# joints



## JON BELL (Nov 2, 2007)

Check out this site. http://www.eurus.dti.ne.jp/~k-yazawa/english.html Here's an example...


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

Jon,
Thanks for the link. Absolutely unbelievable! Talk about thinking outside the box! (sorry, the pun is unavoidable) I mean, this guy's innovative twists on the traditional Japanese mitered dovetail...I can feel the ache as it causes my brain to stretch beyond its narrow western parameters. Wow! I'm trying to imagine what tools he is using to create those hawk nail joints. 

So those diamond miters he's cutting, how many do you suppose he breaks in the course of making a box? Or at least, broke before he had it down? I would guess that he uses a very hard wood for those, in order for those thin tenons to maintain their integrity. That joint, I would like to try making. 

The transcendence technique, cripes, I'd like to try to figure out just HOW he cuts those. Chisels? I'm still puzzling over how it gets assembled. Mind boggling. Transcendence INDEED! It seems to defy logic. It's obviously a type of Japanese locking miter joint(I think), with the exception of the top tenon. Even still, I can't envision the assembly in my mind. The curvature of the claws on BOTH sides of the box has me baffled as to how they slide together.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

The first thing I think of when I visit a site like this is, I need to clean my shop, organize it perfectly, get all my tools together in their respective places, sticker and stack all my beautiful wood inside the shop very neatly, heave several bucket fulls of gas all over and torch the whole damn thing.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

I was sent that link awhile back, but lost the bookmark in a computer crash. Thanks for posting it. Complex joinery like that is mind blowing to me. The conception and execution of such work is nothing short of magic .


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I navigated the whole site but could not find a pic of the top of that table anywhere.


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

TexasTimbers said:


> I navigated the whole site but could not find a pic of the top of that table anywhere.


It's the lettering! I believe the words are actually the ends of the tenons, coming through the top. At least, that's what it looks like to me.


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## Marko (Feb 11, 2008)

mmwood_1 said:


> It's the lettering! I believe the words are actually the ends of the tenons, coming through the top. At least, that's what it looks like to me.


thats exactly what it is,ends of tenons.....he is/and his work is remarkable ...thats for sure. God,he's sooooo far away too!:boat: Not like you could just go and help out for a day and learn alittle in the process.
TT,I don't believe his shop is always that clean in fact,theres a pic in that site somewhere thats speaks of the 1-2 pieces a year that he does for the art and it shows a picture of him workin' on it.Brotha,he's got sawdust and shavings up to his  yinyang.There's not a doubt he's probably cleaner than I but he's still makin' sawdust.Those pic's are sickening though,aren't they? Mark


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## stuart (Jan 20, 2008)

I did an invert edit to see the grains come out that's hiding a bit


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

I'm still baffled as to how some of these get assembled. Anyone have any clues? They cannot slide straight in as do dovetails, due to the curvature of the 'pins' and 'tails' (so to speak) on BOTH boards and in BOTH directions.


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## stuart (Jan 20, 2008)

to me it's seems like a soft wood almost. bend but don't break.


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## Capt Crutch (Jan 21, 2008)

mmwood_1 said:


> I'm still baffled as to how some of these get assembled. Anyone have any clues? They cannot slide straight in as do dovetails, due to the curvature of the 'pins' and 'tails' (so to speak) on BOTH boards and in BOTH directions.


I didn't notice it until you pointed it out, mmwood, but good point...how DOES he put it together...anyone know? :blink: Dud'n look possible! :huh:


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## JON BELL (Nov 2, 2007)

I can't stop what i'm doing now,but I intend to start giving them a try.If/when you guys do I better see pictures and explanations:thumbsup:


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

stuart said:


> to me it's seems like a soft wood almost.


:no:


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

mmwood_1 said:


> I'm still baffled as to how some of these get assembled. Anyone have any clues?


I have studied them, clueless. I would be proud of myself if I could just cut them...no way I would try to put them together. For me it would just end in tears . :laughing:


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## stuart (Jan 20, 2008)

maybe we are kidding ourselves to duplicate all this magic.

I thought maybe he's some wood charmer....


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Maybe he is really a master artist who has always longed to be a renowned woodworker . . . . so he just paints them on. :shifty:


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## stuart (Jan 20, 2008)

lol that's sneaky....


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## Weird Woody (Mar 2, 2008)

OK, i think i got it...Im going to try that one today. ill let you all know
if im correct or not.:shifty:


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## Capt Crutch (Jan 21, 2008)

TexasTimbers said:


> Maybe he is really a master artist who has always longed to be a renowned woodworker . . . . so he just paints them on. :shifty:


:laughing: :laughing:

Now I'm wondering if his putting the radius on the corner (probably after the joints are put together) somehow makes them _look_ impossible ... when if you got a look at them _before_ the corner was radiused, they wouldn't look so supernatural...


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## Weird Woody (Mar 2, 2008)

thats what i think.


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## Weird Woody (Mar 2, 2008)

Im pretty sure he spent way more time on the joint to get the fit just right.
And he chamfered the edges of the joint, but i figured it out:yes:


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## Weird Woody (Mar 2, 2008)

did i tell you i need a new camera?


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## Weird Woody (Mar 2, 2008)

it actually went together pretty easy too


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## Weird Woody (Mar 2, 2008)

Now to figure this one out:blink:


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

I don't know about that. I think he's aptly named the 'transcendence technique', though. First he had to transcend the state of mind that says it's impossible, then he had to ....I don't know what?!!!


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## JON BELL (Nov 2, 2007)

Hey Woody,NICE job thanks for giving it a try and posting pix.


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## JON BELL (Nov 2, 2007)

Trickey.


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## JON BELL (Nov 2, 2007)

http://www.nt.sakura.ne.jp/~garakuta/wood/english/tsugi/joinery.htm

Does anyone know how to open these files?I'm not good with a computer.


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## winluck7 (May 7, 2008)

JON BELL said:


> http://www.nt.sakura.ne.jp/~garakuta/wood/english/tsugi/joinery.htm
> 
> Does anyone know how to open these files?I'm not good with a computer.


just found a shareware, to open this file. heres the link. 

http://3d2f.com/download/24-441-alteros-3d-free-download.shtml

enjoy.. :smile:


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## allthunbs (May 14, 2008)

It just goes to show you how reluctant we are to learn from others. Here we are, essentially hobbiests recognizing the imagination and skill of someone's work. It's too bad we couldn't adapt the education that Mr. Kintaro YAZAWA ( I don't know which is his family name) has received in his lifetime. We are so ingrained with the philosophy of mass production that we have lost the capacity to use our imagination and the skills to turn that imagination into real products.

BTW, those paper thin joints are made with a Dozuki saw and probably some jigs to ensure squareness. The real trick is selecting the wood that will be strong enough to support the cuts. Some of the joints are done diagonally rather than on the square. There was a dovetail puzzle that went around for years that had dovetails on all four faces. The secret was to cut the dovetails on the diagonal. I wonder if that's how he's done some of those "impossible" joints?


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## JON BELL (Nov 2, 2007)

Diagonaly not on the square,that seems to be the trick...a trick.The paper joints don't seem that difficult,in theory.Like making box joints but with a Dosuki.Put in a spacer to keep the fingers from snapping off.Fitting the joints together seems a little tricky.Hopefully the glue would act like a lubricant to help them slide together.
This is the DT puzzle.

http://sawdustmaking.com/woodjoints/dovetails.htm#puzzle


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## JON BELL (Nov 2, 2007)

A big book of joints.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21531/21531-h/21531-h.htm#Page_134


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