Joinery

This paper explores and discusses representational techniques as they are employed in the conception, fabrication, and communication of a series of wood joints fabricated using a 3-axis CNC mill. Precedents in
medical imaging, biological illustration, and industrial design representation are presented and discussed as traditions on which to build an understanding of techniques. Hand, digital, and photo collage techniques are all utilized at different points in the process as
appropriate to the communicative task at hand, what is attempting to be communicated, and the audience involved. The process and the communicative techniques evolve from the searching and speculating through drawing, to techniques to verify and test, to the representation of processes and material logics to a larger audience. Finally, the implications for the larger scale of architecture are revisited and speculated upon through several allied projects.

I spørjelista om snikkarhandverket i Ord og Sed i 1934 vart det stilt spørsmål om korleis ein festa emne som var for lang for høvelbenken. Ein stor del av dei som svarte forklarte at dei brukte skottbenk til dette. Eg har gått gjennom heile svarmaterialet og tatt med det som var av relevant informasjon om skottbenken og bruken av han. Til slutt har eg ei drøfting av svarmaterialet. Dette er ei samling av 5 postar på bloggen til Norsk Skottbenk Union. https://skottbenk.wordpress.com

Cílem této studie je nastínění společenského a ekonomického postavení drobných podnikatelů v letech 1909–2007 v Hradci Králové. Podnikatelé byli od poloviny 19. století organizováni v živnostenských společenstvech poté, co byly zrušeny cechy jako organizace pro drobné živnostníky a řemeslníky. Od roku 1865 existovala v Hradci Králové čtyři společenstva, která sdružovala několik oborů a řemesel. Jednotlivá řemesla se postupně oddělovala a vytvářela vlastní společenstva; některým se to podařilo až na začátku 20. století. Nejprve uvedu obecně, co to vlastně živnostenská společenstva byla, proč vznikala, jak byla organizována a jaké byly podmínky jejich ustanovení a členství. Dále se zaměřím přímo na organizování truhlářského řemesla v Hradci Králové – do kterých společenstev byli truhláři začleněni, do jaké míry byla tato společenstva pokračováním cechů a jací lidé stáli v jejich čele. U osob ve vedení společenstev budu sledovat jejich aktivitu ve veřejném životě – zda se angažovali v komunální politice a jestli byli členy některých královéhradeckých spolků. Sondou do podnikání a sociální situace drobných živnostníků v truhlářském řemesle v první polovině 20. století bude sledová-ní založení a vývoje truhlářské dílny rodiny Pecků, jejíž majitelé byli mimo jiné předsedy daných živnostenských společenstev. Tyto informace budou získány zejména studiem protokolů a zápisů ze schůzí jednotlivých společenstev, matrik členů společenstev, knih na přijímá-ní cechovních mistrů, voličských seznamů pro obecní volby, pamětních knih a prezenčních listin spolků, adresářů a schematismů města, odborné literatury a v případě truhlářské rodiny Pecků dokumentů z rodinného archivu a převážně vzpomínek pamětníků.

“Ordinary everyday objects, such as the traditional rahla, are gateways to the past. We enter that gateway and embark on a journey from wihich hopefully we will return with new-found respect for the ordinary that often unfolds the extraordinary.”

Note: See "The Book & The Bookstand" poster in the Talk section.

Advances in digital technology have opened the door to new experiments and interpretations in the process and expression of making things. The research investigates the use of a 3-axis computer numerically controlled (CNC) mill in rethinking wood joinery, critical across scales of making, from furniture to architectural components. The joinery exploits the logic of the CNC mill, identifying its parameters and constraints of operation to propose new possible details and finding new expressions in wood. In comparison to more traditional joinery which relies on an array of analog hand and power tools, certain joinery details become difficult while new opportunities become available due to the precision as well as sequential nature of the CNC milling operations. Within the scales of architecture, the joint occupies a transitional role: it is the detail that bookends the smaller scale and articulation of material logics, yet makes linkages with furniture and other design disciplines operating at this smaller scale. Wood joinery, in particular, operates from a different premise than the larger scale of architecture, concerned as it is with the interrelation of form and space: the effectiveness of the wood joint lies largely in the absence of space. In both the design and execution of wood joinery, structural integrity depends on the maximization and alignment of surfaces in order to transfer forces and minimize stresses. This critical difference poses separate challenges and opportunities for the role of representation in joinery: how may representational techniques play a role in understanding what is at its heart an opaque construct?

Grasping the wooden handle of a dozukime saw with both hands, I make a rip-cut into a block of eastern white pine, leaving behind a 1/64-inch wide kerf. I am cutting a dovetail: a wood joint developed over five-thousand years ago by the hands of our ancestors. Even now, a well-fitted dovetail joint remains one of the strongest, most elegant ways to join wood. I knew nothing about traditional woodworking when I first picked up a hand-plane, but I was soon inspired by the richness of the craft: the quality of a hand-planed finish, the spirit of craftsmanship, and the nature of material. I was amazed by the wealth of knowledge embodied in craftwork. The tools and materials I encountered spoke to me; I learned to care for them and for my work. How would the things I make endure through time? How would the things I make affect others? In an era where materialism has come to represent a spiritless relationship to the things around us, traditions of craft can teach us how to imbue the human spirit in our work. After making a harvest table, four chairs, ninety-four earthenware pots, and a lamp, I reflect on the act of making as a means of discovery. Making affects our thinking and our approach to material and environment. Making can help us develop a craftsman’s capacity to listen, a great respect for material, and a desire to make better objects for posterity. Making is learning.

ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS