Rebuilding a Kiyohisa oire nomi
I sort of collect ... and use ... Kiyohisa chisels. I purchased a set of slicks (paring chisels) about 12 years ago, which were a 3 year wait. I was lucky - soon after this there was a 6 year waiting list. Unfortunately, they are now no longer being made as Watanabe Kiyoei has been very ill for some time.
Kiyohisa paring chisels …
So
Yamashita
writes about Watanabe ….
Watanabe
Kiyoei is a very gentle person who looks more like a University
professor. His tools are as gentle looking and very handsome as the
creator himself. Very fluid in the line around the neck, and the back
hollow meticulously crafted. Kiyohisa specializes in White Steel #,
the toughest Japanese steel to forge. WS#1's range of temperature
when hardening is only about 5 degrees. You go above or below and the
hardness will dramatically decrease.
The White Steel #1 he uses is not just White Steel #1, but it is a certain lot from the 80s. Although the steel makers wouldn't admit, there seems to be a slight difference in quality between each ingot. Skilled blacksmiths can discern this slight difference, and prefers to use the better (purer = less impurities such as sulphur, manganese, silicon, phosphorus) lots. Since these better ingots are so rare, blacksmiths are desperate to keep such material as a stock, but naturally they cannot afford to buy lifetime supply, so sometimes they go as far to make a loan from the bank to buy as much as they can.
You could say Kiyohisa is the next generation Hidari Ichihiro. They are similar in many aspects. The steel, the fineness of the finish, and overall aura you feel from his tools. Since his tools are very reasonably priced, there are many users who orders his tools repeatedly, thus there is a bit of a long waiting list, half year to one year. He is a quite talented calligrapher as well, so you can have your box signed and stamped by Watanabe-san himself. His tools will be more expensive as his name spreads. Definitely one of my most recommended White Steel #1 chisel brand.
There
are better nomi than Kiyohisa, that is, blades which hold a longer
edge, but using these always makes me smile.
I wanted some
of the oire nomi - bench chisels - however they have become
collector's tools and incredibly expensive. There are some silly
prices on eBay. Not sure if they are actually sold at the asking
money. I've been lucky, and managed to pick up a few - and new! - for
very reasonable amounts.
A few weeks ago I purchased a
30mm oire nomi on eBay. It was going quite cheaply, mainly because it
was 30 years old and used. It arrived yesterday, and I was
disappointed. It had not been looked after. Yes, the blade was worn,
but there is a lot of meat left, and it said to me that it was used
well. It was smaller than expected, but not the issue on its own. It
was the handle, now about 3/4" to 1" shorter than the
original .. and this made it too small for my hand.
The
advert in the auction did not represent the state of the chisel
accurately. I could have sent it back, but the cost of doing so was
prohibitive (what has happened to US shipping costs!!!). The Seller
was really a good guy. We talked about it. In the end he refunded
part of the purchase price (making it even cheaper), and I decided to
renovate the chisel. Perhaps restore some of it past glory?
This
is going to be one of those articles with LOTS of photos - all you
wanted to know about dismantling and rebuilding an oire nomi
Here
is the chisel when it arrived, alongside a 24mm Kiyohisa oire nomi
(on the left), which is new ...
So
... we need to make a new handle. I have some US White Oak, which is
the closest wood to the Japanese White Oak used by Watanabe among the
others in my collection. That will have to do ... I can always make
another handle if this does not work out.
First step is to
remove the handle. These chisels are constructed with a tang and a
socket. How do you get them apart? The answer is to rap the handle on
a hard surface ...
Just
keep tapping. It will come apart ... eventually.
Take
note - the tag is square, as is the mortice ...
Next:
remove the ferrule. It comes off the opposite way it went on! I had
an idea to make a tool to do this from a short section of aluminium
tube - hammered the end flat ....
...
then popped the handle inside, and tapped the end down ...
...
and off came the ferrule ...
EDIT: another way to do this is to use an adjustable spanner (wrench) …
Now
we go over to the lathe. The White Oak has been turned into a
cylinder, and the length of the handle marked from the 24mm Kiyohisa.
I have orientated the wood until the grain runs as straight as
possible ...
The
other measurements that are needed are the diameter of the handle,
and the start and end of the tenon ...
The
tenon is turned from the latter measurements ...
Next,
clean the inside of the ferrule. It is rusty.
It
needs to slip on firmly, and sit flush with the end of the tenon
...
Drill
out most of the mortice ...
EDIT: better than the above approach is to drill the mortice before turning the tenon …
Why
is this better? Simply, it ensures that when the tenon is turned, it
is perfectly centred on the mortice. When drilling the mortice, this
can wander a little off the mark, and that will then affect placing
the tang in a central position.
Once the tenon is turned, mark
and chisel out an exact fit for the tang ...
The
fit is as good as I could hope for - a little force drives it home
...
Back
to the lathe to add a small chamfer to the tenon ...
