I love the grain on this black walnut wood. A deep brown shot through with lighter brown and even shades of purple. These boards are destined to become a sideboard with a wine rack, commissioned by a customer in Calgary, Alberta. Once the sideboard is made and oiled, it will really bring out the grain and all the colours.
Keep watching my blog to see if I can create a stunning piece of furniture out of these plain looking boards.
“The Japanese word wa is a single kanji meaning ‘harmony; peace; peaceful.’ In common usage wa means ‘harmony’ as in being in harmony with one’s environment and it means “peaceful” as in being in a peaceful state of mind or feeling at peace.” ~Eri Takase
People keep asking me why would I use hand tools to cut this timber bed? It takes longer, involves more physical endurance, and the amount of precision necessary is astonishing.
My simple answer is the Japanese feeling of wa, or harmony, that I feel while working with hand tools.
I really enjoyed this bed project, as I was able to take some of the aspects of Japanese timber joinery and adapt them to the smaller scale bed frame. Since training with Dale Brotherton, I’ve fallen in love with Japanese timber architecture, so it was a pleasure to craft a bed with this style as the inspiration.
The wedged through tenon shown here is part of the headboard of the bed. The “posts” of the headboard have tenons at the top that slot all the way through the mortises of the “beams”.
I can’t stress enough the importance of sharpening your tools. A sharp tool not only works better, it is safer as well. And when I say sharp, I mean shaving your beard sharp.
Okay, so I said in an earlier blog that my favorite hand tool was a Japanese hand saw. It’s got competition now. After using this axe, I think I have a new favorite.
I thought I would add a blog about my Japanese chisel handles. Everyone asks me if I have pounded the hell out of my chisels, and well, yes I have, but, the handles are not mushroomed because of this.
Because I wanted a true historical hand tool experience on this project, I decided to waste out the material of the mortises with nothing but a couple of chisels and a mallet.
My very best helper! My son Roghan loves to be in the shop with me. He sucks up every little bit of information he can, very eager to help at every chance he gets.
The Japanese hand saw is one of my favorite hand tools. The Japanese hand saw differs from a western saw in that you cut on the pull stroke, not the push stroke.
Layout is one of the most important steps in creating timber furniture. For this project, I used the most common layout method for Japanese timber work: centre line layout.