood planes and starting to use them can significantly broaden your woodworking horizons.

This page provides an overview of the essential skills and procedures to efficiently master the handling of the hand plane.

日本語版の記事（鉋（かんな）の修得【プロ向け】効率的な上達方法）はコチラ

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Article Author

Kentarou Fukata
A Kyoto, Japan native born in 1985, I am a seasoned carpenter boasting five national qualifications in housing-related disciplines in Japan. Committed to the dissemination of carpentry expertise, I actively contribute to professional development within the field through instructional content on YouTube.

Introduction Video

Complementing the guide is an informative video designed to augment comprehension.

8.鉋（かんな）の修得法【最短で全国レベル！】プロの大工が解説

If you wish to utilize features like subtitles, please reopen the video on YouTube. You can access the subtitles through the ‘CC’ button on the playback screen or in the settings.

Key Points in Mastering the Use of a Hand Plane

Continuous Use

Mastering a hand plane is a skill learned through physical practice, making it crucial to use the tool regularly and become adept at making adjustments for various situations. To facilitate more frequent use, it’s important to keep your hand plane in a ready-to-use state at all times.

Efficiently Acquiring Basic Skills

To become proficient with a hand plane, accumulating experience through the correct methods is vital. Begin by understanding the techniques associated with the hand plane as knowledge, then practice in specific situations to acquire foundational skills. This approach is the most efficient way to learn. Application skills can then be developed by gaining experience in a variety of situations.

Characteristics of the Hand Plane (Reasons for Needing a Hand Plane)

Even in the modern era, where electric woodworking machinery is prevalent, we have compiled the unique characteristics and functions that make hand planes indispensable.

High Technical Limitation Point

The Japanese hand plane is recognized as one of the tools requiring the sharpest precision globally, boasting incredibly high accuracy. In Japan, there’s a culture of competing over the thinness of ‘kanna-kuzu’, the shavings produced by the plane, with competitions known as “Kezurou-kai” held across the country. The thickness of the shavings at these events can reach a remarkable 3 microns (the thickness that requires 300 strokes to reduce by 1mm).

Precision Shaping

A hand plane can create a perfectly flat surface (without using a ruler) purely through the method of handling it. While modern times regard such precision work as possible only with woodworking machinery, Japan’s lengthy architectural history has long utilized hand planes for such precision shaping. The capability to achieve this level of fine workmanship with a handy and maneuverable hand tool is why hand planes are still deemed necessary in modern woodworking practices.

Beauty of Finish and Surface Durability

The finish achieved by a hand plane is unparalleled. While sandpaper can provide a smooth finish, the result of slicing off thin layers of wood with a single blade is distinctly different from sanding with particles. This difference prevents the crushing of wood fibers, preserving the hydrophobic nature of the wood surface and reducing deterioration.

Speed of Finishing

The speed with which a hand plane can accomplish finishing work is also noteworthy. Sanding, even with machinery, can be time-consuming. However, a hand plane requires prior preparation, including tuning the plane itself and handling the wood to be finished. Considering these factors, using sandpaper, which doesn’t require much preparation time, might be considered a less labor-intensive option.

Four Essential Skills

The four skills listed below are the most crucial for mastering the use of a hand plane.

Sharpening Skills for a Sharp Edge and Correct Blade Shape

Japanese hand planes require a sharp edge to function properly. Equally important is adjusting the blade’s shape correctly. I encourage you to take on the challenge of sharpening one of the tools that demand the sharpest edge in the world.

Preventing Tear-Out (Roughness due to Going Against the Grain)

Cutting against the grain can cause the blade to dig in and create what is known as “tear-out,” a defect in the finished surface. Modern Japanese hand planes use an auxiliary blade called a “chipbreaker” to prevent this. Adjusting this chipbreaker is an essential skill when working with natural wood.

Technique for Plane-Shaping Wood

A hand plane is not just a tool for shaping wood but also for ensuring its flatness. The sole of the plane, known as the “plane bed,” serves as a ruler in this process. The finish of the wood, whether it becomes concave or convex, is determined by adjusting the shape of the plane bed. Knowledge of how to adjust the plane bed is essential for achieving a flat finish.

Furthermore, since planing is a manual process, the pressure applied is not constant. Even with optimal adjustment of the plane bed, variations can occur due to the way pressure is applied. Understanding your own planing habits and making fine adjustments through control of the force applied is also necessary.

Technique for Adapting to the Natural State of Wood

Woodworking involves a variety of wood types, some of which present technical challenges in terms of planing or achieving a fine finish. Whether the wood is hard or soft, whether the grain is straight or complex, or whether there are knots or variations in hardness within the material, it’s best to be able to adjust your approach to suit these varying conditions.

Note: Generally, wood with fewer difficult knots and a more uniform texture tends to be more expensive. As a result, more affordable woods often pose greater challenges in processing.

About Types of Hand Planes

Hand planes come in various types, differentiated by their intended use and size. Each type has its own approach to use, so when handling a hand plane, it’s important to first select the type that suits the specific needs of your project.

Classification by Usage (Purpose of Use)

Hand planes can broadly be classified into three main categories based on their usage:

Finishing Planes

Finishing planes are used to process wood into a smooth and clean finish. These are commonly referred to as “finishing planes.”

