KAKURI Woodworking Japanese Plane

Update: After a few days playing with it and watching master craftsmen using their tools, I finally figured out how to tap the blade out. I have most success using a steel hammer, I don't have access to a brass hammer. I did not find any success using a plastic mallet. I also changed the grip from having my index on the blade to using my thumb instead. I also applied a decent amount of pressure onto the blade. I believe the increased pressure increases its inertia which makes the tapping more effective. It has a learning curve compared to western style metal planes. I am changing my rating from 4 stars to 5 stars because all my struggle was inexperience not the fault of the tool. It is well made with a amazing hardwood body. I am a beginner woodworker so I had a few trouble setting it up. When I got it out of the box, I wanted to hone the blade like many woodworkers recommended but I could not get the blade to budge. I followed their guide hitting the chamfer (the daigashira) alternating corners rhythmically. I suspect that this is not a manufacturing error but more so that the wood shrunk as it was dried sitting on store shelves and applying excessive pressure to the blade. Or I might just be doing it wrong. In my process I accidentally split the wood at the mouth so please be careful when you try to set it up. After giving up getting the blade out, I striked the blade further in to try and get a shaving. It was working very well out of box, got a really nice shaving. I won't be getting the thin shavings that Japanese woodworkers could get in their competition, but it was far better than the planes I got from Harbor Freight. eventually I got the blade out by using a vise grip locking plier with its tip wrapped in multiple layers of electrical tape as to not scratch the blade steel. Then I proceeded to whack the chamfered edge and got it out. It is a very nice plane for the price. I would highly recommend it despite my initial struggles.

This thing is really nice. I bought it to do some simple planing as my traditional plane wasn't precise. I was surprised how simple this thing is and how well it works. You need this thing!

For the price and size, this is an excellent plane, but be aware that some care will be necessary to bring it up to snuff, and it will never serve as a proper smoothing plane. The bed is very slightly off on this plane, and so it was necessary to carefully shave a tiny bit off to even it out. I had to take my time on this so as not to make it worse. I also had to take a little time to clean up the edge of the iron. Not a surprise for such a low price. I use this as a block plane, both pulling (like it was intended) and pushing the plane. Because it is a bevel-down iron, one would think that it would not be effective on end grain, but the bed angle is different from a western plane and the iron itself is thicker than a western plane iron (although it is *very* thin compared to a quality Japanese plane iron). The cap iron/chipbreaker is a little flimsy, and so I wonder how long it will hold up; still, after several months of frequent use, I have no complaints. I have trimmed a lot of different hard woods (birch, mulberry, walnut, poplar, including the end grain of all of those) with this plane and it has handled them with ease. It slices easily through soft woods. In comparison to a modern block plane, this is a little better: it is lighter than a metal block plane, the iron is noticeably thicker (so there is no chatter on tough woods), the bed angle is higher (making it easier to push through difficult grain), and the iron holds an edge for a lengthy period without need of additional honing. I don't like the uncomfortable shape of Japanese planes, but since I only use it as a block plane and not a smoother, that isn't a problem. It's *great* for cleaning up dovetails after glueing, since it handles end grain so cleanly.

I bought the 60 mm version years ago and it's become my favorite hand plane, even compared against various Stanleys, so I bought this 42 mm one to try. It's a beautiful little plane, and works great after a little tuning. The bed needed flattened, which is an inevitable thing with wooden planes. The blade needed sharpened and honed, which involved regrinding it a bit as it had been made with a slight chamfer (which makes it easier to use and more forgiving for some things), but I prefer a flat grind. All back together (after about 20 minutes of work overall) the blade depth adjusted nicely and it works perfectly, and has a really nice feel and control to it; no complaints at all.

Easy to adjust, cuts like a hot knife through butter and it’s gorgeous! 👍 Left surfaces shiny smooth and cut through end grain with no problems. Needed very little work to be perfectly flat. Came with detailed instructions and a blade guard. The size is usable in many situations and great for a casual or beginner. 👎The blade arrived crooked. Seems like the blade wasn’t held straight while shaping and it messed up the angles of the slot. The slot was wonky and jagged, but that was very easy to remedy. If it wasn’t for the blade, I’d say this is the best plane for the price bar none. I believe I was unlucky with the blade and I’m still so impressed by the quality that I’ll be buying a more premium plane from them soon.

