Chair making

[Cottonwood]

The thing with the woodwork trade and industry/media people is they want you to get the gadgets they promote.
The thing with a tennon cutter is that the only thing it will do is cut tennons. Less is more.
Its not a versatiil tool like an axe, draw knife, a spokeshave or even a puukko knife is. Did no one ever stop to think why a knife is one of the main standard tools of scandinavian wood workers, aside from their axe's?
Just using a few classic, culturally universal, basic, time honoured tools such as axe, knife, auger you can do just about anything, split logs, rough shape legs, seats, combs, spindles, arms etc The vikings didnt use much more than that to build ocean going ships :idea: .

To get the diameter on a dried round tenon all you need do is place a brace and bit with the required round mortice diameter on the centre of the tennon, and give 2 or 3 turns, enough to scribe a circle, then whittle to that.

 

[Nick Gibbs]

The thing with the woodwork trade and industry/media people is they want you to get the gadgets they promote.

I don't think that's entirely fair. I'm a great advocate of spokeshaving, as people will have seen at shows. I'd happily recommend one of the tiny spokeshaves I sell, but I think to get a child going, a tenon cutter is an excellent introduction and helps to get good results quickly. It certainly helped teaching my daughter, though most of her woodworking was done with a spokeshave. It was only a suggestion, and no one else had mentioned it.

 

[AndyT]

The OP said his daughter is 'a grown lady'.

 

[Bigdanny]

Hi Reg,
I reckon you should book yourself a holiday to the states. Book into a course to make Maloof Chairs, either rocker or lowback. While there you can stock up on various tools that you may need and routers cutters and order some liogier rasps from France, you will need. Depending on finances maybe take your daughter or when you return you will be able to teach her how to make them.

If you're making a chair make a good one.

Danny

 

[Cottonwood]

helps to get good results quickly.

Theres the whole point. It takes a hefty investment of time and practise to develop manual skills, particularly in a present day culture which is in many ways dismissive of or hostile to the notion of manual work. It seems to be the case that modern day people get impatient, and want instant results, gratification etc, because thats the nature of the information technology inter-netted age we now inhabit.

No offense intended to any particular person, but folk come on forums like this one "hi I'm new to woodworking, I work in IT, but I want to build a rowing boat, or a windmill (or whatever project it might be) I have no experience, I got some pass me down tools from my Uncle jim, and machine mart, what tips do you sudgest, how do you cut the long bits....?)

I used to teach drumming, people would come in "oh I want to play solos like B Cobham or L Ulrich." They would get seriously insulted or offended-and look at me strange when I said yeah ok, but lets forget that for now, lets work on rudiments and time keeping first. Its the same with woodwork, people want a quick fix, thats why the gadgets are so popular I suppose :|

 

[Nick Gibbs]

I only meant that it helps to get people going, and they work really well alongside spokeshaves and drawknives, which are two of the most dextrous and tactile of tools. The guys I taught in the woods loved being able to form a tenon quickly, but they actually spent far more time on a shaving horse with hand tools. The tenon cutter helped break the proverbial ice, and reduced their resistance to trying something new. Some used it, some chose to work only by hand.