I have a general Japanese-style log layout question. I've heard that there is some kind of flat pattern board that is used to scribe logs to square faces (like a hari to square plate). Is this how things are traditionally or currently done? I imagine this would work because, for whatever reason, logs always seem to sit over or sort of half-lap over the plates in Japanese structures. A week or two ago I was at a local timber frame house that had log tie beams connecting to a square plate. He had a very similar look to the Japanese log/plate joint, but instead of the whole housed dovetail Japanese thing he had a horizontal tenon, with some of the round left to lap over the plate. It was nice looking and I imagine both stronger and easier to cut than a housed, stopped dovetail.

I also can't figure out why in the world you would turn both the plate and hari on their sides to do any layout.

Thanks,
Brad