I want to make a chair

[John Keeling]

Does anyone out there make chairs? I don't want a Welsh Stick or Windsor type chair. I want to make a nice set of birch or maple chairs to go around my kitchen table. I can do a pretty passable rendition of a M&T joint and was looking for some ideas and maybe plans etc.

I have a couple of articles by John Bullar from Furniture and Cabinetmaking magazine but they fall just a little short of building my first one. I can't recall having seen any books which really cover it, but may be wrong, except for inspiration from Sam Maloof, and Nakashima...

Norm Abrams has a 'side chair', looks kinda Federal Style, which is a little fancier than I wanted to go, but toning down is usually not a problem.

Any other ideas?

Thankyou

John

[Tim Sproul]

I can do a pretty passable rendition of a M&T joint and was looking for some ideas and maybe plans etc.

I canna help you with plans....but either drawbore or wedged tenon (can do blind to avoid visible joinery if like or through for visible joinery). I've seen lots (can't say countless as I don't think I'm quite old enough for that ) of chairs with standard mortise and tenon joinery where a tenon worked it's way loose. With the stresses a chair encounters, the adhesive is bound to fail. That said....I'd also choose an easily renewable adhesive like hide glue.

[Matthew Dworman]

Hi John - I would highly recomend taking a class. Chairs a re a completely different animal than most other furniture. I took a couple classes with Mike Dunbar at the Windor Institute and really enjoyed it.

http://www.thewindsorinstitute.com/

NH isn't that far from you if you can take a week off...

[Mark Singer]

Chairs are difficult...I have made many...here are my dining chairs from walnut. I will be doing a chair in an open SMC thread to share soon...that may help. I can help you throught the general construction....

[Jim Becker]

Jeff Miller's Chairmaking & Design (Taunton Press - ISBN 1-56158-158-5) is a good text to ponder and there is a complimentary video available. I found it quite useful in preparing for the dining chairs...I have yet to complete...

[John Miliunas]

Chairs are difficult...I have made many...here are my dining chairs from walnut. I will be doing a chair in an open SMC thread to share soon...that may help. I can help you throught the general construction....

So Mark, when are you going to go the Bill Grumbine route and produce your own instructional video??? I'd like to pre-order my copy now!

[Mark Singer]

John,
No to complicated....I wasjust going to build one and document like my coopered bath cabinet. Drawings and prototypes are essential....the biggest issue is comfort , the human form and proper dimensions are a key element .Experience of what to avoid ...like backs hitting in the wrong spot....forward cant...Other issues are skewed tenons...but I have a simple solution.
A chair should never look like you were afraid to handle the proper geometry and made it boxey....it should splay and celebrate the chair makers art....the spokeshave , the rasp, fluid lines and comfort...a curved back, a raked seat...to look like it is for people

[John Miliunas]

John,
No to complicated....I wasjust going to build one and document like my coopered bath cabinet. Drawings and prototypes are essential....the biggest issue is comfort , the human form and proper dimensions are a key element .Experience of what to avoid ...like backs hitting in the wrong spot....forward cant...Other issues are skewed tenons...but I have a simple solution.
A chair should never look like you were afraid to handle the proper geometry and made it boxey....it should splay and celebrate the chair makers art....the spokeshave , the rasp, fluid lines and comfort...a curved back, a raked seat...to look like it is for people

OK, in that case, I'll take the DVD instructional video AND the measured drawings!

[Alan Turner]

Not the style you are looking for, I suspect, and I don't know if you could dumb it down for your purposes, but there is a neandrethal article in FWW in the early 80's by Gene Langdon on doing a ladder back straight legged Chippendale DR chair. It might be helpful to you in that it has many techniquess, and has the right angles, proportions, etc., for a classic chair. I have been tempted to give it a go, but time is not avail. right now.

[John Keeling]

Thanks for the feedback. I was surprised until I started researching and realized the complexity how little there was out there for designing/building a chair. I spoke to John Bullar who did Furniture and Cabinetmaking magazines articles and his advice was basically design for function first, form next and don't build a new design without a prototype.

I think i'm going to use a basic design that he showed in one of the three articles and go from there. And Marc, I look forward to your thread too.

I am going to begin with something relatively standard and go from there. May consider the Windsor chair class, but I don't know how much it will help with a less traditional chair. And thans Jim, I had done a search on Amazon and come up blank on chair making books. Must have missed something in the string.

Thanks again.

John

[Mark Singer]

John,

Make small sketchs and then full size drawings. You need top, side , ront and rear view. The drawings should be duplicated on a large copier. The front and side view will determine the aprons and front legs . The key to mst chair making is the front legs and front apron are made to be glued up as a unit. A dry fit of the entire chair should be done using band clamps , bungies or tape. The rear legs , apron and back are made to be glued up as a second section. Once the front section and rear section are made shaped glued and shaped again to final form, they are joined by the side aprons. These are skewed in plan view and require angled tenons or loose tenons and a jig set to the propper angle. This last glue up is easy since the front and rear sections are already finished sections. The above description is over simplified. The best technique is in Tage Frids "Furnituremaking". The chair he makes is a terrible rigid design, but the technique is excellent. It is universal and can be applied to almost any chair. It is similar to what Maloof does on most chairs. Plywood templates should be made of all the chair parts so they can be repeated. saw 1/8" over on the bandsaw and rout in a "sandwich" template...this makes all the parts the same shape. Then you hand shape by eye using spokeshave rasps and sanders. Maloof uses auto body tools for rough shapping...I use an angle grinder and 36 then 50 grit for concave backs. A face mask is important. Ihave had the discs break and fly like in a James Bond movie.

[Steve Jenkins]

Mark I think you answered my question in your last reply. are floating tenons okay to use in chairs?

[Mark Singer]

Steve, In all the tests they are just as strong. They should be since the material is the same, in fact make the loose tenons out of a stronger wood and it will increase the strength. It simplifies the joinery. I have used integral tenons , it is a little more work to fit the joint with shoulders. Still the skewed aprons are typically the hardest thing for some to grasp....a little trick and I am sure you know it, is to cut the apron tight to the outside leaving 1 degree gap on the inside....about a 32nd on the inside. This forces the outside tight as you join front to back. The tenon geomerty must also allow this to happen. Curved backes are rough cut on the bandsaw and trimmed after glue up to the back legs. I start with a chisel and knovk off the bulk then sanding , riflers, and finer sanding. The seat , if Upolstered should be a donought with strapping for comfort.

Mark I think you answered my question in your last reply. are floating tenons okay to use in chairs?