Planes for Shaping Base Surfaces

Planes used for this purpose are known as “intermediate planes.” They are utilized for pre-finishing groundwork (shaping the material into a flat surface). Currently, such processing is often done with large woodworking machines, so the frequency of needing this type of plane is lower.

Roughing Planes

Known as “roughing planes,” these are used for reducing the size of wood. Nowadays, the processes intended for these planes are frequently replaced by power planers.

Blade Width Sizes

Japanese hand planes come in a variety of sizes. The size of a hand plane is indicated by the width of the blade, which corresponds to the width it can plane. Select the size of your hand plane based on your needs and adjust it according to specific applications.

Note: The intended use of a hand plane is not strictly determined by its size or specifications at the time of purchase.

Special-Purpose Planes

While this page introduces “bench planes” used for planing flat surfaces, Japan boasts countless types of specialized hand planes designed for specific purposes. For instance, unique chamfering planes used by shrine and temple carpenters, known as “miyadaiku,” or the planes used by joinery craftsmen for processing joints. Many of these specialized planes are handcrafted.

Key Points of Skills for Different Purposes

The key points to prioritize when using a hand plane significantly vary based on its purpose. Here, we’ve organized and will introduce these differences.

Priorities for Finishing Planes

For finishing, having a sharp blade and properly adjusted blade shape is crucial. While preventing “tear-out” is also important, with finishing planes, the amount of material being removed is minimal, making it easier to avoid tear-out. Regarding smoothness, over-precision in shaping the sole of the finishing plane can prevent it from planing concave areas of the material. Therefore, the plane bed is adjusted to a slightly lower precision to ensure it can plane slightly wavy materials. This makes adjusting a finishing plane relatively easy.

Skills Required for Intermediate Planes

The “intermediate plane” is utilized to prepare the groundwork before using the finishing plane. Therefore, skills such as having a sharp blade capable of removing thick layers, preventing tear-out in thicker cuts, and finely adjusting the plane bed to accurately shape the wood’s flat surface, are all essential.

Skills Required for Roughing Planes

While a roughing plane needs a sharp blade capable of removing thick layers, there are no particularly crucial points to note. If you have the skills to handle finishing and intermediate planes, you should have no problem using a roughing plane. Nowadays, roughing work is often done with power planers, so if this process is needed, focus on handling the power planer.

Comparing the Difficulty of Skills Based on Usage

When organizing the difficulty of adjustment for hand planes based on their usage, the “intermediate plane” turns out to be the most challenging. Mastering the use of an intermediate plane is considered a sign of high-level proficiency in hand plane usage. However, with the advent of large woodworking machinery, the use of hand planes for this purpose has become rare, except in special cases.

Therefore, it’s recommended to start practicing with a narrow roughing plane, progress to mastering the finishing plane, and if aiming for a higher level, challenge yourself with adjusting an intermediate plane.

Effective Practice Methods for Hand Plane Skills

Practicing Sharpening the Main Blade

The first skill you need to practice when handling a hand plane is sharpening the main blade of a finishing plane. A hand plane consists of two blades: the main blade and the chipbreaker. Mastering a hand plane requires proficiency in sharpening and adjusting the shape of the main blade, as these sharpening skills form the foundation for handling all situations.

Sharpening the main blade of a hand plane might seem daunting when you consider the finish of the wood or the posture of skilled craftsmen. However, once you grasp the sensation of supporting the main blade with your fingers for a balanced sharpening, the rest is more about knowledge-based skills, making it not as challenging as it first appears.

Practicing Chipbreaker Adjustment

Frequent re-sharpening of the chipbreaker is not necessary. Initially, you can have someone experienced adjust it for you and start using it as is. As your sharpening skills for the main blade improve, you can apply them to adjusting the chipbreaker. The difference in shape between the main blade and the chipbreaker is that the chipbreaker is ground with a double bevel (the very edge is ground at a more obtuse angle). The size of the double bevel is adjusted based on the situation, but the sharpening itself is not difficult.

Practicing Plane Bed Adjustment

Adjusting the plane bed doesn’t require skills learned through physical practice; it can be fully managed with knowledge-based learning. In Japan, there is a tool called “dai naoshi kanna” for adjusting the plane bed, but correction can also be done with your own chisels or a sanding block. However, be cautious as there is a lot of misinformation regarding the adjustment of the plane bed. Incorrect information can lead to difficulties in correcting mistakes. Be mindful of the sources of your information.

The Most Efficient Method of Practice

I’d like to share the efficient method I used to master hand plane skills.

The method involves participating in a hand plane competition known as “Kezurou-kai,” where enthusiasts confident in their planing skills gather. Surprisingly, many of them are not professional carpenters. The path to advanced practice begins with correctly understanding your own level in comparison to skilled practitioners.

If there are no hand plane thin shaving contests in your area, consider referring to my videos for guidance.

Conclusion

A hand plane is not a tool that’s ready to use right out of the box, but it significantly expands the possibilities in woodworking. Once you master its use, you’ll be able to accomplish tasks that previously seemed time-consuming or unattainable without expensive tools.

I encourage everyone to master the hand plane and enjoy creating your own unique woodworking projects.

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