Laying Out The Jionery

 

    The layout process in Asian carpentry is different than in American timber framing. Western timber framers primarily use square and mill rules. Square rule is the use of slightly over sized timbers in an effort to compensate for discrepancies common in wood. The correction is made by referencing certain faces, (top outside north south east or west) often housing the joints into the timbers from any given references. Mill rule assumes that the timbers are square and dimensioned accurately, and the layout is done based on this assumption. Both methods are limited in there effectiveness, since neither compensate well, inconsistency in the lumber makes square and accurately cut joinery nearly impossible. Also they give no consideration for the bending, twisting, and crown commonly found in wood. Rather than accepting this they try to fight it by attempting to force things into place a common philosophy in western society.
   In Asian timber framing the carpenter not only accepts that wood has character of its own they embrace this character referring to it as kodama literally the spirit of a tree. They work with the wood, rather than fighting against it. They use center line layout, establishing vertical and horizontal lines on the end of the timbers. This is done with a level then Lines are snapped with an ink line to connect these points. From this very precise lines can be drawn, either perpendicular to, or parallel with, the accrual length of the timber. This x,y,z axis is totally unaffected by any lumps ,bumps, crown and twist the wood may have,and frees up the craftsman, by allowing him to take advantage of random shapes, and bends to create much more natural and comfortable spaces.