Wondering why it is so satisfying. It tells that what you pursue doesn't matter. It can be a wood-planing contest or some silly hobby. What matters is that you are motivated to pursue it. You believe in improving that pursuit, you see others doing the same, you believe it is the social norm, you see that it is valued and respected. And most importantly you feel good about it.
Talk about things like investing in stocks, being known as a great techie or entrepreneur, exiting a great startup, running a venture capital, making a few million, becoming US citizen, having a great home etc. These goals are not bad. Just that they cost more, for the same returns (satisfaction). You are more successful when your happiness doesn't cost you a life-time running around or some herculean effort.
It is all about purpose and hope and expectations. It is why 90% of the satisfaction of a vacation is from the planning. We highly underestimate the mental health benefits of a hobby. They are also a great place to make friends and connect with others, especially as we get older. People deep in a hobby will gladly spend hours helping n00bs and will talk your ear off about all the ins and outs. There are also lots of hobbies that have almost no barrier to entry, just the willingness to try something new.
We'd all be a lot happier if we spent more time on a hobby and less time streaming shows.
These guys aren't privileged ruling class elites. They have no skills and paths and connections needed to see successes in such ventures. I actually think that is how China now has "football fields full of engineers", the competitive environment in Far East regions had been so over the top that qualities that should make somebody cream of the crop globally only float them halfway down the mug locally.
Tangential but the name is a pun - "kezuroukai" translates to "shall we shave?" in Japanese, but "kai" can also mean something like "gathering" or "community".
Planning wood, expect during kezuroukai, is annoying because knots are hard and deform the thin edge; most often still wet enough to oxydize the thin edge; finally full of abrasive silicium to abrade the thin edge.
Meanwhile, lake erie toolworks is creating powder metallurgy CPM magnacut blades for western style planes, which seemingly never gets dull because of corrosion resistance, wear resistance and hardness.
Before the industrial revolution, there wasn't a ton of difference. If you look at a plane made in the early 19th century in both Japan and the US or Europe, they'd look pretty similar. A carpenter on one continent would probably be able to orient and use tools on the other easily.
Modern metal-bodied planes do work similarly, in that both let you set a blade slightly beyond a flat sole, allowing you to remove high surfaces on wood. That's about where the similarities end.
Japanese blades are laminated steel, and quality blades are hand-made by smiths. Smiths use proprietary techniques to make blades that can maintain edges for longer than machine-forged steels. Chipbreakers are made of laminated steel as well and can keep the primary blade under tons of tension, allowing it to remain stable even when cutting against the grain. Wooden bodies allow skilled users to adjust the blade depth within microns without sacrificing stability. Wooden bodies are easily adjusted to fit the needs of the user.
To use an analogy: using a western hand plane is a lot like trying to race a Camry rather than a Porsche. It's not that the Camry is wrong - it's just built differently. The Porsche is really easy to drive into a ditch if you're not careful. It'll break down a lot, but it'll also perform much better for a skilled driver. The Camry, conversely, will be easier for anyone to drive and probably go a lot longer without maintenance. It works fine as a daily driver, and you can tune it so that it'll perform like a Porsche would, but a very well-tuned Camry is probably not going to outperform a well-tuned Porsche and a person used to driving a Porsche is probably going to complain about the Camry's handling.
Metal bodied planes are adjusted with thumb screws and levers - they just aren't accurate enough for fine work.
Re: a woooden body, there are a couple reasons it's preferable despite the maintenance - the biggest is that they can be adjusted to fit a specific blade and chip breaker. Since the blade and chip breaker are made by hand, you can't mass produce a body and still have the tool perform. The other big concerns are weight and economy. Metal bodies are way heavier. And if they break or are damaged, can't be easily fixed. A wood body can be made in a few minutes with materials that are usually found on hand.
Quite a few different "technological" choices, mostly informed by different circumstances:
-You pull them instead of pushing them, because Japanese carpenters used to work on the floor using their own body to brace the work piece
-All wood construction because steel has always been a rare material in a volcanic island without much iron ore veins like Japan
-Most Japanese native woods (pawlonia, cedar) are on the soft side compared to European and American (and from the XIXth century onwards, tropical such as ebony, mahogany) woods. Which is also why they manage to make such thing shavings without tears.
