The Staked Chair Project Begins

[Philip1231]

Started on the staked chair project the other day: some pics from the shop:

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[Phil S.]

Nice piece of wood for the seat - birch?

[Philip1231]

Cherry: the only variety I use (unless I am building a bench).

Nice piece of wood for the seat - birch?

[Scoony]

That cherry seat is going to look great. I made a set for my kitchen dinning area using curly sassafras for the seats and ash for the legs and red oak for the backs.

[Philip1231]

This will be a single chair for my wife's sewing table. I had briefly considered using maple for the legs and spindles, but decided to go all cherry, maybe with some ebony accents. Of course, this could all end up as firewood, so stay tuned.

That cherry seat is going to look great. I made a set for my kitchen dinning area using curly sassafras for the seats and ash for the legs and red oak for the backs.

[Scoony]

My only concern with cherry for the legs is strength. When I tried my hand at windsor chairs, I used a piece of cherry for a spindle on the first attempt. I think I ran out of maple for that particular chair and grabbed a scrap of cherry from the scrap stack. That spindle snapped pretty easily and I ended up scraping the whole under carriage of that chair. Of course that piece of cherry probably had the wrong grain orientation, as it snapped rather readily.

[Philip1231]

The stock I am using is fairly straight grained and the legs will be fairly stout. The compressive and bending strength and stiffness of cherry is way below something like hickory, but its only modestly below oak and maple, so I am reasonably confident that it will be up to the task.

My only concern with cherry for the legs is strength. When I tried my hand at windsor chairs, I used a piece of cherry for a spindle on the first attempt.  I think I ran out of maple for that particular chair and grabbed a scrap of cherry from the scrap stack. That spindle snapped pretty easily and I ended up scraping the whole under carriage of that chair.  Of course that piece of cherry probably had the wrong grain orientation, as it snapped rather readily.

[Philip1231]

Drilling and reaming for staked leg joints:

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[msweig]

Looks good. I started making a staked chair at one point. Got the seat blank glued up and the rough legs and spindles cut out. Then I had a chance to sit in one of the chairs (I was using Schwartz's plan and visited Lost Art Press). I wasn't in love with how it felt, just kinda OK. Then I never got around to finishing it. Which I should do, as my younger daughter will probably want a desk sometime soon and I could give her the chair for that. And I still want to try that joint (I really like his staked desk design).

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Philip

Tell us how you arrived at the rake, splay and resultant angles. This is at the very heart of a staked build.

Regards from Perth

Derek