Zig Zag chair

[J-W-P]

This is a cross between two designs of David Dundas' zig zag chair.   The seat and legs (the Z)  follow his first version from Woodcraft magazine.  The seat back is based on his rocker version from Wood magazine.  I changed a few measurements to fit the chair to my height.  
It is cherry stained with two GF dye stains, then spayed with shellac, then GF High Performance.  

When I brought it in from my shop, my oldest daughter (12) paused and said "It looks like it will collapse."    

I assured her it won't.  

Thanks for looking.


(if the pictures don't work ----> look here)

[Mark A Smith]

That's very nice work.

[AgGEM]

Very
!
Did you steam bend the back slats?
Ag

[J-W-P]

The slats are bent laminations.  One of the designs called for cutting the slats from thicker stock on the bandsaw but I'm terrible at that and doing that six times would have been ugly.  The laminations might take a little longer to make, but it is much easier to make them consistent.

[AgGEM]

Excellent! Thank you!
Ag

[Steve N]

I'll be honest and say I agree with your Daughters concerns, at least with people that aren't small. What joints are in those corners on the legs? Really looks
though

[J-W-P]

The joints are loose tenons and splines glued with with System Three epoxy.  I don't know how much weight my chair will hold before breaking,  but I'm confident it is a lot more than what I weigh.  The design that was in Wood has a youtube video that showed how much weight just one of the legs would support.  It held over 400lbs before it broke and even then, the guys were bouncing on it.  In Dundas' other design, there is a picture showing three guys standing on a board placed across the seat, together weighing over 570lbs.

Since the seat is cantilevered, there is just a bit of flex in the diagonal part of the Z so that I can sit here at my desk and just rock it a little bit.  I trust it.