tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post8302904484698822690..comments2023-11-05T06:16:56.961-05:00Comments on the Carpentry Way: French Connection 11Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-22249094658104306512013-02-17T17:18:42.011-05:002013-02-17T17:18:42.011-05:00Priit,
thanks for your comment and questions. In ...Priit,<br /><br />thanks for your comment and questions. In Japan today much of the traditional furniture is put together with white glue, or 'bondo' as they call it. You don't see glue in traditional timber buildings on any continent. Not that adhesives are not wonderful in certain ways, but the difficulty of clamping such a large assembly, complications which can arise during a glue up with large structural parts, and the reduction in structural flexibility at glued joints are some good reasons glue is not used. Only modern synthetic glues could handle the sorts of loads imposed by the elements on a timber buildings, so glue is not a part of traditional construction. Also, if you want to dismantle a structure for repair or re-use, pegged and wedged joints can be taken apart whereas glued connections, at least with epoxies and so forth, must be sawn out, considerably reducing re-purposing.<br /><br />I really like the purity and simplicity of an all wood joinery mechanism.<br /><br />Traditional Japanese furniture making used to employ rice-paste- and animal hide/hoof-based glues, however most of it now is just done with white glue, which is not nearly so easy to disassemble later on. I think the advent of those glues had led to a certain decline in the constructional quality, as increasingly glue is relied upon to hold things together instead of a mechanically sound and tight joint, in which the glue merely acts as a reinforcement, and has a weak bond which can be broken with a mallet strike, or application of steam.<br /><br />Now, in my case, I try to avoid glue out of both my background in timber construction, and a desire to emulate classical Chinese furniture making practice, which avoided glue as far as possible. <br /><br />I don't hate glue, I'm just trying to see how far along I can go without it being part of the equation, and so far, I've managed pretty well without it. Going glue free sets up a design and construction challenge that leads me to strive to make better joinery, to think long and hard about how things can get put together, and even if one day I return to using glue, I think I will have benefited from this journey. <br /><br />To me a great virtue in classical Chinese furniture, and in timber carpentry generally, is demountability, which allows for fairly easy repair and modification. <br /><br />~CAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-54262469960211304932013-02-17T15:36:18.918-05:002013-02-17T15:36:18.918-05:00Hello Chris
I understand that French people are u...Hello Chris<br /><br />I understand that French people are using nails for fixing the joints. Nice mix:)Russians in some area of Sibiria did not have any joints in their window frames about a century ago. Sticks were simply nailed around glass. Sometimes things are very strange.<br />But lets take japanese joints. I ask seriously why they have not used glue there ? Tradition ? Lack of knowledge about glues ? Or in some cases today they are using in japanese traditional joints glue too ?<br />Best regards<br />PriitPriit Miljannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-25938351131416707942013-02-13T14:24:20.276-05:002013-02-13T14:24:20.276-05:00J-man,
I am definitely entering some sort of vort...J-man,<br /><br />I am definitely entering some sort of vortex, and things are spinning WAY out of control.<br /><br />~CAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-31922578956924843582013-02-13T12:06:38.467-05:002013-02-13T12:06:38.467-05:00Kurisu
This some crazy action - I think you are b...Kurisu<br /><br />This some crazy action - I think you are bending the time, wood, space continuum here and should be careful about entering this black hole.<br /><br />Jzookeeperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15941980684150963919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-10352580949587471052013-02-13T09:21:44.527-05:002013-02-13T09:21:44.527-05:00Mathieu,
good to hear from you. I have thought ab...Mathieu,<br /><br />good to hear from you. I have thought about using floating tenons and various forms of Japanese joinery, and have also considered driving wooden nails in. The wooden nails would be a last resort, and I'm certain that some floating tenons will be involved here and there.<br /><br />~CAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-26364840851129207662013-02-13T08:00:30.884-05:002013-02-13T08:00:30.884-05:00I am very delighted to see you are tackling this m...I am very delighted to see you are tackling this most challenging piece. I have looked at the original drawings myself for quite some hours in the past and have always wondered about how any of those tenons could meet properly. Therefore I find it most interesting to see how you are dealing with it, well struggling might be better way of putting it. Not that I have ever considered building such a thing myself at this point.<br />I am sure your creativity will supply you with a satisfying solution. I am pretty sure you have thought about it but have you looked into using floating tenons? These would even complicate matters but then they don't have to be angled in the same planes as the sticks. <br />If the compagnons used nails to hold it all together the nails can always be substituted with a wooden peg of some sort. Of course I am just guessing here and since my limited skills in 3d drawing I can't make any hard statements. Looking forward to see your progress.Mathieuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02598299531607920548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-59078645553729405422013-02-12T22:49:20.862-05:002013-02-12T22:49:20.862-05:00Julie,
thanks very much for the encouragement. Wh...Julie,<br /><br />thanks very much for the encouragement. While drawing this piece I occasionally feel like scrapping the whole thing, not because of the drawing difficulty, but because I get pessimistic about trying to make such a piece join together cleanly. I'm still not convinced I'll be able to solve it without recourse to metal fasteners, and if that is the case, I won't build it. Just because it can be built doesn't mean it should be built. We'll see what happens - for now I'm walking the path to see where I get to, and will decide from there.<br /><br />~CAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-87602595896340657142013-02-12T22:45:57.382-05:002013-02-12T22:45:57.382-05:00Chris,
thanks for your comment and have fun with ...Chris,<br /><br />thanks for your comment and have fun with your project!<br /><br />~CAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-63759349405705527412013-02-12T13:53:14.644-05:002013-02-12T13:53:14.644-05:00Fabulous stuff as usual!
(No "fudging" a...Fabulous stuff as usual!<br />(No "fudging" allowed, Chris!)Julie @ followyourheartwoodworkinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12186806888262891917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-63522354251531892042013-02-12T13:37:26.579-05:002013-02-12T13:37:26.579-05:00Chris,
That is a crazy table at the end of your p...Chris,<br /><br />That is a crazy table at the end of your post! I've drawn up and plan to build a <a href="http://flairwoodworks.com/v-table/" rel="nofollow">similar table</a> of my own design.<br /><br />ChrisChrisHasFlairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01789176232191404489noreply@blogger.com