Oak Chair - Joinery Complete

[John15]

Just completed my first dining chair - 3 more to go (maybe). It wasn't the ordeal I had imagined. Even the angled tenons fitted well. I deliberately kept the design simple, using PS's Masterclass example as a guide but much lighter than his as no robust use expected - no lower leg rails for example and all pieces reduced in cross section. I've applied 2 coats of Osmo Polyx matt - not sure if one more is needed. I may pay someone to upholster the seat as I've no experience in that sort of thing.

Edit: Sorry about black line - no idea where it came from!


John

 

[custard]

Superb job John! =D>

And it's brilliant to see someone tackling a chair on the forum, I take my hat off to you.

It's probably sensible to use an upholsterer for the seats, I'm happy to pay them to do the job because they're better at it than I am. However, when it comes to drop-in seating like this, then I do provide them with a 12 or 15mm ply insert that's individually fitted for each seat. The reason being that's a job I can do better than the upholsterer.

Take the thickness of the seat covering material with some callipers, add 0.5mm, then leave this gap all around. I normally start with a tightly scribed ply insert then pencil in and remove the required relief. Personally I prefer to just put a rebate in the side and front rails (I only rebate the back rail if it's curved), but there are simpler ways of doing the job.

I can't see clearly from the photo, but the corner blocks should be scribed, glued and screwed, with the screws perpendicular to the rails they're being screwed into. Again it's a personal thing, but I prefer to support the drop in seat on the rebate rather than the corner blocks, so position my corner blocks 0.5-1.0mm below the bottom of the rebate.

I think you've done absolutely the right thing keeping the weight down, once a chair goes over about 5Kg it becomes increasingly awkward to use. Okay if you're a beefy young bloke or you have loads of servants, but with a heavier chair your elderly grandmother would need help every time she wants to sit or stand.

I hope you've been bitten with the chair making bug and decide to try something more challenging, if so don't hesitate to shout if you need any help! Once again, congratulations on a first class job.

 

[stuartpaul]

Nice bit of work John. I like the way curved rails help 'lighten' a piece, - something I do quite a lot.

Have to admit I chickened out and bought a set, - mainly because it would have taken me ages to make a full set.

 

[John15]

Many thanks Custard for your comments and tips. I had intended to support the seat on the corner braces a la PS method - he used 18mm ply. Depending on cost I'm leaning towards getting the upholstery done professionally, especially if I make another three.

John

 

[John15]

Nice bit of work John. I like the way curved rails help 'lighten' a piece, - something I do quite a lot.

Have to admit I chickened out and bought a set, - mainly because it would have taken me ages to make a full set.

Thanks Stuart. Agreed, the curve to the underside of the rails has a pleasing effect. The Crest Rail and Lower Back Support also have horizontal curves which don't show up well on the photos. Regarding time taken, I was surprised how quickly it came together. Marking out took some thinking about but otherwise it was very straightforward.

John

 

[custard]

I had intended to support the seat on the corner braces a la PS method - he used 18mm ply.

If you've sized the job for 18mm then fair enough, but honestly 18mm is just adding weight for no benefit as 12 or 15mm are perfectly adequate. No matter, the important thing is to drill four or five holes in the ply base. Otherwise, once the foam is added, sitting on the chair would be like wobbling around on a Space Hopper!

 

[John15]

Thanks Custard

John

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

That's lovely work John.

The wife has just asked "how soon for a set of six?" :shock:

Obi Wan ccasion5:

 

[John15]

Thanks Obi. A set of six is a big job. I've decided to make another 3 to give me a set of 4 which will be plenty.

John

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Thanks Obi. A set of six is a big job. I've decided to make another 3 to give me a set of 4 which will be plenty.

John

Oh dear, looks like I'm going to be busy improving my skills and making chairs for the foreseeable future :shock:

OWK ccasion5:

 

[thetyreman]

great job john, the joints look really tight, and I like the choice of grain and colour =D>

 

[John15]

Thanks thetyreman. Regarding colour, it just happened that I used some old stock that was lying around, dark for the legs and a lighter shade for the rails and slats.

John

 

[Racers]

Very nice,

I made 4 chairs in a week, then a couple of years I made another two, that also took me a week!

Pete

 

[John15]

Thanks Pete.
Yes, economy of time when making several at once. Makes sense.

John

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Nice bit of work John. I like the way curved rails help 'lighten' a piece

I also like your curves. A simple design that looks just right beats an overly fancy one IMHO. Nice job.

 

[John15]

Cheers Tony. There are 3 different radii on the rails - all around the metre mark. I shaped them using a bandsaw, spokeshave and sandpaper (abranet).

John