Jamie Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 First off I’d like to apologize that I haven’t been able to contribute much to the group lately. This is my busiest time of year for the paying job so haven’t gotten in much shop time or free time to be on here. After looking for chairs for the table I built I just couldn’t bring myself to spend $2400 on a set of Amish made ones. That’s an unfinished price to boot. I decided to make an attempt at building my own. Spent a ton of time searching the web for designs and looking at plans for them. Even looked at some chairs that my parents have that I find to be pretty comfortable. The problem with them is I had no clue on how to even copy them with all the compounding angles. I eventually found a fine woodworking article on a chair that my wife liked and I think I can handle building. https://www.finewoodworking.com/2020/03/25/a-comfortable-craftsman-style-side-chair After reading the article I seen in the comments that the author Tom had full size drawings available for sale. After checking out his site I decided to give them a try. He also does a video series on the build of them as well. Which after watching his first video I decided to purchase the video series to go with the plans. I haven’t had a chance to watch all the videos yet, but after seeing the first few they have really gave me a confidence boost in tackling this project. The drawings showed up today a little damaged from the delivery but they will still do the trick. Not sure when I will get started on them for sure, maybe this weekend with rain in the forecast. I will be using red oak and be finishing them the same way as the table. Not %100 sure on the seats yet. Courtney would like them to be wooden seats which I would be ok with as well. Only concern there is carving out the butt relief. Also thinking about adding arm rests to a couple of them, but that will be a problem to figure out down the road. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Marc over at the WW Guild has a pretty good series on designing/building chairs as well. Might be worth a look but, it's not free. As for carving the butt relief, it's really not hard especially if you're power carving. You should get plenty of help from the gang here! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 Just now, Kev said: Marc over at the WW Guild has a pretty good series on designing/building chairs as well. Might be worth a look but, it's not free. As for carving the butt relief, it's really not hard especially if you're power carving. You should get plenty of help from the gang here! I did look hard at marks chair and like the design element that he puts into it. In the end it came down to knowing that one of my weakness is design I felt more comfortable taking a design that I like and paying for that vs marks chair which felt to modern of a design to go with my table. Would I learn a lot from marks video? I really think I would and I like how he approaches teaching. In the end it came down to me not having to completely start a design over and have one already put together. If you go to epicwoodworking.Com you can watch the first video in the series for free. Tom does a really good job explaining every step of the project as well. In all honesty after watching the first couple videos in the series I feel like I could’ve taken on the chair design of the chairs my parents have. Have learned quite a bit. As for the carving we are going to have some discussion on that. I’ve see guys make a jig and do it on the tablesaw which looks kinda fun! Also am thinking the grinder might be a fun option as well! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmize Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 New territory for me I will be watching eagerly. I want to build a rocking chair so bad but I can never seem to start a build on one. It’s a future dream once I get all the furniture built we need in the house. That’s my retirement plan to just build Windsor rocking chairs an set them out by the mailbox for sale out on on a dirt road? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 1 minute ago, Tmize said: New territory for me I will be watching eagerly. I want to build a rocking chair so bad but I can never seem to start a build on one. It’s a future dream once I get all the furniture built we need in the house. That’s my retirement plan to just build Windsor rocking chairs an set them out by the mailbox for sale out on on a dirt road? This is also totally new for me as well! I have never built a chair in my life of any sorts. Hopefully you have better luck building the Windsor than Mel Gibson did in the patriot. Him crashing through those chairs in that movie has really stuck out to me and placed some of the fear in building a chair. A guy I worked with at the cabinet shop also had me convinced that all chairs are junk. After fixing many of them I started to believe him. His theory was how do you expect such small pieces of wood to hold up to constant moving weight. Over time they are always going to fail. In some regards he is correct but I think we fixed a lot of factory built chairs that we actually poorly made. Guess time will tell with this set. