Shaping a chair seat

[TobyB]

I bought an elm seatblank to make a traditional-ish sort of carved seat (not got a bandsaw ... yet ...ordered one!) which I've started to work on.
Planed the top and bottom smooth to see the grain and decide which side will be which - no problems.
I've planned to a Veritas pullshave to carved the seat out - read the thread here suggesting an Arbotech to clear the worst - worried about lack of control - not sure how easy the pullshave will be to use either.
The sides though - tried a jack and a block plane for the slight convex curves of the front and back and they look OK. But the tighter curves of corners and the concave curves of the sides ... tried a spokeshave and got poor results with a lot of chatter in places ... tried push and pull strokes both perpendicular and oblique ...
The spokeshave is a cheap'n'cheerful Stanley 151 I've had lying around little used until now - scarey-sharpened as best I can.
I'm wondering if the problem is a bad workman using the completely wrong tool , a bad workman not using the right tool properly, or a bad workman using a poor tool?

 

[wizer]

Toby I think it's probably a mixture of bad spokeshave and bad technique. If you can upgrade the spoke shave then you'll probably find life easier. I love the Boggs shaves but the Veritas range come highly recommended.

As for scooping out the seat. You could make a jig for the router. I'll see if I can find some examples.

 

[Woodmagnet]

I don't have a solution for you Toby, but
i do have this, if you want to try it out for
a nice shape.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[wizer]

Here's one

 

[Chris Knight]

The Arbotech is more controllable than you might think, I used one for the seats of my rocking chairs. I also used an angle grinder with a coarse sanding disc.

The angle grinder is an excellent tool for chair seats. It makes a huge amount of dust though, so you will need good dust collection and a good dust mask.

I also used a curved Clifton spoke shave. This worked quite well and despite having a huge mouth was able to take quite fine shavings when necessary.

Before starting work, drill a series of holes in the blank to the depth required for the chair seat at that point. This makes it easy to remove wood in between without constant measuring.

 

[Tony Spear]

In the Chilterns (home of chairmaking) they used to use these:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Ochs ... -29843.htm

 

[wizer]

Chris, did you use the big abortech or the mini one?

On the large one you can set a depth of cut (or rather the aggressiveness) with the guard. I'd quite like the mini as the bid one can be a little unwieldy.

 

[Chris Knight]

Tom,
I used the big one.

 

[TobyB]

That's helpful - thanks for the link Tom - might make that jig, but think trying out the arbotech on some scrap could be a first line ... might also try the idea I found on a thread of hanging it from a line on the ceiling to get a controlled curve and limited depth of cut ...

Went to David C's book and was left thinking it might well be a bad workman with a bad tool ...

 

[Chris Knight]

. might also try the idea I found on a thread of hanging it from a line on the ceiling to get a controlled curve and limited depth of cut ...

Darwin Award candidate perhaps? :shock:

 

[TobyB]

Heh, no, it worked really well. Right hand on the body of the grinder for main control forward/back and side/side. String around grinder handle held by left hand, with thumb pressure on loop of string giving me a subtle amount of elevation/lowering.

Tried it out on an old bit of blockboard and it seemed to work.

Results on the chair seat even better ...

Blanked clamped into place, centred under string

Arbotech to clear wood

Pullshave to clean up (NOT an easy tool to use!)

Scraped - never used one so much, got really hot!

Now needs the edges/bottom shaping (thanks for the spokeshave hints Tom) and then sanding

I felt I had much more control with the suspended arbotech grinder than with my freehand experiments using the plastic guard as a depth tool, especially limited chances of diving deep, and it seemed safer rather than dangerous.

 

[JeremyM]

A travisher is a really useful tool inbetween the adze/arbotec and the scraper.See http://www.thewindsorworkshop.co.uk/Travisher.htm This one really works well.

Jeremy

 

[JeremyM]

A travisher is a really useful tool after the adze/arbotec and gets the shape fully formed and ready for scraping. This one by James Mursell works really wellhttp://www.thewindsorworkshop.co.uk/Travisher.htm

Jeremy

 

[Jonthepom]

The tool you need is a travisher, used by "bottom" makers in traditional chair manufacture.I went on a chair making course 3 years ago run by a North Lincs. craftsman called Tom Thackray.After just 5 days I came away with very respectable Windsor chair of which I am very proud, the last woodwork I did was at school back in 1962.The travisher really rips through the wood when working across the grain and I believe Tom makes them to sell, fashioning the plane body himself and has the irons made by a local retired blacksmith.Whilst I was there a friend of Toms came along and made the bottom of a double seat Windsor in one afternoon,to see this chap tear into the task was a sight to behold and certainly deserved his pint at the end of the day!

 

[Jonthepom]

Tom now has his own web site www.tomthackraywindsorchairs.co.uk his travisher can be seen and he does have them for sale.

 

[wizer]

Toby I've seen people either stick leather to the back of the card scraper or use leather thumb protectors. Either that or be a man

I was using card scrapers today actually. Very satisfying when you get them cutting right.

Chair building is something that intrigues me. I wish Mr Boggs would come back to the UK, that's one class I'd really like to take.

 

[Alf]

Those flat flexible magnets - often sold in strip form but easier to find as existing fridge magnets than in sheet form IME - make handy heat protectors for scrapers, fwiw. Or else lop off the finger ends from old gloves.

Regarding the Veritas pullshave, is there a review of same knocking about anywhere? I've never used one but am curious.

Looking good anyway, Toby. Making a chair was easily the steepest but most rewarding learning curve I ever went on. Enjoy.

Cheers, Alf

 

[big soft moose]

Either that or be a man

.

real men have pads of callus on their thumbs and forefingers so they dont notice the heat :lol:

 

[AndyT]

Toby,

Noting that you have posted this in the Hand Tools forum I'm a bit surprised that nobody has given you the proper traditional hand tool answer!

I did a green woodwork course a while ago at Clisset Wood (highly recommended btw) and we were shown the following:

To do preliminary hollowing, hold the seat by wedging it on a board on the ground, stand astride the board and use a long handled adze to chip out across the grain.

For smoothing to shape, use an inshave like this one from Classic Hand Tools:

You could then use a travisher for final smoothing.

For the outside edge, yes, a spokeshave is the right tool, but get some old wooden ones - which have a much lower effective angle - and make sure they are razor sharp.

Andy

 

[TobyB]

Went to Harrogate and had a play with various things. Came away with a Ray Iles inshave, and a travisher from Tom Thackray ... the latter works fantastically well, made a great pile of shavings without too much effort and left a clean surface without tearout ... much better than I achieved on my first effort! (the 4-legged one on the right)

Wondering about doing a Thackray course now ...