Thread: Chair Bodging

Originally Posted by romansnews

I will post pictures of my lathe if there is any interested.

thanks Ross

Yeah! Get them on here already! Might have to have an unpowered section in the turning department.

Hi Ross,
There is a local guy selling old tools here. At the moment, the Au$ is so strong you can do very well purchasing from the US. If you buy any old tools, be sure there is no pitting on the back of blades it can be a real pain. I bought an old draw knife that was pitted on the back, its pretty much useless.
Clifton spoon bits are good but will need an initial touch up.
An oxhead style inshave is a good pattern because it has different radii curves. That one shows a chisel bevel which is how many of them come. It is not the most effective and you may like to modify to a knife edge bevel on one side. Here's a link

Veritas pro reamer is good and there are matching tapered tenon makers too.

These compass planes can be made to work pretty well

Haven't used one, but a many swear by a spoon plane

You can make a travisher from an old 151 spokeshave

Just some thoughts

Hi Ross,
I've used Cotoneaster for a few chairs, it grows pretty wildly in gardens around here. Tough timber, but quite a few branches/knots. Also broad leaf privet, which is a pest here, but probably a bit weaker. No problems getting it in SE Qld/NE NSW and easy to work compared to Eucs!
I think any of the Casuarinas, She oaks and River oaks, would be ideal timbers for riving and shaving down, but I haven't tried any.

Secondhand tools from the markets are the go, or make them from scratch.


Good luck

Ross - I started & have remained with a powered lathe, and I tend to use semi-seasoned or seasoned wood for chair spindles, but I've occasionally roughed out legs or other parts from green wood - enough to learn that most woods will peel pretty well in the green state, so it's more a matter of choosing woods that aren't brittle when dry & have a sensible strength to weight characteristic. Many Acacias fit the bill well, and are readily available along the coast - Blackwoods or any of the many varieties of small wattles that spring up like weeds on vacant ground can be excellent raw material. The good thing is you don't need a big tree, or very long straight bits for chair parts. Just avoid the pith (cracking) and the sapwood (it will pull as it dries and bend your spindles).

River Oak (C. cuninghamii), is excellent from a young tree, but older wood gets very hard & heavy, & splits badly when drying. The suggestion of privet sounds good to me - haven't used it for chair parts, but have turned handles & small things from it. I have used Desert Ash & some of the other imported Fraxinus cultivars - more brittle than the European & Nth American Ashes, but still adequate for the job. Both these imported species turn extremely well. Woods I've considered, but not tried for chair parts include White Stringybark (probably not in your area) but any of the Stringies from a youngish tree might be ok.

In general, avoid softwoods (Pine family) for spindles, because the grain structure makes them prone to crushing, so that leg & strecher tenons inevitably work loose, but they are ok for seats if kept thick, which allows nice, deep shaping. The wood I like above all others for seats is Jacaranda - light but tough & good to carve. Hoop pine is also quite good for seats.

A forum member (apricotripper) has done a lot of experimenting with chair making, including bending for the continuous arm types. I think he too has worked mainly with dry wood for spindles, but not sure. He is a wealth of practical experience, but hasn't been very active of late, but might respond to a PM if you ping him with a direct question... There must be SOME experienced green turners out there who can chip in with more ideas....??

Good luck,

Cheers,

You can make a travisher from an old 151 spokeshave

Thanks mic-d.......who needs words, eh?

Excellent stuff.

Here's me making a Windsor chair leg with my pole lathe and the finished product. I used bloodwood and damn it was hard work! I haven't done much else with it since partly because I cannot find suitable timbers.

I enjoyed using it and would use it again.

cheers
Derek

Bodgers traditionally made turned chair legs and rungs for Windsor chairmakers and had a small tool kit consisting of saws, hatchet and pole lathe.

Tha actual chairmakers had a much broader array of tools including braces, bits, reamer, travisher, turning saw etc.

Others have mentioned various alternatives for a travisher, I used a traditional wooden-bodied travisher. They are a lovely tool in use.

This is the seat for a chair I made last year.

Hi to all

Thanks for all the info guys, some really use ful stuff i and i'm working my way through it.
Thanks Mic-d for those links , the one for tool exchange in particular, some great stuff there and i'm sure to a purchase of something.

Great pictures of your lathe Derek. Your way further along than i obviously but i've posted some pictures of mine for you to see. I have just started my shave horse and have used the lathe to turn my yoke and foot bar( infact thats all i've made so far) but still developing technique.
I used red gum for the bed, blackwood for the poppets and jarrah for the holder and pins etc, the legs are just pallet bearers but well strong enough.

Thanks also to IanW, thats great info but will take some time suspect to source most of those woods.
All i have tried so far is Red and spotted gum which both surprised me at how usable they are, both turned quite nicely although it remains to be seen what will happen to them as they season.
Also tried a small piece of casuarina which is now on the lathe as the handle on the crank but i suspect it will crack as it dries.
As you can tell i am a complete novice to this and therefore have a lot to learn, will hope to be posting pictures of a chair at some point but dont hold your breath for the near future.
Thanks again to all of you
R