Maybe it’s due to the size or the lack of grip on the actual block but it is truly so awkward to use and adjust. The blade is very sharp upon arrival, I will admit. However, the blade adjustment is just a nightmare. Everything is pressure fitted so you really can’t adjust it easily and it feels like you’re going to accidentally slip and shave some of your finger off when hitting the back to bring the blade up. Maybe I’m just a noob to planers such as these, but I don’t really understand this one. If you know you like these types of planers, go for it, it is good quality. But I definitely wouldn’t recommend to someone that doesn’t really know how these planers work.

This is a fantastic planer. It was pretty easy (first time user) to set. a tiny bit of sanding on the hole it goes in. You have to sharpen the chip breaker and blade. sliding in the blade take a little bit of elbow grease. but once you have it in. This thing just works. highly recommend.

My first Japanese handplane, and I found this one easy to setup and start messing around with. It's good enough to convince me I may need another one to experiment with, but make no mistake it's not replacing my western planes. I somehow lucked into an old Stanley 605 and put a Hock blade in it and I've never seen thinner hardwood shavings than that combination can make, including YouTube videos of Japanese competitions. That said this has definite benefits on softwood and is WELL worth $17! A $17 Japanese plane couldn't possibly be worth its weight right? I mean the whole culture and tradition surrounding Japanese planes involves LOTS of man-hours invested hand tooling every piece... and obviously that costs more than $17... so what on earth is this thing? Well basically it appears to be a machine milled block (dai), and a die cut chunk of steel for a blade. That's really it, and there's nothing magic to it, but there are some small details that make this plane nearly ready to go right out of the package! I snapped some quick photos to illistrate what I'm talking about. The body is all just milled, but it's very flat from the front to the mouth and then ever so slightly relieved behind the mouth just like it should be. The mouth is all just milled, but because the blade is also just a stamped out piece the fit is already very close to what it should be and I expect will be exact after I work on the blade just a bit. I'll come back and finish this review after I hone it up and take some shavings, but so far I'm very pleased. I feel like I paid for a build your own plane kit, and got what looks like a truly functional tool! I have a Stanley 60 1/2 and was considering a new blade for it, but for less than the cost of an aftermarket blade I grabbed this and the Moore and Wright 4003 square I'm using as a straight edge in the pics. If this holds an edge and works endgrain well, it's a 5 star product at twice this price. Update: planed some yellow pine 2x4 without even sharpening it, just filed the blade and chip breaker a smidge to get a fit I liked in the dai and went to town. I knew the technique was backwards from a western plane but I didn't think about how much easier it would make it to line it up planing an edge to get a clean entry onto the board face. Normally with a block plane or Stanley 3 or 4 I might get a little sloppy on the first 1" or so of a board edge, but with this the start was perfect and then the very end got sloppy. Even with a factory sharpened blade it has a very cool burnishing effect on pine that I don't see with any western planes. I'm very satisfied with this purchase even if I only mess around with this on my little pine shop shiznit projects. For the price, size, and weight this thing will probably be with me anytime I do something in softwood. Interested to see how the edge holds up.

Used it on different projects and it cuts very well. The tapping to position the blade needs some getting used to. But it’s a fun and great tool to have in your toolbox. The woods surface of the plane is also great, as it is less likely to scratch the woods you’re working on when you slip.

Türkiye'ye sipariş verdim ve gümrükte sorun yaşamayı mı bekliyordum? ama benden sadece 2 dolar vergi ödememi istediler. çok hızlı geldi. çok iyi yapılmış bir ürün.

Very sharp and easy to use.

Ce petit rabot est très bien fait mais non préparé ! Il faut y accorder un travail de mise en forme et de réglages assez fins et poussés (des tas de videos existent sur YouTube à ce sujet) avant de s'en servir avec beaucoup de plaisir. A l'instar des scies japonaises, ce type de rabot s'utilise en tirant vers soi et non en poussant comme avec un rabot européen traditionnel. Celui-ci est arrivé très bien protégé et avec un fer parfaitement coupant. Il a fallu régler son contre-fer mais il y avait peu de travail sur celui-ci. En revanche il faut creuser (au grattoir) la sole en deux endroit très précis d'où l'utilité des videos.

Väldigt ojämnt/konkavt stål. Kommer ta väldigt lång tid att slipa det plant och innan dess duger den inte till mycket