At last some video of the European frame going together!
Just some of the roofing timbers are nailed together with nails made on site by our blacksmiths. Nearly all of the frame is held together with wooden pegs that were made as soon as we got to site and dried for several days over the fire in the kitchen. As the timber frame dries it shrinks onto the pegs keeping them really tight in their joints.
This building also took around four hours for the final construction. The walls went together really quickly, but the roof took a little longer as there were a few joints still to cut. As the head carpenter Cornel was quite new to this method of roofing geometry he wanted to see and measure these final joints before the timbers were cut.
Here is a video of the Japanese Tea house being put together, probably filmed over a period of around 4-5 hours. The Japanese carpenters are very precise and each part actually went together and was taken apart again several times until they were satisfied with the fit.
It is difficult to estimate how long it took to prepare the timbers, but it was made entirely from trees that were felled on the worksite and converted using hand tools. The Japanese carpenters had done quite a bit of background work before we got there and then a mixed Japanese / European group of 15-20 people spent a solid seven days of work on it before this final construction.
My previous post shows step-by-step photographs if you want to understand what is happening in detail.
Both the Japanese and the European teams started to construct various parts of their buildings today. To start with each section goes together and is taken apart, adjusted and reconstructed several times until each joint is perfect. Then finally the frames are constructed.
Whilst they have been making good progress, there were worries about getting finished tomorrow so the head carpenters stayed on after the end of the day to do a little more work. It was very atmospheric in the forest after dark with so much insect noise and occasional fireworks as it is a day when Japanese people traditionally celebrate their ancestors (I think!)
So, here is the base for the tea house with, on top at the front one of three upright frames that form the main part of the roof:
and here is one side wall from the European pavillion which was the first to be pegged together:
The pegs were made several days ago and have been drying on a rack above the fire in the kitchen; they start slightly oversize and shrink as they dry. The timber frame is green (unseasoned) so it will shrink onto the pegs as it dries and form really tight joints.
The Japanese use wedges to hold their building together, but I assume the principle is the same, or maybe they just tap them further in as they dry ... I'll ask tomorrow.
I managed to do a quick edit on some of yesterday's video. Just a quick taster but here are Manfred and Gunther, our two German blacksmiths, with our Japanese smith Yoshida, firstly in his special tea house where he showed us a sword following the traditional ceremony, then at his workshop.
Amemiya san has composed a song for our Chisana Kesurokai event and posted this beautiful video of him singing it for us:
Behind him you can see some of the Japanese carpenters who are preparing for our arrival, along with a couple of German journeymen carpenters who are currently travelling in the area. He has suggested that each nation should learn a song from their home land to teach to the others on site.
Our final team is nearly finalised. Whilst it has been a disappointment that the Czechoslovakian craftsmen will be unable to come, there are some Austrian carpenters who have come on board instead. Also, Hannes and Cornel are currently working in France and have met some French carpenters who might also interested.
If you have 25 minutes to spare, settle down and watch Gabriel Branby talk about how he turned around the ailing Gränsfors Bruks axe factory and has kept its head above water. (Thanks for the link Nigel.) It is both fascinating and inspirational:
It makes me feel even more touched that they chose to give us some tools to send out to Kesurokai and I look forwards to taking some photos and video of them in action in return.
I watched/ listened to this on my laptop whilst sat at my sewing machine altering a jacket, which brings me back to my previous post about the Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum when I made a sweeping statement about disliking museums. This wasn't intended as a criticism of museums generally, just a personal reflection on the effect they have on me because I am so restless and impatient. I think museums offer a huge amount to so many people, as well as preserving many very
important artefacts. However, unless I am really involved in something, preferably doing something, I
find it difficult to engage my brain, hence the sewing and video combination!
I was rather taken with this little story from the Gränsfors Bruks "Axe Book" (which is available to download in 8 different languages here):
In pre-industrial time all axes were hand forged to styles
decided upon by the way they were used, the preferences of the carpenter, and
the skills of the smith. Then, with 19th century industrialisation,
came a boom in demand for axes and the means of mass manufacture. Production
shifted to factories and designs gradually changed, influenced by streamlining
production and lowering costs, often at the expense of the functionality of the
tools.
