Hi All,

Well last year my 11 yo son and I went to the Brisbane Timber and wood working show, and were lucky enough to win the Alpha Chair kit on offer at the Dunstone Design stand. Evan kindly hand delivered the kit. (Alpha Chair Kitunstone Design chair makers and fine furniture craftsmen)
We had a quick look at the components and then had to put it under the bed until we had space in the garage to work on it.

well in February, we finally managed to get around to starting on it. So taking it all out I managed to get a good look at all the components. It was interesting to see how components are put together. You can see some of the joins in the pictures below.
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There was one of the back legs(in picture below) that was cut very close to a join so that there is a minimal amount of one peices of timber attached. Structurally this will not be a concern, and my only thought was asthetically, but since the chair has been completed,I don't even notice it.
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I also took the opportunity to dry fit all the floating tennons and to make sure they fit correctly. Most of them fit nicely but there were some that needed to be adjusted. But the two big tennons for the back legs were quite loose. So I ended up super glueing a couple of slivers of paper into the mortice. I also took the opportunity to label each mortice and tennon so I would know which fit where. I initially did this with tape but ended up re-doing this with pen.
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I did a minimal amount of shaping of the legs. The front legs I mostly used the rule of thirds on the two inside sides of the legs. Starting from a third from the top, taper it to take a third off at the bottom.(I hope that makes sense)
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The back legs I only did minimal shaping. Mostly just radiusing off the corners to a third of the side thickness, tapered up to just 2/3rds the way up to the seat height.

After the shaping, of the legs, I pretty much went along with the instructions provided on the website(see above). The main thing I did differently was the order.
I sanded and shaped everything first(except the seat) before gluing.
I ended up sanding to 600 grit. and the first time I did the seat, it was silky smoooooth.

shaping:
for both the seat and back rest, I utilised the templates provided. With the back rest, I have left the back flat, and I am happy with the result.
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finishing:
SEAT and back: to finish these, I used first a coat of 50/50 turps/BLO; with a 800 grit sand after. then a coat of Feast Watsons Hard burning oil. after a few days , I used a uBeaut's EEE-Ultra shine with a swansdown mop. This has come up beautifully.
frame: this was again just 2 thin coats of 50/50 turns/BLO; with a wet 800 grit sand. Then once it was all dry a couple of coats of thin home mixed orange shellac. with a light 2000grit sand after each coat. I wasn't wanting it overly shinny, just silky smooth.
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Screwing together: This is the one place I got frustrated, and that was with the supplied square drive screws. Not having any appropriate bits, I had to leave it for a night until I get the appropriate bits. I have to say though that the screws do look good against the timber.
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endrsult: Well SWMBO has already appropriated the chair for use in her studio (the easel refurbish was another recent project). She is very happy with it.
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So Thanks Evan and team from Dunstone Design. For a great prize and product. It looks great and has been very straight forward to put together.