# Modern Tatami Table



## Aurora North (Nov 6, 2017)

Hey everyone,

Been working on this while I have a little time between projects.

I have all of this figured wood just sitting so I decided to try and do something with it. Looking at the grain it reminded me of lava, so the idea was two black sides with the flow down the center. Being a modern design I decided not to make the center wavy. And I also just didn’t want to waste the material with radius cuts...

Shop cut waterfall bubinga veneer. I still have a second larger board of the stuff. But I did this on the hitachi 3” blade resaw as a test when I first bought it. Cut great even for as dense as this stuff is.

Once the veneer was cut, they all went through the wide belt and were brought down to 3/32”.

I did a stave core with Douglas fir 2x4 from HD and cross laminated 1/16” poplar veneer to the core slabs. That all went through the widebelt sander again and then I pressed the bubinga. Then again for the final widebelt trip to calibrate to 1 1/4”.

Next was the white oak sides. These are 12 wide x 1 3/4” solid oak. The thicker sides was to create a little dimension in the surface and I was thinking as a place for food placements/sushi platter or whatever being as this is a Japanese style tatami table.

The outside edges are beveled at 30 degrees in order to pick up some quarter seen grain in the edge. More on that later if the finish works out the way I intended it to.

The miter joints are all dominoed up. The bubinga center is also all going to be joined with dominoes to the outer oak pieces.

I finished these separately to avoid getting any stain on the bubinga. Once the oak was stained I sealed all three pieces.

That is where this project is at to this point. Next will be gluing all three together so that any squeeze out can be easily cleaned up and it won't soak into the grain.

Once that is done, I am going to hit the oak sides with black glaze very carefully so I don't get the glaze on the bubinga portion. (I might test out glazing the bubinga and see if it livens up the grain a bit). If that actually works then I'll just hit the whole thing with glaze and top coat. Otherwise, tape off the bubinga, glaze the oak, peel the tape, and then top coat as one whole piece.

Anyway... pics so far.

Reactions: Like 2 | EyeCandy! 1 | Way Cool 5


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## Aurora North (Nov 6, 2017)

Seal coat.





This one is out of order, but it’s just showing how I do the stave core or veneering for those who nerd out on machinery and processing like I do.

I buy the cheapest Douglas fir I can, run it through the resaw, plane it to uniform thickness, roll out the urea formaldehyde glue (post catalyzed glue- kicks with heat), stack the pieces and load the stacks into the press. The press is top and bottom heated so it kicks the glue in about 30 minutes. But that also depends on thickness for the heat to reach the center.

I use rigid glue because it doesn’t creep or raise at joints like titebond does and has a very long open time. And it’s dirt freakin cheap at $60 for 5 gallons. 

The stave core like that is extremely rigid which is important for veneering. Especially thick cut veneers where thicknessing becomes critical so that your piece doesn’t bow out on you. Example, if you pressed thick wood to mdf and didn’t remove equal amounts from both sides to balance the panel.

The stave core takes more time, but it’s still solid wood, the grain can be arranged like quarter sawn lumber without the price tag so long as you select the boards with the right grain orientation, the core of the material is dunnage anyway because it never gets seen, and it’s more stable than single piece hardwood.

Whenever I do this now I just cut a bunch of material to fill the entire 5x12 table and have full cants on the rack for resaw or other processing.

Reactions: Like 2 | EyeCandy! 2 | Way Cool 5


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## Lou Currier (Nov 7, 2017)

That grain really pops on the black...nice

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## barry richardson (Nov 7, 2017)

Awesome work! Did you use stain, or dye? I can never get oak to be that black with stain only......


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## ripjack13 (Nov 7, 2017)

Yusuke, that came out fantastic! Nicely done sir....

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 2 | Informative 1


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## Nature Man (Nov 7, 2017)

Impressive! I'm still a bit unclear what the final project will be. Chuck


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## Aurora North (Nov 7, 2017)

barry richardson said:


> Awesome work! Did you use stain, or dye? I can never get oak to be that black with stain only......




Hey Barry,

Thanks! For stains I use Mohawk. This particular stain is Mohawk Van Dyke Brown penetrating stain. The more you apply it, the deeper the color gets. It can also be reduced.

When it first went on it was a light brown. My goal was for this piece is to look like it is jet black from afar, but as you get close to it you begin to see the red hue. The nice thing with the penetrating stain is that it is transparent, so up close you can fully see all of the grain. It doesn’t muddy that up with pigment. 

I have done this stain before on a desk and freestanding closet. And it was on quartered white oak. 

The flecks in the QS oak will appear red when the sunlight hits it and viewed at the right angle. Otherwise from a distance, it all looks jet black. 

I wanted to bring the red color into the oak to be cohesive with the bubinga center section. 

Once the blackg glaze tint goes on it will balance the color out and should make the red in the stain pop in the sun light. So long as I did this right anyway.



Nature Man said:


> Impressive! I'm still a bit unclear what the final project will be. Chuck



Hey Chuck,

Thanks man! The final project is literally a coffee table. In Japan however, we eat at the coffee table. They vary in size and length depending on the size of your family of course, but in Japan all of my relatives sit together, right on the floor with cushions and eat at the low table. 

If you go into nicer Japanese restaurants for sushi they usually have the traditional style tatami rooms. 

Tatami is the woven matts that are on the floor instead of, say, hardwood. It’s softer, gives, and is slick. You take your shoes off and sit around a low table (such as this project) and the food and sushi plates and sake cups and all that are served on this low table. 

Or, if you don’t give a hoot about the Japanese origin behind it... it’s a coffee table or occasional table in that formal living room that never gets used.


My plan on this thing was really just to take staged photos of it and throw it online. If the design sells I can make it with any type of wood, veneer, laminate, stain, paint, or combination options. This is just a spec build. If this prototype was sold, great. But really just doing it to see if it’s a design worth keeping or ditching.

Reactions: Like 6 | Thank You! 1 | Way Cool 1


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## Aurora North (Dec 29, 2017)

Haven't been on in a bit.

Here is the top coated table. One of these days I'll get it out of the shop and stage it with the sun light to show the color. 

From a distance it looks black, but when the sun hits it you can see the QS rays in the oak shine red. Up close the grain also peaks through with a reddish hint.
The first photos are a few minutes after spraying the top coat as it’s flashing over.

Last picture is the finish after 24 hrs. Matte 15sheen conversion varnish.

Reactions: EyeCandy! 3 | Way Cool 5


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