In the first of this series we will journey deep into the subtleties of sharpening by hand using Japanese water stones. We will discuss and experiment the use of Nagura stone, Blue stone, 4000, 8000 and finer stones as well as trying several grades of natural finish stones from Mokuchi’s private collection.
A sharp tool is a joy, an ultra sharp blade is a delight.
Sharpening with Japanese Waterstone
Required
– 1000/6000 sharpening stone
– Each student should bring one or more dull blades. Mokuchi also provides purchasing options for edge tool or knives from Japanese suppliers.
Contact Mokuchi to purchase tools. As a Japanese tool retailer Mokuchi provides guidance on selecting tools and a student discount.
4-6 maximum
Mokuchi Studio – Port Jervis
7 – 9pm
A well tuned Japanese plane can produce gauze thin shavings. The highest quality for finishing will leave your wood surface silky smooth. This requires skill and knowledge. This is class is about achieving the glassy smooth finish possible with Japanese finishing planes! During the weekend you will start with a new 60mm Japanese smoothing plane. This is a versatile size plane (kanna) and is well suited for those new to finishing work with Japanese planes. You’ll tune and sharpen the blade, fit it to a Japanese white oak block, and start making shavings.
Yann will cover sharpening, tapping out a blade, correcting blade shape and bevel angle, and fitting the blade to the block. Of the three main Japanese tools – plane, saw, and chisel, the Japanese kanna is the most difficult to gain a working knowledge. With Yann’s guidance and a dedicated weekend of work, you’ll receive the basics of Japanese plane usage and a great foundation of skills.
Advanced classes will require experience planing parts. This course a great way to acquire those skills and a good quality plane to advance your hand tool woodworking, regardless of if you choose to adopt the range of Japanese hand tools.
You will gain a broad understanding of how Japanese woodworking distinguishes itself from Western approaches during this two hour talk and demonstration. The session will include an overview of traditional hand tools used in a range of work scale, from making small objects to full size timber frame building. This will be followed by a brief demonstration of the use of all basic tools: nomi (chisel), kanna (plane), nokogiri (saw) and marking tools including sashigane (square) and sumitsubo (ink line).
Everyone will be invited to pull a Japanese plane and make a thin wood shaving! A short history will be given along with key design element and aesthetic preferences. Lastly, of course, joinery will be discussed with samples to handle.
Whether you are a chef, a foodie or enjoy cooking, a sharp knife is a thing of beauty and turns chopping into a joyous activity!
In this class you will learn how to redress an abused cutting edge as well as how to routinely maintain a good edge on your knifes using user friendly Japanese water stones.
A sharp knife is a safe knife!
In this 5 days Posts and beams workshop you will learn about, large scale joinery layout and cutting, proportioning, center line layout and cutting sequence. Grain orientation as well as gable roof layout will also be covered. Lots of hands on cutting time! We will be crafting a 6′ x 12′ structure using timbers of various species. Mortices and tenons of various kind as well housed sliding dovetails, kanawa and shachi will be the joinery employed.
Workshop will assemble the structure on the last day of class.