# My next step in chair-making



## Good Surname or what ? (27 Jan 2007)

I'm very excited \/.

I'm going to make a version of this chair - with a crinoline stretcher - at the Windsor Workshop. Bad news is the course isn't until May.







image courtesy of: http://www.antique-english-windsor-chairs.com/showitem.asp?item=16660&title=Current Stock


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## PowerTool (27 Jan 2007)

Great stuff,Phil

Can we have a step-by-step account again? [-o< 
Thoroughly enjoyed the last one.

Andrew


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## Paul Chapman (27 Jan 2007)

Look forward to reading (and seeing the pictures) about your adventure, Phil - the last one was compelling stuff  

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## woodbloke (28 Jan 2007)

Now that's a nice chair....please keep us posted - Rob


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## Good Surname or what ? (29 Jan 2007)

Andrew, Paul, Rob,

Thanks for the encouragement to post pictures. As if I needed it :wink: 

We have been asked to prepare some parts in advance because it will be tough to make this chair in a week. So, I hope to have a leg template to copy in the next month or so. I want to use elm for the seat which will also increase the workload significantly, but I may be able to partially shape that before the course too.

Roll on May 21st!


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## Paul Chapman (29 Jan 2007)

Good Surname or what ?":25877uqf said:


> make this chair in a week.



:shock: :shock: Not much time for tea breaks then  :lol: 

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Good Surname or what ? (14 Feb 2007)

I now have a pattern for the legs and hope to have them prepared in the next couple of weeks.

Sourcing green round timber, in the Reading area, is not proving easy. I hope to visit this guy http://www.trees2timber.com/Butt catalogue.htm
later this week. He's charging £21/cuFt for round green oak/sweet chestnut. I will report back on quality/price. Does anyone in the area know of alternative *quality* suppliers?


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## Anonymous (14 Feb 2007)

No offense mate but that timber "merchant" is ripping folk off with his silly price's I mean 50 notes for a builders sack of firewood?? :shock: I pay that for a lorry load of ash/oak/birch/chestnut etc logs and quite a lot of it is too ggood to burn if you know what I mean. What speceis are you wanting to use? I'd ring firewood merchants (low profile low overhead type bloke's) and tell them what you want. It saves them having to cut to length and split it up. If a good ash or oak log comes up they might just be persuaded to keep it to one side for you :wink: 

cheers Mr S


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## Good Surname or what ? (21 May 2007)

Well I'm back with James Mursell again. There are 5 of us on this course rather than the 2 I'm used to, but 'm really looking forward to this week. 

I'll keep you posted on progress and will try not to repeat too much of my earlier posts. I hope you'll find something interesting in the next few days.

Here's the chair I'm making...






It's slightly different to the one at the top of this thread - note the crinoline stretcher. I'm also going to make the back legs similar to the front.

I say _similar_ not the _same_ for good reason. James sent me a leg to copy some months ago. My turning isn't great, so I've made 7 ( plus the pattern) - hopefully I'll find 4 that are a good match :wink:






*Specification:-*


Elm seat (20" by 17 1/2").




Turned legs of green sweet chestnut.
Crinoline stretcher of steamed green ash connected to legs by stub stretchers turned from green oak. 
The back will have a central splat of seasoned cherry, flanked on each side by 3 hand shaved oak spindles and a lath.
The arm bow is supported on each side by 4 short oak spindles and a steam-bent green ash arm bow.
The whole back is finished off with a steam-bent crest.
Not sure how I'm going to fill the empty hours over the next 5 days :shock: 

*Day 1*
We started by steam bending the crinoline stretcher and the arm posts. James has prepared the arm bow for us - there's just too much to do otherwise. Anyway, I'm told the real skill in chair making comes at the assembly stage 8)






You can see the steam box on the left ot the picture above.






These arms posts are made as one and sawn apart later.

*Day 1 - post coffee*

Well it's back to spindle making - 6 long and 8 short today. I've decided on a different approach this time. Previously I've made a spindle from start to finish - employing the drawknife and various spokeshaves - before moving on to the next one. Today I shaped all 14 spindles with each tool before moving on to the next. I figure I'll be better at handling each tool and produce a result where the differences are fewer. Well that's the theory anyway :wink:

Here are the clefts green oak blanks.











I'm done with the drawknife ... and ready for the spokeshaves and dowel plate. I'ts clear that a bit of confidence with the coarse tools saves a mass of time.






This took most of the day - but I did have time to turn the stub stretchers, mark out the central splat and layout the sightlines for drilling the seat blank. Here's the underside...






Time for a beer.

*Day 1 - addendum*

Ok, I know some of you are groaning. _Same old views - nothing new here._ Well how about....






Bending a crest. Now even James admits this hydraulic device he had custom built is a little over-engineered. 






...and one for the scrollers - I have to get to grips with this beastie tomorrow to cut the central splat.


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## Good Surname or what ? (23 May 2007)

*Day 3 Update*

This is how it looked at teatime today...






... still lots to do in the next 2 days.


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## gwaithcoed (23 May 2007)

A project I can only dream of, fantastic PC. Love the pics.

Alan.


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## Paul Chapman (24 May 2007)

Great stuff, Phil - you've made really good progress. Looking forward to the next instalment  

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Chris Knight (24 May 2007)

Phil,
Thanks for the excellent diary - your chair is looking terrific!


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## DomValente (24 May 2007)

Very interesting Phil, looking forward to the follow on.

Dom


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## bobscarle (24 May 2007)

Hi Phil

The chair is looking really good. Can I ask what might be a stupid question? Lots of the pieces, not just the bent ones, are made from green wood, why? Will this not cause problems later?

Bob


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## Good Surname or what ? (24 May 2007)

*Day 4.*

A very hard day. When you see the current position you can have no idea how much work went on to get here. This is so much more work than teh other chairs I've made.






I'll post some more detail at the weekend - I'm completely knackered now.


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## Good Surname or what ? (25 May 2007)

*Day 5*

A group shot.






More details to follow when I've recovered and spent some time with SWMBO.

PS - I'm the "young" one on the right!


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## DomValente (25 May 2007)

Glad to see you're wearing the right shirt Norm  

Dom


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## Paul Chapman (25 May 2007)

The chair looks lovely, Phil =D> 

Cheers  :wink: 

Paul


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## Anonymous (26 May 2007)

That looked seriously difficult, well done Phil. 

How does it feel in use?


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## Woodmagnet (26 May 2007)

DomValente":34pnhurb said:


> Glad to see you're wearing the right shirt Norm
> 
> Dom








Great looking chair Phil.


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## Good Surname or what ? (2 Jun 2007)

Here's the chair finished with an equal mix of tung oil , BLO and polyurethane varnish. I thought about staining the ash first but don't really have the experience to judge what's best. In the end I decided to let sunlight do it's thing.


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## spadge (2 Jun 2007)

That looks beautiful, well done.


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