[TungOil]

Marc Adams School, Day 4

Today I finished up the second tenon for the lower stretcher, then cut mortises with the Domino 500. This was my first time using the Domino. Once set up it's a fool-proof method for cutting the mortises.

I did another quick dry assembly to be sure the lower stretcher parts fit together nicely.

With the lower stretcher out of the way, I start working on the curved back slats. The back slats will be assembled with dominos, have angled ends where they meet the apron and crest rail (compound angles in the case of the two smaller ones), are curved and have a profile cut.

I start with the center back slat. To get the angles for the ends correct and cut to the proper length, Bob Lang worked out a clever solution using what is basically an MDF story stick. I use a scrap of MDF and carefully transfer the angle from the dry assembled chair to the MDF and cut on the miter saw. I carefully trim away the MDF until the part matches my layout lines. Once I have the proper length worked out on the MDF scrap, I cut the angled ends into the real part in sapele.

Next I layout and bandsaw the curved faces. When the curves are complete, I temporarily tape the cutoff back in place and bandsaw the profile.

I originally thought the crest rail was going to be the most work on this chair, but I was wrong. Clearly the back slats are going to be the most difficult part of this project.

Next step- cut the dominos for the center slat then make the side slats.

 

[TungOil]

Marc Adams School, Day 4

Today I finished up the second tenon for the lower stretcher, then cut mortises with the Domino 500. This was my first time using the Domino. Once set up it's a fool-proof method for cutting the mortises.

I did another quick dry assembly to be sure the lower stretcher parts fit together nicely.

With the lower stretcher out of the way, I start working on the curved back slats. The back slats will be assembled with dominos, have angled ends where they meet the apron and crest rail (compound angles in the case of the two smaller ones), are curved and have a profile cut.

I start with the center back slat. To get the angles for the ends correct and cut to the proper length, Bob Lang worked out a clever solution using what is basically an MDF story stick. I use a scrap of MDF and carefully transfer the angle from the dry assembled chair to the MDF and cut on the miter saw. I carefully trim away the MDF until the part matches my layout lines. Once I have the proper length worked out on the MDF scrap, I cut the angled ends into the real part in sapele.

Next I layout and bandsaw the curved faces. When the curves are complete, I temporarily tape the cutoff back in place and bandsaw the profile.

I originally thought the crest rail was going to be the most work on this chair, but I was wrong. Clearly the back slats are going to be the most difficult part of this project.

Next step- cut the dominos for the center slat then make the side slats.

yes, the slots are wide for adjustability. The domino cutter has three settings that allow the slot to be cut either snug to the domino, slightly loose and more loose. Most of those were cut in the middle setting so we had some adjustability. This was the first time I used the domino and I can see why folks like them so much. One nice thing about it was that it was absolutely dust free with the Festool vacuum hooked up.

 

[TungOil]

Marc Adams School, Day 5

Today I finished up the center back slat by cutting the mortises for the dominos. Most of the mortises could be cut with the Domino machine, but the two mortises on the underside of the crest rail had to be cut by hand since the domino machine would not fit inside the opening. To cut these mortises I first drilled out the majority of the waste on the drill press then cleaned up the mortise with a chisel.

With the mortises cut I tested the fit of the center back slat. It took quite a bit of fitting to get the mitered ends just right. I'm starting to see why the original chairs used housed mortises for these parts.

I moved on to the side slats. These slats are mirror images of each other and have a compound angle cut on the end. To make the layout more challenging, the slats are slightly angled to follow the curve of the crest rail. Once I was happy that I had established the correct compound angles for the cuts using a scrap of MDF, I then transferred the angles to the sapele for the cuts on the final parts.

With the final length established and cutting completed, I used the templates to lay out the curve and profile of each back slat. At the bandsaw I first cut the front and back curves, then taped the waste pieces back in place to cut the profile.

I brought the rough pieces to the edge sander to clean up the bandsawn edges, cut the domino mortises and did another dry assembly.

I am very surprised at how much work it is to fit the back slats. Bringing together three curved pieces, two of which have compound angle end cuts and getting all of the joints to fit without any gaps is tedious work to say the least. But I'm very happy with the results so far.

Tomorrow is the last day of class. We will not have a full day but should get to routing the center back slat for the ebony bars and talk about installing the ebony plugs and cutting the final angle on the front legs.

 

[TungOil]

Marc Adams School, Day 6

Today was the last day of class. Bob Lang covered several points on installing the ebony plugs and bars in the center back slat. Bob also did a detailed demonstration on techniques for doing the Greene & Greene style round overs, which have some nuance beyond simply running a quarter round bit over the exposed edges. Often the protruding corners on G&G furniture have an extra amount of rounding, almost giving the piece a worn appearance. It is s subtle detail that could go unnoticed if not pointed out.