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmize Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 22 minutes ago, Jamie said: Hopefully you have better luck building the Windsor than Mel Gibson did in the patriot. Him crashing through those chairs in that movie has really stuck out to me and placed some of the fear in building a chair. I forget got about that part of the movie. Awesome movie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 13 hours ago, Jamie said: Over time they are always going to fail I know you are aware having work with them that chairs under go a lot of racking in their life. The biggest thing with building a quality chair is DON'T take any short cuts in the joinery. I watched a guy over on the WTO forum make six really nice chairs but he took some short cuts on the mortise and tenons. I tried to share with him my thoughts on his technique but it fell on deaf ears. I guess because he is younger then me and he has a college edjumacation and I don't, I didn't know what I was talking about.? But oh well. 1 Quote "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted October 2, 2020 Author Share Posted October 2, 2020 8 hours ago, Chet said: I know you are aware having work with them that chairs under go a lot of racking in their life. The biggest thing with building a quality chair is DON'T take any short cuts in the joinery. I watched a guy over on the WTO forum make six really nice chairs but he took some short cuts on the mortise and tenons. I tried to share with him my thoughts on his technique but it fell on deaf ears. I guess because he is younger then me and he has a college edjumacation and I don't, I didn't know what I was talking about.? But oh well. Great advice. Thank you. Do you recall what he did to put the joint in jeopardy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 2, 2020 Share Posted October 2, 2020 I really like the design on the back of the chair. I still have the first chair I built. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted October 2, 2020 Share Posted October 2, 2020 I have a stool sample like that. I shared it with my doctor last time I went in for a physical he laughed his a$$ off. 49 minutes ago, Jamie said: Do you recall what he did to put the joint in jeopardy? Yep, he was using a router to cut his mortises, which is fine but when he did his tenons he cut them on the table saw again this is fine but he was cutting them about 1/2 narrower then they should be so he didn't have to take the time to round the edge of the tenons to fit the mortise, this left about a 1/4 gap at both ends of the mortise. So if his mortise was 1 1/2 inches he was cutting the tenons about an inch so he didn't have to round the edges, but like I said this left a gap at both ends of the mortise. 1 Quote "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 2, 2020 Share Posted October 2, 2020 36 minutes ago, Chet said: I have a stool sample like that. I shared it with my doctor last time I went in for a physical he laughed his a$$ off. My doc has had my second “chair” on his desk for about 10 years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 Did get started on the chairs a bit today. First step was to get a template for the back legs. Took this method right from Tom to transfer the drawing to a piece of hardboard by using awl to make a mark through the plans. Have to say it works great! Holes are kinda hard to see in the photo but we’re not to bad in person. Used a pen to connect the dots. I did have Courtney help mark out the curves as I bent a piece of hardboard to the dots. I did get the template cut out and @Tmizewould even be proud that I took a hand plane to it to sneak up on the line. ? Also skip planed a few if the boards to try to find any defects before laying out the legs. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Love it when the first step is a good one! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Solid start! Just like building a house.. A solid foundation makes the rest a little easier! Nice job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 Did get a little time in the shop this morning, with the template complete I roughly drew out the back legs on some of the planks. Going with 8 chairs as of now and got 17 back legs spaced out. One extra for just in case. The planks that I’m using are 10-13” wide so a little to big for the jointer. I did skip plane the planks to see what I’m working with and to take some of the unevenness out. Planning on roughing the legs out on the bandsaw then passing them individually over the jointer to get a flat side before planing and sanding to a finished 1 5/8 thickness. These planks started at 2 3/16. Also got started on the back leg router template. It’s a two sided jig where the template is used to shape each side of the jig. Not sure if I will chuck the router bit up in the shaper