REVIEW: Shinto saw rasps

Words and photo: John McBratney

I have struggled for years in finish-fitting endgrain, cleaning off ends of old joints and bulk removal that is too small for a machine saw and a long job by sandpaper. I noticed the Shinto rasp online as it looked interesting and bought one. What a revelation! It is a magic tool.

The rasp has what appear to be double-sided (with teeth on both sides) hack saw blades. The teeth are coarse (12tpi) on one side and fine (22tpi) on the other. Each blade is bent at 30° every 10mm left and right resulting in a zig-zag shaped double sided blade 200mm long. Eight of these blades are welded together with two straight edge blades to make a flat bottomed rasp surface on each side.

The open structure doesn’t clog and is easily cleaned by tapping or using an air gun. In use it removes material very efficiently leaving a flat surface, as long as you are careful and hold it straight and steady. Be careful also to avoid contact with the skin, the teeth are very sharp.

The one slight draw-back of the file like version is the inability to use it on large flat surfaces, for example when cleaning up after edge gluing several planks for a tabletop. Here, the handle gets in the way.

Shinto have very effectively solved his problem with a second version that has an extremely clever handle that sits above the blade, thus allowing it to be used across a large flat surface. The handle can be attached to either the fine or the coarse side.

At time of writing, the rasps cost $49 for the 210mm flat version and $58 for the one with a handle. Worth every cent, I love them.

Available from Japanese Tools Australia, see www.japanesetools.com.au.

John McBratney is retired electronics engineer and woodworker in Victoria.