mini-minguren

Furniture making techniques with solid wood.
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Brian
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Re: mini-minguren

Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:11 am

That's very nice work, I really like the top and details on the upper stretcher.

How did you attach the top?

If you would like a critique I can offer a minor criticism. Nakashima typically made the top longer than the base stretcher. That being said, I can certainly understand why you chose not to create a significant overhang in this case.
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Brian
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Re: mini-minguren

Thu Mar 10, 2016 4:16 pm

I think those are excellent solutions, and absolutely, you can only go so far for a job that only covers material which is a skill builder. In any case, I think your result is very good.

Incorporating a lot of joinery into his designs is actually pretty difficult in my experience. I've built a minguren style table for bonsai display and I've taken to making tenons for the connection between the legs and the table, it worked out well but I believe I still used screws in the stretcher (IIRC, it's been a while).

I did another as a bonsai display and built it identically except for having used through tenons on the upright and wedging them, again I found I had to use screws on the stretcher.

His furniture has screws in it, I don't think that makes it bad, but it makes it incredibly complicated if you'd like to make the design in a way which eliminates the screws.

My more recent table, which is more loosely based on Nakashima (not that closely) I went ahead and cut sliding dovetails into the tabletop. I am somewhat fond of the solution, but I believe the next go around I will rabbet the table top around the perimeter to make the dovetails invisible from the edge.
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Chris Hall
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Re: mini-minguren

Thu Mar 10, 2016 9:53 pm

His furniture has screws in it, I don't think that makes it bad, but it makes it incredibly complicated if you'd like to make the design in a way which eliminates the screws
Oh, that explains why it takes me forever to build stuff. It's true, being a purist about joinery definitely can add time and complexity to a project.

Disclosure: not a fan of Nakashima furniture
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Chris Hall
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Re: mini-minguren

Thu Mar 10, 2016 9:54 pm

Brian wrote: My more recent table, which is more loosely based on Nakashima (not that closely) I went ahead and cut sliding dovetails into the tabletop. I am somewhat fond of the solution, but I believe the next go around I will rabbet the table top around the perimeter to make the dovetails invisible from the edge.
There are solutions to this problem besides rebates...
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Brian
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Re: mini-minguren

Fri Mar 11, 2016 1:16 am

Are you thinking the hidden sliding dovetails? Not sure the proper name, but they fall into a mortise then knock sideways into a sliding dovetail.
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Brian
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Re: mini-minguren

Fri Mar 11, 2016 1:28 am

Chris Hall wrote:
His furniture has screws in it, I don't think that makes it bad, but it makes it incredibly complicated if you'd like to make the design in a way which eliminates the screws
Oh, that explains why it takes me forever to build stuff. It's true, being a purist about joinery definitely can add time and complexity to a project.

Disclosure: not a fan of Nakashima furniture
Did you want some Japanese joinery and not just a lot of romance? Such high standards :D

I found it a bit disappointing to walk into their shop and find so many screws concealed by plugs. I thought they were using tapered plugs in their work....but it's been around me since I was a teenager and I find it aesthetically pleasing in many cases, so my compromise with this struggle is to work real joinery into it.
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Chris Hall
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Re: mini-minguren

Fri Mar 11, 2016 8:40 am

Could one enquire as to who`s furniture your a fan of? Cheers
Kurisu-san iisugitara gomenasai. Hontoni iroiro benkyo shitai. Mata yoroshiku!
I'm glad you have an enthusiasm for study - desire is really the important thing over the long term in becoming a craftsman.

The furniture I am a big fan of comes from China in the 1450~1600 period and as the makers did not sign their works, we have no idea who they were. Unknown craftsmen. Your teacher's work is very nice too!
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Chris Hall
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Re: mini-minguren

Fri Mar 11, 2016 8:42 am

Brian wrote:Are you thinking the hidden sliding dovetails? Not sure the proper name, but they fall into a mortise then knock sideways into a sliding dovetail.
Full length sliding dovetail with crosswise plugs on either end can be done sufficiently cleanly so that the joinery mechanism is very discrete.
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Re: mini-minguren

Fri Mar 11, 2016 8:50 am

I personally find many all joinery furniture pieces dull and uninspired as if copied and pasted from a book. Of course the joiner has pride in the complexity and effort of their hard work and also the assurance of structural integrity but in many cases the pieces lack personality. Only the true artisan is capable of producing an all joined piece with a character of its own
Well, in this country at least, 'all joinery' furniture is a fairly rare thing, and the average person on the street does not have any idea what a joiner is/was, or so it would appear.

'All glued', 'all biscuits', etc., is much more the norm in construction of furniture and cabinets.

You are quite right that one can have excellent technical execution and sound structural design without accomplishing much on the aesthetic side. Of course there are those who can design beautiful things which are flimsy by manufacture - in fact, that would appear to be the intent in the majority of cases. I find that getting the look of a piece right is the most challenging aspect in my own work, and am not at all confident I have ever succeeded in that regard. I'll keep plugging away though.
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Brian
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Re: mini-minguren

Fri Mar 11, 2016 9:57 am

Nice stuff!

I shouldn't disparage their stuff too much, I do enjoy it, and understand what they were up against (and still are). They're a big part of the American Craft movement and for good reason, offering contrast to the mass produced molded plywood and wire furniture that ultimately lead the way toward much quicker and much more cheaply produced furniture.

I understand that his furniture was comparably priced to mass produced furniture at the time.

People in the industry now, who produce entirely joined work are taking that opposition one step further, creating a larger separation from that which is mass produced and cheaply manufactured today. Much like fashion, in order to pull the public away from baggy pants and sweatshirts the industry extremists take the approach of promoting expertly created and tailored suits. It takes pull at the extremes to remind the public of what is missing and how great it once was. Once again a William Morris is required to remind the public that there is more out there than slap-dash and that furniture art and its craft exist at a high level, because now mass produced furniture of the past is a luxury good.

Nakashima holds an important position, having a scale of operation capable of pulling consumers from interest in mass produced toward commissioning hand made furniture. I would not be interested in sashimono furniture if I did not walk into a Conoid desk as a teenager and find myself in absolute awe. Two slabs of wood elegantly held up by hefty beams joined together when all I knew prior to that was mass produced chipboard junk.....I felt like a man who had found a drink of water in the desert.

So, as much as I enjoy it, I can still poke fun at it. I like to think that I can see it for what it is, but also for what it isn't.

Frankly I feel that many other countries have done a better job of incorporating machine and hand made, Denmark and Japan being standouts in that arena.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy and appreciate a very wide range of furniture.
Last edited by Brian on Fri Mar 11, 2016 11:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

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