Some of my class mates used the class made template to route the slots for the ebony bars in their back slat. I elected to pack up early and deal with the remaining work at home so I could get a head start on the 10 hour drive back to Pennsylvania.

Overall this was an awesome class. Bob did a great job bringing us through the fabrication and construction of the chair components and assembly process. His full size drawings and detailed instructions helped assure we were successful. Marc Adams runs a first class school. The facilities are well maintained with plenty of excellent equipment to work with. Even though we didn't finish our chairs during the 6 days, I really didn't expect that we would. There is simply too much work involved in a G&G piece to complete in such a short time frame.

Next step is to get started on the full set of twelve.

 

[TungOil]

Marc Adams School, Day 6

Today was the last day of class. Bob Lang covered several points on installing the ebony plugs and bars in the center back slat. Bob also did a detailed demonstration on techniques for doing the Greene & Greene style round overs, which have some nuance beyond simply running a quarter round bit over the exposed edges. Often the protruding corners on G&G furniture have an extra amount of rounding, almost giving the piece a worn appearance. It is s subtle detail that could go unnoticed if not pointed out.

Some of my class mates used the class made template to route the slots for the ebony bars in their back slat. I elected to pack up early and deal with the remaining work at home so I could get a head start on the 10 hour drive back to Pennsylvania.

Overall this was an awesome class. Bob did a great job bringing us through the fabrication and construction of the chair components and assembly process. His full size drawings and detailed instructions helped assure we were successful. Marc Adams runs a first class school. The facilities are well maintained with plenty of excellent equipment to work with. Even though we didn't finish our chairs during the 6 days, I really didn't expect that we would. There is simply too much work involved in a G&G piece to complete in such a short time frame.

Next step is to get started on the full set of twelve.

It was an excellent class, I'm glad I spent the time to do it. I learned a lot and had fun talking woodworking with a bunch of very talented woodworkers as well.

doubletenon- I wanted to get back to see what the marquetry class was up to but never made it. Hope you enjoyed it as much I as I enjoyed the chair class!

 

[TungOil]

CNC Templates and Begin Back Leg Fabrication

My routing templates arrived Friday from the millwork shop so I headed out to pick them up. A few of the corners were damaged in transport, so I unwrapped everything to take a closer look.

After inspecting the templates closely I was relieved to find that the damaged corners were all in non critical areas. It's a good thing I made my routing templates a bit long on the ends to have a little lead in.

Time to get to work. For this project, I plan to fabricate the back assembly first, then cut the angled side rails and finish up with the front assembly. By working in this order, I can adjust the length of the front rail to account for any errors that might accumulate during fabrication and be assured of tight fitting joints.

I start by laying out the back legs. I trace the full size template onto the leg blanks. For darker woods like walnut and sapele, I use a white fabric pencil for my layout lines for visibility. I cut enough parts for fourteen chairs leaving four extras in case of mistakes.

I head to the bandsaw to rough out the back legs.

While cutting out the blanks, I came across hidden checking on four of the parts. There goes all of my spares! Any mistakes going forward will require me to make more parts.

After hardening the edge of the routing template with some thin CA Glue, I affix the template to the poplar set up piece and make a test cut at the router table.

With my test blank completed, I moved on to pattern routing the legs. This is a large piece at 43 inches long and each part takes quite a while to pattern route.

This is a tricky cut, even with a spiral carbide cutter, due to the end grain and tight radius at the top of the leg. Not surprisingly I lost several parts while routing the top of the leg. Cutting against the grain, even with a spiral cutter, is always iffy.

Since I have no spares left, I head back to the lumber rack and rough out several more blanks and pattern route replacements. After all the dust settled I end up with eight damaged leg blanks- four with checking and four damaged while routing. I'm down to a single spare leg at this point.

In preparation for laying out and cutting the mortises I arrange the legs on my shop cart, flipping then into pairs of right and left legs. Most of the leg pairs are matched from the same board, but due to the damaged pieces unfortunately not all of the legs could be matching pairs.

Next steps- lay out and cut the mortises, then move on to the back seat rail.

 

[TungOil]

CNC Templates and Begin Back Leg Fabrication

My routing templates arrived Friday from the millwork shop so I headed out to pick them up. A few of the corners were damaged in transport, so I unwrapped everything to take a closer look.

After inspecting the templates closely I was relieved to find that the damaged corners were all in non critical areas. It's a good thing I made my routing templates a bit long on the ends to have a little lead in.

Time to get to work. For this project, I plan to fabricate the back assembly first, then cut the angled side rails and finish up with the front assembly. By working in this order, I can adjust the length of the front rail to account for any errors that might accumulate during fabrication and be assured of tight fitting joints.

