Replies

1. 
   rslatm | Jul 10, 2003 05:06pm | #1

   Shouldn't you be asking her what kind of chairs she wants?
1. 
   rreeger | Jul 10, 2003 05:15pm | #2

   No Rick...

   He wants to make two sets...  The first set, as encouraged by those here on the forum...  Then the set his wife wants!   :-)

2. 
   k9s | Jul 10, 2003 05:15pm | #3

   Ken--I just built my first set of chairs. The first required "tool" is a good book. I bought Chairmaking & Design by Jeff Miller. I'm sure others will chime in with other recommendations. Besides an excellent tutorial on the techniques involved in chairmaking this book has several plans, from simple to complex, to illustrate the techniques discussed.--Bruce

1. 
   kenewald | Jul 10, 2003 10:41pm | #4

   Bruce, I ordered Chairmaking & Design.  Thank you.

   Good books can be hard to find.

3. 
   Elcoholic | Jul 11, 2003 12:41am | #5

   I second Jeff Miller's book and finding out what she wants.

   Most Arts and Crafts dining chairs are pretty straight forward and very sturdy.   The Harvey Ellis designed Stickley's with slip cushions are simple to build.  Since the seats dont' need to be tapered or raked there's no compound angles to deal with.  The curved back rails can be bandsawn from 8/4, or made as bent laminations or steam bent.  QSWO is one of the sweetest steam bending woods you'll ever meet.  There's many A&C designs from G. Stickley and Popular Mechanics in print that were specifically designed for the home craftsman.  If you live near a Homestead House furniture store you'll find Stickley chairs there.

   When it came to pleasing the "visualizationally challenged" wife we were getting nowhere on paper.  We went shopping and found a poorly made but otherwise pleasing chair after 6 stores so I bought one for $150.  I took it home and knocked it apart for patterns, added length to most parts for M&T joints, formed and laminated all the simple and complex curved parts and made a set of eight in nice Mahogany.

   John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking

   Life is tough.  It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne

1. 
   kenewald | Jul 11, 2003 01:16am | #6

   I like this idea.  Building exactly from drawings is a little frustrating for me.  I don't think I've ever made anything that actually turned out looking like the drawing.  Honestly, I should attribute that to changing the design due to my own stupid mistakes, among other things.

   A pattern would really help.

   Thanks,

   -Ken

4. 
   RW | Jul 11, 2003 01:48am | #7

   I'll third the book. My first attempt at chairs was mostly just the idea of "how hard can it be?". I didn't have any real design in mind or clue about any "rules" so to speak of chair building. I just took some shapes and started clamping things together to see if I liked the look. When I got where I wanted, I took some measurements, and did a test run. It wasn't too shabby. Wife liked it ok, so I did a set of four.

   It made me realise how much I didn't know, which is sometimes the best teacher. I have the chairs still and they look respectable to just about anyone, but not many people through my place are exactly discerning when it comes to woodworking. They're sturdy, I'll give them that. But they also weigh about 45lbs a piece, which in hindsight is a PITA to scoot across the carpet. I also think they look a little too bulky.

   But my 2 cents is grab scrap and a sketch pad. Pin nail things or clamp them into the idea in your head. It will help you to visualise. You can take something you like as a pattern. The sitting height of one is different than another. You're making it for you, so make it fit you. Draw on it, adjust it, see what strikes you. Books are great for answering the questions you develop, but sometimes the best way to get them is to just dive in to the trial by fire and find out the hard way. Besides, it's more fun.

   "The child is grown / The dream is gone / And I have become / Comfortably numb "      lyrics by Roger Waters

5. 
   jackiechan | Jul 11, 2003 07:20am | #8

   Ken,

   When designing your chair(s) there are two things that will greatly assist in the lay out and construction.  The first is actually just the taking of a measurement.  If the chairs will be used at a dining room table (as an example), place a seat that makes you the most comfortable and sit down.  Measure the distance from the floor to the back side of your knee (while seated).  Use this for the height of the chair's seating surface.  This chair height is customized to your body specifically, so you may want to adjust it to accommodate other people (not too tall, not too short). 

