# Coffee Table



## [email protected] (Aug 20, 2019)

Just finished this Japanese kumiko coffee table. Kumiko panels are made with Japanese spruce and mahogany, all friction fit, no glue. Frame is cherry. A piece of 1/4" thick glass cover goes on the top.


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Great job.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

That looks great - fantastic job! How did you cut the inlay pieces and get them fitted so precisely?


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Incredible work imo . I want to build a coffee table someday , but nothing this incredibly elaborate


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## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

Nice craftsmanship! Be sure to sign it.


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## sreilly (May 22, 2018)

Beautiful craftsmanship.


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## bryansong (Mar 4, 2015)

Outstanding work Kitty, beautiful piece.


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## Biagio (Mar 2, 2013)

Wow! I look at a piece like this, and feel like Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, when the Beatles hit the USA: maybe its time to quit. This is way beyond my aspirations, never mind my league.


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## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

Stunning!


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

What a wonderful piece! Amazingly intricate.


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

Like the rest of the gang, I think it's just incredible. Nice work.


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## Oscar36 (Feb 23, 2019)

Beautiful piece. Wonderful craftsmanship there.


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## 1fizgig (Feb 11, 2018)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> Incredible work imo . I want to build a coffee table someday , but nothing this incredibly elaborate


That would be after insulation in the shop, right?
😈


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## 1fizgig (Feb 11, 2018)

Fantastic work Kitty, very well done.


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## Biagio (Mar 2, 2013)

1fizgig said:


> That would be after insulation in the shop, right?
> 😈


I was wondering when that meme would re-appear, given the Northern Hemisphere Spring.
You have been awfully quiet, Rick. Have you been secretly insulating without telling us?


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## MarkJonesRanger (Aug 14, 2020)

Thanks for sharing great work!


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## dayzman (Nov 29, 2009)

WOWZERS.. That is amazing!
May I ,ask how long that piece took?
I am not sure if I have ever seen a table that beautiful!
Charles


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## bfblack (May 2, 2012)

Thanks for sharing your amazing work.


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## mariop (Jan 3, 2010)

Terrific looking table! Can you tell us where you got the material (the japanese material)?


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## Straightlines (May 15, 2013)

WOW, simply WOW!

That is a fantastic piece. But now comes the hard part: You have raised the bar mighty high and we can hardly wait for the encore piece 👍🏼👍🏼😂😂

In the mean time, most of us would love to hear the details of its creation, but Pictorial would be even better. Thanks so much for sharing your creation with us!

Did you use something like the Bridge City Toolworks multi-saw for this?


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## Gary Lee (Jul 9, 2007)

Cool.....


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## [email protected] (Aug 20, 2019)

Thank you for all your comments and compliments. 
- Where can you get Japanese Spruce?
I bought the material from Michael Byrd in Japan, contact email: [email protected]. He is very accommodating and reasonable.

- Did you use Bridge City Toolworks multi-saw?
I can't afford Bridge City tools . I used Japanese flush cutting saw (also called kumiko saw) on Amazon for fraction of the cost and it works very well https://smile.amazon.com/Gyokucho-R...1620439647&sprefix=detail+saw,aps,157&sr=8-52 .

- How did you cut the inlay pieces?
There are a lot of "how to" video on YouTube to make Japanese kumiko. Most of non-Japanese woodworkers make internal "Y" with three individual pieces where traditional Japanese method use one long piece with a slit in the middle and fit the second piece to form "Y". Here are the jigs I used. First picture is for cutting pieces to length, second one for angles.


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## [email protected] (Aug 20, 2019)

I would be happy to share details of my process if anyone is interested. Please send me a message.


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## Straightlines (May 15, 2013)

Thanks for sharing the info Kitty.

You are so right about the cost of the Bridge City Toolworks Tools being way too expensive! 😂

We all would be thrilled if you shared those details here, in this same thread. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so keep that in mind as you help us understand how you got started and your process.

I suspect some of our senior router experts are already noodling on how to make bulk cuts for this application with a router.

— Bradley


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## jreed983 (Jan 9, 2017)

[email protected] said:


> I would be happy to share details of my process if anyone is interested. Please send me a message.


