Thread: Dining room carver chairs - Take 2

A little more as it is getting closer.

The first step is to align all the arms and mortices ...



There was a lot of scribing, fitting, scribing and more fitting.

Finally the shaping of the underside of the arms was possible as it was now possible to determine the general position of the mortises.



The waste was removed with a bandsaw and coping saw ..



Now the specific position for the mortices was fixed with dowel pointers ...



Drilled and dowelled ..



And the arms fitted to check that all will fit at the end ...



Shaping to come.

Regards from Perth

Derek

On the home run now, looks like just a lot of carving, fairing in and smoothing to go… but I guess you can sit in one chair while working on the other!

Home run, indeed. We fly off to New Zealand tomorrow for three weeks, and I have been using the Easter Weekend to get as much done as possible. Could do with a sit down.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Home run, indeed. We fly off to New Zealand tomorrow for three weeks

Enjoy your holiday in the Shaky Lands, Derek.

Three weeks to think about your chairs, and do nothing!

The Arms (part 2)


This is a last post before I return from three weeks being dragged over New Zealand mountains by my wife and her family. I used the Easter Weekend to get as much done as possible, but I needed a few more days. So there is more to come, later.


It is helpful to remember what the aim is - as close a copy of the DC 09 chair as possible. All guidance from photos ...





We left off here ...





The three parts that make up the arms and top rail ..





The top rails were shaped ...





And shaping started on the arms ...





Today the arms were begun.


I find it easier to do one part as far as I can take it, then stop and repeat this with another part. When all four arms have progressed the same distance, I start with the first arm again and take it to the next stage. Then the other three to match. And so on.


Each stage completed must be checked, and this is done by putting the parts together, to check that they balance. The two sides must remain a mirror image, and the two chairs must be identical. There are no templates to mark the lines to work towards, only the rough layout lines that appear fair to the eye.


The arms are shaped with rasps and spokeshaves ... mainly coarse rasps - the Shinto and a 10 grain Auriou - followed with round- and flat bottom spokeshaves. Starting with the inside faces ...





Inside faces mostly done ...





Inside faces almost done, except for the undersides ...





Further along - top inside and outside faces mostly done ...





And that's it for now. More later. Thanks for keeping me company through this build.


Regards from Perth


Derek

Just think of it as physio for your knee and enjoy the scenery!

I’m looking forward to see the process of fairing in the joints between the arms and legs; although I’ve seen many examples of the finished joint I don’t think I’ve seen the construction steps.

Chief, this is what was the state of the Hans Wegner chair intersection, and what I expect is the case now ..



And what I expect to have to do here as well ..



Sawing inside the join (mindful that there is a tenon in there!), opening it up, and creating a kerf that becomes progressively parallel to both surfaces.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Comment on the grain direction

One point I have not drawn attention to, but was important for me, is the grain direction throughout this build.

If you look at the arms and legs, the grain has all been oriented so that the blanks are quarter sawn. For example, the arms will show the long side grain when looking at them fron the side, as will the legs. The figured sides face the top, are carved away, and therefore the figure is minimised. The aim is to present a clear, uncluttered grain, and this should emphasise the shape/silhouette. This was not possible with the seat, and the figure was positioned as best as possible.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Interesting; I’m building a couple of bar stools out of silky oak and while the seat and upper stretchers are quarter sawn to show off the figure I purposely selected rift-sawn sections for the legs and lower stretchers for a similar reason. The grain on the legs will be seen on two sides at a time so having one side face grained and the other one side grain will just look odd; as rift sawn blanks tend to look the same on all four sides I thought that would look better overall.

Derek is due back from New Zealand very soon now.

One of my favourite designer/makers is David Haig who, coincidentally lives and works just outside Nelson, New Zealand.

He has just published an article in Australian Wood Review which discusses his approach to some of the problems Derek has been wrestling with in the build of his dining chairs.
Joining curves':' David Haig'''s method - Australian Wood Review

Photo - David Haig and AWR

Thanks Graeme. I shall have a read.

Back home!

Regards from Perth

Derek