First, lay out.
My wood is not square so I wanted to take the centre as if it were, thus the diagonals. This took 30 min or so. I was trying to be precise, something I'm not really friend of.
Then, started cutting. My idea is: cut everything that won't delete lines you still need.
This was the easiest to find out.
Then the dado. A large chisel is sweet for this.
After I knife marked the dado lines I realise I broke my own rule, that mortice was missing part of the line. So started to make the mortice.
Enters small mortice chisel and leg.
30min later I was seeing through
Paring time. 30 min more. I should get closer and straighter with the hammer and chisel, I spent far too much time paring.
Once the mortice was done, I did the other part of it. And it was saw time.
Again, wide chisel being useful
I cut the tapered part first, then the mitre, that I leave for tomorrow. I was thinking of doing it with my paring chisel so I gave it a try.
Not so bad, needs to be straighter.
I broke a bit of the wood in the edged of the mortices.. no biggie but need to be more careful next time. Lovely thing of rauli is that pares beautifully on end grain, so I guess tomorrow will be faster since there are no mortices to cut.
My wood is not square so I wanted to take the centre as if it were, thus the diagonals. This took 30 min or so. I was trying to be precise, something I'm not really friend of.
Then, started cutting. My idea is: cut everything that won't delete lines you still need.
This was the easiest to find out.
Then the dado. A large chisel is sweet for this.
After I knife marked the dado lines I realise I broke my own rule, that mortice was missing part of the line. So started to make the mortice.
Enters small mortice chisel and leg.
30min later I was seeing through
Paring time. 30 min more. I should get closer and straighter with the hammer and chisel, I spent far too much time paring.
Once the mortice was done, I did the other part of it. And it was saw time.
Again, wide chisel being useful
I cut the tapered part first, then the mitre, that I leave for tomorrow. I was thinking of doing it with my paring chisel so I gave it a try.
Not so bad, needs to be straighter.
I broke a bit of the wood in the edged of the mortices.. no biggie but need to be more careful next time. Lovely thing of rauli is that pares beautifully on end grain, so I guess tomorrow will be faster since there are no mortices to cut.
Ahhhhh.....samurai!
ReplyDeleteGreat picture, made me laugh. You are kicking my butt, but then I spent half my day doing laundry in a bucket, ha. Looking good!
Musashi strikes...and the joint is pared clean in one blow!
ReplyDeleteI'm curious if you cut your mortise with straight end grain, concave, or convex endgrain surface?
Oh by the way, when you search "Sumitome hozo sashi" your posts are number one and two. If you're looking for a niche to eventually publish a book, I think you've made a good start. Valuable knowledge, truly.
I wish... it was more like 300 little blows :P
DeleteI didn't get your question of the mortice... I was supposed to orient the grain so it was stronger in the vertical but when I made the layout I totally forgot so I think now it's on its weak configuration (the heart of the tree pointing upwards)
And talking about that book... in fact, I was starting to write a book on how crafts can save the world of global warming and global senselessness and stupidity. But I was missing the practical first hand experience so I just decided to work for a few years before continuing writing. I may put everything together in an illuminated manuscript. I love how in the middle ages you didn't have such a clear cut distinctions between areas and a book could as well talk about the 7 virtues of god and how to sow grain and make beer.
I finished my first go around this morning and I'll send you some pictures soon. I would rate myself about a C-, except two fairly significant errors and one educational design change. The tongue portion that covers the endgrain. As I mentioned before, other diagrams of similar joints have the tongue straight, while you have drawn this one as a taper. Straight seemed easier, so I went with that.
ReplyDeleteSo I may have learned something. The straight approach doesn't allow for much error. For the most part it either fits or it doesn't. The tapered tongue allows a more gradual fit of the joint leaving some small opportunity for adjustment. I suspect that the tapered joint will also work slightly better with the wedging action when it's time to knock the joint together permanently using the wedge. I am going to cut this joint again, but for now taper seems to be the better choice.
After 100 more of these, I might be half way decent, haha.
Looking forward to those pictures.
DeleteThe other book I have, the complete japanese joinery, shows the straight tongue with straight wedges, two of them.
How long did it take?
1 hour last night doing the layout ( and taking pictures), then 4 (!!!) hours cutting, chopping, paring and swearing. During that time I was staging photos, polishing chisels and making them look pretty. Also chasing the cat away from the work area, as he was getting so excited playing with his new toy (a dead rat, haha!) that he was knocking my tools onto the ground. I only cut myself twice, possibly a new record for me.
DeleteFun times! I did this one in little 1-1/2" stock ( oh yeah, I had to plane and square the timber, too). 3" would be a more friendly size. Using 3" stock, already surfaced and square......Maybe 2 hours. I bet by #10, you could do this in 30-45 minutes or less. That would be fun in it's own right.
I'll send you pics after I finish my coffee break, haha.