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Thread: japanese tansu - mystery groove in carcass?

  1. #16
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    Sure! When I look at the drawers, they seem to be designed to completely fill the space of the drawer pocket. In other words, the bottom runs flat on the bottom, the sides run flat on the sides. So a english style drawer stop (that sits in the space underneath the drawer bottom and comes in contact with the back edge of the drawer front) wouldn't work here... and I can't figure out how any drawer stop would work with these drawers -- unless it was at the back of the drawer, but it looks like those "pegs" are at the front side of the carcass... And another oddity is that those groves and pegs don't appear on the left side of drawers. It really has me puzzled.
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  2. #17
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    Where does 1 find a seller for those two toed sloth socks. I need a pair for my mother in law.

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by jamie shard View Post
    Sure! When I look at the drawers, they seem to be designed to completely fill the space of the drawer pocket. In other words, the bottom runs flat on the bottom, the sides run flat on the sides. So a english style drawer stop (that sits in the space underneath the drawer bottom and comes in contact with the back edge of the drawer front) wouldn't work here... and I can't figure out how any drawer stop would work with these drawers -- unless it was at the back of the drawer, but it looks like those "pegs" are at the front side of the carcass... And another oddity is that those groves and pegs don't appear on the left side of drawers. It really has me puzzled.
    Looks like the back of the case to me, and also that it simply hits the back of the drawer to stop it.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  4. #19
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    Without a doubt, it is the front of the case. In video #3 he slides the back panels in place and "pegs" are in the front.
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  5. #20
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    Taking a closer look, you are correct they’re at the front. I’m not sure if the purpose, the mystery continues.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  6. #21
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    Hi all,

    OK, i'm sucked in Here's my guess... it looks to me like the dado and trimmed pegs near the front keep the drawer dividers locked in place and aligned with the front of the case (without glue?). The dividers do not quite reach the back of the case and by being fixed by the pegs near the front, most of the seasonal expansion would be toward the back. (See ~1:10 in the 3rd video).

    Thoughts?
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  7. #22
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    Christopher, I agree that makes sense, but then the next question is: why does he also make an interrupted little mortise at the front edge of the shelf which would also lock the drawer dividers in place? You see what I mean? The carcass has a little square hole that appears at the front of each drawer blade slot, which also holds the front edge of the drawer blade in place.

    So strange...
    clamp the work
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  8. #23
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    Ah, yes, I do now. Starting to feel like a Zen koan...
    "You can observe a lot just by watching."
    --Yogi Berra

  9. #24
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    I'm still not quite understanding why he does that, seems like it would be a cause for future problems as well, given that wood does not necessarily stay tight forever I would expect it to drop onto the drawer below and degrade the top surface of the drawer side.

    Given the long history of sashimono, I'm sure there is a purpose that we're simply unaware of.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  10. #25
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    Yes the front square mortice locks the drawer shelves in place because they are not all the way to the back. Given that the dadoes and joints are just knock together, no glue on them, there is no dimensional stability for the case width. This is mostly needed to fit the drawer fronts accurately. Hence the groove near the front.
    So the purpose of the groove is to allow the pegs to be driven in to straighten the side of the case and adding dimensional stability so the drawers can be fitted properly. They are then cut off. They may be glued in.
    ​You can do a lot with very little! You can do a little more with a lot!

  11. #26
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    Interesting theory William, that makes good sense.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  12. #27
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    It is just a matter of taking up the slack between the divider edge and the carcass. This stops the side of the carcass from being pushed in. The peg might not seem like much but when there is a series of them the effect is substantial. It stiffens up the whole assembly.

    The whole assembly has a lot of very soft woods, easily cut and assembled with a lovely wood skin. It makes sense when they have to knock these things out quickly to make a living. You get a sense watching the video that the construction is ‘adequate’. Precisely fitting the dividers would be a serious pain, the peg tensioners are a quick ‘adequate’ shortcut that matches the rest of the build. The fact they are set in from the front a bit but not half way is because it’s much easier to set the pegs and again is ‘adequate’.

    The setting of the pegs is not a feature of the video because this quick fix shortcut to fitting the dividers, is a bit of a dirty secret.
    Last edited by William Fretwell; 07-08-2019 at 8:39 PM.
    ​You can do a lot with very little! You can do a little more with a lot!

  13. #28
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    Finally!!! That makes total sense. So it provides a kind of anti-racking structure and fits the drawer blades more tightly. That explanation also explains why it isn't also used on the other side, because then there would be a kind of unbalanced compression in the box, because the other side just has drawers on the bottom.

    Excellent, thanks William!
    clamp the work
    to relax the mind

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