Hello,

Yes, we haven't seen such a sweeping statement in a while have we. Probably not so helpful except that it draws you out Chris, so that's good. I say that Japanese pegs are not draw bored mainly because it's true. But of course to say that Japanese peg holes are not drawn actually means that no Japanese joint has ever been draw bored by anyone and that cannot be right. Maybe better to qualify by saying it's not the equivalent joint to the one used in Western work. Look the technique was not feasible until there were augers or some kind of boring tool which in Japan is a gimlet - no timber framing tool, that. Sure its possible to chisel the entire square hole which was the way in Japan it was initially done and why the keyed joint dominates. Also the principle is fine if your after maximal stiffening throughout but Japanese construction is in principle about the right amount of flexibility, I mean a flexible joint and one highly tensioned don't go well together. So that's where I see incongruity. One other incongruity of the situation at hand I see is just what you bring up yourself, the relatively small cross section when you think that 15 mm is about the size of my pinky out at the tip. I do recall draw-boring being included in one book of Japanese joinery that also was quite keen on metal fasteners. The link you set up there probably contradicts what I write here but it doesn't seem to be connected right.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff