Reproduciton Campaign Chair

[Don C Peterson]

We sometimes like to do "living history" re-enactment as a family at Old Missouri Town 1855. But there are precious few places to sit that are more comfortable than the ground. So a while ago I started doing research on chairs of the period. Of course I could have made a Windsor or Ladderback chair, but I wanted something a bit more compact. What I found was a huge lack of information on furniture between the Revolution and the Civil War. I did eventually find a couple of things and one picture.

Campaign Chair.jpg

From this picture I could tell that this was a folding chair, but I couldn't picture how it folded since the arms seemed to be in the way. So, I built a couple of mockups just using thin strips of pine from 2x4s. When I finally got the geometry right, I was delighted to see how ingenious this design was.

I found a source for air dried White Oak, built a steam chamber (I'd never attempted steam bending before), and jumped right in. I thought I'd share the results:
PICT0091.JPG PICT0099.JPG PICT0105.JPGPICT0101.JPG

The exact geometry of this chair is pretty tricky and unfortunately this particular chair is a bit too tall. I plan on making a few of these chairs so, I consider it a lesson learned, but overall I'm pretty pleased with the result.

[Jim Becker]

That's a really kewel project, Don. Thanks for sharing it!

[Casey Carr]

That's what CAD programs are for. They let you work the geometry out beforehand. Nice chair though. Very unique.

[Tim Thomas]

Really, really nice. Very impressive that you could work that out from just the picture.

One of my woodworking magazines recently had an article on building a folding campaign table. I was considering making one of them, but I didn't know what kind of chair would go well with it. Now I do. Thanks Don!

[James Ashburn]

That is one of the coolest chairs I have ever seen. Did you steam bend the slats in the back as well as the arms? Were all the other parts cut? I'd really like to make one of these for myself. I'd love to get as much detail as you are willing to share.

James

[Glenn Clabo]

Now that's just too cool. Great job!

[Joe Mioux]

GREAT JOB! I like it!

Joe

[Don C Peterson]

That is one of the coolest chairs I have ever seen. Did you steam bend the slats in the back as well as the arms? Were all the other parts cut? I'd really like to make one of these for myself. I'd love to get as much detail as you are willing to share.

James

Well...ok, you asked for it...

The wood for the chair is all air dried White Oak, as straight grained and close to quartersawn as I could find. Other than using a planer, all the shaping of the wood was done with hand tools (hand saws, drawknives, spokeshaves and rasps). Everywhere there is a curve the curves got there by steam bending.

The legs are made from 1 1/2 x 3/4, steamed and bent then shaped with a drawknife and spokeshaves to round the profile. The sides of the back are made from 1 x 3/4 stock and treated the same as the legs for shaping. The back slats are 1/4" stock and again steam bent and joined to the sides by mortise.

The top cross pieces are made from the same stock as the legs and were shaped with...you guessed it...drawknife and spokeshave. I think the original had round dowels, but I decided on the wider stock for added strength and rigidity. Those cross pieces are joined to the legs by through wedged mortise and tenon. The bottom cross pieces are turned on a lathe and joined by M&T.

I'm hesitant to give the actual dimensions of each piece, not because I want to keep it a secret, but because this chair is too big. I really like the proportions and look of the chair, but I have to go back and scale it down just a bit, and make a few tweaks to the geometry. As you might guess, you can't just change one thing on this chair, everything is tied together and a seemingly small change to one part can have dramatic impact on another, or make it so the thing doesn't fold at all...

I'm planning on making several chairs in different sizes. I'm tallish at 6' 2" and my wife is not at 5' 4", and I thought I might make some for the kiddos too. Once I get that all figured out, I'll be happy to post some measured Sketchup drawings. (It might be a while before I get around to this since SWMBO wants me to build some bookshelves first...)

[Don C Peterson]

That's what CAD programs are for. They let you work the geometry out beforehand. Nice chair though. Very unique.

I do use Sketchup but as far as I can tell, Sketchup doesn't do much in terms of constrained mechnics animation which is what I need to model the folding mechanisim of this chair.

I did find Blender which is supposed to do that, but the learning curve was so steep that I gave up and went to physical modeling...

[Calvin Hobbs]

Don,

Nice job and interesting project. A bit of an upgrade from the Coleman folding chairs bought at Sam's club, eh?

Tell me a little more about events over at Missouri Town. I went there a few years ago with my parents. We enjoyed it but it was a pretty quiet day. I have been thinking about re-checking it out and taking my family. Thanks, Cal

[Don C Peterson]

Don,

Nice job and interesting project. A bit of an upgrade from the Coleman folding chairs bought at Sam's club, eh?

Tell me a little more about events over at Missouri Town. I went there a few years ago with my parents. We enjoyed it but it was a pretty quiet day. I have been thinking about re-checking it out and taking my family. Thanks, Cal

It is pretty quiet most days, but throughout the year they have special events that are pretty fun. The next one is an arts and crafts fair on Sept 13th. Off the top of my head here are a few of the events that we try to hit: they have a Christmas program about a week before Christmas, in the Spring they have a Sheep Sheering which is fun and a Kids day in May. There's also a big thing for the 4th of July.

I can get a more detailed calendar of events if you'd like.

[Jason Tuinstra]

That's just downright cool in every way.

[John Thompson]

Extremely nice, Don...

Sarge..

[Roman Hruska]

An excellent reference book on Campaign Furniture is British Campaign Furniture: Elegance Under Canvas, 1740-1914 by Nicholas A Brawer. This is a book that you would want to try to find in a library, as it is running around $300-500 on ABE.com. I have had it for a number of years and read it several times. It covers the evolution of portable furniture from camp chairs to portable showers and vanities. Of course for some of this stuff you need a pile of bearers and servants.

Lots of good period pictures and modern photographs of many different pieces.

Attached is a fairly low quality scan on the cover.

Roman

[Don C Peterson]

Thanks everyone for you kind words.

Roman, that is a terrific book with some amazing furniture in it. The problem for me was that I needed to make a 19th century style folding chair that would have been found in the American frontier. The campaign furniture in Brawer's book is VERY high-end British furniture that would have cost several year's income for most "average" folk on the American frontier.

I guess this chair is more of a "camp" chair than a "campaign" chair...