Chairmaking at the Appalachian Center for Craft #5: Day 5

The first order of business for today was cutting and fitting the back rail. After getting the other three sides clamped together in a reasonably sturdy assembly, I took a rough measurement and cut the piece long and began sneaking up on the fit until I thought it was reasonably close then I cut the mortises in the ends with the Domino.

Then came the always stressful glue up. Everything went together pretty well and I was reasonably pleased with all the joints.

Next I unclamped my bent lamination back rest and began to fit it. I the arc of the lamination did not meet the legs perfectly so I had to use my block plane and bevel the outer edges of the top of the legs.

After getting things fitting pretty good I marked, drilled and counter sunk holes for the T-nuts and screws that will hold the back rest on. I had to trim the the bolts so they didn’t protrude from the back rest and poke through my outer veneer layer during final assembly.

Once this was complete I went back to the lamination jig to glue on the final layer that will cover the T-nuts.

Tomorrow is the last day of class. I’m going to get my back rest cut to shape and sanded. Probably won’t get to a seat this week, but the instructor had one he made so I borrowed it to see how it looked.

-- Aaron in TN -http://www.amwellsfurniture.com