I start by laying out the back legs. I trace the full size template onto the leg blanks. For darker woods like walnut and sapele, I use a white fabric pencil for my layout lines for visibility. I cut enough parts for fourteen chairs leaving four extras in case of mistakes.

I head to the bandsaw to rough out the back legs.

While cutting out the blanks, I came across hidden checking on four of the parts. There goes all of my spares! Any mistakes going forward will require me to make more parts.

After hardening the edge of the routing template with some thin CA Glue, I affix the template to the poplar set up piece and make a test cut at the router table.

With my test blank completed, I moved on to pattern routing the legs. This is a large piece at 43 inches long and each part takes quite a while to pattern route.

This is a tricky cut, even with a spiral carbide cutter, due to the end grain and tight radius at the top of the leg. Not surprisingly I lost several parts while routing the top of the leg. Cutting against the grain, even with a spiral cutter, is always iffy.

Since I have no spares left, I head back to the lumber rack and rough out several more blanks and pattern route replacements. After all the dust settled I end up with eight damaged leg blanks- four with checking and four damaged while routing. I'm down to a single spare leg at this point.

In preparation for laying out and cutting the mortises I arrange the legs on my shop cart, flipping then into pairs of right and left legs. Most of the leg pairs are matched from the same board, but due to the damaged pieces unfortunately not all of the legs could be matching pairs.

Next steps- lay out and cut the mortises, then move on to the back seat rail.

What did I miss here, I thought you were going to pattern sand the parts? Change of heart?

I know the feeling of proceeding without many extra chair parts. Spooky.

- pintodeluxe

Pinto- I plan to pattern sand only the parts that are too wide for the router/shaper (crest rails, lower seat rails and back slats). The narrow parts can be pattern routed so that is the faster way to go.

 

[TungOil]

CNC Templates and Begin Back Leg Fabrication

My routing templates arrived Friday from the millwork shop so I headed out to pick them up. A few of the corners were damaged in transport, so I unwrapped everything to take a closer look.

After inspecting the templates closely I was relieved to find that the damaged corners were all in non critical areas. It's a good thing I made my routing templates a bit long on the ends to have a little lead in.

Time to get to work. For this project, I plan to fabricate the back assembly first, then cut the angled side rails and finish up with the front assembly. By working in this order, I can adjust the length of the front rail to account for any errors that might accumulate during fabrication and be assured of tight fitting joints.

I start by laying out the back legs. I trace the full size template onto the leg blanks. For darker woods like walnut and sapele, I use a white fabric pencil for my layout lines for visibility. I cut enough parts for fourteen chairs leaving four extras in case of mistakes.

I head to the bandsaw to rough out the back legs.

While cutting out the blanks, I came across hidden checking on four of the parts. There goes all of my spares! Any mistakes going forward will require me to make more parts.

After hardening the edge of the routing template with some thin CA Glue, I affix the template to the poplar set up piece and make a test cut at the router table.

With my test blank completed, I moved on to pattern routing the legs. This is a large piece at 43 inches long and each part takes quite a while to pattern route.

This is a tricky cut, even with a spiral carbide cutter, due to the end grain and tight radius at the top of the leg. Not surprisingly I lost several parts while routing the top of the leg. Cutting against the grain, even with a spiral cutter, is always iffy.

Since I have no spares left, I head back to the lumber rack and rough out several more blanks and pattern route replacements. After all the dust settled I end up with eight damaged leg blanks- four with checking and four damaged while routing. I'm down to a single spare leg at this point.

In preparation for laying out and cutting the mortises I arrange the legs on my shop cart, flipping then into pairs of right and left legs. Most of the leg pairs are matched from the same board, but due to the damaged pieces unfortunately not all of the legs could be matching pairs.

Next steps- lay out and cut the mortises, then move on to the back seat rail.

I know what you mean about pattern-routing endgrain…..... I tried that once (and learned my lesson-never agin!) and in the process had the workpiece flung across the shop. Scared the hell out of me….......

- Mean_Dean

I've had that happen as well, it's sobering to know how much force these tools can generate. Good reminder to keep body parts well clear of things that spin!

in this case I realized as I was taking the router bit out after I was done, that I had grabbed the down spiral bit by mistake instead of the up spiral. The down spiral, when table mounted, has a tendency to lift the workpiece, making it difficult to control around the end grain. Wish I had noticed it sooner!

 

[TungOil]

CNC Templates and Begin Back Leg Fabrication

My routing templates arrived Friday from the millwork shop so I headed out to pick them up. A few of the corners were damaged in transport, so I unwrapped everything to take a closer look.

After inspecting the templates closely I was relieved to find that the damaged corners were all in non critical areas. It's a good thing I made my routing templates a bit long on the ends to have a little lead in.

