Automation Makes Traditional Japanese Wood Finishing Easier

Except you progress in architectural circles, you may by no means have heard of Yakisugi. However as a fence builder, [Lucas] over at Cranktown Metropolis certain has, with high-end shoppers requesting the normal Japanese wood-finishing technique, which requires the outer floor of the wooden to be flippantly charred. It’s a unbelievable look, but it surely’s a ache to do manually. So, why not automate it?

Now, earlier than we get into a complete factor right here, [Lucas] himself notes that what he’s doing isn’t strictly Yakisugi. That might require the usage of cypress wooden, and charring just one aspect, neither of which might work for his fence shoppers. Reasonably, he’s utilizing common dimensional lumber which might be Douglas fir. However the look he’s going for is shut sufficient to conventional Yakisugi that the distinction is educational.

To automate the method of burning the wooden and subsequently dismissing the unfastened char, [Lucas] designed a double-barreled propane burner and positioned it inside a roughly elliptical chamber sufficiently big to cross a 2×8 — sorry, metric followers; we don’t know the way you do dimensional lumber. The board rides by the chamber on a DIY conveyor monitor, with flame swirling round each side of the board for an excellent char. After that, a pair of counter-rotating brushes abrade off the highest layer of char, revealing a stupendous, darkish end with swirls of darkish grain on a lighter background.

[Lucas] doesn’t point out how a lot wooden he’s capable of course of with this setup, but it surely appears rather a lot simpler than the handbook equal, and sure yields higher outcomes. Both approach, the outcomes are unbelievable, and we suspect as soon as individuals see his work he’ll be getting greater than sufficient jobs to justify the funding.

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