When I arrived at the exhibition hall in Chiba two days ago I learned this show used to be three times the current size as recently as five years ago. So how big is it?

It is not quite as big as the National Hardware show in Vegas each year (which used to be much bigger when it was in Chicago). In many ways, a woodworking/DIY trade show is a trade show the world around…they are all shrinking.

I asked for the reasons and the popularity of pre-fab houses was at the top of the list. Also, IKEA is hugely popular here–young Japanese families can buy an entire room of furniture for the cost of ONE high-end plane or chisel set. Lastly, it appears the people here don’t have much time for anything but work and family. Sound familiar?

I am having fun demonstrating the Jointmaker Pro and I would say there is a profound appreciation for the accuracy and the clean cuts. Don’t get me wrong, we are not on our third order book, or second…you get the idea, but the reactions are genuine and many can’t believe how easy it is to do accurate work. The soulfulness of the process (very little noise) is greatly appreciated. Lots of gasps and smiles.

My demo unit is set for my height which is radically different from most here. We rigged a step stool and now I can coax just about anyone to try the JMP. The reactions on peoples faces is worth the trip. I am trying my best to be a good Yankee ambassador and we are having fun. Here’s an amusing story…

I stopped by an educational booth and made my very first pair of chopsticks with hand planes. Elapsed time was maybe two minutes. The booth attendant asked me my occupation and I replied “business executive”. This created quite the stir because they have never seen such a “confident” business executive use hand tools.  They really struggled with this and through an interpreter I explained that I used to be a woodworker. This knowledge put everyone in the booth at ease and there were many smiles and sighs of relief.  Afterword I invited them all over to the Jointmaker booth and this was the highlight of the day for me and I would like to think for this group as well.

Even in Japan, businessmen are presumed to be incompetent…

–John

My cell phone does not work here but the camera does. Here are a few (crude) tradeshow pics from the Land of the Rising Sun…



Trade shows all look the same. Not as many pony tails here however…



This lady could not cut dowel with her hand strength. She was so excited when I showed her how to use the clamps. She must have made a half-dozen passes, each drawing a big smile from the onlookers.



This creature caught my eye–it is made entirely of woodworking tools.Wingspan is close to 10 feet! The feathers are hand saw blades, the legs are auger bits and the face and face feathers are all knives. If this thing ever fell over on a cow…instant hamburger.

Light-tight dovetail joints are a hallmark of craftsmanship. The video below illustrates how we make through dovetails using the Jointmaker Pro. In the interest of saving a few megabytes of bandwidth, a little background information is in order…

“Traditional methods” are important, perhaps pertinent, but often times I feel the urge to try ideas that are not 300 years old. That said, the only aspect of dovetailing in this video that is “traditional” (it is such a regressive word) is waste removal by chisel. The rest should be an enlightening combination of speed and accuracy–and easily replicable.

When setting the blade (or the fence) of the Jointmaker Pro to a particular angle, we make practice cuts on wide stock until the stock nests perfectly to a reference (t-bevel or square). All of the prep work for this video was done off camera.

Regarding pins vs tails first, I embrace “whatever works for you”. However, with the Jointmaker Pro we are definitely pro tail (socket) first. The reason is simple, we did not need to layout the tails. You will see us using a stop block for joint symmetry. We also made all of the tail cuts by cutting from both faces of the stock with the blade set at the same angle–this ensures the single pass cuts are also dead symmetrical–this is much faster incredibly accurate…more on this at the end.

By making a zero clearance throat plate, we can make single pass cuts to either side of a line with ease–and so can you. We used 1/8″ aircraft plywood for the false tables and the throat plate. (You only make these once, they can be used over as often as needed.) The video shows minimal layout to mate the pins to the tails–that is all that is required and pencil tic marks worked fine. Of course, you can use whatever method you prefer–we only care about a light-tight joint.



I think you will agree, the saw cuts cannot be improved–by any method. And if you had a complete project (as opposed to our single sample joint) we believe there is not a faster way to hand cut dovetails. Of course layout can be expanded for more complex joints but you don’t need much–the saw does the work perfectly without the need for a thorough visual reference. The saw (assuming a sharp blade) cannot cut crooked unless your set-up was crooked.  In short, the Jointmaker Pro reliably cuts your intent, cut after cut without you worrying about accuracy.

It is incredible to think that EVERY cut is exactly the same depth and perfectly angled. Lastly, this was a first take video and we spent no effort on the proportions of the half and full pins. We just made cuts and chiseled away and you will never guess what happened. I could fit the tails onto the pins from either direction, and that has NEVER happened to me before.

What fun!

–John

PS: I am working on a way to cut half-blind dovetails. I will let you know if I succeed…

If you have a woodworking friend who would like to see this video and not wade through my ramblings, here is the YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_eyFENlSQ0&fmt=18