A garden shed

Wow, that is beautiful joinery construction, a lot of work very nicely done.
My question is: what keeps it from blowing over/away in a strong wind?

Wind is a potential concern. Mitigating that is the siting, which is sheltered on three sides by trees, fencing, and our two story house. And we don't get strong winds here (I know, famous last words...). The posts also sit on threaded rods that are embedded in the stones. All of those things should limit lateral movement. Fingers crossed.

a great project - shows real thought and lots of fun. i think i know that mill in gold beach - right on hwy 101 - a father/son operation. i too have gotten some beautiful stock from them.
jc

Ralph Lipeles wrote:

I hope that you made it big enough.

Bigger is always a temptation, isn't it? I deliberately kept the footprint small because of site limitations, place to stage everything while building it, a small garage shop, the expense, and amount of work involved. However, I will admit that I probably could/should have made it three feet wider.

Added later 01 min 11 s:

jcousins wrote:

a great project - shows real thought and lots of fun. i think i know that mill in gold beach - right on hwy 101 - a father/son operation. i too have gotten some beautiful stock from them.
jc

Yep, that's the one. Metcalf Sawmill. Father Mark retired a couple of years ago and his son Matt has taken over. Great folks to work with. I sent Matt some pictures from the frame raising and he is using one as the lead picture on his business web site.

https://www.metcalfsawmill.com/

That should blow your sinuses into moon orbit. Wonderful material. Wonderful construction.

Yes, the scent of Port Orford cedar is terrific, to my nose. I have a couple of neighbors who ask to use my scraps for their fireplaces. My sister even made some sachets of the shavings for her undies drawer. I would describe it as vanilla/ginger.

And since we are entering the holiday season, here are some POC shavings I donated to a local artist last year for storefront window display of her ceramic Santa's workshop elves:

Added later 91 d 1 h 23 min 31 s:

Not woodworking but I finally have the roof cladding almost finished. It is not Japanese, but rather a German-made tin coated stainless steel (sometimes called terne or terne II since it doesn't have lead) formed into interlocking panels by a company in Salt Lake City. I chose it because it is extremely durable (100+ years), light weight, fire resistant, moss resistant, and possible to install as a DIY project with minimal investment in tooling. It should patina to a softer dusty gray.

I still need to add a few more partial panels and the ridge caps. I had to order those and they are on their way, I hope.




I'm also working on the windows and doors. More about that soon.

Gary Radice wrote:

Wind is a potential concern. Mitigating that is the siting, which is sheltered on three sides by trees, fencing, and our two story house. And we don't get strong winds here (I know, famous last words...). The posts also sit on threaded rods that are embedded in the stones. All of those things should limit lateral movement. Fingers crossed.

Oddly, or not, I thought that the whole idea of setting structures on rocks or grade beams was to preserve the integrity of the building in an earthquake. If it hopped off the rock foundation, you could just jack it up and put it back into place.

Regardless, what an amazing project.  Port Orford is one of my favorite woods, certainly one of the most fragrant and delightful to work. What a pleasurable way to create a legacy.

May I ask what motivated the design? How will you use this space? Tea ceremonies? Sleeping? Meditation?

Ellis

I had the same understanding about the logic of posts on stones. I've read more about it and even in Japan folks disagree. Usually it is those with engineering backgrounds that get nervous when you talk about buildings shifting off their foundations. There is the philosophical difference in approaches: build rigid and anchor it down vs build flexible and let the flexing  joinery dissipate the shaking forces.

In Japan today, as I understand it even when using posts on stones, the posts are anchored by threaded rods in most places.

The design came about when my wife asked if we could have a shed for garden tools since she was tired of having them stored in our garage, or what I think of as my shop space. She asked if I could build a shed for her to use. I said, "Sure, but only if I can overdo it!"
She has been very patient while I indulge myself.

Gold Beach,

Wow.  I once gave the local Myrtle shop owner a seminar on how to turn like a pro.  Well he asked.  Of course I learned at least as much from him about high speed turning, as he ever did from me.  What a great place.

And now I have most of the window parts done. I still have to chop mortises for the rollers and inset pulls, final fit everything, finish plane everything, and glue them up. But at least you can see sort of what they will look like. I pretty much followed the methods recommended by Desmond King in his books on making shoji and kumiko, except modified to accept glass rather than paper.

Please tell me that you are using one pane of glass per window and not 16 little panes. I would hate to glaze that many panes. I like the frame and muttons.

