Sapele Morris Chair (Final Photos)

[Chet]

I started this Morris Chair project about 3 weeks back.  I wasn't really planning on doing a detailed journal, but I have been taking photos along the way and thought I would share them here.

I am making this out of Sapele.  When I first started thinking about this project 3 or 4 years back I was planning on doing it in Quarter Sawn White Oak but for some reason the lumber yards around here aren't carrying much 8/4 inventory.  They are nice enough to offer to order what I need but this does give me an opportunity to select my pieces.  I have done some other projects in Sapele and have really enjoyed it and I think this will end up looking good.

Once I got the initial dimensions down I haven't used the guild plans much, I did how ever watch the videos a few times so I guess it all the same.  I am going with a little more traditional thinking in what I do so I am not tapering the legs or doing the curved feature on the bottom side of ht topside rails or the top of the bottom rails and at this time I am planning of going with the straight side pieces for the back rest.

This picture below was the inspiration for my design.  I saw these in Crater Lake Lodge in Oregon a few years ago They have about 15 of these that were made in the early 1900's

These first picture are after a lot of the basic stuff was done.  The parts are littered with my chalk and blue tape notations.

I used a veneer to cover the glue line on the legs it's just a fuzz of 1/16 inch thick.  This picture was before anything was sanded.

After this I took it apart and numbered things in inconspicuously located spots like inside the mortise and on the tenons.  Then I worked on a detail for the bottom of the bottom rails,  I kind of stole or borrowed this design from Mick's chair.  I also did a cut out detail in some of the slats.

At this point I sanded everything to 150, I will do 180 once I am done "banging" things up and before the glue up.  Everything sanded and stacked on the cart.

Before I started sanding the other things I got my first arm glued up and in the bending form.  I was hoping to stay away from urea and formaldehyde in the glue I used for this so I was looking around at information on the internet, then while listening to one of Phillip Morley's podcast, he mentioned that he used Unibond One for veneer work and he was real happy with it and it doesn't contain anything that makes you worry.  Well now I am telling you I am REAL happy with Unibond One.  It did a great job, I had just a strong 1/16 worth of spring back and my glue lines are non existent, I am just real pleased with how they came out.  I was prepared to do an edge veneer on the arms to hide glue lines if I had to but no need now. 

Close up of the arm sitting arch up on my saw table.

Both arms all cleaned up and cut to size.

 

[Mick S]

Very nice, Chet. You've done a lot in 3 weeks!

I really like the side slat details. They look great with the cloud lifts. 

Now I'll have to try out the Unibond 1. I heard Phil talking about it, but I've always had good luck with TB III.  

[Chestnut]

I had good luck with epoxy even though a lot of people frown on using it for bent lam. Having to leave them in the forms for 24 hours added a lot of time to the project though. I didn't want to buy another adhesive that would only sit around and not get used after the project was completed.

I like the little details that you've done. You have defiantly made it your own.

Nice clamps . Glad they worked out for ya.

[pkinneb]

Awesome job Chet!  Those arms are some of the cleanest I have seen yet! Still hoping to start this project late this year so keep the tips coming  

[Chet]

1 hour ago, Chestnut said:

I didn't want to buy another adhesive that would only sit around and not get used after the project was completed.

No problem there, Its similar to PVA's, but harder, and It's not a two part it comes in half or gallon jugs and a five gallon bucket if you need.  I got it from vacupress.com.

I will just continue to use it on other projects until it is gone.

1 hour ago, Chestnut said:

Nice clamps . Glad they worked out for ya.

All of the green plastic pads are cracking on them, on both ends.  Kind of disappointing but for less then $10 each they did what I needed.  I really like the handles on them, better then Bessey's, so there's that.

[Chestnut]

47 minutes ago, Chet said:

No problem there, Its similar to PVA's, but harder, and It's not a two part it comes in half or gallon jugs and a five gallon bucket if you need.  I got it from vacupress.com.

I might look into it then i have a few bent lam projects in the works. Thanks for the heads up.

How much did you end up using for the arms. Also the glue looked like it was TBIII color. Do you feel that it would be too dark for cherry?

[Bmac]

Looking forward to following this too!

Have used TB III too like Mick for my bent laminates, and I've even used TB extend for more involved laminate glueups. I have looked into the Unibond but went with what I know. Maloof always just used a PVA for his rockers. But you got a super result with that. I've never had such invisible glue lines.

Looking up the product it has long open time, sets pretty quick and it's for interior only. What's it handle like, runny or more thick?  

[treeslayer]

Beautiful work as usual Chet and that Sapele will look awesome with whatever finish you choose, I'm waiting for just the right project to come along to try some more of it myself, also thanks for the info on Unibond, sounds like it would be good stuff to have around

[Chet]

3 hours ago, Chestnut said:

How much did you end up using for the arms. Also the glue looked like it was TBIII color. Do you feel that it would be too dark for cherry?

I just held the two bottles together and the Unibond One is a little darker and a touch grayer the TBIII.  I probably used less then a pint for both arms.  I used this roller with reservoir and it holds about a pint and I only filled it half way and returned some to the jug after the glue up.  It apples the glue real evenly which I think helped with the glue lines.

3 hours ago, Bmac said:

Looking up the product it has long open time, sets pretty quick and it's for interior only. What's it handle like, runny or more thick?  

It has a consistence that is real identical to TBIII, maybe a touch thicker but not anything close to TBII.

On another note, When I went t pick up the lumber for this project I was using a new to me lumber  yard because the one close to my home seems to be going down hill some lately.  The new place has a really nice selection of wood its just that it is an hour from the house, but I think it will be my go to place.