Time to get to work. For this project, I plan to fabricate the back assembly first, then cut the angled side rails and finish up with the front assembly. By working in this order, I can adjust the length of the front rail to account for any errors that might accumulate during fabrication and be assured of tight fitting joints.

I start by laying out the back legs. I trace the full size template onto the leg blanks. For darker woods like walnut and sapele, I use a white fabric pencil for my layout lines for visibility. I cut enough parts for fourteen chairs leaving four extras in case of mistakes.

I head to the bandsaw to rough out the back legs.

While cutting out the blanks, I came across hidden checking on four of the parts. There goes all of my spares! Any mistakes going forward will require me to make more parts.

After hardening the edge of the routing template with some thin CA Glue, I affix the template to the poplar set up piece and make a test cut at the router table.

With my test blank completed, I moved on to pattern routing the legs. This is a large piece at 43 inches long and each part takes quite a while to pattern route.

This is a tricky cut, even with a spiral carbide cutter, due to the end grain and tight radius at the top of the leg. Not surprisingly I lost several parts while routing the top of the leg. Cutting against the grain, even with a spiral cutter, is always iffy.

Since I have no spares left, I head back to the lumber rack and rough out several more blanks and pattern route replacements. After all the dust settled I end up with eight damaged leg blanks- four with checking and four damaged while routing. I'm down to a single spare leg at this point.

In preparation for laying out and cutting the mortises I arrange the legs on my shop cart, flipping then into pairs of right and left legs. Most of the leg pairs are matched from the same board, but due to the damaged pieces unfortunately not all of the legs could be matching pairs.

Next steps- lay out and cut the mortises, then move on to the back seat rail.

Are you using double sided tape only when pattern routering? I ve never been able to get the tape to stick well enough so I use a clamp sled to hold the pattern and the piece. How tall are the legs?

- EarlS

Earl, I'm using both double sided tape and my clamping sled, which has four De-Sta-Co clamps on it. I started using the double sided tape from MLCS about a year ago, I find it has really good holding power but I can still get it off the part fairly easily- much better than carpet tape. Legs are 43" long, which is longer than my 36" sled, so I need to reposition the leg several times to make the full cut. I'm using the tape to be sure the pattern doesn't move when I reposition.

 

[TungOil]

Back Leg Mortises and Back Seat Rail

Now that the back legs are routed to shape, I move on to cutting the mortises. I start with the back seat rail mortises. The back seat rail sits flush with the inside of the back leg, so it makes sense to cut both mortises using the same setup to assure the parts fit perfectly flush.

I first lay out the mortise on the end of the back seat rail setup piece, which is made from poplar. The Leigh FMT jig only requires that the center of the mortise be marked with cross hairs, but as a double check I layout the full mortise to verify size and location along with the mortises for the back slats and the final profile of the rail.

Next I lay out the matching mortise on the leg and verify that everything is aligned correctly.

The Leigh FMT jig is equipped with toggle clamps and a stop that, once setup, allow multiple parts to be made very quickly with perfect repeatability.

The cross hairs that mark the center of the mortise are used in conjunction with the 'targeting sight' on the FMT to very accurately locate the center of the mortise.

First, I cut all of the mortises on the ends of the back seat rails. All mortising is done before I bandsaw the back scalloped profile to provide large flat clamping surfaces.

Next, I route the matching mortises in the back legs utilizing the same setup in the FMT, assuring a perfectly flush fit. Since the mortises are near the center of the back leg, I must use the extension feature of the FMT to create a stop with a scrap block of wood and a clamp.

The legs are mortised in mirror image pairs, so two setups are required on the FMT to make sets of left and right legs.

With the back seat rail mortises complete, I move on to creating the mortises for the crest rails. These mortises are cut at an angle into a curved section of the leg, so the FMT jig will not work easily for these mortises.

To solve this problem, I use a jig made from two CNC machined templates. Together they form a jig for routing the mortise. One template has an oversize slot that matches a router bushing. The other template has a leg shaped opening that positions the leg to properly mortise. This image shows the bottom of the jig with a leg fit in place, ready to be flipped over to route the mortise.

The template is designed to be used for both the left and right hand legs by simply switching the locating template to the other side. After a little fine tuning of the opening in the template to allow my router bushing to clear smoothly, I cut all of the mortises.

The remaining mortises on the back legs for the side seat rails and lower stretchers are parallel to the front face. These will be cut later.

Next I build a mortising jig to cut the four mortises on the top of the back seat rail that will be used for the back seat slats. Since two of these mortises are angled, the FMT would be difficult to use. I build the jig from a CNC cut template that locates all four mortises.

The finished mortises are quick to cut using the jig.

With all of the mortises cut in the back seat rail, I bandsaw the scalloped outer profile.

To prepare for pattern sanding the profile, I assemble another jig using a toggle clamp and CNC cut template. The template mounts to the bottom of the jig and is 1/4" undersize to account for the pattern follower mounted on the spindle sander.

