Athena's chairs

[ancjr]

I made a jig just for nibbling the edge of rough boards or panels.  It only removes  about 1/32 a pass, but it seems easier and maybe a bit safer when you need to "whittle" an edge down in prep for jointing or final rip cut.  :)

[mesquite buckeye]

Template is done.

 




 
Here it is in place on a backstrap blank.

Now comes the hard part. Finish layout and cutting with a bowsaw.

[mesquite buckeye]

Here is a backstrap blank all marked up for cutting. ;D

 

I'll let you know how the cutting goes.

[Lud]

In reply to your question, by "Slider" I'm talking about the nail on Glides for the ends of the legs.  I went and looked at the packaging and that's the real name.  The ones I first used were domed shaped from Lowes and the big ones on the back legs are fine but the smaller ones on the front legs had cracked so I've replaced with a different brand of uniform thickness.

When I carved seats with the lancelot that were going to be 5/8" deep , I drilled  maybe half inch deep holes on the 4 corners of the back central area where the hips rest, (in from the seat edge, of course).  And maybe 3/8"  where the thighs rest coming to the front of the chair.

That way you have a guide to feather down to as the chainsaw disc is an intense tool.  I think I tended to work  counter clockwise  on the seat blank and from high to low.  It works pretty fast hogging out material.  Stout gloves can save you.

I'd then use carbide discs to soften the chainsaw marks and thereafter a 35 grit grinding disc which became a favorite shaping tool before I'd work up through the normal sanding procession.

I'd also suggest some nice , bright lighting so you can see your progress for best results.  Hopefully you'll have substantial ventilation as it can be pretty dusty. 8)

[mesquite buckeye]

Thanks for the follow up, Lud. I'm thinking I can use the reverse of what is used in lapidary to produce cabachons in stone. I'm thinking if I carve out the rough form in a narrow or a few narrow bands, then I can just hog out between them to make my rough finish. They make these sanding discs for angle grinders that look kind of like overlapping shingles, and they make some pretty coarse ones. I'm thinking these would do an OK job of smoothing out the chainsaw marks. I've used them before for cleaning up some split log benches out of mesquite, where they worked very well. I'll keep you updated as I progress. ;D

[mesquite buckeye]

The Christmas Rush: obviously not done yet.  :-[  Argh.

Working on getting all the pieces to their finished form.


 
Here I am working on rough fitting layout. All the pieces for the prototype chair are there, only still need to cut out the curved backs and relaminate them, then recut the last curve.


 

Looks like a good thing I haven't cut out the curved backs yet. They are too long. I will leave the curve the same, but they need to be shorter. I'll just wait to cut the tenons until the rest of the fitting has happened.


 

Maybe I will have one close by New Year's Day. My lovely wife needs a bathroom sink vanity from some Missouri walnut. I'll let you see that one as it goes too. It is already started. Neat, curved front. There is a first time for everything, no? ;D

[mesquite buckeye]

I made a jig just for nibbling the edge of rough boards or panels.  It only removes  about 1/32 a pass, but it seems easier and maybe a bit safer when you need to "whittle" an edge down in prep for jointing or final rip cut. 

So, like, dude, where's the photo of this cool jig? ??? ??? ??? ;D

[mesquite buckeye]

The store is still open on Christmas day. Fitting and figgerin'. ;D

I decided to inset the legs 5/8" from the chair edge. Here are the marks.

 


Next, I had to layout to cut in the back legs/stiles. Here the leg is clamped to the edge of the seat for marking.

 

The outside edge of the stile has to line up with the 5/8 line and be square with the chair rails.

  

 

Marking the cut line.

 


Measuring the stile thickness for inset depth.

 

After adding 5/8" for the leg inset, the seat is marked.

  

 

The front line is just a square out from the leg edge line.

 


The bevel measures the angle from the leg line on the edge of the seat and transfers the angle to the other side of the seat.

  

 


All marked up for cutting.

 


First inset rough cut. Leaving room to get a clean finish line.

 


Cutting out the second inset.

 


Cut out. I tried to use a couple of different block planes, but couldn't get enough force on them to clean up the ends with any control, so I resorted to chisel and mallet to get er done. Elm cuts hard, with cross grain and very tough end grain, it took pretty hard blows on the chisel to get anywhere, but it did work. I finished the cleanup with 100 grit sandpaper. It looks a little rough here, but where it shows is pretty clean. It will work.

 


With a little stacking and shimming, combined with the clamp, I was able to check the fit.

 


Love it when a plan works. ;D  Oh yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Magicman]

This project just keeps getting better.   

[mesquite buckeye]

Thanks, Magic. ;D

[clww]

Impressive craftsmanship you're performing!
I enjoy following this thread. :P

[mesquite buckeye]

You are very kind.  I'm not that good. Just patient. ;D

[mesquite buckeye]

Cut the first backstrap. Argh.

Started with the little bowsaw. Took 15 minutes of struggle just to cut the safe straight part. I may be patient, but 3 hours to cut out one chair back is a bit much.

Plan B is to put the longest blade I can find on my jigsaw. This resulted in some blowout problems on the bottom of the cut as the blade is about 3/8" too short to go all the way through. Here is the blowout.