Yes, one pane per window! Not just because it would be less work, but also because the muntins are so thin (3/8 x 9/16") there isn't much space in them for a rabbet for the glass. I pretty much took the design for a shoji and moved the lattice forward a bit in the frame to accommodate a pane of glass instead of a sheet of paper. We'll see how well it works.

Amazing work, Gary. From design to joinery to execution. This has been a masterclass!

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks, Derek. I'm hardly a master since I've never done this before. In Japan an apprenticeship lasts 10 years. It is a long learning curve. I've been at it for just two or three years half time with no formal instruction and no local teachers. Maybe I'll admit to being an enthusiastic and diligent novice who reads a lot and is having fun.

Added later 7 d 23 h 15 min 07 s:

I thought I would show my attempt at how Desmond King recommends cutting lap joints for shoji by hand. Yes there is  router jiggery and table saw fixtury to do the same in multiples. I have done it that way. If you have just a few to do I find hand work is just as fast or faster and much quieter. Fun, even. It does require one or two simple jigs made of mdf and scrap wood.

Start with the kumiko/lattice parts dimensioned to exactly the same thickness. In my case, 9 mm. Or actually I aimed for 9.2 mm to allow for finish planing and adjusting any too-tight laps.

King recommends using a thickness sander if you have one. I don't. There are special kumiko thicknessing planes you can make or buy but I didn't do either. Instead I made a thickness planing jig based on a friend's design. A base of mdf, two strips of scrap the length of the longest lattice pieces and hand planed to even thickness a bit over 9 mm. Those scraps are glued to the mdf at a spacing just wider than the blade of a #4 plane with a short stop of the same thickness at one end. Then add two pieces of scrap on top of those a the width of the plane body to act as rails.

 


Rough cut the kumiko on a bandsaw or table saw just a bit over thickness, place in the jig, and plane until the #4 stops planing. Check the kumiko with calipers. Notes: 1) this works best if the kumiko are flat to begin with. If they bow up or down that causes uneven planing. 2) The jig can accommodate kumiko of different thickness if you make the spacers too tall and then fill in the bed with one or more layers of cardboard. File folder cardboard works well for this. 3) There can be snipe on the ends. Start with kumiko 2-3 inches longer than needed so you can trim that off.



Next is the layout. For this you need jig that holds several kumiko flat, registered at one end, and clamped to a back fence a little less than the height of the kumiko. In my case, 12 mm/0.5 inch.

Here are three kumiko with the left side of each lap joint knifed in, and clamped to the jig. A tick mark on the side of the line to be cut away is a good idea.



Then saw the left side of each lap, on the waste side trying to leave half the line. That's what they always say for any fine woodworking but they never say how wide the line is! My lines are made with a 0.5 mm pencil so the line is about 20 thousandths of an inch. The dozuki saw I use has a blade about 10 thou thick. It should work if I haven't had too much coffee for breakfast. Cut down to half the thickness of the kumiko, previously marked.



Another note here. If you are right handed as I am, you will stand to the left of the saw. It works best to place the cut line on the left side of the blade, too,  so you can see it without having to move your head to the other side of the saw blade, which gets the ergonomics all wrong and leads to skewed cuts. If you are left handed then you will need to reverse everything.

After I cut all the left sides of the laps, I flipped the jig+kumiko 180 degrees. Then took a small square to align a piece of kumiko over a lap until the right side of the kumiko just overlapped the kerf I had previously made. For the photo left the kumiko positioned just a hair short so you can see the edge of the kerf. After the photo I moved it over just enough to hide the kerf, but no more. This is why you need to be sure that all of your kumiko are same thickness as your test piece. The test piece determines the width of all the laps. The square establishes the cut angle.



Then hold the square firmly, remove the kumiko, and knife a line along the square to establish the other side of the lap. Note again the tick mark that identifies the waste side.



Saw down the new lines as before, staying on the waste half of the layout lines if you can. These are knifed so the line is only about 10 thou. Good luck leaving half of that!



Remove the waste. I show the tools I used, a couple of Japanese chisels and Stanley 271 router plane to level the bottoms but others would work. One tip is to size the thickness of the kumiko to accommodate your chisels. These are 9 mm chisels. It is handy if the chisels are the same width or less than the lap. Wider than the lap is a pain. In fact, using a 3/8" chisel on a 9 mm lap doesn't work.





