Like to the fleeting world of ours, Methinks, are the frail cherry-flowers, For they that bloomed yesterday Are seen to-day to fade away. Anonymous It’s cherry blossom season in Japan. Your humble servant works hard to keep this website focused on tools, as promised, and strives to not pad it with pointless pictures of pets, projects, or product promotions. But every 4 years or so I like to add a post about cherry blossoms, that beautiful flower so important to the people of this island nation. These photos are mostly of cherry trees and their blossoms in Tokyo proper, a metropolitan area of ..read more

Everything in life is risk, from the minute you wake up in the morning and stick your tongue into a toaster Anon Introduction In this article your most humble and obedient servant will present a little-known mystery about traditional Japanese handsaws I call the “Mystery of the Burnt Blade,” as well as a related psychedelic conundrum called “Black Light!” I will also provide a brief description of how one of the last sawsmiths in the world hand-forges his custom handsaws, and explain how these two mysteries are linked to this ancient, even magical, process. If you have a metallurgical psycho ..read more

If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Introduction This is the second in a two part series about the Japanese exchangeable-blades handsaws (“kaeba saws”). In Part 1 we examined the history of how these saws came to be, how they are manufactured, and the market forces that made them so popular in Japan and even overseas. In this conclusion we will consider their advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional fixed-blade saws, and explain a few simple techniques Gentle Read ..read more

When God means to punish a man He sends him stupid friends and clever enemies. Joe Abercrombie, Best Served Cold Introduction Gentle Readers outside of Japan are probably familiar with the modern mass-produced mass-marketed exchangeable-blades handsaws made in Japan. In this first part of a two part series we will briefly examine the history of how these saws came to be, how they are manufactured, and the market forces that made them so popular in Japan and even overseas. In Part 2, to be published later, your most humble and obedient servant will list pros and cons and share some techniques ..read more

A Huon Pine, native only to the Island of Tasmania Serit arbores quae alteri seculo prosint – “He that plants trees labours for future generations.” Caecilius Statius, quoted by Cicero. Motto of John Quincy Adams and his family, among others This is a guest post by Dr. Antone Martinho-Truswell regarding a highly unusual tree, his adventures working its wood, and his thoughts about permanence. Enjoy. What Does It Mean to Build Permanence? Woodworkers – and especially we odder, curmudgeonly, hand tool woodworkers – have a vexed relationship with permanence.  On the one hand, spend any time ..read more

A 320mm (“shakuni”) bukkiri gagari handsaw with a kiri wood handle resting on your humble and obedient servant’s atedai workbench Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. Winston Churchill The goal of socialism is communism. Vladimir Lenin Thank you for visiting the C&S Tools Blog! This article will be a show and tell about a couple of unusual saws of a type not well know outside Japan. For that matter, they are no longer common inside Japan. The Bukkiri Gagari Saw The three saws pictured in this article are of a type of Japanese handsaw c ..read more

May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring he title of this article references two things: A little knife, and a little wooden box, both uniquely and traditionally Japanese. The Knife The knife in question is called a “kiridashi kogatana” (kee/ree/dah/she koh/gah/tah/nah)) or just “kiridashi” for short. Your most humble and obedient servant has written about this Japanese woodworking and general utility knife at great length in this article: The Kiridashi Kogatana Knife. Kiridashi are Japan’s traditional utility, c ..read more

Perfection is a necessary goal, precisely because it is unattainable. If you don’t aim for perfection you cannot make anything great, and yet perfection is impossible. Leonard (the cutter, not tailor) – The Outfit (2022) Allow your humble servant to begin this article with a statement of clarification. The purpose of this website is not to harvest clicks or sell stuff but to share information about the skills and techniques our Beloved Customers need to maximize the performance of their tools and improve their productivity when using them. The contents therefore are aimed at individuals with ..read more

Envy was once considered to be one of the seven deadly sins before it became one of the most admired virtues under its new name, ‘social justice’. Thomas Sowell We’ve recently received a long-awaited (and we feared long-forgotten) order of two-handed Ootsukinomi paring chisels from our blacksmith. This post is a simple show and tell. Your humble servant has scribbled about this tool in this article in our series about the varieties of Japanese chisels Ootsukino, pronounced oh/tsuki/noh/mee, are large, long-handled paring chisels, the equivalent to the “slick” in the US woodworking tradition ..read more

A famous blockprint by Hokusai titled “Mount Fuji Seen from the Mountains of Totomi,” showing a crew of sawyers rip-sawing a timber into boards using maebiki ooga saws, one man on top and one underneath. Notice a third man to the left sitting under the timber, sharpening another saw, perhaps his own or that of the fellow sitting in the background. A woman, probably the loving wife of the saw sharpener, has a baby wiggling around on her back trying to get a better view. She is no doubt waiting for her husband to pause his file work so she can deliver his lunch contained in the traditional furos ..read more