Monday, March 27, 2006

 

Blacksmith:Tsunesaburo

Tsunesaburo (常三郎) is actually not the name of a blacksmith, it names 3 generations of blacksmiths: Tsunezo, Akio and the third generation Toru Uozumi (魚住常三(初代)、昭男(二代)、徹(三代)). But by common usage, Tsunesaburo is used to qualify any of the maker. Sometimes the generation will add precision: Gojyunen made by "Tsunesaburo II", Koshodai made by Tsunesaburo first generation..
The first generation's picture is in the book of Mr Odate's Japanese tools.
Their workshop is located in Miki city.

Their website is full of interesting information (unfortunately for us, me included, only in Japanese). A wide range of choice is available and can be ordered directly from them or from Mr Iida (see links).

The workshop is quite big, compared to those I have seen so far. It is interesting to note that Tsunesaburo have bought a big power hammer together with other blacksmiths, so that the tool is shared among craftmen of Miki.

Steel blanks. On the rightmost handside, one of the last blanks of Togo Reigo, from the UK.








Stamps used to mark the blades.










Tsunesaburo produces a wide range of planes, offering more than 10 differents steel for the blade: HSS, white and blue steel, Togo Reigo, Tamahagane... The 2 later ones being highly looked after, and highly priced. You won't find any tamahagane plane on their catalog, these are custom made and show-up extreemly rarely.
Some of there famous planes includes:
shodai (初代),
gatsurin (月輪),
gojyunen(五壽年),
wako(和鋼)
asuka(飛鳥)
I was also surprised to see a stanley laminated blade... Would you believe this: a laminated blade for your stanley number 5 (not sure... providing the size of the blade, some of our fellow woodworker would probably identify the corresponding plane). If I understood well it was custom made in a small serie.

Comments:
Cool Pics! I stopped by with another planemaker in the co-op that uses the big air hammer to pound down chain and plate into workable pieces but no one was around so I didn't get to see all the goodies you did. Lucky! Japan Woodworker sells their laminated blade for Stanley type planes. Was this part of the Kezurou Kai trip?
 
Hi Dave,

I reply to you here as I do not know your email address. Mine is:
ludoangot at yahoo dot com
No, this was not part of KezurouKai, I did the trip on my own after the meeting.
Thanks for your comments!
 
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