When questioned about the construction of that keyhole joint Yazawa simply said: "
My secrets will go to my grave".
I have been fascinated by that joint and have been attempting solve it for almost 20 years. I think that I may have a workable solution in two parts:
- Craft the pins and tails of the joint, then
- Make an elegantly simple variation so that it may be assembled.
I do not want to reveal step 2 in case it is an intellectual dead end. However, I am stuck on Step 1. How do you actually cut that joint with the needed level of precision, and lack of tool room?
Attachment 535804
Attachment 535805
Attachment 535806
Remember, this joint cannot be assembled until I work some "impossible magic" on it. However, I cannot test my hypothesis until I make a pair of joints as above.
The joint must be cut to extremely fine tollerances - precision is essential. Some parts seem relatively straight forward:
- The round tenon is just a drilled hole,
- The flat tenon - continuation of round tenon - is also easy.
But I cannot think og a way to cut other parts, certainly not with the required level of precision:
- Keyhole tenon contains both round and flat elements,
- Round part must be truly round,
- Flat part must be flat and precise,
- Mortices either side of keyhole tenon are not uniform,
- Curved section must match perfectly with round part of tenon,
- Ditto - flat section.
How can I cut this? Yazawa has done it, so it is not impossible.