I wonder if the pulling motion helps with less tearing too. From my limited understanding of drafting and painting, humans are able to exhibit much better control when pulling a pencil/brush toward them than when pushing away.
I’ve only ever used a western-style push planet, but intuitively I think I’d have more control with one designed for pulling.
I've seen some contestants(?) plane at a slight angle too. I feel like this would also assist with achieving a cleaner result. I know I do this with my own push-style planer.
I don't think you can reduce tearing with fine muscular control. The physics of cutting are weird; cutting at an angle is different, the chipbreaker plays a huge role, vibration ("chatter") has to be kept under control, and the best way to avoid tearing is usually scraping - where the cutting edge has a completely different geometry from a plane iron.
The trend in western planes has been to use speed, the weight and rigidity of iron to cut through wood before it has time to flex, whereas you see those Japanese planes cutting slowly - but again, traditional Japanese wood is softer and less knotty or wavy than the oak or walnut or exotics that are a staple of traditional western woodworking. Look at the Australian woodworking scene for ex., their native wood species are challenging.
I really enjoy the simplicity of the tool, it's just a great experience, you need to tap the plane or "kana" to get the blade into the right position, and I find the pulling rather than pushing is really satisfying. Maybe it's just different and I love it for that reason.
As others have said, I like the all wooden construction too.
It's remarkable how often I get pushed some form of content in my YT weekend algo, and then at the beginning of the week the same thing is on the top of HN. We are all in the same funnel.
Wondering why it is so satisfying. It tells that what you pursue doesn't matter. It can be a wood-planing contest or some silly hobby. What matters is that you are motivated to pursue it. You believe in improving that pursuit, you see others doing the same, you believe it is the social norm, you see that it is valued and respected. And most importantly you feel good about it.
Talk about things like investing in stocks, being known as a great techie or entrepreneur, exiting a great startup, running a venture capital, making a few million, becoming US citizen, having a great home etc. These goals are not bad. Just that they cost more, for the same returns (satisfaction). You are more successful when your happiness doesn't cost you a life-time running around or some herculean effort.
It is all about purpose and hope and expectations. It is why 90% of the satisfaction of a vacation is from the planning. We highly underestimate the mental health benefits of a hobby. They are also a great place to make friends and connect with others, especially as we get older. People deep in a hobby will gladly spend hours helping n00bs and will talk your ear off about all the ins and outs. There are also lots of hobbies that have almost no barrier to entry, just the willingness to try something new.
We'd all be a lot happier if we spent more time on a hobby and less time streaming shows.
you're stating that vacation planning is 90% of the pleasure as a truism???
Yeah that indicates more about posters personality, especially since it’s phrased as a universal.
I’m more of a wing-it-but-have-a-backup-list kind of vacationer, planning is literally the least fun part for me.
edit the rest of what he says resonates with me though
These guys aren't privileged ruling class elites. They have no skills and paths and connections needed to see successes in such ventures. I actually think that is how China now has "football fields full of engineers", the competitive environment in Far East regions had been so over the top that qualities that should make somebody cream of the crop globally only float them halfway down the mug locally.
Tangential but the name is a pun - "kezuroukai" translates to "shall we shave?" in Japanese, but "kai" can also mean something like "gathering" or "community".
Wow 10 micron is a lot smaller than I thought a handmade wood shaving would be. Th champions are even better in the single digits consistently.
The picture of the winners had "3 4 5" and "4 4 4" which I think is 3 measurements on each of the cuts
Planning wood, expect during kezuroukai, is annoying because knots are hard and deform the thin edge; most often still wet enough to oxydize the thin edge; finally full of abrasive silicium to abrade the thin edge.
Meanwhile, lake erie toolworks is creating powder metallurgy CPM magnacut blades for western style planes, which seemingly never gets dull because of corrosion resistance, wear resistance and hardness.
If you’re fascinated by or interested in Japanese carpentry and happen to be in London before July, go and visit https://www.japanhouselondon.uk/whats-on/the-craft-of-carpen.... It’s free and quite excellent.
Fascinating! I love when people see and appreciate a simple skill, then take it to the most extreme level of refinement possible.
Japanese hand plane has to be one of the most satisfying tools to use...if you're into wood working, really worth trying one.
What's the difference between a regular hand plane and a Japanese one? They look quite similar to me?
