all wood (or pure wood) fine woodworking - no glue or metal - advanced joinery

For months I would take a break in the middle of the day to watch youtube videos of people doing amazing woodworking with zero glue and zero metal.  Some of them called it "all wood projects" or "all wood challenge" implying that somebody had laid down a challenge.  

Let's start here



For months now I have struggled to find anything good.  The title will sound good, but then I skim the video only to see them pouring on glue or using a pile of screws or nails.  

I am creating this thread in the hopes that there are others like me that can feel their soul being fed by fine woodworking that has zero glue or metal.  And I hope that this thread fills up with hundreds of pages of videos, pics, links, etc.

I like the idea that this thread is focused on fine woodworking.  Starting with round wood is, of course, the very very very best - as long as it ends with some amazing joinery and fine woodworking.

Here is a great place to start.  I've heard this style of shelf referred to as "knockabout shelves" or "knockdown shelves."  One thing I really like about this design is that gravity helps to hold it all together.  

another

Traditional woodworking porn? Sign me up! Here's one I posted somewhere a while back that has stuck with me. To avoid any glues or metal fasteners, these people just carved this staircase from a single piece of wood! It is a good example of, "If you can believe it, you can achieve it."

Edit: Some more reading seems to show there is disagreement about being carved from a single piece of wood. Some are saying it was made of pieces of wood from one tree. One guy (David John Derusha on facebook) said it was made by the Karl Leister joinery firm in Vienna but used no nails.

a small table

I go down this rabbit hole and often end up watching Japanese videos.

This guy is good : Dylan Iwakuni

Here’s an example:



He shows you how joinery was traditionally carried out in Japan - no glue, nails, screws.

Here’s an amazing little project making a Kastuobushi Kezuriki (Kezuriki (M) - A wooden box used to shave whole pieces of katsuobushi (a dried fish product made from bonito) into thin shavings.



There’s a similar challenge here Make a Japanese Chisel box from a single piece of firewood PEP Badge Bit.

first vid:  yup, I'll settle for a joinery vid if I can't get a project fix.

second vid:  excellent!  I never saw that one before!

A short video : The Quiet Art of Kumiko

Thanks for the pie!

The Luban stool is really amazing. You're going to love Grandpa Amu. He has a lot of cool projects.



(I don't know how to post a video here)

Also look up Mr. Chickadee. I hope to build my own timber frame home one day.

Hey, my dovetail tool tote is all wooden joinery. Granted it's not as well done as these, but the joinery is stable and sound.

Some small boxes with half blind dovetails

a very simple box

Oh! If you haven't heard of this show...

This guy lends a magical spirit of joy and enthusiasm to woodworking and there is just something about using nothing but old fashioned hand tools that I really love.

paul wheaton wrote:Some small boxes with half blind dovetails

He sure cut up his fingers a lot :)

Normally half blind and full dovetails still rely on glue to keep them together for the long haul.  I think I've seen wedged dovetails or pegged ones that wouldn't need glue.

Mike Haasl wrote:Normally half blind and full dovetails still rely on glue to keep them together for the long haul.  I think I've seen wedged dovetails or pegged ones that wouldn't need glue.

I used square pegs in round holes or "kikugi" the dovetails in mine to secure them despite gaps and such.

It was a really good learning project. The biggest thing I learned is that I need a workbench with a vice and a closed workshop area where I don't get attacked by horseflies and mosquitoes while trying to cut dovetails...

Rex Kruger has woodworking for humans. Including green wood for working in the forest. Lots of youtube videos. Maybe not "fine" but to start somewhere.

Of course we use metal in the tools, and stone to sharpen it. A purely vegetable civilisation would stop at baskets.

We can also have opensourceecology.org.

There is an Austrian who is building houses 100 % of wood...

Everything started when his family moved from forest to small city when his son get sick, allergic to glues, used for production of furniture.

He find solution turning to the knowledge of the 90 years old grandfather (who was Zimmerer- old profession which involved not only carpentry but also going cutting wood high in Alps during winter months) .

Grandpa insisted  that the wood is cut in winter months during waning moon.  
Later some Swiss professor studied the wood cut in this manner and it turned out that it is drier and has less sugars, and the  gravity of the moon plays its role in it.

Mr Thoma wrote several books, the first book  "What the grandpa still knew about wood" has very explanatory title.

The strangest thing is that the monks from the oldest Japanese temple visited him to tell him that what he wrote in the book is the same as they have in the scripts from the times when the temple was build ( I forget the number but I it is more then 3000 years old building).

