Chairmaking 101

One weeker at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking. Good times.

Chair #1

Big thanks to Lincoln at Fiveleft for the leather collaboration & his master touch.

More Flattening

Here's a 9' section of a very long 31.5" X 5" reclaimed Glulam that my friend Karl at Vancouver Timber had resawn/sliced in half for me (just under 2.5" each). understandably, they cupped when sawn, & were in need of some flattening.

Probably the biggest slab I've had on the router flattening jig yet & it coped pretty well with a nice flat result. Final slab thickness 2.125". I figured out a way to quickly set the jig up in the outdoor work area instead of on my workbench; some rough sawhorses with t-nuts/bolts/angle iron for leveling the jig. Definately an outdoor pursuit, it's messy business. The objective: countertops for my kitchen food prep tables.

Little bit of art, little bit of function

I decided that I was fed-up with not having somewhere to dump my crap upon entering the bunkhaus. I`m sure guests were feeling the same. This way one can immediately purge pockets: cell phone; wallet; hat; coat; keys; sunglasses; emergency bag of cherrios; all that crap. I chose the woods to match the hall stool I made last year (for that second matter of business upon entering, taking off shoes), Arbutus slab with Walnut cubbies. The cubbies are suspended from the flat bar. Not sure if the metalwork is Zulu shield inspired or canoe inspired...but when you put flat bar under tension it becomes very rigid/structural. I also fab`d a type of french cleat out of flat bar to hang it on the wall, worked well. I've been using this thing for a couple weeks now & it's a real game changer.

That bar cabinet was the first thing I ever made, when I knew nothing. I still know nothing, but back then I knew absolutely nothing. at least the skills have improved a little over the years.

Two smokin' barrels

Here's the frame. Now I just need to go speak to a man about some saddle leather.

Slow but Steady

Work on Chair #1 progresses in between bathroom reno madness. Some in-progress pics: a big load on the crescent; joinery cut & fit; bent lamination.  Time to shape parts & start some pre-finishing & glue-ups.

Also a note about the mortiser set-up to avoid getting tangled up with double mortises (with floating tenons): spacer milled to correct thickness, so no need to adjust the table height which keeps the double mortise consistent; tape on all pieces to mark which side up, again so the double mortise is consistent accross pieces; "little buddies", one to set the angle of the workpiece, another to set the depth of cut stop on the table.

...and so it begins...

I'm wondering if I can squeeze one more into 2011. I've been wanting to take my first run at a chair for some time. A Safari chair might be the easiest place to start, basic frame, saddle leather for the seat & backrest. Pretty cool chairs but never seen one with decent lower back support, so perhaps there's room for improvement. Also got talking to a local artist who does some great work with leather...

So this all got me thinking. Using Stool #1 as the foundation, I've done a brutally rough mock-up, some full scale drawings, made a couple templates, and started laying out cuts on a couple slabs of Elm that have been sitting patiently in the shop. For the curved back legs I need to hit rift grain off the bat, so did some scouting around with the block plane, & it looks promising.

Here we go...