Japanese Smoothing Plane TORYO HOMARE made by Master Hakano

Japanese Smoothing Plane TORYO HOMARE with Red Oak Body made by Master Hakano

Smoothing Plane TORYO HOMARE

"TORYO HOMARE" means: Honor of master carpenter.

This plane was produced by master smith Nakano in Yoita, Niigata Province. The iron is a laminate. The cutting edge is made of the very hard "Aogami" steel, with a softer iron, "Nama-ji", welded to it for strength and to ease sharpening. Nakano used iron from a 19th century bridge for the "Nama-ji".

Master Nakano has been a blacksmith all his life. He is not interested in technical tables on proper working temperatures for the various kinds of steel: he works only from experience and feel. For example, he believes that the weather strongly affects the properties of the metal he is working, and he likes to work at night, so as to better judge the forging process by the color of the glowing iron and steel.

Body size 288 x 89 x 35 mm (11-3/8 x 3-1/2 x 1-3/8 in.)
Iron thickness at butt end: 9 mm (3/8 in.)
Iron thickness near edge: 6 mm (1/4 in.)
Width of iron: 70 mm (2-3/4 in.)

This plane comes in a beautifully-made wooden box.

The packing is also very elegantly done.

Chip!

The two layers of steel await the forging process that will turn them into one high-quality chisel.

Traditional leaf-spring hammer.