I have finished 6 chairs along the lines by K. Rodel in FWW #190. First time to make chairs and it was a challenge.
My problem – all are glued up and some all 4 legs hit a flat floor perfectly. 3 do not. Something is out of kilter, so two legs at opposite corners sit a bit higher and I can rock the the chair on the other two corners by about 1/4 inch.
First -the fix – I am planning to saw off an 1/8″ on the two ‘taller’ legs and see if that does the trick. Any other suggestions?
Second – any opinions on what I may have done incorrectly? I can say that all the pieces were milled exactly the same, the joints may be off some but not much I don’t think. I did have some twist in the back legs on a few pieces but during glue up everything went together…
Thanks
Dan
Replies
Trim a leg..
By adding a shim or two under the "short" leg(s) until the chair sits level. Next take a compass, and set it about the same height as the tallest set of shims. Mark all the other legs to this setting, and trim off the "excess". Test the chair again to see if that did the trick.
As for the "why did it happen" question. Bad "vibes that day? Sometimes in theglue-up, a leg will shift just a bit. The "foot might move in, out, or to the side just enough to change that legs height. Sometimes, i'll place a block between the leg assemblies as I glue things up. Just a block of wood that matches the distance between two legs, and the same as the rail that you are gluing up. As you clamp the rail, also clamp the block.
are you that your floor is level.
make sure that you have a level surface to check your chairs on..table saw tops are fine just if they are true( check for trueness as lots aren't). when you glue up the first sets which I presume were frts and backs you may have gotten a twist in them. did you check to see if both the frt and rear sets of legs were true to each other(in the same plane); this will cause a twist if the are not and cause that unevenness that you are talking about
if a rung doesn't go all of the way in upon gluing; that will also give you that problem
ron
Level
Dan,
When you glue up a chair - as Sid mentions - the top of the table saw is a good place.
Glue it and leave it up there making sure all 4 legs touch until it drys.
If you glue multiples - go ahead and use the floor - it's not a mistake if a leg or two need some filing to get them even. Even the best glue up with legs requires attention to level out perfectly
SA
Dan,
In clamping the chairs up, if you allow one end or the other of the clamp to drop a little lower, that is, not parallel with the rail, you can clamp the legs slightly out of aprallel. While this technique-clamping on the diagonal- is frequently used to pull out-of-square frames back into square, it is easy to inadvertantly let it happen to pull assemblies out of square.
The remedy I use is to put a scrap of 1/4" plywood or 1/8" masonite large enough to accomodate two of the chair's legs on the tablesaw top, and put the chair on the plywood. Then use a handsaw, held flat on the plywood, to saw off the bottom of the long leg, one saw-kerf at a time. Repeat as needed to level the chair.
Ray
In almost all cases, only one leg is longer than the others. If you have a perfectly flat surface and good measuring device you can frequently determine which leg is out of whack.
Don't try to correct it all at once or you will likely take off too much. Take off only about 1/2 the difference using a saw. Then go to a hand process described below.
We made lots of chairs in the shop I was involved with. The way we "fixed" uneven legs was to glue or otherwize affix 80 grit sandpaper to a flat assembly table in a position that allowed all legs to be on the table at the same time with the "long" leg on the sandpaper. Then our biggest guy would grasp the offending leg and, applying downword pressure, sand the bottom the leg moving the whole chair. Stop frequently, move the offending leg off the paper and see if the rocking is gone. Keep at it until the chair stops rocking. It generally only took 5 or 10 minutes to true up the chair.
Be real careful of you will go beyond where you need to be. That will mean you will have three long legs and maybe a children's chair before you are done
Chair legs - 4 on the floor
Gentlemen,
Thanks for your ideas and thoughts. A couple of the chairs had small leg height issues so I used Howie's 80 grit sandpaper approach on my table saw top. Worked like a charm within 5 minutes. 2 chairs had bigger issues. Using the table saw top I tried 3 legs at a time on the top with the 4th leg overhanging the side. Using this method I could figure out which leg was causing the most trouble. Then used my plunge cutting circular saw to trim an 1/8 or less and finished with the sandpaper approach. Only tricky part was having a solid base for the circular saw to sit on while plunging but was able to jury-rig a quick temporary solution.
Thanks again all.
Dan
leveling chair legs
Dan, I have used a zero clearance table saw inset. With the blade barely above the surface(1/32 ?) and the chair with all four legs on the table saw top, scoot the long chair legs over the saw blade. Check the levelness of the chair frequently on the table top. If the saw blade is too high some chip-out may occur. I have used this many times and it works great. Bob
When I do anything with legs like tables and chairs, I make sure all of the joints are flush and tight and do the glue up one a flat assembly table. When everything is cured, I set the product on the table saw and level the top with shims, then mark the longer legs for trimming. This is usually a bit of block plane, sanding, or pull saw work. No one, not even your most fanatical wood working friends, would notice that 1/8" difference in leg height. It is not worth my time to fuss over something I can fix in five minutes.
When in manufacturing of hardwood colonial chairs we had a flat steel plate with a disk sander flush with the plate and run every chair over the plate sanding away from the longer leg.
Sounds like a handy gizmo. Might be able to clamp a belt sander in a face vise for the same effect.
Yes very handy when you make 200 chairs per day !
That is a common problem.
I recommend a trick that I learned from Christian Becksvoort. Place the chair on a flat surface, put shims under the shorter legs to prevent rocking and to ensure relative balance, then tape a pencil to a piece of scrap wood, about 1/2", then trace around all four legs. Cut all four legs at the line and file smooth.
The result should be nice and even legs.
I just saw this simple technique for leveling chair legs on youtube the other day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZFDo1f2tQs
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