Then test fit each lap. If you have done everything perfectly all of your laps go together with slight finger pressure, a satisfying "click" and no gaps anywhere. But on our planet you may need to make some adjustments. If a lap is too loose, sorry, you need to make one or more new kumiko. If it is too tight, then one or more careful strokes with a plane is in order. But go slowly. You need to make sure you remove just a few thou, one or two or three plane strokes, and you need to make sure you take it from the correct half

When it works right you get a lap that clicks into place without much pressure, maybe a gentle hammer tap, and leaves no gaps. Gaps don't look good. Too tight and the lattice warps like a potato chip, which also doesn't look good and messes with assembly.

A couple of other small refinements are to make the verticals proud of the horizontals by a mm/ 1/16th or so and bevel the show edges by 0.5mm/ 1/32" or so. King shows a simple beveling jig in his books or you can do it however you like. These are little things but if you are going this far I think they make a difference that woodworkers would appreciate.



Again, I just followed Desmond King's method in his book #1 on shoji and kumiko. Worked perfectly the (almost) first time. I'd love it if others chime in with other or better ways.

Gary

Added later 2 d 22 h 20 min 04 s:

I've held off finishing the windows until I received the rollers from Japan via a woodworking friend in Seattle who ordered them for me. I had the dimensions from a catalog but I wanted them in hand before mortising for them. They arrived yesterday and I started on the mortises today.

Stainless steel carriage, ball bearing wheels, nylon rims. For scale the wheels are about 1.5 inches diameter. Here is a test fit. I will also rout a groove on the lower rail for the bar track. The wheel is inset and won't be visible in use.




And for the doors a roller that is more robust. All stainless steel with ball bearing wheels. Load rating more than 4x what the door will weigh. Unlike the window rollers the door rollers are adjustable. It looks smaller than the window roller but it is actually about the same size.

Added later 6 d 09 min 44 s:

I've finished and installed the exterior door and window jambs. Although I love the unusual (to us) aesthetic I will say that the construction is particularly demanding. Especially for a first timer and amateur. For the inner door and window of each pair the jamb is the shed frame itself. If the shed frame isn't square and plumb then the opening for the doors and windows isn't either and there is no way to shim or trim or caulk your way out of it. All you can do is modify the doors and windows themselves to fit. I'll guess that is why door and window making and installing is its own separate craft in Japan.

Having the outer jamb separate doesn't give much of a second chance. You can in theory make the exterior jamb perfectly square and level and plumb and apply it to the front of the frame but what do you do if that doesn't match the frame? Lots of fiddly adjustments to make and then the track of the outer doors might not match the inners. I'd love to be able to sit down for a long conversation with a Japanese carpenter who knows how to do this properly. Meanwhile, I fumble along and hope I'm close. I'm aiming for having the doors and windows open and close without binding. If they aren't quite weather tight: well, it's a shed.





And today I finally got tired of hiking my elderly butt up two feet to reach the shed floor via some sketchy scraps and made some steps. These are temporary. When the shed is finished the plan is to add some stone slab steps.

Added later 12 d 21 h 34 min 42 s:

Windows mostly done and mostly fit. They still need some fiddling and to have their glass installed.

 

Nice Gary. What is the sliding mechanism for those sashes?

Ellis, there are rollers let into mortises. I got the rollers from Japan. The company has a catalog of 240 pages of nothing but rollers for sliding windows and doors! These have stainless steel carriages with nylon rimmed wheels and ball bearings. They run on stainless steel bar tracks I let into the sill.

Added later 17 d 11 h 24 min 37 s:

I finally got the roof done, with massive help from my neighbor who was actually on the roof while I was safely on the ground cutting and folding sheet metal. This is a huge milestone for the shed build. And no more ladders!

To review: tin coated stainless steel panels. They should last 80-100 years or more. I'm hoping one of you will drop by to check on that.

Great looking roof job, Gary, although I could use a diagram to see how all those folds are made and interact.  Is this type of roofing common in Japan these days? 

I'm considering a metal roof here in Florida, where hurricanes are common and the sun bakes asphalt roofs in short order. I wonder if a roof like yours would be at all feasible compared with a standing seam roof.

Lookin' good.
Ellis

Ellis, these particular panels probably would not be found in Japan since they are made in Salt Lake City by Spengler Industries. The company's installation documentation is sparse with few illustrations. Maybe this gives a clue how the panels interlock to rows above and below, and engage a folded flange on the rake flashing. The first row engages a fold in the drip edge flashing, too. Each panel is 32' wide and 12" tall.



