The Complete Japanese Joinery

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saw horse, into the ground, or into one’s clothes. Instead, when nearing the end of the cut, it is important to slow down the sawing, holding the piece being severed with one hand, and continuing to saw gently until the cut is completed. When cutting through a piece, after a shallow cut has been made on the first side, rotate the piece away from you and continue cutting. The saw cut always advances toward you. Continuing this procedure until the piece is cut through allows a clean cut to be made, with¬ out splintering. Unlike Western sawing procedure, the piece is supported on both sides of the cut, whether on a bench or on saw horses, so that the cut end will not fall, risking tear¬ ing. Due to the creativity inspired by this reliance on a single building material, the joints in sashimono are often intricate works of art in themselves. Though they will go unseen once the build is assembled, the precise construction and arrangement of this joinery enables the finished pieces to last for hundreds of years. Sharpening stones are classified as coarse, medium, and finish stones, and are used in se¬ quence when sharpening blades. Japanese sharpening stones should be used with water only, never oil. The water lubricates the action of the stone and flushes away the metal rubbed from the blade. Manmade stones should be soaked in water for a few minutes be¬ fore each use, but natural stones must never be soaked. A rough manmade stone made of silicon carbide, aluminum carbide, or aluminum silicate is used to remove chips from blades. The coarse stone, made of sandstone, is used to be¬ gin any sharpening practice except daily maintenance, in which only the medium and finish stones are used. The medium stone is made of shale and is dark blue in color. When used, it follows the coarse stone, after which the blade is applied to the finish stone. There are manmade finish stones and naturally formed ones. The finest edges are ob¬ tained from the natural stones. Manmade stones are often too soft and, generally speaking, the harder a finish stone is, the sharper the edge it will produce. The best Japanese stones are Honyama stones, found near Kyoto. They are beige in color and tend to be quite ex¬ pensive, especially the larger ones. Better natural stQnes have an even texture and no inclu¬ sions of grit or other foreign matter in the sharpening surface. When a blade has been sharpened on a medium or coarse stone, a burr of metal appears on the front side of the blade. This “wire edge" can be felt by running a finger along the top side of the blade edge off the front. Do not break this off; remove it with the next finest stone. The finish stone will not leave a wire edge.

The Complete Japanese Joinery [PDF] [4h17gt3hnp40] The Complete Japanese Joinery [PDF] [4h17gt3hnp40]

Understanding Wood Wood is alive. Even after trees have been cut, wood continues to respond to environmental conditions. Before, during, and after construction, changes in the wood’s characteristics can have serious consequences for the integrity of a structure. With proper understanding, mishaps can be foreseen and avoided.*Since joinery doesn’t cause holes in the material, and it is relatively easy to disassemble. In the spirit of mottainai, pieces of furniture that are no longer useful to their owners can be taken apart and rebuilt into something that is more suitable. Taking apart a chest of drawers to make several small boxes, or a more modern item like a TV stand is entirely possible without destroying the well-aged materials. Another key difference is that American and European architecture often used nails in circumstances where it would be beneficial to use them, but Japan had very low-quality iron that resulted in brittle nails that rusted easily. This forced Japanese builders to come up with ways of constructing buildings that didn’t use metal components at all. Always keep in mind the kerf and cut outwards the markings that you have drawn on the wood. If you cut right on the line, chances are you might be cutting inside slightly. Precision is the key when it comes to Japanese joinery, so the pieces fit snug together. As shown in Figure 5.1, the piece to be cut is steadied by the left hand, and the cut line it¬ self is set in front of the right hand. When sawing small pieces a work table is used, while larger pieces such as framing members are cut on saw horses. Thus the height at which the lumber is cut will vary, but the pulling force is more easily applied at a lower position. When using a saw on a work table, the wood is held firmly in place with the left hand, and the saw is pulled with the right hand. Large pieces are cut by securing them with the left foot and pull¬ ing the saw with both hands.

