Be warned that is a good deal more difficult to use than it appears. Kiri (錐) – Effectively a hand operated hole borer, the kiri is used to make circular holes in a piece of lumber. Each blade has a different job, many of which are for highly specialised operations. Nomi (鑿)- There is a far wider variety nomi than you would usually find amongst the western chisel family. Rather than the flat surface usually associated with European style planes, a Japanese one is convex in shape and operates when pulled instead of pushed.

This will most commonly come in the shape of a wooden block which contains upon it a blade of some kind. Kanna (鉋) – The closest western equivalent to a kanna is a plane. The main difference between a nokogiri and a western saw is that it will cut when pulled, rather than on the push stroke as generally found in Europe and America. Nokogiri (鋸) – This is the word for a Japanese saw, although they can come in all sorts of different guises. As one might expect from such a specialised method of working, anyone practising Japanese woodworking must be well versed in the use of their tools which often differ from those in the western world.

How to make a sashimono