I’m in the process of building a series of Tansu style cabinets. This series of photos gives some of the details for the construction of the first cabinet, which is constructed using only wood joinery. The main frame of the cabinet is built using Chinese three-way miter joints, which is a joint that has been used for centuries in China. Many pieces of furniture dating from the Ming Dynasty feature this style of joint and remain strong as ever some 400 years later.
Stunning work Jon!
Thanks Brian, sorry for the delayed response. I hadn’t realized that I had selected to review all comments before they could be posted so I didn’t notice your comment right away.
Where do you find plans to build this project? Did you design this yourself off of an existing tansu? I want to build one but I don’t know where to start. I’d like to apply traditional joinery methods as much as possible.
This cabinet is my own design so unfortunately I can’t offer much in the way of plans. The design is very much inspired by both Japanese and Chinese traditional cabinetry. A resource I relied on heavily was Gustave Ecke’s book “Chinese Domestic Furniture”.
Ok thank you this was helpful. Great work!
Do you need to account for wood movement when using this kind of construction? I’ve been looking at pictures of Ming furniture lately and in many cases expansions gaps between the panel and the frame are nowhere to be found.
Are the dovetailed battens below the panel strong enough to constrain any seasonal movement that may occur during the year or did they just use some exotic wood species that are not as prone to expand and contract in service?
In the case of my cabinet, the panels are inset from the face of the frame, so I was able to account for wood movement by adding some additional space in the grooves where each panel sits. The dovetail cleats are un-glued, just a nice friction fit, so if the panel needs to move it can.
I’ve seen similar Ming pieces as what you described though, with seemingly no space left for wood movement. Especially when the panel is flush with the surrounding frame. In those cases I’m not really sure what the reasoning was, but my guess is that the wood used must have been pretty stable. But at the end of the day wood is going to move one way or another. I suppose contraction would be less of a problem since a gap would just open up between the frame and panel, but any expansion could blow the joints apart. Chris Hall has a long series of really interesting blog posts about Ming furniture and construction which he emulated for a massive dining table that he built, completely framed out by a solid wood frame and flush panel. I believe he dealt with wood movement by splitting the panel down the middle, fixing both halves along the outside edges, and then allowing for a space in the middle of the table where the panels had a bit of room for movement.