Gränsfors Bruks started making axes in 1902 and moved with
the times, competing for the mass market, until in 1989 the skilled
craftsman-designer Hans Erik Persson took the bold move of stepping back to the
pre-industrial era. He started re-designing their range of axes with a focus on
the needs of the craftsmen who were using them and also decided they should have a
natural forged finish to show the quality of their manufacture. (Mass-produced tools have their surface imperfections
hidden by being polished, filled and the surface painted.)
So, Gränsfors make specialist axes and employ around a dozen
smiths, each ‘signing’ the axes they make with a stamp with their initials.
Whilst they do use modern machinery (see the video below) there is clearly
still considerable skill in the process. The company pride themselves in the
quality and durability of their produce; whilst they cost more than their
mass-produced rivals, they last so long and work so well that a craftsman would not wish to replace one on a whim.
I must add that I am not just saying this because they have kindly
donated tools to our event. Robin and I have been teaching spoon carving
courses for several years and have built up a collection of Gränsfors Swedish
carving axes for participants to use along with a few Wildlife Hatchets for those
who favour something smaller. They have seen long, hard use and are excellent tools!
I was really pleased to get a message from a French reader of this blog the other day. Paul is a timber framer who also works by hand using traditional tools and techniques and is currently restoring an old French farmhouse. Unfortunately my French is little better than my German so I can't figure out much more than that from his video, but it is highly worth watching because you don't need to understand what he says to see the skill in what he is doing:
What was special about Paul's message was that I had been aware of his presence for some time. The 'control panel' for this blogging software shows me where the most recent visitors have come from and I had regularly noticed an entry from France reading on 'Google Translate'. I had wondered if it was the same person and now I know it was!
Interestingly, the most common search terms which people have found this blog from are "Japanese tea house" and "Japanese axe" - I wonder why?
Two years ago Robin first had email correspondence with a Japanese turner, Tomio Imaru. Inspired by my videos of Robin on YouTube and Robin's book 'The Wooden Bowl', he had built himself a bowl turning lathe, forged his own tools and taught himself to use them. They keep in touch over the internet; Imaru san has proved a good learner and makes lovely bowls!
Now they hope to meet properly if Robin can make arrangements for Imaru san to visit the Chisana Kesurokai work site whilst we are in Japan in August. It would be a great experience for them both, as there is nothing like working with a fellow craftsman to progress your skills.
Here's some video I made of Robin with another craftsman who he mentors from a distance, Michail Schütte, who is German so we see a little more often!
When things go wrong the instinctive reaction is to run
away, however it is rarely the best policy. As we always say to people who cut
themselves on our carving courses, you need to understand what happened so it
doesn’t happen again.
I just had a bad experience where some folk I had filmed for randomly asked for all the footage I had shot when our agreement was that I was
just to provide sound-bites for a website. I responded instinctively by saying
“no way”, but I initially struggled to explain why, which caused some upset.
However, now I am a little wiser about what is special about
the way I film, which has developed because much of the recording I do is as
research observation rather than for broadcast. I use very low-key (but
hi-tech) equipment, I have developed non-intrusive techniques for filming, I
work hard at, and am very successful at, integrating myself with the people I
am filming. So I get up close and personal, and tend to capture really authentic
action rather than a performance for the camera.
This means I also tend to capture things that shouldn’t be
recorded; stuff that is maybe too personal, or impolite, or might make whoever I
am recording look unprofessional. So, I am exceedingly careful about the
footage I use, I never use anything that I feel would betray the position of
trust I have been placed in. If it is borderline, I might ask, but only if I
know the person well, if not I wouldn’t even risk asking. I do not feel I could
hand over that responsibility to someone else, so there is no way I could part
with unedited footage.
Whilst the incident was unpleasant, I now understand what I do a little
better … and I will make sure that others do to when I film for them! So to finish with a little video about the work I did for my Phd research:
Kesurokai unites European and Japanese master craftsmen, increasing cultural understanding by living and working together, sharing skills, food & conversation.
