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Thread: Temple Carpenter Video

  1. #1
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    Temple Carpenter Video

    The link below is to a YouTube video about a young 27 year old temple carpenter (Miya Daiku) named Fujiwara who works for Kongo Gumi, a construction company that was in constant business for 1429 years until it failed in 2008 during the economic downturn (and real estate investment debt) in Japan. The company still continues, however as the subsidiary of a newer and larger construction company.

    The film shows Fujiwara and his crew working on the restoration of an old temple. Restoration in this case included full demo and reconstruction with structural code-mandated upgrades. The film shows how they make full-size drawings of the roof structure on the floor, do ink layout, hand carving on large timbers, the dovetail and mortise-and-tenon joints, the splices, chiselwork, planing, adzework, and assembly work. It is interesting to see even if it is all in Japanese.

    The film shows a couple of Fujiwara's goofs, and his boss and the erection team foreman show him where he went wrong, and how to fix the problems.

    It is a brand spanking new high-quality professional video I think you will find interesting.

    Stan

    Here is the URl to the video:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qyYv3mBpxU

    Here is a link in English about Kongo Gumi:
    http://www.ancient-origins.net/histo...s-crash-003765

    Here is a link to Kongo Gumi's webpage about the video:
    http://www.athome-tobira.jp/story/04...ra-hiroki.html
    Last edited by Stanley Covington; 11-20-2017 at 7:48 PM.

  2. #2
    After that I think I'm going to burn or melt all of my woodworking stuff and take up something simple like quantum mechanics. Amazing to watch. Thanks Stan
    Dave Anderson

    Chester, NH

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    Great video Stan, thanks for sharing!
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

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    These guys have serious game. Wow.
    Sharp solves all manner of problems.

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    Thanks Stan!
    "You can observe a lot just by watching."
    --Yogi Berra

  6. #6
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    I've watch a lot of these Japanese artisans. The diligence they exhibit when doing whatever they'er working on IMO, borders on a religious intensity and I mean that in a most respectful way. Vary inspirational. Thank you Stan. Chet

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    Thanks Stanley. A very different view of woodworking at that level.
    Jim

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    Thanks, Stan.

    You may have talked about this in the past, and if so I apologize, but could you speak about the marking ?pen/brush? that he is using.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Stutz View Post
    Thanks, Stan.

    You may have talked about this in the past, and if so I apologize, but could you speak about the marking ?pen/brush? that he is using.
    Mark:

    I don't think I have mentioned sumisashi before. I own some since they are handy for controlling the inkline in open-top inkpots, but I always preferred either ballpen or carpenter's pencil when doing layout for carpentry work.

    Sumishashi make a nice, dark line that is easily seen on light-colored wood, but they are kind of messy.

    They are made out of bamboo, with the fibers separated so they suck up ink like an old quill pen.

    One end is cut thin and wide to hold more ink. This end is used against the steel square.

    The other end is more rectangular in cross section and is used for making short marks, such as indicating the inside of cuts, and column/ bent numbers.

    Most carpenters prefer to use mechanical pencil-style lumber crayons with 1/8" diameter leads nowadays. Less mess, they don't dry out, and the rain won't wash away the marks.

    Here is a video of a guy making some.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BwSen3HdNs

  10. #10
    Wow! I've always wondered how they laid out the framing and joinery for the roof. Massive templates on the floor, of course! I was just working on some arches/radius work with joinery and used 4x8 plywood to lay it out with templates so it's fresh on my mind.

    Thanks for sharing!

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    The whole process of doing layouts on a flat surface is one of the oldest techniques. It makes a roof far less complicated and othe things as well. Interesting discussion for another time. I would bet that Stanley knows a lot about empirical layouts along with how ancient tools are used in the process.
    Jim

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    Quote Originally Posted by James Pallas View Post
    The whole process of doing layouts on a flat surface is one of the oldest techniques. It makes a roof far less complicated and othe things as well. Interesting discussion for another time. I would bet that Stanley knows a lot about empirical layouts along with how ancient tools are used in the process.
    Jim
    ^ Just as lofting in boatbuilding. Very humbling to watch such a complex structure come together from the individual efforts of very skillful artisans/woodworkers.
    Thanks for sharing.
    "... for when we become in heart completely poor, we at once are the treasurers & disbursers of enormous riches."
    WQJudge

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by James Pallas View Post
    The whole process of doing layouts on a flat surface is one of the oldest techniques. It makes a roof far less complicated and othe things as well. Interesting discussion for another time. I would bet that Stanley knows a lot about empirical layouts along with how ancient tools are used in the process.
    Jim
    Not really, but of you hum a few bars, I can fake it.

    I was never at those boy's level as a working carpenter. I've just spent a lot of time around them on jobsites, and inspect this sort of work every chance I get.

    Stan

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stanley Covington View Post
    Not really, but of you hum a few bars, I can fake it.

    I was never at those boy's level as a working carpenter. I've just spent a lot of time around them on jobsites, and inspect this sort of work every chance I get.

    Stan
    In any case the whole thing is fascinating. The layouts from inked center lines and the rest of it is just plain cool.
    Jim

  15. #15
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    Thanks Stan. I asked because they looked like a mess waiting to happen. I can certainly see how they would have worked traditionally, but wouldn't want to mess with it if I didn't have to.

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