I’m an amateur woodworker. I’ve used Japanese saws, chisels, and other tools for many years. It has always seemed to me that efficiency and skill are the driving forces behind many traditional Japanese woodworking practices. They tend to be very efficient in using metal and wood, paying for this efficiency with greater skill requirements for the tools and techniques. This means they often need complicated tools or joinery to achieve the same things that a European carpenter may have solved by adding another oak beam, more metal bracing, or a longer saw.
For example, the article talks about the bimetal construction of this saw, using expensive and rare high-quality steel only for the teeth (this efficient use of rare metal is also the driving force behind the design of the katana). This is harder to make than a full-steel tool.
Japanese saws are typically very thin, again requiring much less metal. This means that the saws cut on a pull stroke, rather than a push stroke like European saws. Since the saw is much more flexible this requires more skill. But you end up with a very thin kerf and minimal waste.
Much traditional Japanese carpentry involves complex joints made of hardwood, not typically fastened with metal (e.g., nails, screws). The amount of slop you’d see in an 18th-century metal-fastened European joint would have been unthinkable to a contemporaneous Japanese carpenter.
> Japanese saws are typically very thin, again requiring much less metal. This means that the saws cut on a pull stroke, rather than a push stroke like European saws. Since the saw is much more flexible this requires more skill. But you end up with a very thin kerf and minimal waste.
Japanese non-disposible saws seem quite beefy and more comparable to western saws in thickness. The super thin disposibles are a modern innovation (impulse hardening not being available in the Edo period...). Also, western joinery saws are very thin.
The fact that it is flexible does not affect its use because it doesn't flex when you pull it, so that's not something you have to worry about. In fact they are ideal beginner saws because they are higher quality (than, say, whatever you can get at home depot for $40) and don't need to be sharpened (because these days they are all replaceable).
> Much traditional Japanese carpentry involves complex joints made of hardwood,
Actually most Japanese woods are quite soft. Most japanese planes wouldn't be able to handle Maple or Hickory, to say nothing of the harder exotics.
> not typically fastened with metal (e.g., nails, screws).
Timberframing is a uncommon but definitely still a thing in the US and Europe. And 2x4 stick framing with metal fasteners is also a thing in Japan, having gained popularity b/c of its simplicity in recent decades.
> The amount of slop you’d see in an 18th-century metal-fastened European joint would have been unthinkable to a contemporaneous Japanese carpenter.
I'd put 18th century european fine furniture against japanese fine furniture any day. It's not until the 20th century that you saw a decline in western skills. The secret to the japanese is that they kept the tradition and skills alive, whereas in the west it's had to be revived.
> Japanese non-disposible saws seem quite beefy and more comparable to western saws in thickness.
I’ve got a handful of forged 240mm ryoba annd dozuki in my shop that are notably thinner than disposables according to my digital calipers
> And 2x4 stick framing with metal fasteners is also a thing in Japan, having gained popularity b/c of its simplicity in recent decades.
Agreed. I’ve heard nearly all new construction is stud construction these days.
> Most japanese planes wouldn't be able to handle Maple or Hickory, to say nothing of the harder exotics.
I often see this repeated in online woodworking forums but my experience here has been different albeit limited to kanna blades from two makers.
> I'd put 18th century european fine furniture against japanese fine furniture any day. It's not until the 20th century that you saw a decline in western skills.
Agreed here too. Furniture studies from that time period make this evident. Western tools from that time period don’t differ as much either.
> I often see this repeated in online woodworking forums but my experience here has been different albeit limited to kanna blades from two makers.
They are bedded at roughly 40 degrees (nothing to do with the metal, admittedly). Unless there's another factor at play, I don't see how that'd work for a smoother on 1500+ janka woods.
To your last point, some of the joinery used at that time was absolutely beautiful and required levels of skill many modern wood workers will never attain. It’s fascinating how much precision was necessary to make such ornate joints work. And they were even perfectly functional, too.
I tried my hand at a few for years and never produced anything worth using in a project around my home. I’m nothing like good at wood working, but it was humbling anyway. They did so much more than I can with a lot less than I’ve got.
I guess they had time, mentors, and a culture valuing skilled craftsmanship on their side.
They didn’t have good alternatives. Me? If I’m in a rush I can make a perfectly serviceable joint with pocket screws, good enough for many applications. That takes far less than 1% the time to make a durable wood-to-wood joint.
Durability is the other thing. Much Japanese architecture was very open to the elements, and the joints had to hold solid with seasonable movement. A simple metal fastener like a screw will not do that. Even in a climate-controlled environment most metal-assisted joints are ephemeral compared with simple old tech like wood-to-wood joints and hide glue.