Before
the handle is cut to length, some finish is added. Initially, this
was just Renaissance Wax. However, later when sharpening the blade I
notice that this failed to stop the wood becoming black (as the
tannin in oak is apt to do around iron filings). I returned later to
re-finish the handle in Ubeaut Shellawax.
After
30 years, the ferrule has been hammered and has flat spots. These
need to be removed otherwise it will not fit over the end of the
handle. I used a knife to scrape the inside of the band ...
To
re-fit the ferrule, the handle is marked off with about 2mm spare
...
At
this stage the ferrule does not fit ...
...
and the end of the handle needs to be pared ...
It
can be hammered on until it lies flush ...
I
do not own a tool for seating the ferrule. Over the years I have set
the ferrules on Japanese chisels using a brass plumbing connector
...
Drive
the ferrule down about 2mm below the end of the handle ...
Then
peen the edges of the handle over the ferrule ...
The
peened ends do not extend over the ferrule - it is the handle you
hit, not the ferrule.
All put together ...
The
blade is sharpened. Japanese blades are a composite of a hard steel
layer, the “hagane”, and a softer iron body called “jigane”.
In cheap or poorly made blades, the hagane is thin and uneven. The
hagane in the Kiyohisa is thick and even ...
Three
Kiyohisa oire nomi (6mm, 24mm and 30mm): US White Oak, Japanese White
Oak, and Japanese Red Oak ...
I
am happy with the new addition.
Regards from Perth
Derek
January 2021
Question asked by Paul on Woodwork Forums …
Is there a preference between JP White Oak and Red Oak? If so what is the reason?
Paul,
I believe that Japanese Red Oak is tougher.
Stu had this to
say, on his blog in 2010 ...
Most Japanese chisels are supplied, by default, with Japanese red oak handles, aka; Akagashi (Quercus acuta Thunb), which quite literally means ‘red oak’. It may well be the perfect chisel handle wood being tough, durable, strong and with enough flexibility that it will survive for a goodly time, regardless of the punishment dealt to it as it’s calling in life as a chisel handle.
Japanese red oak is not the same as ‘red oak’ found in other parts of the world however. The Japanese variety is ‘durable’, in that moisture does not adversely affect the same way that North American/European ‘red’ oak is affected. The reason for this is because the grain in the wood is ‘sealed’, where regular red oak has open vessels that allow moisture to readily travel into the wood and cause damage.
'Cored' Japanese white oak handles. Lesser quality Japanese white oak is a little less expensive, and is often found on lower grade chisels. However, premium grade white oak is also found on very high grade chisels, offering a softer transmission of force between hammer and blade edge, reducing the chance of edge damage due to shocks.
Whichever wood is being used, there are some important attributes that make gumi/boxwood the premiere chisel handle material for chisels that will be struck in use. They are ‘softer’ and have an elasticity that transmit the blow from the hammer in a gentler manner and are said to have a good ‘voice’ communicating what’s happening at the edge better than any other wood.
And that’s about the size of it really; the popularity of ebony is because it looks nice. The reality is that the wood is brittle, and not really well suited to striking chisels. The brittleness should restrict it to hand pushed chisels only, but it still finds itself on striking chisels where often the race between a snapped handle or a shattered edge results in a mutually destructive draw. However, with light taps delivered from a mallet or lightweight hammer, and consideration given to the fact that ebony is brittle, these handles can offer incredibly long life, and look good whilst doing it.
Stu. |
Reference: http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/wordpress/?p=580
Modified Method (March 2021)
I have managed to put together a collection of Kiyohisa oire nomi. A set purchased as one – if you could find one! - could cost thousands of Dollars. These were purchased individually, hence the range of handles.
My plan was to change the handles, but first I needed to find a suitable wood. The woods for Japanese oire nomi are discussed above. Well , Japanese White- or Red Oak is not available in Australia, and I really did not wish to use something that looked different. There are a number of Australian hardwoods that are suitable for chisel handles generally, but not in keeping with the look I wished to preserve.
In the end I plumped for Tasmanian Blue Gum, also known as Southern Blue Gum …
The colour of southern blue gum timber ranges from pale straw to brown, often with blue, green or grey tinges. Regrowth material can exhibit shades of pink. Sapwood is somewhat paler than the heartwood, but not always clearly demarcated. Growth rings are prominent on end sections. Grain is often interlocked with a medium and relatively even texture.
https://www.woodsolutions.com.au/wood-species/gum-southern-blue
With careful selection, it was possible to find straighter sections with just a little – almost unnoticeable - grey-blue tinge here-and-there. I think that it did a good job of resembling White Oak in colour …
The other factor was that I wanted to make the handles a little thicker, which would better fit my larger-than-average size hand. The typical oire nomi is 20mm across. I planned to make these 22-23mm across.
The wider handles led to a second modification, which involves setting the hoops differently. The ends of the handle were rebated on the lathe …
As a result of this, the hoops sit flatter on the handle. The two on the left are modified, and the two on the right are standard …
I like this effect. The handles are more comfortable to hold.
Here is the completed set (30mm down to 3mm) …
Regards from Perth
Derek