Shaker Transitional Rocker Part 2 (Curly Maple)

[John Morris]

5 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

Great essay. Gonna be another MM. (Morris Masterpiece) 

Dontcha just love watching those scraper shavings pile up? 

Thanks Gene, ya, I am sold on those scrapers. I had a buddy come over awhile back who is a Luthier and he raved all about em. Apparently they are considered must haves in the Luthier arsenal, they really do well at curved fingerboards for stringed instruments such as violins.

 

[Larry Buskirk]

Wow John, 

You're really making some progress.

I'll bet you had a blast seeing the chair finally going together. 

[John Morris]

Just now, Larry Buskirk said:

Wow John, 

You're really making some progress.

I'll bet you had a blast seeing the chair finally going together. 

Thanks Larry, it is a blast. These post and rung chairs are relatively quick to build, as compared to a sculpted rocker that takes a couple or three months of weekends, these Shaker chairs can actually be built in two or three weekends, not counting the time it takes to let the bent parts sit in their forms for a couple weeks before you bust them out.

It is rewarding. Thanks for following along!

[Gerald]

John can you tell us how you get the slats mortise at an angle? By the way work looks great.

[John Morris]

38 minutes ago, Gerald said:

John can you tell us how you get the slats mortise at an angle? By the way work looks great.

Actually Gerald, that statement I made is misleading, it's not truly cut at an angle yet it's cut off axis from perpendicular to the back of the chair. In this revised image you'll see the yellow arrow is pointing to a chair rung, that chair rung is my guide. It's all an eye ball thing, I simply insert the chair rung into the rear chair leg, then rotate the leg about 10 degrees off center as you can see the chair rung is slanted, not straight up. Then I use the chair rung as a guide, I chop a bit, get some depth in the mortise, then insert the back slat, if done properly the back slat should at the exit of the mortise, go away from the rung, and come back in to the rung as you see these slats are doing. Once I see the black slat is heading in the right direction, I chop away the rest.

 

In this image, you'll see my layout line along the chair leg, that layout line is the center line of the chair rung, as you can see the mortise is set behind the center line, so the slats are offset to the rear of the axis.

 

I rotate the chair leg 10 degrees for chopping the mortise, so I can actually chop straight down, instead of trying to chop at an angle. So in reality, the mortise is radial to the center of the post. Not really an angle.

If I didn't confuse you even more, I'd be surprised, I am horrible sometimes at explaining these things.

[hatuffej]

I'm jealous! 

[Cal]

Great work John, the chair and the narrative

[John Morris]

1 hour ago, Cal said:

Great work John, the chair and the narrative

Thanks Cal, I love topics like this, where the images have a story, not just posting images to show, but images that actually explain what is going on and what's being used and thoughts about each image. I know most folks don't have the time to go as in depth as I have here, but I do love reading about what is going on in the project images if folks can elaborate.

[Harry Brink]

Here I am sitting in one of Johns' chairs when I was visiting both him and Allen a few years ago.

 

[Thad]

On 5/18/2019 at 8:48 AM, hatuffej said:

Age ain't nuthin' but a number. I'm 27,176 days old today! Cluck, cluck, cluck. Cock-adoodle-doooo!! 

The thing is, all these kids out there today that look down on us old folks, are trying to get to where we are!

[John Morris]

10 hours ago, Harry Brink said:

Here I am sitting in one of Johns' chairs when I was visiting both him and Allen a few years ago.

There he is! Hey Harry, you look wonderful in that chair!

I remember the day well, it was so nice seeing you and Allen. We had sandwiches in the shop, drinks and chips, and we just sat around talked a little bit of wood, and a whole lot of life. I got to have Harry and Allen Worsham sit in this chair I finished shortly before they arrived, and they both loved it. Great lumbar support right Harry!

 

What a neat image, so many fun times during that period of time. Thanks for sharing this Harry, awesome!

[Larry Buskirk]

Cool explanation, and stories all. 

[John Morris]

I accomplished a whole lot yesterday and this morning folks, I just need to post the images, I have a chair with rockers, the only thing it is missing is the shawl rail, the finish, and the seat needs to be woven.

I just haven't had the time to get the images up is all.

Back to my day job tomorrow, it's been a fun long weekend in the shop, and thanks folks for following me along, I'll try to get images up tomorrow night.

Peace!

[John Morris]

This one is now Part 2. I am working on Part 3 now.

[Michael Thuman]

I see in this long thread the titebond was used to glue the Chair.  Why was not hide glue considered?

If a back brace or leg or runner breaks how do you take apart the Chair to repair it?

 

[John Morris]

1 hour ago, Michael Thuman said:

I see in this long thread the titebond was used to glue the Chair.  Why was not hide glue considered?

If a back brace or leg or runner breaks how do you take apart the Chair to repair it?

 

You are exactly correct Michael!

Thus my recent curiosity into the subject.

That being said, for traditional chair building I'd say hide would be the glue of choice, the sculpted chairs and rockers, and sculpted furniture however are a different animal, with the incredibly unique joinery and the precise tolerance that is needed for the joinery, Titebond is an accepted choice. I like to use Titebond I for lighter wood as well, and TB III for darker wood such as walnut. Once a sculpted rocker or chair is assembled, there are no repairs, only to cut away and or cut anew.

Most definitely my next chair will be hide glue, thanks Michael.