Before the industrial revolution, there wasn't a ton of difference. If you look at a plane made in the early 19th century in both Japan and the US or Europe, they'd look pretty similar. A carpenter on one continent would probably be able to orient and use tools on the other easily.
Modern metal-bodied planes do work similarly, in that both let you set a blade slightly beyond a flat sole, allowing you to remove high surfaces on wood. That's about where the similarities end.
Japanese blades are laminated steel, and quality blades are hand-made by smiths. Smiths use proprietary techniques to make blades that can maintain edges for longer than machine-forged steels. Chipbreakers are made of laminated steel as well and can keep the primary blade under tons of tension, allowing it to remain stable even when cutting against the grain. Wooden bodies allow skilled users to adjust the blade depth within microns without sacrificing stability. Wooden bodies are easily adjusted to fit the needs of the user.
To use an analogy: using a western hand plane is a lot like trying to race a Camry rather than a Porsche. It's not that the Camry is wrong - it's just built differently. The Porsche is really easy to drive into a ditch if you're not careful. It'll break down a lot, but it'll also perform much better for a skilled driver. The Camry, conversely, will be easier for anyone to drive and probably go a lot longer without maintenance. It works fine as a daily driver, and you can tune it so that it'll perform like a Porsche would, but a very well-tuned Camry is probably not going to outperform a well-tuned Porsche and a person used to driving a Porsche is probably going to complain about the Camry's handling.
> Wooden bodies allow skilled users to adjust the blade depth within microns without sacrificing stability.
I know nothing much about hand planes except what they are
But why couldn't a metal-bodied plane to do the same? Wouldn't it potentially be stiffer and more stable?
Metal bodied planes are adjusted with thumb screws and levers - they just aren't accurate enough for fine work.
Re: a woooden body, there are a couple reasons it's preferable despite the maintenance - the biggest is that they can be adjusted to fit a specific blade and chip breaker. Since the blade and chip breaker are made by hand, you can't mass produce a body and still have the tool perform. The other big concerns are weight and economy. Metal bodies are way heavier. And if they break or are damaged, can't be easily fixed. A wood body can be made in a few minutes with materials that are usually found on hand.
Quite a few different "technological" choices, mostly informed by different circumstances:
-You pull them instead of pushing them, because Japanese carpenters used to work on the floor using their own body to brace the work piece
-All wood construction because steel has always been a rare material in a volcanic island without much iron ore veins like Japan
-Most Japanese native woods (pawlonia, cedar) are on the soft side compared to European and American (and from the XIXth century onwards, tropical such as ebony, mahogany) woods. Which is also why they manage to make such thing shavings without tears.
I wonder if the pulling motion helps with less tearing too. From my limited understanding of drafting and painting, humans are able to exhibit much better control when pulling a pencil/brush toward them than when pushing away.
I’ve only ever used a western-style push planet, but intuitively I think I’d have more control with one designed for pulling.
I've seen some contestants(?) plane at a slight angle too. I feel like this would also assist with achieving a cleaner result. I know I do this with my own push-style planer.
I don't think you can reduce tearing with fine muscular control. The physics of cutting are weird; cutting at an angle is different, the chipbreaker plays a huge role, vibration ("chatter") has to be kept under control, and the best way to avoid tearing is usually scraping - where the cutting edge has a completely different geometry from a plane iron.
The trend in western planes has been to use speed, the weight and rigidity of iron to cut through wood before it has time to flex, whereas you see those Japanese planes cutting slowly - but again, traditional Japanese wood is softer and less knotty or wavy than the oak or walnut or exotics that are a staple of traditional western woodworking. Look at the Australian woodworking scene for ex., their native wood species are challenging.
Japanese hand planes shave with a pull motion instead of push.
I really enjoy the simplicity of the tool, it's just a great experience, you need to tap the plane or "kana" to get the blade into the right position, and I find the pulling rather than pushing is really satisfying. Maybe it's just different and I love it for that reason.
As others have said, I like the all wooden construction too.
I like western style hand planes too.
Is the skill for this competition in honing the tool, or in using it? Or a combination of both?
That room must have smelled amazing. I want to go hang out there.
It's remarkable how often I get pushed some form of content in my YT weekend algo, and then at the beginning of the week the same thing is on the top of HN. We are all in the same funnel.
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