There’s also a lot to be said for craft for the sake of it. Once you have every other problem solved — efficiency, cost, durability — why not make it beautiful? I don’t think this extends to every human endeavor. Ornament is often a hazard to maintainability (e.g., an old Bugatti, a new Ferrari, most software), but not always. This type of joinery is complex so that it is maintainable, which is fascinating to me.
Part of it has to do with when different adhesives were developed in Japan.
If you don’t have adhesives, you use more complex joinery to achieve results.
But I believe it was also a desire to have beautifully crafted strong joints.
However, rice glue is surprisingly strong when used correctly.
WOOD JOINTS
IN CLASSICAL JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE
By
Torashichi Sumiyoshi
And
Gengo Matsui
Is a great resource.
“We can only marvel at the solutions adopted. They took into account time dependent process, such as shrinkage or slippage caused by dynamic loading. The intricacy of hte internal structure of the joint si hidden yb
the apparent simplicity of its appearance. Various shapes connect into each other with ease. This wisdom si the result of years of patient work; we have much to learn from
ing worldwide.
is
mentioned ni
the
authors' comments. The purpose of this book
Nowadays, joints are made using metal parts. The splices and connecting joints have become much simpler. It si now possible to construct large wooden structures using standard processes. However, the uncertain properties of wood have brought forward the problem of weakening of the joints.
This work goes back to the fundamental of joining. It is recommended to all technicians and also to architects and engineers.
Yukihiro Kamiyama Professor, Waseda University
it.”
Not exposure to elements only, Japan has very often earthquakes of various intensities, and what you describe sounds like it should help, at least to certain extent.
You tried longer than I did. maybe 2 years or so, probably less. I do really like my cheap double sided pull saw. I don't think I realized how much extra control I have with that longer handle, till I read some of the links that talk about different handle attachments.
I also found it quite humbling. But I take a little comfort in, that was their job, man. It's our hobby. I tell myself if I spent 10 years at that instead of poking at computers, I'd do a lot better. (That may not be true, but it's what I tell myself)
For sure you would. You’re a human :) One of the pleasures of building things as a hobby is that you can optimize for whatever the the fuck you want. Sometimes you want a working solution in 10 minutes and duct tape is ok. Sometimes you want to learn a new technique and who cares how long it takes? So no hate on your cheap saws; measuring right is all that matters anyway.
Absolutely. I'm not going to pretend programming is a superhuman capability (it's increasingly unremarkable), but building large interactive and automated systems which run entire businesses must be similarly impressive on some level. I know my work is a bit like lego at times, but I also build bespoke, interesting, even challenging systems.
Maybe some day when developers almost exclusively use AI to do what I do now, they'll look back at my work and think "Man, that's impressive. I tried writing [some application] for a couple years using nothing but Rust, but it turned out awful. It's insane what these people did with a keyboard and a programming language".
"It has always seemed to me that efficiency and skill are the driving forces behind many traditional Japanese woodworking practices. They tend to be very efficient in using metal and wood, paying for this efficiency with greater skill requirements for the tools and techniques"
Sounds like Ruby (which comes from Japan). The metaprogramming can be really efficient, but it requires skill to know when and when not to use it.
I learned how to use Japanese Dozuki saws for dovetails over western style saws. Also, because woodworkers in Japan still use them regularly, acquiring saws of Japanese origin are significantly more affordable.
Ironically, I prefer pre-World War II Stanley hand planes over Japanese hand planes, but likely because I learned all the meticulous methods of restoring and truing them to get those addictive gossamer shavings.
Because of fetish. Woodworking, blacksmithing, knife sharpening, hunting and fishing, and of course guns are often very fetishized hobbies. To make that cutting board really flat, certifiably flat, it has to be done with a set of Stanley hand planes that you can buy rusty for a mere $250 from eBay or CL and then spend 2 months restoring them.
I respect carpentry, woodworking and the skill required to rip a piece of wood with such a saw, but I bet most of medieval Japanese craftsmen would ditch their hands saws for a Harbor Freight table saw in a heartbeat. In modern times to spend 7 hours ripping one piece of wood has little to do with woodworking.
It's not fetish. Unless you spend hundreds of dollars on a Lie-Nielsen or Veritas plane, this will be vastly superior to any other new plane: https://www.ebay.com/itm/116099802353
Made between 1933-1941, $69 plus shipping, and probably ready to start hogging away at some rough lumber.
I think fetish is a bit strong, though maybe somebody gets their jollies from it. I just find hand work to be more rewarding. If I was making things for a profit, then yes, I would spend the money to get to something that does tasks faster and with less effort, but I do things like this to have fun, get blisters on my hands, nicks on my fingers, build strenght, realize that if it looks straight, it is, and make mistakes that only I will ever know about. I also don't have the budget for expensive things, or the room to house all the power tools. I have the back wall of a single car garage that I actually use to keep my car in.