to cut the legs or not yet. I believe on my shaper I can get 10,000 rpms out of it. Not sure if that would be fast enough for a 1/2” flush trim bit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 14 minutes ago, Jamie said: Not sure if I will chuck the router bit up in the shaper to cut the legs or not yet. I believe on my shaper I can get 10,000 rpms out of it. Not sure if that would be fast enough for a 1/2” flush trim bit? Looking awesome! Might be a little slow for that bit but, not terribly.. Might be worth a test.. I usually run a bit that size at around 14k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 2 minutes ago, Kev said: Looking awesome! Might be a little slow for that bit but, not terribly.. Might be worth a test.. I usually run a bit that size at around 14k Thanks! I actually misspoke and it’s a 3/4” bit on a 1/2” shank. I should do some looking on bit speed. I’d like it better on the shaper as it’s 3hp vs 1 3/4 on the router. Well I am remembering correctly. They might be 1 1/2 hp. I have seen on these jigs where you can cut the leg to length on them as well. Am leaning towards that method as it would be more accurate than cutting to a line. The main reference point of this jig is to register off the bottom of the leg, what that being said the leg will have to be cut to the line on the bandsaw while roughing out the sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 1 minute ago, Jamie said: Thanks! I actually misspoke and it’s a 3/4” bit on a 1/2” shank. I should do some looking on bit speed. I’d like it better on the shaper as it’s 3hp vs 1 3/4 on the router. Well I am remembering correctly. They might be 1 1/2 hp. I have seen on these jigs where you can cut the leg to length on them as well. Am leaning towards that method as it would be more accurate than cutting to a line. The main reference point of this jig is to register off the bottom of the leg, what that being said the leg will have to be cut to the line on the bandsaw while roughing out the sides. 3/4" is even closer to that 10k.. Definitely worth a test! If you cut to length this way, be sure to do the 2 end grains first. This way, if there's blowout you'll be cleaning it up with the long grain pass. Endgrain is more prone to blowing out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 10 minutes ago, Kev said: 3/4" is even closer to that 10k.. Definitely worth a test! If you cut to length this way, be sure to do the 2 end grains first. This way, if there's blowout you'll be cleaning it up with the long grain pass. Endgrain is more prone to blowing out. I am for sure going to try it! Did a quick search and for a 3/4 bit the company says 18-24k rpms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 2 minutes ago, Jamie said: Did a quick search and for a 3/4 bit the company says 18-24k rpms Hmm.. Without a trip to my shop to verify, I'm pretty sure that's a higher RPM than my PC router will even run! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 Just now, Kev said: Hmm.. Without a trip to my shop to verify, I'm pretty sure that's a higher RPM than my PC router will even run! I agree that it seems high. I have 20k max in my head for some reason on the Bosch. Just did a quick search and every chart I found had for bits under 1” diameter that 18-24k was the recommendation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 1 minute ago, Jamie said: I agree that it seems high. I have 20k max in my head for some reason on the Bosch. Just did a quick search and every chart I found had for bits under 1” diameter that 18-24k was the recommendation. Ok.. Making a trip to the shop.. This has me puzzled...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 So, I was wrong! Highest speed on my big PC is 21k. I normally run the smaller 1/2" bits at the second setting which is 19k. So, calling for 18k on a 3/4" bit does not seem out of the norm.. Apologies for being off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 2 minutes ago, Kev said: Ok.. Making a trip to the shop.. This has me puzzled...lol Lol! Bosch is 2.25 hp with speed from 8k-25k. Was reading on grizzlys site about the shaper that I didn’t realize that until the cutter is over 3.5 in diameter that should run it on the 10k speed. I have been running it on the 7k except for when I had the router bit collet in. Which I can only remember doing it one time and that was for the sliding dovetail on the end tables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 1 minute ago, Kev said: So, I was wrong! Highest speed on my big PC is 21k. I normally run the smaller 1/2" bits at the second setting which is 19k. So, calling for 18k on a 3/4" bit does not seem out of the norm.. Apologies for being off! No worries! I was off as well! I do recall running the dovetail bit on the shaper it did seem slow, but was only cutting 4 inch long pass so just took my time. I am still going to try the straight cutter on the shaper, mostly want it to work on the shaper for the dust collection. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.