Why didn't ancient carpenters in China use nails? This has to talk about tenons and mortises.
The dynamic diagram shows you the powerful tenon-mortise structure.
Source: China Cultural Relics Network
Mortise and tenon are a kind of concave-convex connection method adopted on two wooden components, and the protruding part is called tenon or tenon; The concave part is called mortise, mortise and tenon. If tenon and mortise are used properly, the two wooden structures can be tightly fastened to achieve a "seamless" degree, so it is a basic skill that ancient carpenters must have.
Mortise and tenon are widely used in ancient furniture and buildings in China.
Wooden pagoda in Yingxian County, Shanxi Province. The tower was built in the second year of Qing-Ning in Liao Dynasty, and it was built in Xiao Taihou, Liao country to worship two Buddha's teeth, which has a history of many years. The tower is meters high, and there is no nail in the whole tower. It is completely made up of a kind of bucket arch, tenon and mortise. Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, the Eiffel Tower in France and the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy are also called "the three wonders of the world".
The following set of moving pictures can give you a clearer understanding of tenon-mortise structure-
Wedge tenon
Pot tenon for digging tobacco bag
Chuck tenon (upper end of leg and foot is embedded with tooth strip and tooth head)
Sector mortise tenon
Cloud mortise tenon (tooth strip and tooth head are made separately)
Traditional rice dumpling tenon
Double tenon
Braided tenon with plate
High waist shoulder tenon
Hanging shoulder four-sided flat tenon
Cylindrical T-joint tenon
Round and square combination leggings
Cylindrical two-dimensional right-angle cross tenon
Round incense, several edges and grooves
Save edges, slot and install plates.
Square table structure with one leg and three teeth
Hand-reading tenon
Square corner combined bed enclosure saves ten thousand words.
Combination of square furniture legs and feet with square mud
Cross of three straight pieces
Add Yunzi's waist-less leggings to combine the legs and feet with the stool surface.
Shoulder tenon deformation
Flat plate tenon angle combination
Cabinet floor
T-joint of square timber (tenon and mortise are big in and small out)
Thick plate mortise-tenon angle combination
Thick plate through tenon and tenon tapping head
Structure of chair plate edge wipe and chair leg and foot
Straight cross bonding
Curved straight cross