The art of Japanese joinery stands apart from the rest of the world’s woodworking with one simple fact: they don’t use any nails.
Aside from wood itself, nails and screws have pretty much been the backbone of woodworking for as long as the practice has been around. Japanese carpenters instead utilise mind-blowing engineering and precise physicality to join two or more pieces of wood.
In what has been a closely guarded secret for centuries, one man is finally illustrating the beautiful techniques behind ancient Japanese wood joinery.
The reason it has been so hard to decode Japanese wood joinery is that, while these fusions may seem complicated when viewed as 3D models, once they are joined together it’s impossible to tell what’s happening on the inside.
半いすか竿車知継ぎ Han-isuka-sao-shachi-tsugi pic.twitter.com/AaGICBbcVp
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) September 5, 2016
A twitter user named The Joinery has taken it upon himself to illustrate these practices with 3D software. In the simplest fashion, the result is satisfying, entrancing and almost unbelievable.
雇い実留め仕口 Yatoizane-tome-shikuchi pic.twitter.com/QE8B99txar
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) July 2, 2016
Check out a few more of the gifs below. Try it if you want, but it seems to us like you need some serious skills to pull this off.
平掛け込み栓継ぎ Hirakake-komisen-tsugi pic.twitter.com/QxQz83HIkM
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) June 29, 2016
隅切りいすか継ぎ Sumikiri-isuka-tsugi pic.twitter.com/GbuTzQdtYg
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) June 5, 2016
Via Arch Daily.