Freo Men’s Shed goes Japanese

17th & 24th August 2025

As most of you will know, during August FWWA were running our Kumiko Box course at the Fremantle Men’s Shed on two consecutive Sundays.

Sunday 17th August

Garvin opened the shed and had been working hard to get it ready for us.

We had a great time, with Carolyn, Ian, Kevin, Harry and of course Allan, our resident expert on all things Japanese, all busy showing our seven members the best way to build our Jarrah box and lay out the Kumiko top.

Ian set the pace, getting everyone to cut the timber to size and making sure that all the mitres matched, then selecting and fitting the veneered base, and everyone taping and gluing the box together and set it aside to dry.

That must mean its morning tea time!

Allan then started talking about the origins of Kumiko designs and how essential it is to make and use a story stick to set out and mark the basic framework.

Everyone had a cutting board, two angle Jigs and brass clamps to make the first sample or two and to get everything marked out.

We all stopped for lunch and sat outside talking about how much fun we were all having!

Whilst everyone got their head around the cutting of the Kumiko strips, they took their boxes to the main saw to cut the slots for the splines and then fit and glue the blackbutt splines in place so that they could dry ready for next week.

At the end of the day, we had the basic layout in place and were starting to sort out the angles required for each part of the pattern with some of the more experienced woodworkers asking for strips to try the next patten.

Sunday 24th August

The first job of the day was to cut off the splines and then plane or sand until the sides were flush.

The next challenge was to cut the top off, carefully following the prepared rebate and then plane off the surplus material ready for final sanding to ensure a good fit between the box and its lid.

Whilst we all got back to filling in the Kumiko design, Ian calls us all back to the saws to cut our blackbutt liners to size and prepare the mitres ready to fit into the boxes.

We stopped for lunch and as it was such a terrible blustery and wet day outside, we all hid inside the conference room with the heating on.

I think we were all surprised on just how much work was involved in getting everything to fit perfectly and sanded to a finish that we were all satisfied with.

Then at last Allan explained how we were to cut and fit the “Washie” paper onto the back of the lid.

At the end of the day, I think we all enjoyed ourselves and everyone went home with a Kumiko and Jarrah box that just needed finishing.