And Now The Chair

[Coop]

 

I finished the second  stool and have finished the framework less the tiles on the third stool and set these aside. Now it’s time for the chair. 
I hope to get the chair, less the “tiles” from a 9’ x 11”x 6/4 piece of walnut. The author of the article and FWW have generously provided a digital template of the build. I took it to Office Depot and had them make a full scale copy. FWW also provided a rough template + 1/4” of each individual part for layout and I had a copy of these made. My evening was spent scribing these on the stick of walnut. 

This may be prolonged due to a quick trip to a Lake Charles casino and a couple of visits to my dermatologist but I shall return. 
 

[gee-dub]

This is so cool.  Thanks for taking us along.

[BillyJack]

Will be nice to see it’s construction..

[Coop]

I made a trip to the casino in Lake Charles on Tuesday and back on Wednesday. I’m sure glad I bought the walnut for this project before I left. Kind of like buying a round trip ticket to Vegas to make sure you have a ride home. 
Up and at’em early Tuesday before I left, I rough cut the major parts from the plank and stickered them.

With heavy heart and lighter wallet after my trip, back to the shop yesterday evening to plane these down to the required 1 5/16” thickness.

As with the stool, I took the provided digital to paper template and push pinned it to a sheet of mdf and connected the dots and made a hard but rough cut template.

 

After a visit with my Derm with no restrictions, I cut the template close to the line on the bs and fine tuned it with a rasp and sanding block.

Unlike the stool, the front legs are perpendicular to the sides so, with the front edge of the front legs flush with the front edge of the sides, I laid out the location of the four Dominos that connect them to the sides.

The back legs/chair back were a different story as they join at a 9* angle. I cut a 9* wedge and taped it to the side and tried to cut the mortise that way. Even with the deepest depth setting, it didn’t allow me with enough depth for the tenon on the sides. Nobody told me there would be days like this!

The only thing I could think of was to set the width setting for the mortise on the Domino machine to the “second widest” and that did the trick. 

Miraculously, all tenons lined up with the mortises.

And that’s as far as I got today.With tomorrow being Valentines Day, I may be pre-occupied but with truth be known, I’ll probably be back in the shop. 

[pkinneb]

Looking good! Help me understand the issue with the Dominos and the angle / back leg connection, sorry i'm not getting it 

Are the angles different from one piece to the other? 

[Coop]

Not sure I got it either until I got to this stage of the game. The side piece intersects the back at a 9* angle.

The red lines indicate 90* on each piece. So if I cut the mortises on each piece, at the 90* angle, I would be 9* off. Widening the mortises on one of the joints pieces, gave me clearance for the tenon. Hope that makes sense? 

[fcschoenthal]

I'm sorry Coop, but I'm not getting it either. Can you not just cut both pieces to either line 1 or 2? Seems like cutting the stretcher to 9° would be easier. Two mating surfaces would have the dominos going in at 90° on both with no issues, even on the tight setting.

[pkinneb]

On 2/13/2025 at 9:40 PM, Coop said:

Not sure I got it either until I got to this stage of the game. The side piece intersects the back at a 9* angle.

The red lines indicate 90* on each piece. So if I cut the mortises on each piece, at the 90* angle, I would be 9* off. Widening the mortises on one of the joints pieces, gave me clearance for the tenon. Hope that makes sense? 

So the angle is ultimately 9 degrees but not equal on both pieces?

[Coop]

Correct. The cut on this end of the side piece is cut downward at a 99* angle.

[pkinneb]

Now I got it 

Thanks for taking the time to explain!!

[Coop]

Y’all had me worried! 

[gee-dub]

Really enjoying the ride-a-long.  Thanks for explaining the processes as you go.

[Coop]

I didn’t get a whole lot of work done today of interest. I got the arm rest supports cut to size and located them against the sides to mark for the domino mortises and got them cut.

I’ve fiddle farted around, putting off drilling the rope holes in the back rest and seat until it got to the point that I couldn’t go any further until I tackled that. On my first stool/bench, I did the math on the length of the tiles and the prescribed distance from the end of each tile to the center of the rope holes which is 13/16” and all went well. I had made a template for that build and after swearing I’d never need it again, I chunked it. After a little enticement from family to build more, I made another template which, unfortunately was 1/4” too short on the width of the sides and messed everything up. If you saw that journal, you might have noticed that every other tile extends out 1/4” proud of its mate. 
Anyway, after considerable ciphering, I made a story stick for the holes for the chair. I cut a few tiles and lined them up with the guide and some 1/4” dowels to simulate the rope, I was satisfied.

I then flipped the stick and using the same distances, I drilled smaller holes to accommodate a small punch to locate the holes on the sides and back.

Then I took the sides and the backs to the drill press and with pucker beyond compare, I drilled the 5/16” holes for the rope to pass thru. 

One of the last steps is threading the rope thru this maze so I guess I’ll find out at the finish line how accurate the holes are. I suspect that walnut does not make good tasting ribs and steaks. 

