Fastest way to rip wood

[Chris Fournier]

The softness of that wood should help put many Japanese tools in context for the western woodworker. The video would look a lot different had someone snuck into the shop and substituted white oak for the Kiri!

It would be nice to have a studio off to one side of the shop where time and money allowed that sort of work one day a week. I would likely be found stuck to the floor with the big pot of glue on its side. Neat video clip, thanks for posting it John.

[Walter Plummer]

My back might take it but I have to go ice my knees now from just watching it.

[Carl L Goff]

Well, I liked the wood he has in his workbench. Looks like a piece of crotch cherry to me.

[Terry Beadle]

It looked to me like he used his eye to see which side of the board had a crown and which side had a concavity. He then planed the concavity side edges until they were close to flat and made sure the board would not rock. He then put the crown up and performed cross grain leveling using very lite cuts and then with the grain finish strokes. He then flipped the board back to the previous concavity side and finished with the grain planing it flat. His jigs to shoot the sides and ends took care of the other surfaces.

Once done he had a dead flat square work piece.

I wished they had shown how he does his dove tail lay outs. That 45 degree shooting board and plane set up was really niffty too.

The secret is to get some of those slippers with a separate big toe holder. That allows one to bend down, sit down, and hold down the work pieces. For me, a rope tied to the cieling would take care of getting back up...hoot! I wonder if those jogging shoes with 5 toes that were recently banned by the US Army would increase your control 4 more times ! Hoot!

[Sam Takeuchi]

This kiri (paulownia) wood is extremely light, and soft, but not as soft as balsa. Kiri has been used extensively in Japan for high quality furnitures and musical instrument like koto, a string instrument that has a long hollow kiri body with multiple strings. One of the most prized qualities of the kiri is it shuts humidity out and doesn't move much at all. Also those drawers are made to extremely tight tolerance, nearly air tight so that humidity as well as bugs won't go inside. I don't hear them getting stuck inside due to wood movement, I guess it's a non-issue.

The softness of that wood should help put many Japanese tools in context for the western woodworker. The video would look a lot different had someone snuck into the shop and substituted white oak for the Kiri!

I don't get how this person working on the kiri puts many Japanese tools into context. Is Japanese tools = softwood again?

[David Keller NC]

I believe he is using Kiri (Pawlonia) wood. It is very soft similar to balsa. Needs sharp tools to work with to cut clean.

While possible, another more traditional wood for the secondary parts of a tansu cabinet would Cryptomeria Japonica (japanese cedar). It is similarly quite soft and light. Interestingly enough, there is a very popular variety of c. japonica that is called "tansu". Not sure if that's a coincidence or not. The outside of the cabinet would traditionally be made of japanese grey bark elm (Zelkova sp.).

One thing that I found particularly interesting about the first video is the craftsman's method for joining the case sides - mitered full-blind dovetails, and he method for cutting them. It appears that he's made an end-grain cut along the width of the case side to separate the pins/tails from the part that he miters. That would make over-sawing the waste to remove the part between the pins a whole lot easier.

[David Weaver]

I would kind of like to work sitting like that. I have more trouble leaning over at a bench, standing up or sitting straight up than I do sitting down. Plus, if you do it, you won't lose the ability to do it over time.

[Phil Thien]

Plus, if you do it, you won't lose the ability to do it over time.

Kinda like doing yoga while woodworking.

[Staffan Hamala]

One of the related videos was interesting to see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e_syOvQHiY

I don't know what he makes, but it sure looks solid. Nice looking joinery that finally ends up inside the finished project.

[Sam Takeuchi]

He's making this thing called mikoshi. It's a small shrine like structure people carry for festivals and such. They are built very sturdily as they can't come loose while being carried and must withstand a lot of movement

[Peter Cobb]

Sort of "Frank-ami Klausz-amoto"... really cool workmanship.
Using an azebiki? for stopped dados and then the mitred half lap, a thing of beauty. The stock selection and prep. Didn't understand a word except for shokunin (when they were showing his tools) and kiri when they showed the stock. (my japanese is limited to 2 years of judo in my school years). But seems absolutely spot on if shokunin is what Odate says it is (FWW magazine read a long time ago).
Another "Klausz moment" at the end: "If it doesn't go together don't force it, get a bigger hammer"
Thanks John C. for the link.
Cheers,
Peter

[Steve Branam]

Awesome video! It's always fascinating to watch an efficient worker at work. No words necessary, just the sound of the tools. He's clearly done this a few times before!

[john brenton]

You got anything for resawing? Hiiiiiiiiiiii-yaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!