The system has just a single field panel that has to be cut and folded on site to make the panels for the ends of the rows. That takes a lot of time and some skill, as I learned along the way. The aluminum version of the panel would be easier to work with than stainless steel, and much cheaper. For a house sized project the cost of stainless would be out of reach for most people. My shed is just 1.5 squares so it was (almost) reasonable!

The roofing is approved for hurricane country if you use a few extra hold down clips.

You no doubt can find many more installers familiar with standing seam. Spengler Industries makes both these panels (which they call Quadro panels) as well as standing seam. They make them of terne (as I used), copper, galvanized aluminum, zinc, and maybe some other materials.

I went with this system since I preferred the more horizontal look over the vertical pattern of standing seam. Since I bought my panels the company came out with a panel they call "Prairie panels"  which has an even stronger horizontal pattern.

After about twenty years one of our standing seam buildings with copper finish has finally achieved a respectable verdigris patina. I am sure it's way out of scale for your purpose, but I could easily tolerate it on my roof. Especially with moss turning everything else to lumpy green and black.

I think I understand why you chose Spengler rather than slate.

Slate is lovely but most of it comes from the eastern US and shipping to Oregon adds substantially to the cost. Also not as DIY friendly, and I would have had to beef up the rafters for the extra weight. Same with concrete or ceramic tile. We have concrete tiles on our house and they look terrific but are not very DIY friendly. Asphalt or composition shingles didn't appeal to me for this project. Cedar shakes were a possibility aesthetically but they are a moss magnet, not particularly fire safe, and in my climate don't last terribly long.

I went with metal panels/shingles for this application because they are light weight, fire resistant (a consideration here in the summer), moss resistant (a consideration here in the winter),  extremely durable, and possible as a DIY job without requiring special tooling.

Gary Radice wrote:

Here's what I've been working on for the last couple of years. It has taken a while because I had to source the Port Orford cedar from a sawmill in Gold Beach, Oregon, let it dry, and cut the joinery. The frame raising was last July. It is small, just 6'x9' in foundation plan. The roof has about 2' overhangs. It will look roughly like this. The post feet are scribed to stones set on concrete foundation piers.

When I was a child, I always dreamed of having a secret basement or something like a small room in the corner of the garden. The place where it's just me, it's like a secret base but unfortunately I don't have that. Now that I have a child, and he, like other children including me, wants a base and I plan to make one for him. It's also fulfilling my childhood wish. Thank you for your pictures, I have the idea to do it.

[Edit: Link removed per Terms of Service policy on links in a post being relevant to the post. --admin]

Ha! Mehndi reminds me ... When I was a kid, like most others, had no qualms in building my own "forts". From underground to as high as we could climb, we challenged structural engineering in our efforts. In one case my dad actually helped get a treehouse *started*. That was one of my longest lived crows nests, and the expansions we kids added never had the same longevity.

It took way too long but I finished the windows today. Weatherstripped and glassed.

Added later 20 d 27 min 40 s:

Not woodworking but related to the shed build I'm installing some 3.5" half round copper gutters, made in Japan. About half of the materials I found semi-locally because "I know a guy who knows a guy" who had some leftover from an unbuilt project. The rest I got from the same manufacturer in Japan so it all matches.

One cool feature is the hanger brackets, which insert into the end grain of exposed rafters. From what I understand these or ones that attach to the sides of rafter tails used to be fairly common in Japan in old times. But now rafters are typically hidden behind fascia boards as in the West. The brackets are tapped into holes set in center of (one hopes) level rafter tails. The brackets come in the same shape but with different riser heights to produce the drainage slope. Clever.



The gutters come with these cool looking end caps.


Here is one gutter installed.



And a collector/transition for a rain chain.



And the whole installed. It required some soldering, which is not my area of expertise. My effort was functional but not prettily done. I happy to have tried it, though.

Added later 12 d 13 h 24 s:

I have both gutters up now and one rain chain. In Corvallis the dry season has started. No rain expected until September, but we had a sudden and not forecasted shower on Monday during the day. I ran out to see how the gutters and rain chain worked. I'm happy to report no leaks. It was so satisfying to stand in the shed, completely dry, and listen to the rain on the roof and watch the water cascade down the chain.

https://youtu.be/iefylHsDi10
https://youtube.com/shorts/aSoAV5Uqg4E

And I have one door frame dry fit. I hope to finish the other one tomorrow and then move on to the kumiko lattices for both.

Added later 8 d 23 h 40 min 35 s:

Working on the door lattices now. Here is what the front lattice will look like. There will be glass behind and then another lattice backstopping the glass.