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rect the conditioning of the body of a plane. Its blade is set perpendicular to its body, and it scrapes across the grain. It is used to correct any slight warp or twist. We work with this material as an instrument, to fashion useful objects, possibly if so willed a thing of beauty. In any case, a joining of the rhythms of nature to fulfill its own destiny and ours.” What is sashimono woodwork? Hafu facia. A decorative panel which accentuates the shape of the gable roof, and which has a depth similar to that of the Taruki kei facia. The taruki kei facia is a finishing piece which covers the ends of the purlin (moya) and main (keta) beams like the hafu facia which will be discussed later. The taruki kei facia is not just shallower than the hafu facia. Taruki kei facia originated during the Edo period when farmers and merchants were not permitted to incorporate theTools and Their Care How to use sharpening stones When blades are sharpened on a rough or coarse stone, the hollow grind begins to appear at the cutting edge and the edge must be made flat again. For this, a steel plate, the top sur¬ face of which is perfectly flat, is used (Figure 2.60). In the case of planes, the blade is tapped out. Chisels, however, are never to be pounded; they should only be ground. Characteristics of Wood 41 Another way to protect lumber is to paint or soak it with creosote, but this process cannot be used in shiraki zukuri (natural wood) construction. The basic structure of a planing bench is one planing board and two legs. The legs should match the planing board; if it is a 4x4 then the legs should also be 4x4’s. The width for the bench top will depend on the dimension of the wood that is to be worked on. A shallow angle from end to end of the working surface may be comfortable for some, but care should be taken to ensure that this does not interfere with the workman’s ability to maintain a level, even stroke through the length of the board being planed. A wood stop or even just nails, hammered into the end of the board toward which the plane will be drawn, should be sufficient to hold the board in place while it is being planed. Clamps may be used, but they are seldom necessary. Place a level at each end of the piece, as shown in Figure 5.30, then look at the tops of the levels to see if they align. If they do not align, the wood is warped. In this case, plane it, removing the warp difference gradually, until the piece is flat. Next, using the sumitsubo, mark a length of 4 inches from each end of the piece.

The Complete Japanese Joinery by Hideo Sato | Goodreads

Paper or cloth wrapping In strong sunshine natural woods will burn and their surfaces will discolor. To prevent this, boards for interior use are wrapped with paper or cloth after they have been cut, planed, and chiselled. This wrapper is later removed when construction is completed. In the case of wall members, it is not removed until mud or plaster has been applied. Chisel out diagonally marked portion from C to B. Then make a rip saw kerf at E and finish chiselling out the notch to line F. Used to shave the sides of a groove to widen it, or for finish This plane has a built-in guide and is used to cut a groove into a Kanawa Tsugi—Blind dadoed, rabbetted and keyed scarf joint. In this joint, the two joined ends are identical. (i) SumizukeForgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth Extend the tai zuka web beyond the niju bari chord and consider it as joining the two roof systems—the truss system below and the shinzuka PLATE

Japanese Joinery - Japan Objects 7 Things You Need to Know About Japanese Joinery - Japan Objects

Now mark another square around the small square that you will be carving out. This square will be around three to four times bigger than the smaller square. You will also mark a 45-degree line from the corner of the square to the corner of the wood. This will be needed to cut at this angle using a handsaw. Step 2: Carving out the Dowel Hole Gegyo (Case 1). Gegyo is an ornamental piece which covers the end of the ridge beam on shrine and temple architecture (except in the shinmyo zukuri style). It is also used on common houses. Gegyo is quite commonly seen on farm houses in the Kinki disHinoki cuts clean, and is at its strongest two centuries after being cut down. That’s why Horyuji has stood for 1300 years.” Take a sharp and thin paring chisel and start carving out a square hole in the area that you marked before. You should take it slowly and carve it out by lightly tapping it with a mallet. Take out the loose material after every few taps so that it does not obstruct your carving process. Make sure you carve it through and then clean up the corners. Also, once you are done with this joint, you can now try making the other joints, like the Kanawa-tsugi and Koshikake-ari-tsugi. For the latter, however, you need to know how to cut a dovetail with hand tools. What is Special About Japanese Joinery? So for the first step, you will need to mark your wood at the places where you need to carve it with a chisel. For this joint, you will need to carve out a square hole in two pieces of wood. This is where a square dowel will be hammered into the pieces of wood once they intersect. So the marking should be on the top side of the wood. maintenance, or the set of the teeth not being even, right and left. If the sets on both sides are not evenly aligned, the cut will be crooked, favoring the side with the greater set (see Figure 2.24). This may be determined by sighting along the length of the tooth edge or sight¬ ing along the length of the blade.