Japanese end joint (Kanawa tsugi)

Inspired by a comment from Sylvain yesterday I found out that I had actually earlier installed a Japanese joint the "wrong" way.
According to the book "The complete Japanese joinery), most of the end joints are supposed to be mounted with the scarfed part vertically. This makes a lot of sense to me, but traditionally in Denmark and it seems also in the USA, those joints are positioned to the scarfed joint is horizontal.

No matter which way you orient it, it is still a pretty cool looking joint in my eyes.

The Kanawa tsugi is translated in the book as a: Half blind tenoned, dadoed and rabbeted scarf joint.

I made four of those in 2011 when I built the interior of the stable. I needed a beam of 14.2 m length out of some 6x6" timber. It doesn't hold any load, but it had to look sturdy to blend in.
The beam holds the upper ends of the posts that form the front corners of the boxes for the horses and also the door openings for the boxes (stalls).

Back when I made the joints, I didn't take any pictures of them, since I hadn't started blogging. But here are a couple of pictures that shows them installed.

Complete joint with cobwebs and dust on 6x6" timber.

The upper beam is made out of four individual

 lengths each joined with Kanawa tsugi end joints.

Japanese end joint (Okkake daisen tsugi)

For the porch I am going to need some planks that are longer than what I have on hand.
I could go the easy route and just bolt, screw or nail some together, but this is part of what I really like to be doing, so I didn't want to cheat myself from trying out a nice carpentry joint.

The Okkake daisen tsugi is also sometimes called Wari tsugi. In English it would be called a "Dadoed and rabbetted scarf joint".

My main source of inspiration for these joints is the book: The complete Japanese joinery, published by Hartley and Marks.

That book is an absolute treasure trove of information on the subject. There is even a description of the religious ceremony to be held prior to building a new home.
I can highly recommend the book to anyone interested in the subject of Japanese timber framing joinery.

Using hand tools only, it takes me roughly one hour and fifteen minutes to complete both joints on a set of 3x6" planks to be joined.
I need to complete a total of six long planks, so I might even get a bit faster when it comes to the last joint.

Today it is raining, and all the concrete pillars have been poured, so it is a welcome change to do some work in my workshop.

The female part of an Okkake daisen tsugi.

The set up, sawhorse and shop stool.

Halving the dado.

The completed joint. 

This is about the maximum length that is workable inside the shop. (6.5 m)

The tools used to make the joint.

Building a porch.

At long last I have started the actual building of the porch.
So far I have milled most of the wood to be used for it, though I still need a few more boards and joists.

Today the plan is to remove the old tiles and mark out where the holes for the concrete pillars are going to be.

I have contacted an equipment rental shop and tomorrow I will pick up an earth auger. That should hopefully save my back from a lot of work and also be a lot faster.

So far my plan is as follows:

Clear the area
Drill holes for the pillars.
Cast concrete for the pillars.
Mill the remaining wood needed (while the concrete sets and hardens).

The porch will be the same level as the floor inside the house, so it will be approximately 40" above the ground farthest away from the house.

The principal dimensions are:
Main porch: 5.5 x 5 meter (approx. 19' x 17')
Connecting porch: 1.2 x 2.5 meter (approx. 4' x 8')
South porch: 2.0 x 5.2 meter (approx. 6.5' x 17')

The main porch will be on the east side (garden side) of the house. Form that porch a small porch will form a connection to a porch on the south end of the house.

The South end of the house.

The sticks symbolises the porch.

A peg board for rugs (for horses)

The local horse club have arranged an event. It is in essence a competition, but with the small difference is that it will be possible to discuss the result with the judges after the class, so you can get an idea of what could be improved upon, and most importantly how you should improve on it yourself.
At normal events you get a critique, but you can't discuss it with the judges to get some tips to help you move on.

I have told my wife that I would like to sponsor a prize. Due to the time restraint (the event will take place Saturday), I have decided to make a peg board for rugs.

Organizing rugs is a well known challenge for people with horses in climates such as ours. A horse is expected to have the same amount of rugs as a modern city woman has got pairs of shoes..
A couple of years ago I made two peg boards for our rugs, and it is by far the most efficient solution I have seen. If the peg board is placed high enough on the wall, the rug can just hang like a normal persons coat without touching the floor. It makes it easy to see the different rugs and find the one you need.

The pegs were turned on the lathe from ash. Each peg is around 7" long and ends in a turned tenon of 1" in diameter.
A kerf is sawn in the tenon to accommodate a wedge.

The board itself is a 5" board with a thickness of 1.25". I have used one of my newly rehabbed moulding planes on the edge to make it look nice.
First I start by planing the moulding on the ends. To avoid the grain from tearing out, I mount a piece of scrap board of the same height behind the area I am planing. That way the plane starts in the actual board, and ends in a sacrificial board and tear out is avoided.
There is still a bit of tear out, since the plane is not designed to cut across the grain. But looks OK.

6 holes were drilled in the board to receive the tenons of the pegs.
The pegs were glued in and secured with a wedge.

I didn't make any holes in the board for mounting it, because those will need to be established on site.

Peg board for horse rugs.

Moulding on the end and close up of a peg.

Length 6'