I am navigating the wonderful world of Japanese joinery, thanks to my teacher: Jay van Arsdale. He has said, “We’re not here to make anything perfect. We’re here to make mistakes and learn from them.” (This happens to be my specialty!!) This is my first wood class ever.
Update 11/2017: I took 3 semesters, beginning in 2014-2015 and loved the class. I even took a W for the class so I could retake the class over and over again. But the timing is so hard. 8 am-12 pm on Saturdays. So I took one semester off… and then another. I plan to resume in 2018, and ask if I can come in the afternoon class instead. Wish me luck!!
- ready to work now.
- more cracking– bad!
- nailed in too close to the edge can cause cracks.
- supporting the drawer with my leg
- note the gap. I haven’t figured out why this happened or how to fix it, but it was already 11 pm, so i stopped.
- you can see it’s a bit off.
- The sawing job is still uneven, especially at the shoulders.
- i didn’t saw it all to the bottom of the shoulder.
- sawed too much on this one.
- i had a bad feeling about this.
- imperfect chiseling job
- this is the idea.
- marked the waste
- I got the pen Jay recommended, but see how I made mistakes and I can’t erase them!
- seems like even making a line with a ruler is hard!
- the dot reminds me that to chisel this out differently
- my first bird’s mouth joint
- my first mortise and tenon
- my first compound joint
- my first bridle joint
- my first lap joint