The pattern sanding technique does a nice job cleaning up the bandsaw marks and developing the final shape on the rails. Due to the height of the part, the top 1/8" of the seat rail does not get sanded. It is easily cleaned up using a spiral pattern bit in the router table after the sanding is completed.

The back seat rails are now ready for final sanding.

I do a quick test fit to verify everything looks correct.

So far so good!

Next step: fabricate the crest rails.

 

[TungOil]

Center Back Slat- Part 1

After finishing up the crest rails, I move on to the center back slats. I begin by making up the loose tenon stock I will need. After cutting the stock to width, I fine tune the thickness with the drum sander and add the rounded edges with a bullnose bit in the router table.

I start by making a test center slat from poplar. I cut the angled ends and mortises while the stock still has straight edges. To determine the angles for the end cuts, I use a MDF story stick. By cutting the angles on the end of the story stick, I can sneak up on the correct length for the part. Using the side profile template, I mark the story stick to show the outline of the part.

I transfer the angles to the miter saw and trim the ends.

After the end cuts are made, I set up the parts in the Leigh FMT and cut the mortises.

With the mortising complete, I move on to cutting the curves. First I rough cut the inside curve with the bandsaw. My original plan was to pattern sand the curves. I set up the pattern sanding jigs and did a test with my poplar set-up part. The sanding time was excessive, so I decided to go old school and broke out the spoke shaves to perform the preliminary cleanup work, then finished off the part on the belt sander.

Once the curves are complete I tape the cutoffs back in place and band saw the profile. A few strokes with the spoke shave cleans up the edges. A float and some thin files clean up the 'V' cut in the bottom. The spoke shaves and floats work well to break the edges.

A quick test shows the center slat fits nicely.

With my poplar test piece completed, I move on to making the real parts. For the actual chair components, I rough out fourteen blanks 9 inches wide then rip 1-3/4 inches off either side.

I make sure to keep the parts carefully labeled to maintain grain alignment for the finished chairs.

I set aside the side slats for now to work on the center slats. Back at the miter saw I cut the angled ends. After cutting one side, I set up a stop block to assure all of the center slats are the same finished length.

With all of the stock cut to length, I'm ready to move to the next step, cutting the mortises and curves.

 

[TungOil]

Center Back Slat- Part 1

After finishing up the crest rails, I move on to the center back slats. I begin by making up the loose tenon stock I will need. After cutting the stock to width, I fine tune the thickness with the drum sander and add the rounded edges with a bullnose bit in the router table.

I start by making a test center slat from poplar. I cut the angled ends and mortises while the stock still has straight edges. To determine the angles for the end cuts, I use a MDF story stick. By cutting the angles on the end of the story stick, I can sneak up on the correct length for the part. Using the side profile template, I mark the story stick to show the outline of the part.

I transfer the angles to the miter saw and trim the ends.

After the end cuts are made, I set up the parts in the Leigh FMT and cut the mortises.

With the mortising complete, I move on to cutting the curves. First I rough cut the inside curve with the bandsaw. My original plan was to pattern sand the curves. I set up the pattern sanding jigs and did a test with my poplar set-up part. The sanding time was excessive, so I decided to go old school and broke out the spoke shaves to perform the preliminary cleanup work, then finished off the part on the belt sander.

Once the curves are complete I tape the cutoffs back in place and band saw the profile. A few strokes with the spoke shave cleans up the edges. A float and some thin files clean up the 'V' cut in the bottom. The spoke shaves and floats work well to break the edges.

A quick test shows the center slat fits nicely.

With my poplar test piece completed, I move on to making the real parts. For the actual chair components, I rough out fourteen blanks 9 inches wide then rip 1-3/4 inches off either side.

I make sure to keep the parts carefully labeled to maintain grain alignment for the finished chairs.

I set aside the side slats for now to work on the center slats. Back at the miter saw I cut the angled ends. After cutting one side, I set up a stop block to assure all of the center slats are the same finished length.

With all of the stock cut to length, I'm ready to move to the next step, cutting the mortises and curves.

That poplar test piece even looks great as the back splat. Looks like the crest rails turned out good as well. It looks like you have a lot of waste on the curves. Are going to be able to use any of it for smaller pieces?

I m a bit lost on your reference to using the spoke shave on the curve. Is there a reason you didn t use template routing to get the final curve and then sand it smooth?

I also see your white lead pencil. I ordered a couple of them after you sent me the details on how to find them. They do a much better job of marking than the white pencil I was using.

- EarlS

Im happy with the crest rails. I decided not to post any update after I made them since it was really just 'I made 14 more just like the first one, and it took a looooooong time'.

