Kumiko cabinet doors...

After exploring Japanese Kumiko and in particular the asa-no-ha pattern or motif, I created a few panels. I also took it one step forward and framed the panels with pieces of cherry or mahogany I had lying around. The asa-no-ha pattern below seems to be the most popular and it can be seen reproduced by several woodworkers.

Having mastered the Kumiko process for the asa-no-ha pattern and in the process created several panels, I soon realized that they should be applied to a project. Kumiko panels on their own are only decorative, they are really meant to be incorporated into furniture, shoji screens, etc.

Without a new project in mind and after some brainstorming with my wife, the idea was hatched to integrate one of the larger Kumiko panels into an existing piece of furniture. While discussing, my latest Krenov display cabinet was directly in front of us. Hey, why not experiment with the Kumiko panel on this cabinet. So a cardboard mockup of one door was created and a large Kumiko panel carefully fitted in to be able to view the inside of the cabinet.

After some discussion, we both agreed that the idea was worthy of further exploration. I also secretly wanted an excuse to create more Kumiko panels and become better at it and to develop techniques. Next, two matching Kumiko panels were created and framed with cherry pieces. It was also decided to create the doors out of cherry. Selecting the wood for the doors was not an easy one. Lately, I have been making an effort to draw down my existing inventory of wood. I have so much existing inventory and it doesn't make sense to keep purchasing more wood. The only issue was the grain orientation of the wood. Since these are doors with about 9 inches in width, I preferred quarter-saw or at the least rift-sawn for dimensional stability. After exhaustively searching my pile and deliberating, a single cherry plank appeared to meet the criteria... for the most part. I also wanted a wood that would have the lighter Kumiko panels stand out. Cherry normally darkens with age and exposure to light, so this was an critical consideration. The cherry plank was selected since it was light pink or brown and was not likely to turn a deep red. I preferred a medium colored brown as the final color, to match the cabinet stand and interior drawer fronts. With cherry, the final color is often a crap shoot. So cherry it was for the doors.

The cherry plank was sawn and laid out for the door components. Doors assembled with an opening for the Kumiko panels. Kumiko panels were fitted in and temporarily attached as seen directly below. All is good at this point, the Kumiko panels fit like a glove. Door components were selected and laid out to minimize any horizontal movement across their width.

Proceeded to then create a lip and rabbet where the doors meet and to permanently install the Kumiko panels. It was absolutely necessary for the new doors to perfectly match the original doors in both width, length and thickness. This was due to the knife hinges used and the close tolerances necessary for their operation. The door reveals were also an important criteria. In other word, the new doors would need to be dimensionally exact as the original doors.

The photos above show the progression in both dimensioning the doors to size and creating the lip and rabbet where they meet. The last photos below have both doors installed in the cabinet prior to application of a shellac finish. The single right cocobolo door pull is also prepared and fitted but will only be installed as a last step. A temporary basswood filler piece is inserted in the mortise for the door pull. From previous experience, a protruding door pull seriously gets in the way of applying a French Polish type of finish.

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WOODSKILLS Issue 02 - now available!

The idea was hatched a year or so ago. A new magazine catering to the discerning, fine woodworking enthusiast. It was an idea that slowly developed and at one point became a reality. So a small team and I have been working at this and are happy to announce that the latest issue of WOODSKILLS woodworking and furniture making magazine is now available. Some of the features in this Furniture Maker Edition include furniture maker articles, profiles of accomplished furniture makers, best studio practices, contemporary furniture design, gallery, vacuum veneering, Moxon vise build, sharpening + woodworking strategies, wood selection strategies and social media for furniture makers. The terms studio and workshop are used interchangeably throughout the magazine. WOODSKILLS is a semi-annual publication, published twice yearly in late spring and fall.

