The Great Morris Chair project

[Brian William]

Wow, just beautiful. That will be an heirloom for sure. What are you going to do for the upholstery. I hope mine turns out as half as good. Hope the back is on the mend Walt. Cheers

[John Dodson]

Absolutely gorgeous! What stand out for me in your pics is the crisp lines -- you did not over round the edges. Great job Walt!

[Kevin L. Pauba]

I have to improve my skills quite a bit before I try building one. Yours, Walt, truly inspires me to keep working on those skills.

[David Gendron]

Wow Walt, this chaire is outstanding! It look perfect ! the arme lames... you did a great job at the grain selection!
Great work!

[John Thompson]

Afternoon Walt... as you know I stay busy in my own shop and really haven't had time to catch the enormous amount of post in this one even though I try to comment congrats on every project posted here. But.. perhaps it is time for me to make my comment!

This is an outstanding example of both execution.. grain selection as that is as good of a job as I have ever seen hand selecting just the right piece of grain texture for every component... and the finish. I don't know what else to say as with this thread about every thing that could be said has been said and possibly more than once.

So to sum it up with a couple of simple words that paint a very large picture..

A STEP ABOVE OUTSTANDING on all phases of this piece!

Regards...

[Brian William]

it's time to shape the arms on the chair. I'm not sure which is the best way to go. Laminating or steam bending. What do you pro's suggest. I do have the means to steam bend them. Just not sure if it's the best method or not. Yeah, I know pics are coming. lol. Thanks for the help.
Brian.

[Ben Martin]

it's time to shape the arms on the chair. I'm not sure which is the best way to go. Laminating or steam bending. What do you pro's suggest. I do have the means to steam bend them. Just not sure if it's the best method or not. Yeah, I know pics are coming. lol. Thanks for the help.
Brian.

If I had to do it again I would try my hand at steam bending. The plastic resin glue was not only very difficult to find, but also very very sharp after you pull the part off the form. I had to wear gloves while handling my arms before I got the glue trimmed off because I kept cutting myself. I also had some issues with snipe when trying to plane my laminates down to 1/4" thickness.

Or, maybe I just want to try something different! I will get another chance to try bending the arms and think that I will give steam a shot when I build my "stretch limo Morris" as Walt called it...

(DISCLAIMER: This is my first MAJOR project, so take anything I say with a grain of salt. )

[gary Zimmel]

Hi Brian.

Walt, Nathan and I all cold bent the arms.
After doing the first one the second was not that big of deal.
This is one time when you will use all your clamps.
Doesn't matter how many you have they will all come in handy...
Wipe as much of the glue squeeze out as you can.
This will make final sizing a lot easier.

If the planer is going to give you some snipe on those first couple of inches just make them longer so you can cut them off.

As Walt would say, On We Roll....

[Ben Martin]

Brian (and all future people to work on the American Furniture Design Morris),

I just wanted to point out that the plans (and the FWW article image) show incorrect locations for the through tenons on the arms. They depict the front tenon being 4" from the front of the arm and it is actually 2" from the front of the arm (in the writing of the article it says this and also by measuring on the plan you will get that). Just wanted to let you know before you layout your tenons incorrectly, DAMHIKT.

(The tenon is 2" from the front of the arm and the arm sits 1 5/8" in front of the leg.)

On a side note, I am actually following the lay-out scheme used in the FWW videos (with the exception of making the template from my arm) and it is working really well.

All,

I am planning on not going with through tenons on my arm because I thinking that they would be irritating to deal with. Not only uncomfortable on the arms but I also enjoy sitting down with a cold beverage every now and then and I think that they would get in the way. I would appreciate anyone else comments good/bad about my decision?

[Brian William]

Hi Ben, thanks for the heads up on the tenons (measurements). I was thinking the same thing on the through tenons for the arms. I think I would probably find them to get in the way. I just steam bent one of the arms. It came out of the steam box like rubber,well not exactly. But it sure conformed to the bending form pretty easy. I think this is the way to go,worked great. Sure a lot less work than the laminating. Thanks again.
Brian.

[Ben Martin]

Hi Ben, thanks for the heads up on the tenons (measurements). I was thinking the same thing on the through tenons for the arms. I think I would probably find them to get in the way. I just steam bent one of the arms. It came out of the steam box like rubber,well not exactly. But it sure conformed to the bending form pretty easy. I think this is the way to go,worked great. Sure a lot less work than the laminating. Thanks again.
Brian.