When I went  to pick out some pieces for this project, I was standing in front of the Sapele rack and this guy walks up and sticks out his hand to shake mine and says I'm Steve the owner and all that Sapele you are looking at came from the same tree.  It sure has been nice to work with stuff and not have to worry about differing colors and grain.  You can almost just grab a piece and start cutting. 

[Chestnut]

5 hours ago, Chet said:

All of the green plastic pads are cracking on them, on both ends.  Kind of disappointing but for less then $10 each they did what I needed.  I really like the handles on them, better then Bessey's, so there's that.

Oh yeah all the green plastic pads got ripped off and thrown away. I meant to contact cement some leather to them but never got around to it.

[Chet]

2 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

I meant to contact cement some leather to them but never got around to it.

I was thinking of some of that heavy duty felt, that stuff that is like an 1/8 inch thick.

[RichardA]

I used some 1/8" cork, and when I ran out of cork, I used leather. Contact cement is your friend.

[wtnhighlander]

Those arms! I think you're yanking our chains with all that Unibond talk. You steam bent those, didn't you?

[Chet]

1 hour ago, wtnhighlander said:

You steam bent those, didn't you?

No, but I am not going to say I didn't research the idea of steam bending.

[Chet]

I cut the mortises on the chair arms, thru mortises for the front legs.

Once I had this done I was able to cut the curve on the top of the top rail.  I roughed it out on the bandsaw and cleaned it up with the router and a pattern I made of the underside curve on the arm piece.  I am real happy with the way it all came out if I do say so myself.

After this I built the form and started on the slats for the back rest.

First one out of the clamps and cleaned up some.

After I got the slat glue ups going I was working on some detail work on the stool legs and managed to get my head pretty far up my back side and screwed up the last leg beyond repair, a pretty disheartening moment.   So I quietly and calmly hung up my apron and walked out of the shop for a few days.  I figure redoing one leg is is going to take some effort to get it sized and all the mortises lined up and cut to match the other three, so clearing to ol' noodle was in order.  During my "time off" I have been wondering if it would just be best to redo all 4, we'll see.

Also I ordered this piece of copper, I think that copper pivot and adjustment pins will look nice against the sapele.

 

[treeslayer]

Very fine work Chet and coming along nicely. It’s a shame about the stool leg but we all have made mistakes from time to time, you did what I would have done, walk away take a breath and start again. It will be long forgotten when you’re relaxing in that fine chair 

[pkinneb]

Wow that is some awesome craftsmanship right there Chet! One of the cleanest through mortise/tenons I have seen yet. That is really going to pop with finish.

[Chestnut]

That's a really nice and clean looking through motrise.

I messed up a chair leg really bad so a stool leg isn't the worst. I'm not sure how the stock you are working with looks but I'd bet you could find another piece that matches. Though if you can't find what you like do it right. I made very few compromises when i made my chairs and I really appreciate it now. The chairs are still one of my all time favorite projects. Megan has caught me quite a few times just staring at the curly grain on the arms.

[Chet]

1 hour ago, Chestnut said:

I'm not sure how the stock you are working with looks but I'd bet you could find another piece that matches.

This isn't a problem,  all the stock I am working with I from the same tree.   I actually re-made the leg today.   I was just really upset at making a dumb, dumb, dumb mistake.

[Chestnut]

Oh yeah i forgot that you mentioned that earlier. Though being from the same tree isn't always a guarantee that you'll get a match though it's more likely.

When i put the mortise on the wrong side I hacked the leg into 15 pieces and burned it so i hear ya on the dumb mistake. Taking a break is always the best thing to do. Glad you got the replacement mad and are moving forward I'm excited to see this one finished.

[Chet]

All the slats for the back rest are glued up.  There was more spring back in these then the arms but I new that was going to be the case going in because Marc talked about it in the videos.  So just to keep that to a minimum I left each on in the clamp-up over night.

I got the leg that I buggered up re-done and then cut the pyramids on the top of each. 

Then I did the same on the front chair legs with the thru mortise and tenon. 

Left arm.

Right arm

Next up I have to make the jig for cutting the tenons on the back slats.  Getting close to a glue up or two.

[Chestnut]

The back slats jig takes a bit of trial and error i found on mine. My slats were long enough that I was able to do the testing on the ends of one of the slats to get things dialed in. I then cut them to length and did the tenons.

[Chet]

23 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

My slats were long enough that I was able to do the testing on the ends of one of the slats to get things dialed in. I then cut them to length and did the tenons.

Thats good to know.  I have a lot of extra length too, so I will do some trys first before I cut to length. Thanks for the information.

I have been trying to think if there may be another to go about this too.

[pkinneb]

You do amazing work Chet!! Those pyramids look awesome. What did you use to cut those? What did you clean them up with?

p.s. don’t look now but I may see some dust on your cross cut table 

[Chet]

The pyramids for the stool were cut on the table saw with the blade set at 15 degrees and then sanded in the direction of the grain on all four surfaces using my good ol' prepin weapon sanding blocks, went 120, 150, 180 then with just a small piece of 320 to finish it off.

For the chair arms I milled up a piece of stock about 8 inches long.  The 8 inches was just to give me enough to work with when cutting it and then holding it in the vise to sand and in case I messed up on my first try.   I ran it through the drum sander until I had the perfect fit in the arm mortise.  Then I cut a pyramid on each end and sanded it that same way as before.  I cut a 1/4 inch of the top of the existing tenon on the front legs.  Then I cut the pyramid at a length that would fit down onto the top of the leg tenon.  I sanded the bottom of the pyramids until I had an exposure that I was happy with.  I will glue the pyramids in after the chair is all assembled.