DC 09 chairs

[joe1086]

Love it.

I appreciate the extra time it takes for all the documentation. How many hours of production time so far? Do you keep track?

[Derek Cohen]

Love it.

I appreciate the extra time it takes for all the documentation. How many hours of production time so far? Do you keep track?

First of all, my thanks to all for the kind words. It is not practical to do so after each message - I doubt anyone wants to plough through all that - but that I wait does not mean I am not paying attention.

My builds do vary in time, but generally three months is the shortest. One chest took 18 months. The current protject has been ongoing since December 2023. What you are not aware of, since the posts were made elsewhere, is that these two chairs are the second build. The first build was abandoned after 6 weeks when I recognised it was headed for disaster (what happened was that I built the seat with integral tenons - not a good idea as any run out is a recipe for breaking). It was a case of sucking it up, learning a lesson, and starting afresh. 

The duration of a build does not phase me anymore. I know what the outcome is - hopefully - planned to be, and there is the anticipated satisfction of adding to the furniture at home, as in this case. I would rather get there with a quality level I want than get there faster and be unhappy with the result. In any even, the journey is a good reason to have time in the workshop.

As a reminder, the full build is on my website. Scan down this index page:  http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/index.html. 

Regards from Perth

Derek

[BpB123]

Thanks Derek for sharing your project and knowledge!

-Brian

[Tapper]

First of all, my thanks to all for the kind words. It is not practical to do so after each message - I doubt anyone wants to plough through all that - but that I wait does not mean I am not paying attention.

My builds do vary in time, but generally three months is the shortest. One chest took 18 months. The current protject has been ongoing since December 2023. What you are not aware of, since the posts were made elsewhere, is that these two chairs are the second build. The first build was abandoned after 6 weeks when I recognised it was headed for disaster (what happened was that I built the seat with integral tenons - not a good idea as any run out is a recipe for breaking). It was a case of sucking it up, learning a lesson, and starting afresh. 

The duration of a build does not phase me anymore. I know what the outcome is - hopefully - planned to be, and there is the anticipated satisfction of adding to the furniture at home, as in this case. I would rather get there with a quality level I want than get there faster and be unhappy with the result. In any even, the journey is a good reason to have time in the workshop.

As a reminder, the full build is on my website. Scan down this index page:   http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/index.html. 

Regards from Perth

Derek

A lot of wisdom in this post. You only learn from your mistakes, no matter what the venture in life. The part in bold is so important IMO. 

Again, well done Derek and thanks for sharing with us!

Doug

[Derek Cohen]

I have found that the shaping of the chair arms and back to be a complicated process, with a step forward, then sideways, and then another step forwards. It is not plain sailing. There are many small corrections to make as I proceed, and I dare not attempt to leave these until a later date. I thought that some here will find the corrections ... repairs ... interesting, and hopefully useful if you find yourself in the same situation.

In the following photo, where the inside back is being shaped, you can see two joins where the arms and back connect ...



Outside example ..



These joins are clean and tight. In all there were 8 such joins, 2 chairs with each 2 inside and 2 outside joins. Of these 8 joins, 7 were perfect. One was a disaster!

What happened was, in clamping the two parts, there was movement and an outside section moved slightly. This left a gap. To make it worse - as bad as it could get - the corner of one piece was crushed by a clamp, and cracked! I pushed it back into position, secured it, but it must have moved a little. Try not to cry ...



Well, you just have to repair it. And not with filler or a wedge.

I decided to peen the wood and move it into the gap. I have used this technique for dovetails, which is edge grain, but never for end grain. In fact, I have not seen anyone do this before.

Using a couple of different size drift punches, I began tapping the wood into the gap ...



It looks like heck, but it did the job ...



I'll save the outcome for the end of the build. [wink]

In the following photo you can see areas marked in pencil. These are where waste is to be removed ...



A little is removed, and then the arms are returned to the base, where more is marked for removal ...



The shaping of the arms is completely by eye. There are no templates to guide the work done. The photos are my reference: "does it look right ... no ... take more off there ....".

I finally get to a point where I need to check whether the curve at the rear is fair. It needs to be symmetrical and fair, and the same for both chairs. Now I trace the curve of one half of the rear centre section ...



Flipping the template, this is taken to the other side of the back ..

It is just a smidgeon off ...



And the template is used on the other chair, and this proves to be identical o chair #1 ... just a smidgeon off the left side to spokeshave away ...



I am amazed that the shaping has remained within my tolerances all this time!

Lastly, I have been keeping an eye on the leg-arm joins. A couple were not meeting flush, and this needed to be corrected. For example, here you can see the gap. The blue tape marks where it keeps to be corrected ...



The top is covered in pencil to help see where the rasp is working, and the section that must not be touched ...



The result ...



The end of the day. A lot of work has been done over a period of 1 1/2 days in the workshop. This may go unnoticed by all but you and I ...



Lots more to do.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Timberwolf]

Marvelous work, Derek....On my best day, I would not have attempted this.

[grwold]

Amazing patience displayed here, Derek. And on that glue line, daring and ingenuity as well. I am very curious how that joint is going to look when you're done.

[Derek Cohen]

A quick look here. Can you see it ... ?



Still lots of shaping to do.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[grwold]

I'd thought that photo was of the other chair, not realizing you'd already shaped away the "bruised" surface the peening had left.  So the implication seems to be that the peening also drove the deeper wood to close the gap (not just the bashed surface wood), but without the distortion you've already shaped away.  Very nice result!

Doubling the "amazing patience" comment, too, on realization that the cracked piece is on the more-visible top of the back.

[Mike Brady]

I like Derek's work shown here because it looks like it belongs in a contemporary setting instead of grandma's parlor.  Along with that, it is expertly crafted.

Edit: ...and nicely photographed for us to better appreciate it.