A hybrid approach to woodworking- Part 3

by vnwoodworks

One afternoon, I was wondering through a woodworking store shopping for nothing in particular.  In a corner of the store was an old combination tv/vcr.  A tape was playing that immediately caught my attention.  The tape was a demonstration of Japanese joinery by Toshio Odate.  He was sitting on a tatami mat in front of a low work platform.  The tools that he was using were very different from the western tools that were familiar to me.  The chisels were beautifully crafted with slender wood handles and short metal blades. The underside of the chisels were hollowed unlike the chisels that I was used to handling.  One thing was immediately evident, they were amazingly sharp.  He was removing papery thin cuts from the joint that he was shaping with a minimum of effort.

As the tape progressed, Mr. Odate started working on a dovetail joint.  He quickly moved through cutting the pins and tails using a short saw that left a very fine kerf.  Unlike a western saw that cuts on the push stroke, his saw cut on the pull stroke.  He demonstrated rip cuts and crosscuts.  All of his saws cut on the pulI stroke.  The blades were under tension during the cut and did not bind.  He was in control of the saw not the other way around.  He made it look so simple.

That day, I purchased a Japanese dovetail saw (also known as a Dozuki) and never looked back.  I took the saw home and tried it out some oak.  It sliced thought the oak like the proverbial hot knife through butter.  The kerf was super fine and there was no splintering.  It was like the sea had parted.  Here was a handtool that I could use and that I wanted to use.  That day changed how I looked at hand tools. I would master using this saw and the other Japanese style saws that would soon follow.  I came to realize that I had never never worked with a truly sharp tool.  I would learn to properly sharpen my chisels and plane irons.  When I think back to that event, I can’t help but smile.  Something so simple had a profound change on how I approached woodworking.

Post script: A few years after watching Toshio Odate on the demo tape, I met him in person at a woodworking show.  He was sitting on a tatami mat at his floor level work platform.  He was cutting the joints for what was destined to be a dovetailed box.  He worked quickly.  He was the master of his tools.  It was a privilege for me to watch this master woodworker plying his craft.