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June's Japanese Woodworking Meetup showcased the ever popular Mortise and Tenon joint! Will O'Connor took everyone through the steps of making the joint, and answered questions from the dozen plus folks who were there. We had some new faces, class alums, and others. Participants Greg and Joe shared their experiences making traditional Japanese toolboxes in Will's intro class. Thanks to everyone who attended, and looking forward to the next meetup on July 11th, details above.

**Please note that starting July 11th the monthly meetup will be held at Nihonsan Tools at 300 7th Street in Brooklyn.

Attendees of the demonstration might enjoy this photo of Will's carefully bundled stock, ready and prepped to have been brought along, but seen here later that evening, still waiting on his bench.
(Nice job making do without, Will!)

As we mentioned last newsletter, tomorrow, Friday June 21st marks the grand opening of Nihonsan (made in Japan) Tools and Hardware. We are finishing up the shop now and will be open from Friday on. The grand opening is from 12 pm - 4 pm, and open to all. Refreshments and drinks will be served among the tools :)

Please check out our website to learn more about Nihonsan, and if you have any questions or suggestions for the store please let me know! 

-Joe Samalin
info@nihonsantools.com

As discussed in our last newsletter, since the fall of 2023, I've been teaching these tools. I designed a two-day class on the rudiments of Japanese woodworking called "Build Your Toolbox." The aim of the class is to help new, enthusiastic woodworkers get started, pointed roughly in the right direction, and started down the road.

The class starts with everyone piling up their new tools on the bench on our first morning, and ends sometimes weeks (months?) after the class is over, when these fresh, bold, hand-tools-only, woodworkers stand proudly in their basements, living rooms, kitchens, etc. over their completed toolboxes, having taken those last few steps to finish the project on their own.

And then they gaze down the road ahead, pondering what comes next. They're excited about learning more joinery. They're pumped on the satisfaction finishing their box, and want to start on a new project. I want to help, and I've got a few ideas.

Mike Tannen proudly poses with his toolbox (and the arm that made it) in the Make Good workshop.

The obvious option is just more intermediate and advanced classes, but I'm also contemplating what might be the best fit for our unique group and what I'm hearing from people. There's kind of two ways to go, we could either focus on learning joinery or on making projects. Both have their merits, and if you know me, you'll understand why I'm leaning towards trying both.

First, I'd like to add a joinery series to the meetup. You may have heard me discuss this recently. During the meetup, we'll cover the uses and techniques needed for an intriguing and useful joinery approach. For the first round, I'm thinking a mortise & tenon joint, secured with a pin. Then, we'll all go off and practice making the joint before the next meetup, hopefully learning a great deal in the process. I'll have pre-milled material packs available for purchase (first come, first served), and participants can join an email thread to open up a channel for us to communicate with each other while we work. If this interests you, please RSVP by July 1st, and I'll aim to have enough lumber packs for everyone who wants to be a part of the maiden voyage.

Along with that, as part of my teaching program, I'm also going to start reaching out to some of the folks who have already expressed interest in making specific projects, like bookshelves, or a custom shoe rack. I'm going to try and group people together based on these projects and hopefully get everyone started soon. Please be patient with me—I'm anticipating that this will be a little complex—but I'm eager to give it a try, especially if down the road these projects can become future classes. Let me know if this sounds interesting and I'll bring you into the loop as things develop.

But finally, if all this sounds amazing but you're still waiting to get started with the tools, there's plenty of spots available in the July, August and September sessions of "Build Your Toolbox."  As Joe mentioned above, there's now going to be space dedicated specifically to get you started on your journey at Nihonsan Tools. Let us also help you get out the door, on the path, and headed in the right direction! 

For those already on the path, let's keep up the momentum.

Be in touch! See you tomorrow at the Nihonsan Tools launch!

-Will O'Connor
will@makegoodwood.com