KUMIKO SIDE TABLE

I like making things that require detail work. This project definitely fit the bill for that.

I just got some logs from a mulberry tree. The wood is a very bright yellow, so I thought that adding some purpleheart to it would make a nice contrast for this project.

The first step was to make the kumiko pattern. Rather than copy one of the common patterns, I decided to make up my own pattern. I started out by laminating two thin rings together, in a temporary ring, for the round shape.

Then, on the bandsaw, I cut some soft wood ½” thick, and sanded them in the drum sander so they were even thickness all the way.

I then ripped these to about 1/8” thick, before running them through the drum sander also. I needed plenty of thin strips for making the Kumiko pattern.

Here’s where the detail work comes in. I used the finest bandsaw blade that I had for cutting all the little pieces.

Then swipe the pieces on some sandpaper when necessary to fine tune the fit.

“Quick and Thick” glue works the best for this. It grabs really fast, and it dries clear, so no one will see any of the excess glue.

The next step was to make the permanent outer ring for my round design. I used segments for this.

After gluing the segments into the ring, I smoothed it out in the planer.

Then I finished off the circle with my Jasper circle cutter attachment, on the router. Now I could transfer the Kumiko design from the temporary ring to the new segmented ring.

I wanted to pour epoxy to encapsulate the kumiko design. So I lined the segmented ring with painters tape. Then put caulking on the tape, to glue the assembly to a base that was lined with a slick non-sticking surface.

I chose to leave the top of the pour, down about 1/8” from the top of the segmented ring. The bottom was sanded smooth. I actually liked how the bottom looked, better than the top. I may reverse the top and bottom the next time I try a project like this.

Now to make the table legs, I formed an arch by bending a thin piece of wood to the radius that I wanted. I traced this arch, and rough cut in on the bandsaw. The board I used was exterior vertical siding. I like it because it’s 3/8” thick, which is better for lining up the bearing on a pattern bit. It is also easy to cut and sand to the shape you need.

After rough cutting the pattern on the bandsaw, I finished shaping it with the oscillating drum sander.

I made some random patterns for the legs, mixing the purpleheart in with the mulberry. The logs that I had weren’t very big, so the boards that I made were very small. After figuring out the shapes that I needed, I ran all the pieces through the planer.

Because I had an arch to the legs, it was very challenging clamping all the small sections tightly together, for gluing. I could only glue one or two pieces together at a time.