Making Kumiko Jigs from Hickory and Brass

Kumiko is a traditional Japanese woodworking technique where wooden strips are cut in specific ways in order to create intricate designs and patterns. Nails and fasteners are not required.

Each pattern will require certain angles to be cut on ends of a wooden strip. That is accomplished using the Kumiko jig and a chisel. The stop block is set to the correct length and then a chisel is used to add a bevel to the wooden strip. The chisel will slice along the end grain of the wooden strip while following the angle set by the jig. The jig's angle will be transferred to the wooden strip. This set of Kumiko jigs is designed for the asa-no-ha pattern. That pattern requires 45, 67.5, and 22.5 degree angles to be cut into the wooden strips.

This set of Kumiko jigs are made from hickory with brass stop blocks. The way I have most often seen to make these jigs requires a table saw to cut the center groove. I do not have a table saw so I decided to use a laminated construction instead. I started with 3/4" stock and cut out each of the components. Those were squared with hand planes. I then took what was to be the center section and ran that through a thickness planer to bring it down to 1/2" in thickness. All of the pieces were then glued together. The entire jig was then lightly planed again to ensure it was square. I then ran a router plane down the center section to ensure that it was at a consistent depth. Next, I took the long block and cut the various angles I needed with a miter saw. This left me with two jigs. One with a 45 and 67.5 degree angles. The other with a 22.5 and 67.5 degree angles. Cutting the 22.5 degree angle required its own jig so I could safely hold the Kumiko jig at the miter saw. Once the Kumiko jigs were cut apart I used a series of brad point bits to drill the holes required for the threaded inserts.

I used 1/4-20 knobs and inserts for these jigs as I already had those on hand. I felt that the walls of the stop block may be a little thin if I used wood. I decided to use brass instead as it would have less of a chance of breaking with thin walls. If I would have used knobs with a smaller shaft I could have used wood for the stop block. The brass was shaped using a Sherline mill.

The jigs were then soaked in boiled linseed oil. I followed that with a coat of oil-varnish.

Now that these jigs are done I can start making strips and then build out the patterns.

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