A lot of waste is a huge understatement. I'll try to remember to post a picture of my scrap barrels - they are overflowing, and I've already sent a lot through the fireplace already. I doubt I will be able to use much of the cut-off for anything useful. I tend to not keep smaller pieces of material under a few feet long. After many years of hoarding that stuff I finally admitted to myself I would never use it so it went into the fireplace.

This center splat is 5" wide at the bottom, making it too wide to pattern route or pattern shape (at least on my shaper). It is even too wide for the pattern sander setup I made, but at least with that arrangement I could sand most of the shape then flip the part and pattern route the remainder. I did start doing that on the test part but it was just too slow (or maybe I was being impatient) and my bandsaw cut was very close to the line so I just switched to the spokeshaves and sander to clean it up. I may switch back to the pattern sander after I do a few more parts, depends on the results I'm getting.

Those fabric pencils work really well on this darker material, ebony and walnut especially.

 

[TungOil]

Center Back Slat- Part 1

After finishing up the crest rails, I move on to the center back slats. I begin by making up the loose tenon stock I will need. After cutting the stock to width, I fine tune the thickness with the drum sander and add the rounded edges with a bullnose bit in the router table.

I start by making a test center slat from poplar. I cut the angled ends and mortises while the stock still has straight edges. To determine the angles for the end cuts, I use a MDF story stick. By cutting the angles on the end of the story stick, I can sneak up on the correct length for the part. Using the side profile template, I mark the story stick to show the outline of the part.

I transfer the angles to the miter saw and trim the ends.

After the end cuts are made, I set up the parts in the Leigh FMT and cut the mortises.

With the mortising complete, I move on to cutting the curves. First I rough cut the inside curve with the bandsaw. My original plan was to pattern sand the curves. I set up the pattern sanding jigs and did a test with my poplar set-up part. The sanding time was excessive, so I decided to go old school and broke out the spoke shaves to perform the preliminary cleanup work, then finished off the part on the belt sander.

Once the curves are complete I tape the cutoffs back in place and band saw the profile. A few strokes with the spoke shave cleans up the edges. A float and some thin files clean up the 'V' cut in the bottom. The spoke shaves and floats work well to break the edges.

A quick test shows the center slat fits nicely.

With my poplar test piece completed, I move on to making the real parts. For the actual chair components, I rough out fourteen blanks 9 inches wide then rip 1-3/4 inches off either side.

I make sure to keep the parts carefully labeled to maintain grain alignment for the finished chairs.

I set aside the side slats for now to work on the center slats. Back at the miter saw I cut the angled ends. After cutting one side, I set up a stop block to assure all of the center slats are the same finished length.

With all of the stock cut to length, I'm ready to move to the next step, cutting the mortises and curves.

Earl- to your question about scrap-

Here the scrap pile so far:

And this pile will have some usable pieces for the side and front apron pieces

Tonight I was able to work through the first center splat in sapele. Here are the cut offs from just one center splat:

I will finish up these parts with the ROS when I'm closer to being ready to assemble everthing.

 

[TungOil]

Center Back Slat- Part 1

After finishing up the crest rails, I move on to the center back slats. I begin by making up the loose tenon stock I will need. After cutting the stock to width, I fine tune the thickness with the drum sander and add the rounded edges with a bullnose bit in the router table.

I start by making a test center slat from poplar. I cut the angled ends and mortises while the stock still has straight edges. To determine the angles for the end cuts, I use a MDF story stick. By cutting the angles on the end of the story stick, I can sneak up on the correct length for the part. Using the side profile template, I mark the story stick to show the outline of the part.

I transfer the angles to the miter saw and trim the ends.

After the end cuts are made, I set up the parts in the Leigh FMT and cut the mortises.

With the mortising complete, I move on to cutting the curves. First I rough cut the inside curve with the bandsaw. My original plan was to pattern sand the curves. I set up the pattern sanding jigs and did a test with my poplar set-up part. The sanding time was excessive, so I decided to go old school and broke out the spoke shaves to perform the preliminary cleanup work, then finished off the part on the belt sander.

Once the curves are complete I tape the cutoffs back in place and band saw the profile. A few strokes with the spoke shave cleans up the edges. A float and some thin files clean up the 'V' cut in the bottom. The spoke shaves and floats work well to break the edges.

A quick test shows the center slat fits nicely.

With my poplar test piece completed, I move on to making the real parts. For the actual chair components, I rough out fourteen blanks 9 inches wide then rip 1-3/4 inches off either side.

I make sure to keep the parts carefully labeled to maintain grain alignment for the finished chairs.

I set aside the side slats for now to work on the center slats. Back at the miter saw I cut the angled ends. After cutting one side, I set up a stop block to assure all of the center slats are the same finished length.

With all of the stock cut to length, I'm ready to move to the next step, cutting the mortises and curves.

tung you have more scrap left from one project than most guys have in there total wood supply-lol.

