Thread: Kumiko workshop with Des King in Melbourne

Thanks for posting those photos.
Can I ask you to talk about your experience of the weekend?

And, did you get to take home copies of the various mitering jigs or were these part of Des King's teaching aids?

I notice people bending over benches for what must be long periods of time doing intricate work, do benches need to be higher for this reason?

Hi Ian,

It was fun! Good pace so pretty much everyone managed to finish. While everyone worked constantly, there was good banter in the room. Des is a great teacher and very nice bloke! In terms of going forward for me, I plan to practice same pattern at home by making more panels and coasters etc. I will get Book 1 and 2 from Des and probably do another more intermediate course with Des in future if possible. There were couple of guys in the course who live in apartments and due to hand tool oriented nature of this they plan to make stuff at home too. I found that while this pattern was easy to do, getting the frame right was more involved and required someone to take you through it for the first time. Getting stock prepared is bit of work which was already done for us in the course. My take is that I will do this in bulk.

I took home, course notes and story stick for the frame. Jigs and tools were provided in the class but not for taking home. I am assuming if you discuss with the school in advance then they can come to some arrangement with you. I am planning to make my own. I will need 3 jigs for As-no-ha pattern as you can see in the photos
1. 90 degree working board with a two fences
2. Angled Jig with 45 and 22.5 degree angles
3. Angled Jig with 67.5 and 60 degree angles (60 degree side was not used)

Looks like a great course. What species of timber were you supplied with for the Kumiko ? Pine ?

We were using poplar. Des mentioned that hoop pine is his standard and nicer to work with. He has also uses Huon pine.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

I notice people bending over benches for what must be long periods of time doing intricate work, do benches need to be higher for this reason?

Yes, workbenches could be bit higher. We were mostly sawing and planing on the jig so probably not as high like a bench on bench for inlay work.

I found the course very enjoyable. The bench situations weren't ideal. Some people did complain about sore backs but a lower stool / better posture would help. Or a higher bench. This room is used for all kinds of classes, though. I would recommend this to all skill levels. I would suggest taking some basic tools, though. As we were sharing saws and block planes at one point. Just take the basics. Marking out, a saw for kumiko if you have one, a few chisels, a block plane.

I'm contemplating doing the Roorkee course. It was so comfortable!
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