Japanese Woodworking Tools: Selection, Care, & Use

Well-organized, clearly written and generously illustrated with black-and-white photos, this manual offers Western craftspeople a new approach to the woodworker's art. Japanese hand tools, centuries old in concept and design, reflect Japan's perfectionist work ethic and differ from our own methods in a number of basic ways. Among them: Japanese saws for any procedure (e.g., joining mortice and tenon) function on the work-stroke's pull rather than push. Smoothing planes also require the user to pull towards the body. Maintenance of these wood-fashioned tools is an elaborate procedure. There are dozens of ""finger planes'' for cabinetry's hollows, rounds, tongues and grooves. Even chisels from Japan are distinctive in structure and assembly, and these, along with Japanese measuring and marking devices, knives, hammers and hatchets are intriguing to read about. January