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Thread: How do Japanese carpenters work outdoors?

  1. #16
    I'll be at the kesurokai in Lüneberg in July.
    Normally there is a good contingent from Japan
    so I'll make some notes and keep my eye on them.

  2. #17
    I appreciate the tips.

    Just to make sure I'm not having a brain fart...are the lower supports tapered to allow for the lap joint to tighten/compress as a load is on them? Or is there some hidden dovetail that I don't know about.

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Lau View Post
    I appreciate the tips.

    Just to make sure I'm not having a brain fart...are the lower supports tapered to allow for the lap joint to tighten/compress as a load is on them? Or is there some hidden dovetail that I don't know about.
    The one in the picture is straight, not tapered. My other 4 are tapered. The tapered joint is superior, of course. No dovetail.

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stanley Covington View Post
    You are welcome.

    These four smaller horses are intended to be used primarily for layout and saw work while resting on the floor/slab/ground with me sitting in front of two of them.
    The other two are set off to the side to keep completed pieces or the next pieces close at hand, or to support material to both sides of the mitersaw.

    Resting a beam of some sort on two horses provides a place for chisel work and cutting mortises, etc, using a butt clamp or adjustable C-clamps. The planing beam can do double duty.

    The horses nest together, and can be strapped into a compact bundle, and thrown over my back to carry one-handed from truck to jobsite. Very convenient.

    The other four are the same height, but the beam is twice (?) the thickness and length, and the feet have a wider stance. Those are in the US right now. These are more stable and better able to handle heavier loads. Four of them can support several tons with no problems whatsoever.

    The little horses also work very well when placed on a workbench for gang-layout and gang-sawing.

    Another useful application is glue-ups and assembly. The horses make it easy to apply clamps. I recommend placing a sheet of newspaper over each sawhorse to keep glue drippings from accumulating. It can get messy otherwise.

    You can see horses supporting the boards the guy is working on in the fourth picture in my first post.

    If you decide to make some, avoid the temptation to use a heavy hardwood. They need to be lightweight and the wood equal in hardness or softer than whatever they will support. Making them pretty will make you look amateurish in the eyes of professionals, at least in Japan where these are seen everywhere. Mine are fancier than most.

    Four of these horses can support everything from doors to entire timber frame bents during assembly. Just put one at each corner.

    I think I broke the toe of one of the feet off once, but just glued it back on and pinned it with a finish nail from the bottom. They are very durable.

    I have a Makita mitersaw (also in the US) to which I attached similar feet making the table the same height as my 8 horses. This is a very useful arrangement in the field, as you can imagine.

    The plywood table is a great tool. Cheap, strong, versatile, easy to transport, and extremely useful. As I said before, I don't think this is a Japanese invention, since I can recall seeing similar tables on construction sites in the US when I was a young man, usually for drawings. If you work in the field, a table like this is very useful. I had one that I used for many years, but gave it to a subcontractor friend in California before transferring to Japan. 5/8" CDX, painted with white exterior latex, with my company name stenciled on each leg. The paint helped to keep them from walking away, and protects them from sunlight and rain-damage if they get caught in a shower before I could get them indoors.

    I don't recommend it, but I have seen carpenters make an ersatz tablesaw by bolting a circular saw to the underside of the table. Very dangerous, but useful.

    PS: If you drill a hole in the plywood top, you can lock the all the parts, either while assembled or disassembled, with a chain or cable lock. Not a problem in Japan, but I had one go walkabout over a weekend in the US.
    Very much appreciate the insights. I've had a need recently for some low saw horses when building things like kitchen cabinets. Lifting them up onto my workbench really wore me out on the last round of it. I'll certainly heed your advice and make them for softwood, doug fir will probably be the choice.

    I have one sawhorse so far, I made it in hardwood scraps and made a sacrificial cap in doug fir. It resides mainly in my machine shop:

    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  5. #20
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    Nice Ma...., saw horse. Are those oil spots on the floor? Simply unacceptable
    Jim

  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by James Pallas View Post
    Nice Ma...., saw horse. Are those oil spots on the floor? Simply unacceptable
    Jim
    Had I done any real planning I think I would have painted the floor and walls white. I may still but it will be one of those times when I just simply can't take looking at it anymore.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Holcombe View Post
    Had I done any real planning I think I would have painted the floor and walls white. I may still but it will be one of those times when I just simply can't take looking at it anymore.
    I would think the concrete floor would be too rough for your embroidered planing slippers. Gotta do something about that... after all, one must have standards!

  8. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stanley Covington View Post
    I would think the concrete floor would be too rough for your embroidered planing slippers. Gotta do something about that... after all, one must have standards!
    Hah! For me that always factors in. Surprisingly, it’s not too bad on the soles.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  9. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Holcombe View Post
    Very much appreciate the insights. I've had a need recently for some low saw horses when building things like kitchen cabinets. Lifting them up onto my workbench really wore me out on the last round of it. I'll certainly heed your advice and make them for softwood, doug fir will probably be the choice.

    I have one sawhorse so far, I made it in hardwood scraps and made a sacrificial cap in doug fir. It resides mainly in my machine shop:


    By the way, NICE machines!

    Are they both Hammers? They definitely don't look American or Chinese.

  10. #25
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    Thanks, These are Italian, Minimax is the brand. Quite happy with them. I have a Felder mortiser as well but still working on the details on it, super finicky about bits so far.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

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