- pottz

Unfortunately you are right, I'm tripping over the stuff right now. Need to get the fireplace going …..

 

[TungOil]

Center Back Slat- Part 1

After finishing up the crest rails, I move on to the center back slats. I begin by making up the loose tenon stock I will need. After cutting the stock to width, I fine tune the thickness with the drum sander and add the rounded edges with a bullnose bit in the router table.

I start by making a test center slat from poplar. I cut the angled ends and mortises while the stock still has straight edges. To determine the angles for the end cuts, I use a MDF story stick. By cutting the angles on the end of the story stick, I can sneak up on the correct length for the part. Using the side profile template, I mark the story stick to show the outline of the part.

I transfer the angles to the miter saw and trim the ends.

After the end cuts are made, I set up the parts in the Leigh FMT and cut the mortises.

With the mortising complete, I move on to cutting the curves. First I rough cut the inside curve with the bandsaw. My original plan was to pattern sand the curves. I set up the pattern sanding jigs and did a test with my poplar set-up part. The sanding time was excessive, so I decided to go old school and broke out the spoke shaves to perform the preliminary cleanup work, then finished off the part on the belt sander.

Once the curves are complete I tape the cutoffs back in place and band saw the profile. A few strokes with the spoke shave cleans up the edges. A float and some thin files clean up the 'V' cut in the bottom. The spoke shaves and floats work well to break the edges.

A quick test shows the center slat fits nicely.

With my poplar test piece completed, I move on to making the real parts. For the actual chair components, I rough out fourteen blanks 9 inches wide then rip 1-3/4 inches off either side.

I make sure to keep the parts carefully labeled to maintain grain alignment for the finished chairs.

I set aside the side slats for now to work on the center slats. Back at the miter saw I cut the angled ends. After cutting one side, I set up a stop block to assure all of the center slats are the same finished length.

With all of the stock cut to length, I'm ready to move to the next step, cutting the mortises and curves.

You know you COULD make a few end grain cutting boards with all that scrap and post it in the Projects…... ;-D

- EarlS

I don't think I have enough friends to give them away to if I were to use up all that scrap on cutting boards!

 

[TungOil]

Center Back Slat- Part 1

After finishing up the crest rails, I move on to the center back slats. I begin by making up the loose tenon stock I will need. After cutting the stock to width, I fine tune the thickness with the drum sander and add the rounded edges with a bullnose bit in the router table.

I start by making a test center slat from poplar. I cut the angled ends and mortises while the stock still has straight edges. To determine the angles for the end cuts, I use a MDF story stick. By cutting the angles on the end of the story stick, I can sneak up on the correct length for the part. Using the side profile template, I mark the story stick to show the outline of the part.

I transfer the angles to the miter saw and trim the ends.

After the end cuts are made, I set up the parts in the Leigh FMT and cut the mortises.

With the mortising complete, I move on to cutting the curves. First I rough cut the inside curve with the bandsaw. My original plan was to pattern sand the curves. I set up the pattern sanding jigs and did a test with my poplar set-up part. The sanding time was excessive, so I decided to go old school and broke out the spoke shaves to perform the preliminary cleanup work, then finished off the part on the belt sander.

Once the curves are complete I tape the cutoffs back in place and band saw the profile. A few strokes with the spoke shave cleans up the edges. A float and some thin files clean up the 'V' cut in the bottom. The spoke shaves and floats work well to break the edges.

A quick test shows the center slat fits nicely.

With my poplar test piece completed, I move on to making the real parts. For the actual chair components, I rough out fourteen blanks 9 inches wide then rip 1-3/4 inches off either side.

I make sure to keep the parts carefully labeled to maintain grain alignment for the finished chairs.

I set aside the side slats for now to work on the center slats. Back at the miter saw I cut the angled ends. After cutting one side, I set up a stop block to assure all of the center slats are the same finished length.

With all of the stock cut to length, I'm ready to move to the next step, cutting the mortises and curves.

Looks like you re making some pretty good progress! I ve been enjoying this project so far!

As for your scraps, I d hate to see you burn them. I ve had some success selling my scraps on Craigslist, as pen-turning blanks, or other small-project pieces. Not only does selling them get them out of your shop, another woodworker gets some nice wood cheaply, and you get a few coins in your pocket to use on future projects.

- Mean_Dean

Not a bad idea, how big is a typical pen turning blank? I can probably cut about 1,000 of them from my scrap pile…....

 

[TungOil]

Side Slats

With the center slats completed I move to the side slats, arguably one of the most difficult parts of the project. With the center slat already cut, the side slats must be cut very precisely or there will be a gap in the finished assembly somewhere. In addition, both ends of the side slats have a compound miter and must have a mortise precisely placed.

