Japanese Joinery Rabbit Hole #2: “Trick” Joinery

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This is part 2 in a 2 part series: Japanese Joinery Rabbit Hole

  1. Playing in the Shop
  2. “Trick” Joinery

There appear to be two kinds of joints to be found among the Japanese Joinery videos available. One is the structurally elegant locking type that I showed in my previous entry. These are amazingly strong and very useful once you start thinking of the possible applications.

The other is the “Impossible” joint that seems to be created just for the sake of looking impossible to create. They don’t seem to have any structural advantages over “possible” ones, they appear to be just to mess with your head.

I tried this one just for the challenge but won’t bother with any more because I’m more interested in strong functional joinery than “amazing my friends”. The actual trick in almost all of the so called impossible joints is that they assemble on some sort of angle or diagonal. This one employs that trick.

There are far too many amazing structural joints to explore and try to waste time on these but I have to say they are clever.


Here’s the video:





Thanks for looking in

The early bird gets the worm but its the second mouse that gets the cheese.

11 Comments

nice.i wish i had your patience paul.maybe when i retire ?

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

I remember the first time I saw that joint and asked myself "why?"
Thanks for the answer!
By the way - nice job :)
Japanese jointer is so cool…

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

Watched multiple times.  Still have questions but guess the angle is the key?  Wow.
Yes the back side has a deeper recess for the dovetail and it and the square tenon are angled up. The whole piece rises as it slides in.

The early bird gets the worm but its the second mouse that gets the cheese.

IDK,  looks pretty strong to me (if you used some hide glue that is)
Might look nice for rails on a dresser, to go between drawers?

Still pretty cool, I like how you magically took it apart in the video.  
Thanks for sharing it.

Figuring out how to do something you have never done is what makes a good challenge.

That's awesome.  Thanks, Paul.

Half of what we read or hear about finishing is right. We just don’t know which half! — Bob Flexner

Still pretty cool, I like how you magically took it apart in the video.  
That sucker is tight. Taking it apart isn’t something you want to see in a video. 
….. lots of hammering…. 

The early bird gets the worm but its the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Freaky! I like it.

Steven- Random Orbital Nailer

Very sneaky.  It's funny how our brains tend to search for a 2-dimensional solution.  Once you see how it fits together, you think, "DUH!"
Exactly!

The early bird gets the worm but its the second mouse that gets the cheese.