  

 

First hint that it is a problem is the saw starts fighting you and jumping. I found that if I went about 1/2 - 1" forward at a time and then cut bottom up until it starts to resist the other way, the problem disappears. I think I could go to maybe 6-7" depth in this way without a problem. Add to bag of tricks. ;D

I will have to fix the blowouts. Some I can fix with glue and clamps, some with sanding down to the finish line. The big chunk will need a chip glued in. I'll put it on the bottom facing down to hide it. ;D

Here is the rough cut back strap cut and glued up. Even with edge clamping, there is some shifting and rotation during the glueup. I may lose 1/16" to true it up. No big deal, just have to do both the same on the other one. Good reason to leave plenty of wood for when you screw up. :-[ ;D

 

Now, back at it. ;D

[mesquite buckeye]

Working out issues. By the way, I love my oscillating sander. One of the best tools I ever got. Had to buy it twice. the first one smoked out almost instantly. Exchanged it. This one, same model has been in fairly heavy use for a couple of years now. No problems.

 
With the 36 grit I can hog off a lot of material down real close to the line without messing it up like you can with a saw.

Here is the glued up trued up backstrap ready to be recut on the back side.

 
note there is a lot of slop for cutting errors. The jigsaw has issues with a perfect, straight cut into thick material. The effect is accentuated when the tip of the blade is pounding the bottom of the cut because the blade is too short. Deflection is also a problem on any angle cuts close to being parallel to the grain. If I leave an extra 1/8" past the line, it is safer. Then just sand down to the line.

Here is the damage from the blowout. Also, to the right, you  can see where the blade was pounding the bottom and deflected into the finished piece. 

 
This damage was concealed by a flap of wood that was left from the cutting. This is how it looks after considerable sanding. Still ugly.

Fortunately, there was some room on the back of the strap, so I just erased my lines and put down the template as close to the back as I could and remarked the piece. Back to the sander.....

 


This is what it looked like after. Almost disappeared it.  ;D What is left will sand out. Also shrunk the blowout hole.

 
That is what is left of the ugly on the right. Looks like a faint line.


Here is the rough finished backstrap. ;D One more to go. Now that I know what not to do it will be easier. ;D ;D ;D 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

 

Cool.

[mesquite buckeye]

Here is the second backstrap cut out and ready to glue. No blowouts and no cuts through the finish line. ;D

Live and learn. 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

 

[ancjr]

I made a jig just for nibbling the edge of rough boards or panels.  It only removes  about 1/32 a pass, but it seems easier and maybe a bit safer when you need to "whittle" an edge down in prep for jointing or final rip cut.  :)

So, like, dude, where's the photo of this cool jig? ??? ??? ??? ;D

Here!



I'm going to make a thread that gives full details.  That way I can answer questions and give more photos.  :)

[mesquite buckeye]

Cool. ;D 8) 8) 8)

[mesquite buckeye]

Second backstrap shaped. ;D

Now on to  fitting. Turns out the backstraps are way too long. No problem, just cut them to the right length. Fortunately, they are exactly as wide as the full seat, so all I have to do is center and align them and I have my width from the seat cut ins.

  

  

 

Now all I have to do is get a perpendicular to the inside end of that line, which is the width of the visible part of the back then decide how long to make the tenons and make those.

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

This has to be one of the most interesting and best documented builds i have seen on this forum. Well done and hats off to you Mesquite Buckeye 8)

[mesquite buckeye]

You are very kind. ;D ;D ;D

[mesquite buckeye]

Continuing to work on the backstrap layout.

 

You can start to see the chair taking shape. To keep it simple I'm making it all square, so the backstraps and the seat front and back skirt are all the same length. Here the backstraps are trimmed square and 2" longer than the distance between the inside of the stiles. That will give me 1" tenons going into 1 3/4" thick stiles. I'm going to make the tenons 1/2" thick and probably shave in the ends 1/8" just to keep it all clean. The front of the curve will be flush with the front of the stile so no bumpy edges on the back. Same deal with the back slats, which I will lay out once these backstraps are fitted.

Here are the backstraps cut to finished length + tenons.

 

Here is the 1" tenon mark and the square off for final tenon marking.

 

Here are the squared off straps ready for marking, matched to each other.

  


Tenons marked for final cutting. 1/2" backset, 1/2" thick.

 

That will put it just a bit to the front of center in the stiles. I'm thinking of building foxtail blind joints here, so they won't come apart too soon. ;D
 

[mesquite buckeye]

Backstrap tenons rough cut.

 

;D

[54Dutchman]

Good project 8) 8) Elm being the most common tree that is lumber size in my area - this project really has my interest. ;)

[mesquite buckeye]

 ;D

[Lud]

I won't second guess your strategy and I do like the look of the big tenon on the backstrap  but I'm not sure that's where the major stress will occur in the chair.  It's my opinion that the major stress comes where the legs hook into the seat.  The legs grab the floor and our weight leverages through the seat to stress that joint.

There's nothing wrong with drilling and setting some 3"+ screws to permanently / mechanically attach legs.  If you start with a half inch hole and drill pilot and shaft holes , it will only make it stronger...and you can plug with the grain and will be hard pressed to see it.  The ten chairs I built each have 16 screws and are as stiff as you could ask.

Great work! 8)