woodworking in Japan

[John Grossbohlin]

In 1969 I met an "International Boy Scout" from Japan at the Scout camp where he served as a counselor. Last year he came back to the U.S. and we met again at the camp. Anyhow, to make a long story shorter, it turns out that he is a woodworker also. He is also a member of a woodworking club in Japan and he sent me a link to the club's web site.

I cannot read Japanese but there are a lot of photos and videos on the site that I found by clicking on pretty much everything. I found that things that are not underlined are in fact links... The two TV videos were great.... long thin curls coming off a plane that looked to be 4" or so wide were pretty amazing! It is a really interesting web site!

John

[Swingman]

Cool! Thanks for the link.

Google Translate gives a somewhat wonky translation of a website from Japanese to English, and formatting is dicey, but better than nothing:

[John Grossbohlin]

Thanks for the translator information!

John

[Swingman]

>>>>>

LOL ... complete with "Canadian fleas", "I shaved properly, I was a master", and "... large purchase of a small sledgehammer".

... some things obviously lost in translation, but coupled with the photos, a picture is now worth at least ten thousand words, +/-. ;)

[Steve B]

Someone here or elsewhere posted a link a good while back to a Japanese artisan who made absolutely incredible wood things, bowls, trays, all sorts of things, all totally amazing.

What I find incredible is that like the people from hundreds of years ago, they can make wood items that fit precisely, are true on all angles, are straightedge flat, and all with just rudimentary hand tools and a lot of time. Judging from the picture on this site, it looks like they spend half their time just contemplating things like grain and very small nuances before they pull out their first tool.

Steve

[Gerald Ross]

On the page with pictures of woodworking tools I see they still use the Japanese "chalk line". It is the black object with a cranked spool on one end. The string passes through a chamber with cotton filled with black ink or soot, then out through a ceramic or ivory plug with a hole in it and ends with a peg with a pin. I have several models including a Korean one.

Maybe they now use black chalk instead of soot, because I never actually used mine to see how easy it is to wipe off.

[RicodJour]

I've held specimens of a sumitsubo, but I never got my hands dirty with one. I'm pretty sure that ink was the order of the day and that the silk string left a very fine line that wouldn't smudge like soot or chalk. You should test yours out with ink - I, for one, would be interested in how you liked it.

Then again I should just break down and buy one of the new versions, like this:

is an excellent brand. I have one of their plumb bobs which is very well designed and made. I'm sure their inkpot would be equally well thought out.

R

[Larry Jaques]

-- Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. -- Epictetus