# trying my hand at japanese joinery



## johnmark (Jul 21, 2012)

i've been inspired by sashimono style woodworking. i'm mennonite and love the simplicity of the japanese and amish style.

i'm going to practice 4 different joints and post here my progress. i'll use scrap wood to make a bird's beak joint, double blind dovetails, a very tricky corner joint, and a japanese scarf joint. 

my first japanese scarf joint didn't go that great, but i'll try again. 

here's the bird's beak. it's basically a through tenon with a triangular part that adds stability and a lot more tension (or glue surface if that's your thing) to the joint. 

i use all hand tools. a square, marking guage, saws, and chisels. 

you pretty much just make cuts for the tenon, then diagonal cuts for the points, and then use a tiny chisel to remove wood like you're making a half blind dove tail.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Try this one. There is just three pieces of wood there.


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## TimPa (Jan 27, 2010)

nice job john, post more!


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## roninrus1 (Jul 20, 2008)

There are some pretty good videos on Youtube showing this.
Pretty awesome work by some Japanese traditionalist.


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## johnmark (Jul 21, 2012)

i did a few wood working odds and ends before i could get to the fully blind. one being to make a jig that cuts a 45 into the endgrain. i think i might have messed up how it's supposed to look on the top. i'll look into it. it's a tricky joint. i've been learning how to use my marking guage and how to cut to a knife line. learning a little at a time.


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## gideon (May 26, 2010)

Incredible. Can you teach me these techniques if you are in PA?


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## johnmark (Jul 21, 2012)

if you have a spatial brain, you could think through it. 

the three way corner miter had me really thinking through stuff. i haven't finished it yet, but just laying it out was a real challenge.

i was never taught these. i saw them on youtube and i'm just going through them. just watch every japanese woodworking video you can. 

i've watched a million episodes of the woodwrights shop, and now i'm completely bored by them. which is a good thing. i get how he's going to approach everything. efficiency and all the gaps you don't see in the videos you can learn by experience. it's your best teacher. i'm going to keep making scrap joints until i get better. 

use knives and marking guages and sharpen all of your tools. practice using a saw. my saw skills are definitely lacking and could use practice. 

i could also buy a new saw. i use a crappy crosscut for even my long grain cuts. 

practice practice practice, and critique your method always.


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## johnmark (Jul 21, 2012)

so this is a three way miter, i tried it, messed up my layout, cut it all off, tried it again, tweaked it forever. it's not perfect, but it's one of the trickiest joints on the planet done for the first time (second time i guess) in pine scrap. i'll have to do it a bunch of times to get better.


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