Morris Chair Pair


Chestnut

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Looks Good !    Always smart to do a practice run !

I've got a bunch of those Jorgensen lightweight bar clamps that are at least 30 + years old and they still work fine. Some of them are on a batch of shelves I glued up Friday afternoon. I ran out of enough Bessey's and went old school for the rest.

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13 hours ago, Chestnut said:

I'm using west system 207 for the bent lam because it's what i got.

Is that the clear one?

how much do you have to mix up for a “glue up” like that?

what was your application method? Curious how you are (or will) applying it in an appropriate amount on a wider surface like a chair arm. 

Lots of ? Sorry....

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I just pulled my first attempt out of the form and this was WAY easier than i was building it up in my mind. The epoxy worked GREAT too. I used a block plane to clean up the sides and he shavings are coming off full width and when i pull them apart the epoxy line of the shaving holds better for 1/8" either side and the wood around breaks away. I think this is a success. I made 4 legs for a 4 legged stool so i'm going to strength test 1 leg just to see what it can take. It's going to be a very subjective test.

 

1 hour ago, Alan G said:

Is that the clear one?

how much do you have to mix up for a “glue up” like that?

what was your application method? Curious how you are (or will) applying it in an appropriate amount on a wider surface like a chair arm. 

Lots of ? Sorry....

Nope good questions.

It is the "Special Clear" the hardener has developed a very slight amber color after sitting for 3 years but mysteriously after mixing it's completely clear.

I mixed up 2 pumps worth for 7 plys at 4" wide. 6 glue layers 4" x 38" sp 970 sq in of surface area. I'll probably do the same 2 pumps when i do the arms. The chair arms are going to be same thickness ply but the over all thickness will be thinner than my trial run. I think west system is around an oz a pump. I did the math on it once and know that' it's $1.25 a batch for a double batch this costs $2.50. This is one of the places West system shines. Yeah the start up cost is $$$ but  same batch from box store stuff would have been like $10 with less strength and poor properties argueably..

I used a piece of wood but when i do the wider surfaces i'm going to need a brush or applicator the way i did it didn't really work the greatest.

Nope i like questions they sometimes help me as much as they can help others, it's why i post here.

Quote

Looks Good !    Always smart to do a practice run !

I've got a bunch of those Jorgensen lightweight bar clamps that are at least 30 + years old and they still work fine. Some of them are on a batch of shelves I glued up Friday afternoon. I ran out of enough Bessey's and went old school for the rest.

@wdwerker Yeah i really like the Jorgensen clamps. When i heard they went out of business i bought everything my local store had. Then menards started selling a bessy clone that was $9 for a 12" $10 for a 24" and $12 for a 36" I've bought a bunch of them and they are worth double what they are selling them for. Those are the green handled clamps.

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Closeup of the lines. Not invisible but i think i can live with them. I because of what i was doing i didn't get good clamping pressure so i think it will be better with the real deal.

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Over all shape size. Strength test passed i was not able to with my body weight or leverage break it. I could get it to flex about 1/8" at most. So those who say epoxy isn't strong enough in bent lam apparently never tried it.

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Looks really good Drew! 

2 hours ago, Chestnut said:

...I used a piece of wood but when i do the wider surfaces i'm going to need a brush or applicator the way i did it didn't really work the greatest.

3x5 bondo spreaders work well.

2 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Closeup of the lines. Not invisible but i think i can live with them. I because of what i was doing i didn't get good clamping pressure so i think it will be better with the real deal.

Funny how observant woodworkers are about things like this when the normal person not only wouldn't notice but wouldn't even think to look LOL 

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2 hours ago, Chet said:

Drew, how much spring back did you have on your test?

About 1/4" so a little bit but not to terrible. I have a feeling if you go with more and thiner plys the spring back will be less.

53 minutes ago, Alan G said:

Are those the F clamp style or parallel style you have? I’ve seen them at menards and wondered how they were.

F style. They aren't perfect but they are great for the price. To answer your question from the shop thread. The PJ882HH is awesome.  Everything adjust smoothly and there is no fuss.

1 hour ago, pkinneb said:

Looks really good Drew! 

3x5 bondo spreaders work well.

Funny how observant woodworkers are about things like this when the normal person not only wouldn't notice but wouldn't even think to look LOL 

Yeah i should buy some of them. I just grabbed a silicone spatula that was starting to get worn out from the kitchen. I'm also easily my worst critic. The people that would notice the little things, you guys, only see pictures and a lot of stuff doesn't come through on pictures.

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Interesting.  I was debating what glue to go with...if west systems works out for your arms I may just do the same.  I'm going to buy the kit for the main glue up anyway. 

The only other time I've done true bent lam was for my daughters crib.  It was walnut... I didn't know any better at the time and used titebond 2, it worked perfectly and even though I didn't know a danged thing then, and had a third of the level tooling I have now, I'd accept the results I got in a heartbeat.  It has me questioning if I need a specialty glue for this. 

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12 minutes ago, bleedinblue said:

Interesting.  I was debating what glue to go with...if west systems works out for your arms I may just do the same.  I'm going to buy the kit for the main glue up anyway. 

The only other time I've done true bent lam was for my daughters crib.  It was walnut... I didn't know any better at the time and used titebond 2, it worked perfectly and even though I didn't know a danged thing then, and had a third of the level tooling I have now, I'd accept the results I got in a heartbeat.  It has me questioning if I need a specialty glue for this. 

In the morris chair vids Marc admits that either David Marks or William Ng used regular wood glue for all of his bent laminations. I think the only thing with wood glue is that you will get MORE spring back than other adhesives.

The "debate" is that because epoxy isn't water based it doesn't "penetrate" the wood. Which i find misleading and incorrect. If that was the case our finished would just sit on top of the wood and not adhere well. I stumbled upon this site and after reading it i wasn't really concerned about epoxy for bent lam. I realize the penetration is through end grain but it's fir end grain so it's not like it's going through red oak straws.

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I used TB iii when I built my Morris chair. It was a more traditional style not Marc’s version. Still had bent lam arms. 

When I took the arms out of the form I had maybe a 1/16” spring back. 

The issue for me was really more with the open time of the glue and trying to get all the laminations in the form. That is where I can see epoxy would have an advantage.

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I was just watching the next videos that I'll need for the project and i couldn't help but noticing that the rear mortise and tenon for the arm is incredibly redundant. The arm gets glued to the top rail with the front mortise and a rear mortise. With the long grain to long grain glue along the top rail couldn't one nix the rear mortise?

I included a graphic showing the long glue joint in blue and the large tenons in yellow with my opinion of a redundant tenon in red.

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My main worry is drilling strait through the arm.

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