So, I have never done this traditional oriental joining technique before, having said that, I also decided to go my own way and combine elements from Tibetan and Japanese joints. The Tibetan joint, which I have seen employed on antique prayer tables is more of an s shape, rather than this h shape I have decided to go with. The Japanese version is basically opposing v shapes, this seemed stronger than both to me, as it is a double sided pull, and the right angle will provide plenty of wood to glue contact, as well as joining across the grain from the Osage Orange which I am making the butterflies out of, to these really well weathered planks of driftwood doug fir, which I am assuming were part of a dock at some point, judging by the markings.
The initial slots were made on my mitre saw, then finished out with my Japanese flush cut saw.
Next, I drilled along the line to remove excess material. I then went in with a chisel and hammer to get the surface close to square.
Almost there!
I then go back in with the flush cut saw to remove most of the irregularities.
After a bit of filing, looking pretty good!
Repeating the process on the other side!
All 5 are now notched out, but will require a bit of fine tuning tomorrow when I can run saws and sanders without the neighbors calling the 5 0 on me.