Last note, I decided to beef up the width, top and bottom of the front legs by 1/4” each. Since my routing template won’t allow this, I finished the front and back of these legs with a Dunlap hand plane acquired from @RichardA. That man flat knows how to put an edge on an iron. 

Tomorrow is epoxy day. 

 

[Mark J]

Coop, before you go chucking any more templates, you know when your family sees this chair, they're gonna want one, too.  

[Coop]

On 2/16/2025 at 8:25 AM, Mark J said:

Coop, before you go chucking any more templates, you know when your family sees this chair, they're gonna want one, too.  

The one that offers up the most Blue Bell Ice Cream can have this one! 

[treeslayer]

This is a great ride @Coop keep up the great work 

[Mark J]

6 hours ago, Coop said:

The one that offers up the most Blue Bell Ice Cream can have this one! 

So exactly how much Blue Bell would I have to ship you?

[pkinneb]

On 2/16/2025 at 4:13 PM, Mark J said:

So exactly how much Blue Bell would I have to ship you?

I was thinking the same thing LOL

[Coop]

After a late dinner and a bowl of Blue Bell last night, I decided not to wait until today to glue the side and leg assembly. As the glue up was pretty straight forward, I decided on Titebond II instead of epoxy.

 

This morning, after taking these out of the clamps, I glued and clamped the arm supports into place.

I saw before starting this project that there are two back rails that require bent lamination which was not in my repertoire and I also don’t have a vacuum bag. Fortunately, the author has a dimensional drawing of the base, as he did use the vacuum system. I used his drawing and built the base and off of it, allowing for the 7/16” thickness of the rail itself, built the top of the mold. From some research, it was suggested to line the top of the bottom section with a cork sheet which I obtained from Hobby Lobby.

Plans suggest using 9 ea. 1/16” veneer for the lamination. I took some scrap lumber and with the aid of my bs and drum sander, I made a test piece. As the rails are 1.5” wide, I used 6” wide pieces and after they came out of the mold, I ran one edge over the jointer and cut the pieces close to the 1.5” and ran them edge up thru the drum sander. 

So, being satisfied with the results, I decided to pursue this project.

While waiting for the glue to dry on the arm supports, I cut thin strips, 6” wide from scrap walnut on the bs and brought them down to the 1/16” on the drum sander. Using Titebond veneer glue, I placed them in the mold to sit overnight.

The sides are tied together with 2.5” struts. To get the desired thickness, scraps were cut and glued to the ends of these.

After taking the side assemblies out of the clamps, I rough sanded each. 

And that’s it for the night! 

 

[pkinneb]

Coming along nicely!! There's a lot going on there. What are your thoughts on the Titebond Veneer Glue? 

[Coop]

It’s the only veneer glue that I have ever used but was readily available from my Rockler so no comparison but it seems that it sets up quickly or I was just dragging, taking pics. The trial pieces seem to be doing fine. 

[Chet]

On 2/16/2025 at 7:17 PM, Coop said:

It’s the only veneer glue that I have ever used but was readily available from my Rockler so no comparison but it seems that it sets up quickly or I was just dragging, taking pics. The trial pieces seem to be doing fine. 

Did you get much spring back when you took it out of the mold?

[Coop]

On 2/17/2025 at 11:28 AM, Chet said:

Did you get much spring back when you took it out of the mold?

None noticeable. Not a good pic but that’s it resting on the top part of the mold with the test piece being an exact replica, sitting next to it. If there were to be spring back, it would be immediate, right? 

[fcschoenthal]

On 2/17/2025 at 5:03 PM, Coop said:

If there were to be spring back, it would be immediate, right? 

You're not going to get spring back when you glue up thin strips unless you use a glue that will give a little. I know TB III has a little flexibility, but don't know about the veneer glue you used. I've only ever used epoxy.

Spring back usually only happens when you steam bend and the wood wants to come back to it's original shape.

[Coop]

I failed to mention that I wussed out on using the template as a guide for the flush trim bit and router. I took the template and using a fine point Sharpie, traced the pattern on one side assembly and cut everything to the outside of the line on the band saw and using a couple of rasps and hand planes, removed the lines. I then traced the second side, using the finished one as a template and repeated the process..

With the back rail out of the mold, I smoothed one edge on the jointer and cut them just shy of the desired width on the bs.

Then to the drum sander for a smooth edge and final dimension.

Setting these aside, I cut the arm rest supports to length on the ts.

At first, I really didn’t care for the squared off, plane Jane look of the arm rest but I went with the plans and cut them to shape and length.

There is an under bevel on the rest where the fingers will land and with the fence tilted, I cut the bevel on the jointer.

All said and done, the profile looks better than I expected.

The arm rest is connected to the back and support with the Domino.

Before attaching the arm rests into place, I screwed the two sides together into the bottom struts and measured for the lengths of the back rails.

Next, I’ll need to cut the back rails to length and form the tenons that will secure them to the backs.