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I have a Japanese style block plane and jack plane, however the jack plane is missing the little steel wedge that holds the blade together and I am unable to find a replacement anywhere. Can anyone tell me what can I wedge into that area in order to keep the blade in place?

Also are jointer planes necessary? I can't really find them cheap and I have seen a few inexpensive ones on ebay but once you add shipping to Taiwan (which often exceeds 70 dollars) it's not so cheap anymore. I found a japanese style jointer plane in Taiwan but it's not cheap either. I really wish I can find a western style plane here but they don't exist except for those tiny finger planes.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Hi Tai Fu,

For the missing wedge I supposed you can replaced it using a wooden wedge.
Just use any of your hardwood cutoff for the wedge.
But you might need to relocate the pin though.
My Mujingfang wooden plane uses wooden wedge instead of the Japanese style's metal wedge.

As for the jointing, I supposed a Jack plane and a shooting board should suffice.
I bought a Mujingfang wooden plane which is 40cm in length about 2 inches longer than the Jack plane.
Alternatively I supposed you can try to make a jointer plane yourself using a long block of hardwood.
Just some suggestions

Sen

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Sen CL Goh
http://senguitar.blogspot.com

Until recently I only had a #3 bailey jack plane. It does not work for jointing, at least not in my hands. Now I have the #4, #5 and #6 planes as well. I have a #7 on the way and I am still looking for a decently priced #8. A #7 should work well for tops and backs I would think but the #8 might actually be too big. I want to use it to quickly plane down split billets and rough cut lumber and possibly to joint 5 piece necks. In my limited experience the#5 and #6 (or Miller's Falls #14, #814 or #18) works much better than the smaller ones and can be had cheap on Ebay with some patience. Also check for planes on Ebay AU (australia), you may be able to save a good bit on shipping from the land down under as opposed to shipping from the US. Not sure, but it's worth a shot.

I tried ebay.com.au and 99% of all sellers won't post outside of AU or NZ... people can be really narrow minded sometimes. I thought of going to suppliers in AU only to find that either their prices aren't any better than US prices + shipping or they just won't deal outside of their country.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Try find a supplier for Kunz planes I have the 3, they latest a block plane for $25. Not up to my LN's but nice for the price. They are available in the states from Peck Tool.

A Jack is long enough for guitar building, at least for me.

From what I knew, for Japanese planes the chip breaker is not mandatory. At least my smoother works without it too. The blade wedges itself in the body. The chip breaker is only supposed to stiffen the cutting edge for increased performance.

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Build log

Using my Dad's WW II era 5 1/4, carefully tuned and very sharp, I jointed two tops and two backs to perfection. I also used a homemade shooting board which I still use. I do now have an LN #9 and it will be one of the last good planes I let go. It is no longer than a 5 1/4 or a real 5, but the dedicated shape makes it able to take consistent .001 shavings almost mindlessly. As I said in another thread, I have found a try plane (usually thought of at # 6 size) to serve well for some fairly large stock. It is a matter of control- mostly knowing how to roll the pressure from toe to heel during the stroke The cheapest Stanley of all, the ubiquitous # 5 jack will shoot/true most any guitar part.mt