First Light XXIII

More work unfolds on the 4 hafū boards for this Japanese garden lantern. The fitting of these boards are among the most complex aspects of the entire project and there are quite a lot of steps involved.

After the upper board support ledges were trimmed to fit against the ridgepole, I was able to fit up each board, to check position:


If things needed adjustment I did so, otherwise I marked the interface of the hafū and the end of the long side keta:


At the end of that day, I had the four hafū moved considerably along:


The next morning I set up a shooting board to trim the miters closer to the line:


Fit of the miter was looking clean at this point, though some adjustment may well be required further ahead depending upon how things sit once the assembly is on the keta and ridgepole:


A few steps omitted — in the next photo I have the upper roof frame assembly, sans ceiling board, clamped to my sawhorse/workbench and I’ve begun work on the joints for the ends of the beams:


The keta have a central stub tenon, or mechi, which keeps the hafū from any tendency to slide downhill, along with a protrusion above which is meant to keep the piece from lifting up off the seat – here’s a close-up:


Here’s the end of the munagi after the initial cut lines have been defined (the knife lines are faint so I roughly ink just inside of them so as to not cut into the wrong spots):


The end of the munagi after the next stage of cut-out with the router, X-Acto knife and chisel. The vertical mechi are beveled to as to tighten in fit and drive the hafū inward as the hafū assembly is pulled inwards by the joint mechanism:


With the joinery on the beams moved along, I could fit the hafū and directly mark the location of the various mechi onto the hafū boards:


After the scribing, the cut out could proceed for the mechi mortises:


A rare opportunity to use the 1.5mm chisel to clean the 0.125″ deep mortise:


Once the little mortises were cut, I could go back to trial fitting and adjusting the fit:


I have one side nearly complete, save for the cut out needed for the mechanisms that will draw the joints tight together:


This thread is ongoing, if not endless(!) and I will post again in a day or two – hope to see you then, at station 24 in the journey..

Anything to add?

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