As a follower and practitioner of James Krenov style of work and methodology, both hand tool and some machine techniques are included. Although the vast majority of articles refer to hand tools, machinery is not excluded. I find this to be a more realistic approach in this day and age. Machines can do the grunt work whereas hand tools are used to create joinery, shape and finesse furniture components, smoothing surfaces, etc. Advertising is at an absolute minimum and consists of curated advertising, a term gleaned from the art world. Advertising must reflect practices and products that our readers and the team at WOODSKILLS could use or include in their own workshops and studios. Available through woodskills.com (digital) or Amazon (print version) or Blurb (premium print version).

 

Furniture Designer + Maker Profiles

Darrell Peart, Craig Thibodeau, Jan Lennon, Brian Greene

Workshop Setups & Best Practices

Furniture Maker Articles

Vacuum Veneering

Furniture Design Gallery

Contemporary Furniture Design

Moxon Vise Build

Sharpening + Woodworking Strategies

Social Media for Furniture Makers

WOODSKILLS Issue 02 (digital)

Amazon (standard print)

WOODSKILLS Issue 02 (premium print)

Instagram: woodskillsmag 

Twitter: WoodSkills

Facebook: WoodSkills 

Web Site: www.woodskills.com

Makers and furniture...

Not long ago, woodworking was considered to be in a downward spiral of diminishing followers and practitioners. The pundits were proclaiming the demise of woodworking as a hobby and how fewer young people were taking up woodworking and interested in building their own furniture. Why bother, with so much commercially mass-produced furniture available at reasonable prices. In addition, style trends come and go and being saddled with an out of style furniture piece became an issue. Staying on top of style trends has become instilled in us through the proliferation of interior design and renovation shows on television. Furniture has slowly become a disposable or recyclable object instead of a heirloom piece to be handed off to future generations. When you think about it, this trend flies in the face of environmentalism and celebrates the creation of even more trash. Out of all this doom and gloom rose the maker movement.

This younger generation of makers has slowly begun to appreciate the creation of things with their hands.  The increased waste going to landfills brought awareness to the never-ending cycle of consumerism. Let's face it, people are much less likely to throw out something they have created themselves. The virtues of designing and making an object has returned people to their heritage of being self-sufficient, inventive and to not be reliant on industrially produced goods. Through handcrafting, people could imprint their own mark on an object and customize the design to reflect their own aesthetic. The current maker movement is simply an evolution of the arts & crafts movement which has defined creative people for countless decades. The maker movement is an updated form of the craft movement where new materials, technology and ideas are incorporated into craft.

A spin off of the maker movement has been the return to creating one's own furniture. In fact, a large and growing segment of the maker movement revolves around designing and building furniture. The best part of this is how young people have once again embraced the creation of their own furniture for reasons different than in the past. In the past, the younger consumer could not afford furniture so instead built their own. Today, the reasons for building your own furniture revolve around handcrafting, channelling creativity into a furniture design, and the process of creating an object. It isn't so much about the result but the experience of getting there. Younger makers today are turning furniture design on its ear by shunning age old design constructs and paradigms, and instead embracing a fresh outlook on furniture design.

In the past, bolder and radical furniture designs were the product of reclusive studio furniture makers with limited means of communicating with one another. Today instead, younger makers are informed primarily through social media. Practicality and functionality of design have become the new criteria for furniture design. The furniture of this new generation of makers embraces universality and democratizes design. Social media plays an important part in design today within the maker movement. Through social media, furniture designs have become instantly available to both inform and influence other makers. Through social media, makers can quickly adapt an existing design to their own aesthetic or style. The process of fleshing out designs is considerably accelerated through social media and democratization.

So from what I observe, things are looking up for furniture making and woodworking in general. There is a resurgence occurring in this decades old creative outlet. A new awareness of the virtues and benefits of creating objects using wood as a medium is occurring. I am fairly active on social media and an often awed by radical new furniture designs from this new maker movement. Along with this, the democratization of design will hopefully benefit us all as we can extract elements of shared designs to incorporate into our own work.

Norman Pirollo
WOODSKILLS Magazine
www.woodskills.com
@woodskillsmag