From Daizen News
能ある鷹はつめを隠す
Nou aru taka ha tsume wo kakusu.
Direct translation—A clever falcon hides his claws.
Deeper meaning—Still waters run deep; cats hide their claws; who knows most, speaks least.
—Japanese proverb
Daizen ideas, shared
June 6, 2012 – 10:47 am
From Daizen News June 2012
A new sharing venue, Pinterest, is a visual online pinboard to organize and share the things you love. Daizen now has two Pinterest boards—one for inspiring visual 
inspirations (called Nice Work) and the other, Daizen Joinery, for interesting accomplishments.
Pinterest/Daizen/Daizen Joinery
Update–as of June 6, Daizen now has nine pinboards! The others include Stair, Garden/Exterior, Treehouse, Organic/Earth Building, Japanese Architecture, Places To Go, Fly Fishing, and a fledgling one for Methods.
You can “follow” either of these pinboards by clicking the red Request an Invite button. Or you can start your own Pinterest. It’s a feast for the eyes!
A ring eclipse
June 6, 2012 – 10:37 am
Dai just happened to be in Japan for an annular solar eclipse, where the moon passes in front of the sun, leaving only a bright ring of light. The next annular solar eclipse, also known as a ring of fire, will happen in 2023, so it’s a good thing Dai took this shot for those of us who may not have seen it.
Why chamfer?
June 6, 2012 – 10:34 am
From Daizen News Jun 2012
Timber at true square has a very sharp corner edge. For better safety in handling and in daily life, we take the edge off. There are also reports that fires start and catch more slowly with a chamfered edge compared to a square, sharp edge. And chamfering is a nice wood detail for emphasis, almost like the details on a Greek column.
This timber has no chamfer on it. You can see how sharp it is (and uncomfortable to bump against).
Here are the possibilities for chamfering. In any style, the size of the chamfer is always variable, based on customer preference. By default, we keep the size within a conservative range—a chamfer of about ¼ in.
Daizen offers two different edge profiles—45° and round. There are three styles for each edge profile:
Ski stop.
45° edge ski stop.
round edge ski stop.
This chamfer stops before the joint. This is the most typical style in timber framing because it frames the post and beam joint area nicely.
Ski stop with joinery enhanced.
45° edge enhanced joinery, with reveal.
round edge enhanced joinery, with reveal.
This chamfer style exposes the joint more noticeably with a small reveal, and it still contains the ski stop finish.
Through.
45° edge through chamfer.
round edge through chamfer.
This chamfer style could occur at any edge (with a few exceptions like the bottom of the beam where a post would meet it, as for window and door openings).
At complex joinery points such as a scarf joint, we recommend chamfering the joinery edge to enhance the look of the joinery. If the joint is not chamfered, and we achieve a nice, tight fit, the joint becomes very flat (both less dramatic and less visible). A chamfer here gives depth at the joint that enhances the look of the wood joinery.
Imagine this hip rafter focal point without through chamfering.