You're missing out on the most critical detail of Japanese culture that is lost by most westerners:
Speed isn't more important than having respect for your craft. If you have to go slower to produce a better result, you go slower. If you have to work harder to perfect an incredibly tight joint, you do that. You don't have to use traditional joinery to build in Japan today. But if you build something in a shitty way, it reflects poorly on you.
I am not missing out on anything. Modern steel and modern tools are good. A $500-$600 dollar miter saw with a good blade makes very tight and precise cuts, better than 99% of hand made cuts made in Edo Period.
The article is specifically talking about a large saw. A modern mill is gonna do a much better job ripping large pieces of wood, then 3 dudes sawing for hours and constantly resharpening their tools. A good joint is the one that holds the load well.
A non-masochistic way of building things is not shitty, it simply means you are did get trapped in a cult thinking.
> Efficiency is not the goal.
If you are into wood cutting, then sure. Go for it. Cut it in any way you want, with any imaginable tool. But then it's wood cutting, not building things.
It was what my teacher recommended. I think with the right sharpening technique you can make anything work for you, including a harbor freight plane. Just be prepared to do a lot of up-front work to make it work. Then be prepared to sharpen the blade a lot. Then upgrade your blade to something better, like a hock blade. https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/tools/hock-tools/hock-replac....
While I'm fond of Japanese (and Korean) chisels, the planes and saws are quite tied to Japanese/Korean/Chinese workholding techniques which I'm not quite flexible enough for these days (even though I still often sit on the floor in my living room to use a computer).
An interesting alternative (and high-tech) approach is the Jointmaker Pro from Bridge City Tool Works:
the company has since been acquired by a Chinese company and production has shifted to China --- daily sales have become a central aspect of the company's business model --- they seem to use them for ensuring cash flow (often a given item has a limited number available, so FOMO drives purchasing) and adjusting inventory (though that latter is just a reasonable surmise).
To say nothing of the article itself, I absolutely love this website. Everything from the visual aesthetic & typefaces to the writer’s tone proclaims a deep, unwaveringly passionate nerd-dom that hearkens to the Internet I love and too rarely find in the wild anymore.
Information about using and maintaining woodworking tools, especially Japanese chisels, planes and handsaws
Find me an Instagram account this spellbinding and I will eat my hat.
Surprised to see this posted here, as I recently took care of one.
Brought an Ooga for a friend via plane from Japan to Germany, to be used for building Clavichords [1] in Venice of all things. Barely fit into our travel bag and looked ridiculous at check-in. Fun times.
Japanese tools remind me of cast iron cookware in the sense that: they are more difficult to care for in that they have to be used and cared for in a specific way; however, they are easier to care for in that there is an established way to use and care for them.
From the first caption: "She is no doubt waiting for her husband to pause his file work ...snip... Some things never change with time or place, so she probably isn’t standing there silently, but I will leave the subject of the one-sided conversation to Gentle Reader’s imagination."
It's funny but I look at that picture and think they could be a happy couple talking to each other. It's a pity that the website owner chose to insert a stereotyped assumption.
There's an incredible new ultralight titanium folding bow saw called the Brautigam BEW saw made by a cottage gear maker called Brautigam expedition works if anyone is in the market for a new backpacking saw. You can store extra blades inside of the saw itself when its in collapsed form and the quality to weight ratio is pretty incredible.
Super cool article, the only word I can find to describe the geometry shown is “radical”.
Harbor Freight sells a cheap Japanese hand saw and am always happy to use it. It seems with a taller blade though, deep cuts are difficult due to friction/binding forces on the blade. Curious how the tall blade shown works out - am sure it does fine but curious on feel
It’s like a full body workout and the rough part is that results are often garbage without quite a bit of practice and a decent saw. Putting in all that work to get bad cuts is soul crushing (speaking from experience).
Knowing Japanese culture intimately, those are a pretty standard expressions for a skilled tradesmen to be making. Don't see the dissatisfaction at all.
For example, the article talks about the bimetal construction of this saw, using expensive and rare high-quality steel only for the teeth (this efficient use of rare metal is also the driving force behind the design of the katana). This is harder to make than a full-steel tool.
Japanese saws are typically very thin, again requiring much less metal. This means that the saws cut on a pull stroke, rather than a push stroke like European saws. Since the saw is much more flexible this requires more skill. But you end up with a very thin kerf and minimal waste.
Much traditional Japanese carpentry involves complex joints made of hardwood, not typically fastened with metal (e.g., nails, screws). The amount of slop you’d see in an 18th-century metal-fastened European joint would have been unthinkable to a contemporaneous Japanese carpenter.