Bob Lang's approach to this in his chair making class was to use a MDF story stick to sneak up on the exact angles and lengths, which worked very well. I started by cutting two poplar pieces to use for the test fitting. Once I had established the correct compound angles for each end, I fit the parts to length by trial and error, taking light cuts to sneak up on the proper length.

With careful fitting I was able to achieve a tight fit on my test parts. I then laid out the mortises and profile on the slats to match the mortises in the crest rail.

Moving on to the actual parts, I cut the compound angles on each end then cut the mortises using the Leigh FMT.

With the mortises complete, I lay out the curves and profiles and head to the bandsaw to rough out the parts. After bandsawing I clean the parts up quickly with a spokeshave. Later I will finish sand them on the belt sander and break the sharp edges.

The test fit looks good with a snug fit on all parts.

It's not easy to see in this image, but all three Slat parts were cut from the same blank and kept in order so that the grain will match in the finished chair.

Next Steps: finish up the side slats for the remaining chairs, then start on the angled side aprons.

 

[TungOil]

Side Slats

With the center slats completed I move to the side slats, arguably one of the most difficult parts of the project. With the center slat already cut, the side slats must be cut very precisely or there will be a gap in the finished assembly somewhere. In addition, both ends of the side slats have a compound miter and must have a mortise precisely placed.

Bob Lang's approach to this in his chair making class was to use a MDF story stick to sneak up on the exact angles and lengths, which worked very well. I started by cutting two poplar pieces to use for the test fitting. Once I had established the correct compound angles for each end, I fit the parts to length by trial and error, taking light cuts to sneak up on the proper length.

With careful fitting I was able to achieve a tight fit on my test parts. I then laid out the mortises and profile on the slats to match the mortises in the crest rail.

Moving on to the actual parts, I cut the compound angles on each end then cut the mortises using the Leigh FMT.

With the mortises complete, I lay out the curves and profiles and head to the bandsaw to rough out the parts. After bandsawing I clean the parts up quickly with a spokeshave. Later I will finish sand them on the belt sander and break the sharp edges.

The test fit looks good with a snug fit on all parts.

It's not easy to see in this image, but all three Slat parts were cut from the same blank and kept in order so that the grain will match in the finished chair.

Next Steps: finish up the side slats for the remaining chairs, then start on the angled side aprons.

You are right about that Earl. And I have been traveling for work the past 6 weeks so it seems like things are moving even slower. These side slats are the hardest part of these chairs, once I get past these the rest should be pretty straight forward.

 

[TungOil]

Lower Stretchers

I start by cutting the mortises in the legs for the lower side stretchers. I then cut the mitered ends on the side stretchers and fit the length.

With the side stretchers fit I move on to cutting the mortises for the center stretcher. The center stretcher has a through tenon on each end. I set up the Leigh FMT to cut the mortises in the side stretchers, then square up the ends with a chisel.

I miter the ends of the center stretcher with the miter saw, then cut the square tenons on the Leigh FMT. I cut a few extra parts to cover any potential mistakes.

After a little fine tuning with a float, the tenons and mortises fit together snuggly.

Next I layout the cloud lift, rough cut to shape on the bandsaw and pattern route the final shape with a spiral carbide bit.

Next steps: fabricate and fit the ebony bars and square plugs, break and shape the sharp edges then finish sand for assembly.

 

[TungOil]

Lower Stretchers

I start by cutting the mortises in the legs for the lower side stretchers. I then cut the mitered ends on the side stretchers and fit the length.

With the side stretchers fit I move on to cutting the mortises for the center stretcher. The center stretcher has a through tenon on each end. I set up the Leigh FMT to cut the mortises in the side stretchers, then square up the ends with a chisel.

I miter the ends of the center stretcher with the miter saw, then cut the square tenons on the Leigh FMT. I cut a few extra parts to cover any potential mistakes.

After a little fine tuning with a float, the tenons and mortises fit together snuggly.

Next I layout the cloud lift, rough cut to shape on the bandsaw and pattern route the final shape with a spiral carbide bit.

Next steps: fabricate and fit the ebony bars and square plugs, break and shape the sharp edges then finish sand for assembly.

There are so many subtle details and tricky joinery in the G&G chairs. No wonder they never really were able to mass produce furniture like Stickley did.

You should have those plugs and bars knocked out in no time. Do you have all of the mortises cut for the plugs and bars?

- EarlS

I think the Greene's were working for a very limited, wealthy client base as well, I read somewhere that the cost of the furniture in their homes was higher than the cost of an average house in the day. That will limit your pool of clients quickly!

I have not started any of the mortises for the plugs and bars yet, but they should go quickly. I have a lot of ebony plug stock left over from the table but not sure if it's the right size or if I have enough so I'll probably need to make more of that as well.