Sheffield Tony
Ghost of the disenchanted
I posted here the process of making my first greenwood chair last summer:
http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/first-chair-t82109.html
That one was a Philip Clisset style spindle back. There are a lot of things I liked about greenwood chair making. One of them is that there is a lot of working by hand and eye; a lot less obsession with tape measures and try square - if it looks right, it is right (or near enough). I decided that I'd like to make a "set" of chairs, though not exactly a matching set; the plan is to make them match in the sense of being all the same materials (Ash and seagrass), same height and overall size and proportion, but each in a different style. So my second chair is to be a ladder back.
Here's some of the pole lathe turned components. I haven't taken many pictures as I went along this time, because the methods are much the same as I used in the earlier project.
From the top, front stretcher with twiddly bits, front seat rail, then side rails x 4. There are a few bits missing here, although there is a lot less turnery in this one than the spindle back. Here the back will be made from slats cleft from a log, and left to dry before planing to thickness.
For the spindleback, I made all the rails and stretchers the same shape, like the front seat rail here (2nd down). This time I'm doing it differently; the seat rails stay the same for ease of seat weaving, but for the other rails, I've kept the centre at 24mm diameter with a smooth taper down to the tenon. I tried this on a stool and liked the look of it, but it has another couple of advantages - without the well defined shoulder, you can trim them slightly to length without it being visually apparent - useful for adjusting them to meet the steam-bent legs. You can see that there are two pairs at different lengths to accomodate the expected outward curve of the back legs, but steam bending is not a precise science an a bit of wriggle room is good.
The other advantage is efficient use of wood; to get the parallel rail, I need to split the billet into pieces a bit bigger than 24mm over the full length to be sure to get a piece without the odd flat facet left on it after turning. But with the tapered version, if the split runs off line a bit, or there is a slight curve to the piece, I can still use it if the middle is fat enough to get the 24mm thickest part, and the ends are not too thin.
Another thing I like about green woodworking is how quickly you can go from a pile of components to something close to a finished chair - it is just a matter of boring holes with a hand brace and whacking it together with a big mallet ! On Sunday afternoon and an hour yesterday I put it all together:
What remains now is to trim the back legs to length; they are left about 1/2" too long at the bottom (for levelling) and there is maybe an excess 2" at the top (makes it less likely to split during the fitting of the back slats). It will need oiling, waxing, and then a seat weaving.
For the spindle back I followed a Clisset design as detailed in Jack Hill's Country Chair Making - an excellent book that makes complexity seem plain. For this design I took some ideas from Mike Abbott's Going with the Grain - notably the bending of the back legs. The Clissett designs have a sharpish bend near the seat level, and are curved straight back, so the back legs are parallel when viewed from the front. This one has the back legs bent in a continuous arc using a former which is a 45" radius circular arc. The legs are fitted rotated by 20 degrees, so that the rear legs and the back flare outwards a bit, lending a little extra stability, a wider back at shoulder height, and (I think) a more elegant look. it also makes judging the drilling angles for the joints a bit more tricky :?
http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/first-chair-t82109.html
That one was a Philip Clisset style spindle back. There are a lot of things I liked about greenwood chair making. One of them is that there is a lot of working by hand and eye; a lot less obsession with tape measures and try square - if it looks right, it is right (or near enough). I decided that I'd like to make a "set" of chairs, though not exactly a matching set; the plan is to make them match in the sense of being all the same materials (Ash and seagrass), same height and overall size and proportion, but each in a different style. So my second chair is to be a ladder back.
Here's some of the pole lathe turned components. I haven't taken many pictures as I went along this time, because the methods are much the same as I used in the earlier project.
From the top, front stretcher with twiddly bits, front seat rail, then side rails x 4. There are a few bits missing here, although there is a lot less turnery in this one than the spindle back. Here the back will be made from slats cleft from a log, and left to dry before planing to thickness.
For the spindleback, I made all the rails and stretchers the same shape, like the front seat rail here (2nd down). This time I'm doing it differently; the seat rails stay the same for ease of seat weaving, but for the other rails, I've kept the centre at 24mm diameter with a smooth taper down to the tenon. I tried this on a stool and liked the look of it, but it has another couple of advantages - without the well defined shoulder, you can trim them slightly to length without it being visually apparent - useful for adjusting them to meet the steam-bent legs. You can see that there are two pairs at different lengths to accomodate the expected outward curve of the back legs, but steam bending is not a precise science an a bit of wriggle room is good.
The other advantage is efficient use of wood; to get the parallel rail, I need to split the billet into pieces a bit bigger than 24mm over the full length to be sure to get a piece without the odd flat facet left on it after turning. But with the tapered version, if the split runs off line a bit, or there is a slight curve to the piece, I can still use it if the middle is fat enough to get the 24mm thickest part, and the ends are not too thin.
Another thing I like about green woodworking is how quickly you can go from a pile of components to something close to a finished chair - it is just a matter of boring holes with a hand brace and whacking it together with a big mallet ! On Sunday afternoon and an hour yesterday I put it all together:
What remains now is to trim the back legs to length; they are left about 1/2" too long at the bottom (for levelling) and there is maybe an excess 2" at the top (makes it less likely to split during the fitting of the back slats). It will need oiling, waxing, and then a seat weaving.
For the spindle back I followed a Clisset design as detailed in Jack Hill's Country Chair Making - an excellent book that makes complexity seem plain. For this design I took some ideas from Mike Abbott's Going with the Grain - notably the bending of the back legs. The Clissett designs have a sharpish bend near the seat level, and are curved straight back, so the back legs are parallel when viewed from the front. This one has the back legs bent in a continuous arc using a former which is a 45" radius circular arc. The legs are fitted rotated by 20 degrees, so that the rear legs and the back flare outwards a bit, lending a little extra stability, a wider back at shoulder height, and (I think) a more elegant look. it also makes judging the drilling angles for the joints a bit more tricky :?
which was great fun but still preferred green woodworking which is a lot better for the lungs :lol: 
