Tag: Furniture

Raw Black Walnut

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.

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The Wa of Hand Tools

“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.

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Japanese Wedged Through Tenon

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”.

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EH