When you get around to posting pictures I would love to see some of your steam box set-up and how you are bending the arms.

[Dean Karavite]

Walt, your chair is perfect. I ordered my plans and have been thinking things through, but seeing your chair has convinced me to work more on my skills on tenons and the bandsaw before I dive into it. I'm sure it is posted further back, but I'm really interested in how you finished this. Funny, but when I think about making this chair, the finish is what scares me the most.

[Brian William]

Hi Ben, the steam box is 12"x12" and four feet long. Your going to laugh at this. But I used my wifes pressure cooker. Then ran a hose from the spigot on the top of the lid to the steam box. It has a hinged lid on the top of it. Boy did that sucker ever produce steam.Worked like a charm. I left the wood in there for, oh about 1 hr 20 min.then clamped it to the form.Suprising even after 45 minutes the arms were still warm after being clamped down. I happen to be talking to a gentleman down in Pa,somewhere down there. He's restoring two Morris chairs that FDR used in his dorm rooms while at Harvard. He told me to leave the wood clamped to the form for 5 days,that way spring back will be virtually eliminated. Here's a link to his site.
http://homes.midmaine.com/~shaffer/index.html
He mentioned that in steam bending you have to be a little more patient before removing steam bent parts from a bending form. Guess that makes sense. Hope I don't get in trouble for the link. Cheers,have a good one.
Brian.

[Walt Caza]

Good Day 'M' Chair Fanatics,
Boatloads of activity in this thread this week.
Good show. I'm gonna make a few responses, but spaced out.

Brian, my understanding of the Creek TOS says that if you are not going to profit, links to other sites are allowed.
So, you should be ok. Plus, your link is tasty variety for Morris fans, and right on point.

You inadvertently solved the persistent puzzle!
Back in posts #238 and 241 of the GMC thread, Rick Phelan of Alberta asked about some alleged Morris chair hardware. (as seen here)

We scratched our collective noodle, but all he got was quiet and crickets.
Your link to Larry Shaffer's intriguing website with a different flavour of Morris chairs, answers the question.

These metal brackets are confirmed to be Morris chair recline mechanisms for a specific style of chair.

We had our suspicions... but now we know. cool

Larry forges his own version of this hardware, and his site also points to a couple of sources of such hardware.
http://www.kennedyhardware.com/solid...-brackets.html
Nothing gained by me, so I can post this link.
Larry refers to these brackets with a very catchy name... backracks! (often used with a brass backbar)

It is my understanding that Rick P is stealth building his own Morris chair.
Not sure if he will employ these brackets, but I remain hopeful we will someday get a peek at his finished chair.
Are you out there, Rick?

Refresher:
Rick was building a Stickley drop-arm spindle chair in QSWoak with plans from American Furniture design he got through Lee Valley.
If you're still lurking along, check in and say hello?

Back to Brian, steam bending has not been applied so far in this ongoing adventure.
We'd all enjoy pics of your set-up and process.
Interesting and insightful tip from a real pro about leaving steam-bent pieces on the form for longer to minimize springback.

Now, I know you're just bein' folksy and friendly... but quit callin' us hobby guys 'pros'. hehe

Myself, I am wild about the front-leg tenon poking up though the arm detail.
When they are done with a not-too-tall pyramid, I think they are a proud detail,(weak pun) and a knock-out.
That said, back when Gary and I were kicking around chair designs we might build... it was a detail we agreed to be sexy.
We also considered that the tenon coincides with hand and/or beverage position.
Nowhere to hide, with that joint... I could see someone foregoing it for both those reasons. We must all run our own race.

As for my own cushion upholstery, I have purchased my 15-year foam (best quality) and
have my upholsterer on standby.
I have browsed endless samples of fabrics, high-end vinyl and leather.
My early vision was to do a dark chair, with lighter cushions.
I had a source for real William Morris fabric patterns out of Ann Arbor, Michigan... but they might be gone now.IIRC
I am still all shrugs on this decision?? stay tuned for updates...

Brain, please let us know how much arm springback you end up with?
and also, are you bending your arms as a single piece? How thick?
You're really teasing us with no pics.(yet!)
wondrous variety is spicing up this lil thread,
Walt

ps I dropped Larry Shaffer a note, to let him know he was mentioned here...

[Glenn Clabo]

MAN!!!! OH MAN!!! Nice stuff. Bad backs and stuff becomes you.

Has it snowed in bew-tee-full Windsor yet?