Kesurokai

Completing the frames & the chouna (Japanese adze)

The timber frames of both buildings are really coming together now all the beams have been hewn and the joints are now being cut. Each piece is carefully marked out first; the Europeans are using a special laying-out floor for this purpose. It has been marked out using traditional daisy-wheel geometry, which is too complex to explain now, but I have it on video and might attempt an explanation of the basics once I get home!

The groups are still working one each others projects so there is a lovely mix of Japanese and European people and tools throughout the site. Some of the joints are amazingly complex and it must take quite some skill to cut them accurately.

Each joint will be tested by putting together each section of the frame on the laying-out floor, then fine adjustments will be made until the whole building has been put together and taken apart in sections many times. Then finally the whole frame will be put together ... at the current rate of work we expect that will be on Sunday for both buildings*.

My video for the day shows the difference between European and Japanese adzes. The European version has become less popular on site since the carpenters have found the Japanese ones (chouna) work superbly well. Here you can see both in action and our host Amemiya san showing one of the European carpenters how to use the chouna:

*Apologies for a lack of photos of the Japanese site. We have been having very heavy rain so large areas of the site have blue tarpaulin covers which make photography impossible. We were warned about the possibility of a typhoon this afternoon and if that had happened we would have had to remove all the tarpaulins, tie everything down and leave the site. Thankfully it did not develop and we could work on!

Japanese tool sharpening

We had another busy day today. For a few days both groups will work on their own projects whilst they settle into their routines. The European group are still hewing beams and they have a large area if plywood on which they are setting out the Daisy wheel geometry to the right on the photograph below. (The site is rather difficult to photograph as it slopes steeply, sorry!)

Danish carpenter Ulrik has been enjoying learning this technique today and I hope to find out more about it from him later in the week. One lovely feature of the work site is the large trough where the carpenters can sharpen their tools. This has water diverted from a nearby stream running through it:

Here is some video available here which shows one of the carpenters sharpening and a panoramic view of the site. At the top is the European work area where the carpenters are busy hewing and under the blue tarpaulins further down is the Japanese work area... more video of this tomorrow!

Medieval technology via 21st Century technology

Medieval timber framed buildings were massive, beautifully built and many are still standing to this day. All this was achieved using very simple tools and machinery ... and without the sort of standard measuring systems we have today. How? ... well, daisy wheel geometry is believed to be the way in which it was done.

Hannes and Markus spent the weekend working out their geometry, drawing up the plans for the pavilion to be built in Japan. Whilst chatting about this to Hannes on Skype he showed me how you can share your screen with the person you are talking to, which I am afraid I didn't know about ... yes, he's a traditional carpenter and I'm a multimedia designer! Even better, he then revealed this was how he had learned to do daisy wheel geometry. During their first big Kesurokai meeting, UK expert Cormac Seekings explained how it worked via Skype, a laptop computer and a data projector. A fantastic meeting of medieval and modern technologies!

I will ask Cormac for a similar lesson, but the background is that Laurie Smith has studied and measured many hundreds of timber framed buildings and found they conform to a layout that was probably constructed geometrically. On many geometrical symbols can be seen scribed or carved into the timbers which reinforces the theory. So originally many buildings would have been laid out on site with a divider to scribe out reference circles for the layout along with a plumb-bob and chalk line.

Nowadays, plans are made in advance on paper, then a scale model constructed to check accuracy. For Kesurokai this is essential because a cutting list of the timber needed must be sent in advance to Japan so everything is ready when we get there in August. Here is part of the nearly-completed plan:

 

They are currently working on the model and will send me pictures when it is done.

Finally here is a video of French master carpenter Jean-Louis Velentin talking about roof geometry... I am not normally a fan of 'talking head' videos, but he talks with such passion it is quite compelling (or maybe I am just easily seduced by a French accent!)

Pavilion plans

Plans for the European pavillion are moving ahead and I have been sent new drawings. Here are a couple of them showing the daisy wheel geometry and a German journeyman for scale:

I think the journeyman is standing next to a barbecue and there is some device for suspending something over the fire next to him. Next time I catch Hannes on Skype I will have to ask about that!

The European Pavilion

Here are the initial plans for the pavilion which the European group are going to lead with building. 

It will be made using daisy wheel geometry which it is believed was the traditional method used by medieval European carpenters. I am not going to try to explain it myself, but there is an article here (scroll to the bottom) which gives you the basics and I will ask one of the carpenters if they would write me a blog entry too!