Traditional Japanese carpenters construct entire houses entirely out of wood, trimming the parts to fit together as tightly as if they had grown that way. Such severe joinery is without a doubt the truest measure of a woodworker’s ability: if you don’t perform it precisely, the temple will fall.
While each of these woodworking techniques and tools vary in required expertise, the fact that it has proven efficient over the years means that any furniture made with them is guaranteed to last a good while.
That said, here are four Japanese woodworking techniques to leave you in awe:
1. Dovetail Joinery
This connection is separated into sections by tails and pins that connect and interlock, providing an alternative to additional screws and bolts. Cabinet makers and carpenters have embraced these joints for their elegant, clean appearance; they are frequently employed to produce a set of drawers or to construct the furniture base at the corners.
2. Sampo Zashi
The Sampo-Zashi was a confluence of previous woodworking joinery techniques, integrating the straightforward usefulness of the Dovetail with the precision and complexity of the Mortise and Tenon connection. The junction required perfect perfection in measurements, requiring wood pieces to be combined into a one post with precise millimeter dimensions and then fastened and kept together with wooden pegs.
3. Mortise and Tenon
This technique is considered a woodworking industry standard that has been used in worldwide woodworking techniques for centuries. The concept works similarly to a jigsaw puzzle that must be put together. Mortise, which translates as “hole,” and Tenon, which translates as “thing-designed-to-fill-said-hole,” should give you an indication of how this joint will be constructed.
When creating furniture, these joints work to be more visually attractive than just inserting a few nails through the wood, giving the finished product a simpler appearance but a more complicated design on the inside.
4. Twin Tenon
On the other hand, twin tenon joints work as they are named. They consist of two tenons adjacent to one another. They are best utilized to increase the strength of a single tenon joint to sustain a bigger weight. The haunched variant is designed to prevent the wood from twisting and includes an additional piece of wood half the mortise length at the end of the Tenon
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Traditional Japanese carpenters construct entire houses entirely out of wood, trimming the parts to fit together as tightly as if they had grown that way. Such severe joinery is without a doubt the truest measure of a woodworker’s ability: if you don’t perform it precisely, the temple will fall. While each of these <a href="http://www.gagefurniture.com/woodworking/great-woodworking-tools/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">woodworking techniques and tools</a> vary in required expertise, the fact that it has proven efficient over the years means that any furniture made with them is guaranteed to last a good while. ...