"Nata" (Japanese Hatchet), purchased at Soko Hardware in San Francisco Japantown Center. Cost $45. It looks like a machete or a cleaver, but observe the thickness of the steel blade (approx 7mm?) and the angle of the blade, and the ground bevel on the back corner. The thick blade gives good weighting for the chop stroke, the length of the blade gives more cutting area than a hatchet and it is literally razor sharp. See also the nice blade case that came with the "Nata" (a requisite to protect that sharp blade!). There were at least 2 sizes of "Nata" in the store.
I had bought a cheap hatchet at Home Depot made of cast steel. The cutting edge was really a sad attempt at grounding a crude wedge onto the blade. The edge is so dull, it might as well have been made out of stone by a cave man. I know there are better U.S. hatchets, but this story has some metaphorical significance to me regarding cheap U.S. products vs. nice Japanese ones that are not only made with quality, but carry with them a purity and legitimacy based on history and tradition maintained from the past.
I was frustrated with this cheap axe (which sadly proclaims its "Made in the USA" origins.) It is about as good as a hammer for cutting anything... and I was thinking of buying one of the nicer high quality (Western style) hatchets at Home Depot. One weekend Sasaki brought his newly acquired "Nata" to use in carving spiked ends for the the wooden posts used as edging on my new front walkway. (You can catch a glimpse of those posts in the photo.)
The price was expensive, but the "Nata" is very useful - sharp, feels right in the hand, cuts great, looks cool. It has the appeal of being a rare novelty, and of course it was from Japan... I wanted one! When MacWorld SF 2002 rolled around this year, I went with Sasaki to the show, and afterwards we dropped by S.F. Japan Town, where I picked up a "Nata" for myself at Soko Hardware (and some Japanese vegetable seeds as well, about which more later.)
I also have a Japanese styled hand saw ("nokogiri".) I bought at Home Depot. The one I bought is a U.S. product marketed as the "bear saw", with a blurb on the packaging that says "cuts on the pull stroke - you have to try it to believe it!" This is a good saw, especially for detail cuts. I used it to cut some fancy stakes for my tomato plants last season, and a few other various tasks.
The handle is a long post like a knife handle, rather than a Western handsaw style oval handle.
I also put a smaller Japanese hand saw into the picture, which I picked up at Southern Lumber (great store!) in San Jose. I haven't used it much yet.
Japanese Woodworking?
12:30:34 AM 
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