pulleyt
Established Member
I’m still looking for my preferred way of preparing the thin Kumiko strips. I’m now of method no. 4 and I’m hopeful that this might be ‘the one’!
I’ve made a table saw jig based on a couple of shorts on YouTube, Matt Kenney – Sled for ripping kumiko strips and A91 Customs – Thin Strip Jig…questions?. I’m not keen on either method of holding the board while it was being cut so for my version I wanted to introduce a mechanical way of holding the board in place as it goes through the blade.
The boards to be cut are dimensioned to 12mm thick and 500mm long. These can be different but that makes a stock kumiko strip that works for me.
The jig comprises two main components. The first is the fixed table which is clamped to the table saw stop. This is a 12mm MRMDF base with a runner that sits in the mitre slot to the right of the saw blade. On the base there is an adjustable stop fence that finishes just before the blade. Then there is a see-through blade guard. (I also added a deflector at the front of the table to guide the cut strips away from the blade when the cut is complete – the jury is out on how effective this is).
The sliding table comprises a base, again made from 12mm MRMDF. This has a fixed mitre fence at the rear of the sled and an adjustable mitre fence at the front. I’ve fixed hold-down clamps on each of the mitre fences.
I trimmed both components by running them through the blade using the mitre slots effectively making the tables zero clearance.
After each strip is cut I return the sliding table to align to the stop fence on the fixed table, reposition and clamp the board, make the next cut and so on.
Once the board’s width is narrower than the hinged clamping plate I place the next board next to te first and carry on cutting strips.
I can carry on cutting the board until there is very little waste.
From the first use I do think this really might be the method I use going forward.
I’m aiming to get strips at 2.35mm ± 0.05mm. I’ve tabulated the thicknesses of the start and end of each strip below.
A couple of the strips will be a tight fit if used in halving joints but I can finesse them if needed. But I’ll probably just use those for elements that don’t include joints.
I’ve made a table saw jig based on a couple of shorts on YouTube, Matt Kenney – Sled for ripping kumiko strips and A91 Customs – Thin Strip Jig…questions?. I’m not keen on either method of holding the board while it was being cut so for my version I wanted to introduce a mechanical way of holding the board in place as it goes through the blade.
The boards to be cut are dimensioned to 12mm thick and 500mm long. These can be different but that makes a stock kumiko strip that works for me.
The jig comprises two main components. The first is the fixed table which is clamped to the table saw stop. This is a 12mm MRMDF base with a runner that sits in the mitre slot to the right of the saw blade. On the base there is an adjustable stop fence that finishes just before the blade. Then there is a see-through blade guard. (I also added a deflector at the front of the table to guide the cut strips away from the blade when the cut is complete – the jury is out on how effective this is).
The sliding table comprises a base, again made from 12mm MRMDF. This has a fixed mitre fence at the rear of the sled and an adjustable mitre fence at the front. I’ve fixed hold-down clamps on each of the mitre fences.
I trimmed both components by running them through the blade using the mitre slots effectively making the tables zero clearance.
After each strip is cut I return the sliding table to align to the stop fence on the fixed table, reposition and clamp the board, make the next cut and so on.
Once the board’s width is narrower than the hinged clamping plate I place the next board next to te first and carry on cutting strips.
I can carry on cutting the board until there is very little waste.
From the first use I do think this really might be the method I use going forward.
I’m aiming to get strips at 2.35mm ± 0.05mm. I’ve tabulated the thicknesses of the start and end of each strip below.
A couple of the strips will be a tight fit if used in halving joints but I can finesse them if needed. But I’ll probably just use those for elements that don’t include joints.
