The next section of the lantern build I wish to describe is that of constructing the infill panels for the gable ends. These are relatively straightforward, tongue-and-groove floating panels. I first cut the grooves in sides of the sub-ridgepole:
These grooves are places just flush to the front of the peg mortises, as you may note in the above photo.
I used a 0.25″ gauge block in the completed ridge slots and transferred markings to the stub posts which support the ridge:
From the stub-posts – tsuka as they are called in Japanese – the grooves were marked and processed on the upper surfaces of the short side keta, and then from there to the long side keta:
The completed groove on the long side keta:
Next I formed the grooves for the floating panel on the underside of the upper roof boards:
That took care of the grooves – it was now time to make the panels, which I cut out of 0.4″ stock:
After the panels were sawn out I trimmed to size by plane. Then I raised a field in the middle of each panel:
The corners were done in the re-entrant manner (iri-zumi, not to be confused with ire-zumi, which means ‘tattoo’) using various chisels:
I followed the chisel work with a quick plane pass to clean the surfaces up:
The edges and points of each panel needed a little more cut-out to fit into their slots – here’s a completed panel:
Now it was time for the fitting-up:
Without too much fuss, all four were in place:
The sub-ridge now slides down into position:
And here is the result, looking up into the gable:
Next time I’ll describe how the lower locking draw bars on the barge boards were constructed. Until then, dear reader, please take good care of yourself. Post 32 follows.
