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Yosegi-Zaiku, Anyone?

Vaughn McMillan

Vaughn McMillan

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I received a gift from a Japanese business associate Tuesday as a thank you for help on a recent project. He knows I'm into woodworking, and he knows how to find things to impress me. The platter, about 10" in diameter, is called Yosegi-Zaiku. I'll let Stu or Alex chime in with an English translation, but to my eye, it's simply sweet marquetry. They glue up the patterns as blocks, then shave off thin end grain veneers with a wooden hand plane. Those are then glued to various substrates, often fancy puzzle boxes and such. (On boxes, the technique is called something else, I believe.)

In my thank you note back to him, I told him this piece would be displayed with honor in my home, and indeed it will be.

Yosegi-Zaiku 1 800 T.jpg Yosegi-Zaiku 3 800 T.jpg Yosegi-Zaiku 4 800 T.jpg Yosegi-Zaiku 5 800 T.jpg Yosegi-Zaiku 6 800 T.jpg
 
Stunning, just simply stunning! :clap:

I've yet to make the trek up to the village, I forget the name, I'll have to look it up, where this stuff is famous.

I saw a TV show about it here, unreal, seriously unreal the work that goes into it all, and each time they cut and rotate stuff to get the intricate designs the cuts are done by hand :eek:

Yep, surely one of the more spectacular traditional woodworking culture you will see anywhere.

Cheers!
 
Ha, I checked, it is the town of Hakone :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Which is also famous for some great roads to ride motorcycles.......... so yes, I've been there a LOT but I never knew this was the place for this amazing woodworking :doh:

Funny! :D
 
Incredible. Just thinking about trying something like that is enough to send me over the edge. I believe trying to invent the perpetual motion machine would be less nerve racking. The Japanese have a reputation for being able to work patiently on intricate projects like that. Beyond my comprehension. You have a treasure.
 
Vaughn

Wonderful stuff, thanks for the post! We need a new category, this isn't off topic this is

inspiration!

by hand?:doh: :doh: :doh: :doh:

I would never have the patience

Jay
 
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