We are announcing one Issue Six article each weekday until pre-orders open on February 1st. If you don’t already have a subscription and just wanted to order a copy of Issue Six by itself, you may do so on February 1st.
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There is a common perspective in the West that finds a sense of mystique hovering over Japanese woodworking tools. The differing techniques needed to master their use (from the way a tool is held and pulled across a board, to the process of sharpening hollow-back, laminated irons) only serve to increase the intimidation factor for those of us saturated in the Western tool tradition. But author Wilbur Pan throws open the curtains to take a matter-of-fact look at what truly makes Japanese tools different – and how they might share more commonalities with traditional Western tools than you might think.
Beginning with the metallurgy of early blades and an examination of period forging techniques, we’ll see how the common ancestry of these tools diverged into the different forms we see today because of the greater influence of the Industrial Revolution on the tool-manufacturing practices of America and Europe.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post announcing the next article in Issue Six…