Well they also brought his business to Japan in 1980.  And he built incredible list of buildings 100 % of wood in last 40 years all over the world.
......

I asked some old people who live in the mountains in Serbia if I want to build the house, when I should cut the wood for the framework of the house.

They tell me in the winter when moon is in waning  phase. It seems that is the knowledge that was widespread across many cultures.  
....
The wood cut in this time seems has difficulty to rot, it is too dry for fungus and the insects really don't like it so it can last very long.
Examples of numerous Alpine buildings more then 500 years old.

The example (from the book) of the bathroom made out 100 % of cherry wood, matches the examples of cob bathroom in my opinion. Although for wooden bathroom you don't even need the linen oil. The best protection is cutting the wood in the right time, during winter months and waning moon phase.  
...
Untreated wood doesn't attract a dust...
....
It is pity that there is no single lecture in English from Mr Thoma.  And his books as I can see are not translated in English.
But there is no doubt in my mind that this is really important knowledge.

https://www.thoma.at/en/wooden-house/wood100/

You'll love Peter Follansbee.  He does a variety of woodworking but is most famous for building stools, chests, and boxes from wood riven from the tree and mostly joined with drawbored mortise and tenon joinery (no glue, no metal).  He also does extensive carving on his pieces.  He mostly does reproductions or similar pieces to ones in museums or the historical record from 17th century New England though these techniques are obviously much older and widespread.  I've done a few projects using this method and it is quite fun.  He has a great blog and 2 books.  Here are his chests https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/wainscot-chests/
.

I would not call my furniture "fine woodworking" nor my joinery "advanced" but it does work well so I thought I would share.

I use wood keys through slots that twist in place to join two flat pieces of wood together.



I also use the natural twist of the wood and the pressure it provides within the slot to make everything solid and sturdy.  Wedges help tighten the finished frame.  



Makes a sturdy piece of furniture without any metal fasteners.  Goes together with a rubber mallet.



See full assembly here:  https://openyoureyesbedding.com/pages/diy-bed-frame-kit-back-rest-model

Lucas Gonzalez wrote:Rex Kruger has woodworking for humans. Including green wood for working in the forest. Lots of youtube videos. Maybe not "fine" but to start somewhere.

I think it would be excellent to start another thread about bodgering.

paul wheaton wrote:

Lucas Gonzalez wrote:Rex Kruger has woodworking for humans. Including green wood for working in the forest. Lots of youtube videos. Maybe not "fine" but to start somewhere.

I think it would be excellent to start another thread about bodgering.

Done: https://permies.com/t/192606/tech/working-green-wood-bodgering-bodging#1594577

Now, the one thing I haven't found is references to open source ecology: 50 open source tools to rebuild civilisation - whatever that is. From extracting metal from the earth to everything else. I don't know how far they have gone.

Yes, I know this is a blatant off topic.

If I don’t find a thread I may create one.

I am not a woodworker ... Only tie branches together with cordage (I can make that from plant fibers) to make 'racks'.
I would love to have some all-wooden pieces of furniture, made in the Japanese style. But then I'll have to find someone who is able to make it ...

My father does pretty well with this as a home-based business after retirement: he builds Jewish coffins. They are not allowed to use metal joinery to hold the coffins together and check his work with magnets and scanners to ensure he never cheats.

There was a bit of a learning curve to it in order for him to make a robust coffin that fits inside a concrete vault (law), but has been very lucrative for him.

Well, you inspired me Paul :)

I wanted to make the missus an oak carrying cradle that holds 3 half gallon mason jars.  Instead of just screwing some wood together, I made this with just wood.  No glue or metal.  

I figured nice tight box joints with pegs should hold together quite well.  And it does!  My biggest learning was to keep the tenons snug in the mortises, otherwise the pegs will split them real easily.

https://permies.com/wiki/320/97787/pep-oddball/PEP-Badge-Oddball#1739754

So in a way you used wooden nails?

Yup.  Just a small version of the big wooden pegs they use for timber framing.  Drill a hole, shave down a peg to be just baaaaarely bigger than the hole and tap it in.  With smaller projects, splitting the piece with the hole in it is more likely.  Alternately, I now see that I could have cut a tapered slot in the end of each tenon and tapped a wedge into it to lock each one into its mortise...  That might've been easier but I'm not sure if it would've been stronger in this application.

Awesome possum!

Would love to see a vid of some attempted jiggle.