japanese style meditation bench

[Mark Almeidus]

I was watching documentary about sashimono woodworking in Japan and noticed at the end the guy pulled mini bench that was made with sliding dovetails so it is portable. For me it was a chalenge and an excuse to start learning sliding dovetails.
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5.jpgHere i positioned the bench as how should be, to transfer the lines for the other sliding devotails

6.jpgmy granddad is cutting small pieces of firewood for the winter, from them i made the dovetails for when the bench is closed. They were glued on the marks from the previous picture.
7.jpg8.jpg I made mistake cutting inside the lines, so i had to remove the glued dovetails. Next time i did another approach. First i made the dovetails with a handplane, it was more eyeballing till u get good fit. and then glue them on to the marks.

[Mark Almeidus]

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15.jpgAnother folding bench. The idea is taken from zenposture benches. But i also added 2 pegs in the middle for mre stability when u fold it.

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[Mark Almeidus]

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20.jpg21.jpg Pencil holder with mortise drawers

I noticed you guys want to show of with your so called porn tools.
Well mine maybe not so porn, but lets say erotic xd. 12+
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For those who havent seen this documentary here is youtube link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8vJ11cXLs4
Another interesting link about sashimono
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/communit.../#.Vhoy_PmQAjW

[ian maybury]

Someof those traditional Japanese and hence very highly evolved items are really beautifully proportioned Mark.

David Charlesworth ran a piece in the UK Furniture and Cabinet making magazine in the UK many years ago now where one of his students built a really nice example of a meditation stool in yew. It's always stuck in my mind. It's probably available as a back issue, but it's also reprinted in his book Furniture Making Techniques. (a compilation of pieces he wrote for the magazine) It's number is ISBN 1 86108 125 1

[george wilson]

That varnished green table seems to be out doors. How do you keep it from going bad in the rain. Or,is it under a roof? I like it.

[Reinis Kanders]

Very nice. I liked the mini stool and the pencil holder. Did you mortise drawer openings?

[Mark Almeidus]

Thanks guys!

Ian, i will definitely look deeply about it. When i was doing search on google for this type of stool i think i encountered his name somewhere.

George, yes its outdoor varnish for boats, i used 2 coats and as i can remember it went 2 weeks before the smell parished. Its under roof but 2 times got wet of rain. I cant notice it did any harm.

Reinis, the drawer openings are mortised. First i used hand drill followed by chisel. For that small size wasnt problem, its almost like you are doing standard mortise size.

[Brian Holcombe]

Nice work Mark!

[Jim Belair]

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This photograph is very zen-like.

Oh, and I like the benches too.

[george wilson]

I made a sign and varnished it with 3 or 4 coats of spar varnish. After about 2 or 3 years out doors,it started deteriorating,turning white,etc. The varnish all fell off I need to sand it down and re do it. It is made of cypress,which is able to last for many years.

[Mark Almeidus]

Thanks Brian and Jim!

Thats a lot of time to be outdoors, maybe depends of the weather how often it rains or so?
I leave close to a lake and as i can reacall people use to varnish their boats once per year or 2, but they are most of the time in watter or laying upside down on the beach.