Bradley is right you know!! We would all definitely love to have your share your process (photos included hopefully) right here for all to see.


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## Willji (Feb 28, 2020)

Just seeing this coffee table now. A beautiful piece!


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## Rev. A (Jan 29, 2021)

[email protected] said:


> Just finished this Japanese kumiko coffee table. Kumiko panels are made with Japanese spruce and mahogany, all friction fit, no glue. Frame is cherry. A piece of 1/4" thick glass cover goes on the top.
> View attachment 398486
> 
> 
> View attachment 398487


Beautiful craftsmanship but is it worth all that tedious, high precision labor? Sure we all really appreciate it but does the end user?


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## Wildwood (Aug 14, 2010)

Rev. A said:


> Beautiful craftsmanship but is it worth all that tedious, high precision labor? Sure we all really appreciate it but does the end user?


If you are the end user, of course it is worth it - and to me the pleasure of making something goes hand in hand with the pleasure of seeing the end result.
Rob


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## RÖENTGEEP (Feb 18, 2014)

jreed983 said:


> Bradley is right you know!! We would all definitely love to have your share your process (photos included hopefully) right here for all to see.


Bautiful table and hard work there.
+ 1 on that. share the process here if possible. thanks.


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## MYB506 (Dec 5, 2012)

A beautiful piece of art.


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

Fantastic job, Kitty. Fantastic job!!


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Hi, Kitty.
That's a wonderful coffee table. A lot of patience is required. A nice project for quarantine times.


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## [email protected] (Aug 20, 2019)

As promised, here is my kumiko process. 
Step 1 - making frame.
Jointed and planed poplar to 3/4” thickness, used spacer (left) to cut grooves to half thickness deep on table saw, then cut them to 1/8” strips. Note: thickness must be equal to the blade width.


















Step 2 - preparing kumiko strips
I bought Japanese Spruce (hinoki) cutoffs from Michael Byrd [email protected] in Japan. Contact him if you are interested in purchasing the material. Here is the picture of Japanese spruce as received.









People also use pine, spruce, and other materials. Several YouTube videos use basswood but I didn’t like it because it’s too soft and brittle for friction fit.

Because those cutoff pieces are small, I used band saw to cut them to strips slightly thicker and wider than the final dimension.









A jig was deviced to plane the strips. The height of opening can be adjusted by using spacers of different thickness, so I can use this one jig to plane the strips to the width and thickness I wanted.









Step 3 - making diagonal pieces
This is a "length jig". Strips were cut slightly longer than the diagonal line using fine hand saw.








Then both ends of the strip were cut to 45 degree with this jig. A wide chisel was used at the beginning, later I found this veritas miniature block plane works very well.









Even with carefully adjusted sawing on table saw, I found not all diagonal lines are identical. Length of each piece had to be adjusted slightly to achieve a tight fit. This was easier than said, one or two plane stroke was sufficient to fit a piece tightly. Here is the picture of all diagonal pieces fitted.


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## [email protected] (Aug 20, 2019)

Step 4 - making internal "Y"s

Many YouTube video shows 3 pieces of wood form internal “Y”. Traditional Japanese method uses 2 pieces, one long piece folded in the middle and a “keystone” short piece. I used Japanese method.
View attachment 398626

I used two jigs to make Ys, top one was used to cut two ends to 22.5 degrees. Bottom one is to slit the center for folding. One end of the middle keystone piece is 45 degree, the other end is 22.5 degree (mathematically it should be 30 degree but wood has some flex and 22.5 degree jig worked for me.)









After making many Ys, here is the finished product.









Such a sense of accomplishment when the pieces fit tightly!!
Was it worth? Definitely for me, a hobbyist.


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## [email protected] (Aug 20, 2019)

Step 3 picture didn't load ... (with all diagonal pieces)


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Very nice indeed.
A lot of planning in advance is required.


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## dayzman (Nov 29, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> Step 3 picture didn't load ... (with all diagonal pieces)
> 
> View attachment 398633


Thank you for sharing. Not sure my hands and mind can do this, but I am going to make an attempt. Setting up the beginning now. Thanks again.


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