   The second is to make a story stick/template.  Lay out key pieces of the chair onto 1/4" plywood or tempered hard board.  Sand and file the template to the precise dimensions of what you'd like the finished piece to be.  Measure and mark all the necessary aspects that will go on that part (e.g. mortise location & dimensions, back support locations, etc...).  Once this is laid out precisely, all you have to do is place it on the wood stock, mark all locations for each component right off the story stick, and build away!

   The use of a story stick provides a speeded up lay out process, as well as accurate repeatability when making multiple units (chairs). 

   I've enclosed a rough design for a story stick.

   If you have any additional questions, please feel free to ask!

   Dan Kornfeld, Owner/President - Odyssey Wood Design, Inc.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 7/11/2003 12:21:39 AM ET by Jackie Chan

   
   

   ---

   Edited 7/11/2003 12:22:25 AM ET by Jackie Chan

   
1. 
   DavidP52 | Jul 11, 2003 11:11pm | #9

   I'm no expert and not picking nits here, but I thought a story stick was two sticks used to measure large inside dimensions. Your graphic is what I'd call a pattern.

1. 
   jackiechan | Jul 12, 2003 03:59am | #11

   Boatman,

   You're thinking of a Pinch Rod - two rods (or thin flat pieces of wood) joined through a sliding block with a thumb screw to secure the two at different measurements.  Lee Valley/Veritas make what they call Bar Gauge Heads, which is the locking mechanism between two flat wooden strips.

   View Image

   (You cut the wood to any length that's needed.) 

   A Story Stick is any piece of material (usually wood) that you mark specific measurements or directions onto for a particular project.  This makes laying out  the different pieces of a project fast and easy.  Instead of having to make repetitive measurements on each piece - increasing the margin of measuring error - the measurements are transferred from the story stick directly onto the work piece.  Specific directions could be marked on the stick (e.g. "a haunched tenon here...") that would further speed up the layout process.

   You are correct about the graphic that I provided, it is a Pattern as well as a Story Stick (in my previous post I referred to it as a Story Stick/Template).  One tool for two jobs.  Tracing around it will give you the shape of the piece to be cut, and without moving it, all measurements (i.e. joint locations, etc...) can be transferred to the work piece at the same time.  Markings and measurements can also be made on both sides of a Story Stick to provide the necessary set up for the left and right sides of a project.

   Dan Kornfeld, Owner/President - Odyssey Wood Design, Inc.

   Edited 7/12/2003 12:52:56 PM ET by Jackie Chan

6. 
   weasel | Jul 12, 2003 02:38am | #10

   I just went through this exercise.  I posted here and I think it was ELCOHOLIC (sp?) who recommended Jeff Miller's book.  It was the best money I could have spent!

   Then I set to building a mock up out of spruce.  She Who Must Be Obeyed could not decide on the rough model, so I took it to and upholstery shop to have it padded as the finished chair would be.  That gained the necessary approval and away I went, building 8 chairs out of walnut.  We just got them back from the upholstery shop last week and they turned out even better than we dreamed!  They look like a million bucks!

   I know I said I would not post my work in the gallery, these I intend to post.  That is how happy I am with these!

   Depending on the chairs we saw in the stores, they ended up costing from 1/6 to 1/4 the cost of store bought and I am sure that the quality is better.  Go for it, get the book, build one for $10 out of spruce/pine etc. and have fun!

1. 
   KevinLBS | Jul 12, 2003 05:51am | #12

   Weasel-

   I would love it if you posted pictures of your chairs. I just ordered this book this afternoon. We could use some encouragement from seeing your chairs!!

   Thanks,

   Kevin

1. 
   Biscardi | Jul 14, 2003 03:31am | #13

   My very first project was... a Queen Anne Chair. Kind of like Orvile and Wilbur starting off on a 747. I never made anything before that . I did it sitting in the kitchen of my first apartment with  a Buck knife, spoke shave and handsaw.

   It was terrible.

   Evertytime I sat on it you could hear another dowel break. It was made of poplar and stained walnut. After fourteen years in a closet, I took it to the dump. I was about to drop it into the conveyour at the  transfer station when one of the dump workers said, "Hand that over here, somebody may want to take that home".

   I was vindicated.

   Frank

7. 
   GJMID2 | Jul 15, 2003 06:21am | #14

   Hi Ken---Here are a few pictures that are samples of the variety of chairs you can make.