Japanese Carpentry Workshop

Japanese Carpentry: Tool Packing List

Having appropriate tools will enhance your learning experience during the Japanese Carpentry Workshop. Please come prepared with the necessary tools below. We will have some limited tools available to share with students, but you’ll have the best possible experience if you come with your own set. Acquiring Japanese woodworking tools can be a little tricky and potentially costly. It can also be a bit of a treasure hunt. Therefore, we’re providing sources and specific recommendation when possible.

Several students have asked which tools are the most important to bring. If you have to choose, I would say the kanna, chisels, and hammer are essential. We have extra squares, saws, and sharpening stones, so those are at least available here in limited quantities.

Please note: we will update this list over the next couple of months as we find new tool sources and recommendations.

The Basics

• Safety glasses
• Hearing protection (for any times when we have loud tools on-site)
• Work boots / closed-toe shoes — we request closed-toe shoes to be on the work site for your own safety
• Several no. 2 pencils or mechanical pencil
• Pocket sized pencil sharpener

Required Carpentry Tools

1.) Dozuki crosscut saw

2.) Dozuki rip saw

210mm saw blade length is our recommendation. A dozuki is a type of backsaw used for precise cuts. Buy one saw with crosscut teeth, and another saw with rip teeth.

• Dozuki saws on Kurashige
• Dozuki crosscut saws and dozuki rip saws on Suzuki Tool
• Dozuki crosscut saws and dozuki rip saws on Hida Tool

3.) Bench chisels: 3mm, 6mm, 9mm (oire nomi)

The three most useful widths for our class will be 3mm, 6mm, and 9mm. We will be working with relatively small stock. Chisels are divided into different categories, depending on their intended use. Bench chisels (oire nomi) are shorter in length, useful for smaller dimension material and general woodworking. Tataki are stouter, have a longer length and are made for heavier use. Because we will be using relatively smaller dimension material, smaller chisels will be much easier to use and more precise. Prices can vary widely. Comb through these choices and choose based on your budget and preferences. Avoid high speed steel (HSS) tools.

• Chisels on Covington & Sons
• Chisels on Hida Tool
• Chisels on Suzuki-ya
• Chisels on Kurashige Tools
• Chisels on Woodcraft
• Chisels on Fine Tools

4.) Hammer (genno)

Hammers are available in a variety of weights. Somewhere between 350-575 grams is preferable.

• Osho hammer from Suzuki-ya
• Touroku Round Hammer on Kurashige (this was our 2023 recommended genno head)
• Oak hammer handles on Kurashige (any size is fine — we will teach how to fit the handle to a hammer head in our Fundamentals class)

5.) Plane (kanna)

The world of Japanese planes is vast. As expected, there’s a huge amount of variety and price points. However, for our purposes we’re going to make specific suggestions so that we don’t bog you down with options and wild prices. The most practical blade widths are 54mm, 48mm, or 42mm. Having said that, we suggest purchasing one 54mm plane blade and dai. We will spend a lot of time on kanna setup, fine tuning, and sharpening in the Fundamentals workshop.

• Katsusaburo block plane from Suzuki-ya (all widths available)
• Tsunesaburo brand “shunran smoothing plane” from Fine Tools: Tsunesaburo is a very common Japanese brand, good quality, you may be able to find through other sources as well
• Kanna selection on Kurashige

6. Square (sashigane)

Essential for layout, although we’ll have some available for use here. If you want your own, please get one with a mm/cm scale.

• Shinwa 50cm x 25cm ($47 version) on Suzuki-ya
• Shinwa Chohou Stainless Steel Carpenter Sashigane 50cm 10373 (Kurashige), or Shinwa Chohou Stainless Steel Carpenter Sashigane 50cm 10370 (Kurashige)
• Shinwa “Japanese Framing Square flexible 50 x 25 cm white powder coating”, or Framing Square “Sashigane flexible 50 x 25 cm – surface satin chrome plated” on Fine Tools

7. Sharpening stones

At minimum, students should bring 1x 1000 grit and 1x 8000 grit waterstone. We will be teaching a special “3 stone” method of sharpening. If you want to learn this “3 stone method”, please bring 3x 1000 grit water stones. We will also have some stones available for use, but please bring your own gear if you have some.

• 1000 grit King Stones on Kurashige (very good price, good choice if you want to learn the 3 stone method)
• 1000 grit King Stones on Woodcraft
• 8000 grit King Stones on Kurashige
• 8000 grit King Stones on Highland Woodworking

Extras

This is our recommendation for the best book on sharpening and understanding Japanese planes:

• Sharpening and the Japanese Hand Plane in Depth by Dale Brotherton — if you can swing a copy, buy this before the workshop and read through it. It will enhance your understanding during the class itself

Japanese Woodworking Tool Shops

Suzuki-ya (Berkeley, CA)

Hida Tool (Berkeley, CA)

Kurashige Tools (Japan, with overseas shipping)

Woodcraft (various locations, USA)

Covington and Sons (Japan, with overseas shipping)

Dieter Schmid’s Fine Tools (Berlin, Germany with overseas shipping)

Lee Valley (US, Canada)

Highland Woodworking (Atlanta, GA)

Japanese Tools Australia (Australia, with overseas shipping)

Dictum (Germany, with overseas shipping)