The title of this post says it all about the latter portion of my windsor chair class. I spent the better part of last weekend finishing it up. This was the second 3-day weekend (out of 2), with the expectation that I would be able to actually complete it. Luckily for me, I actually did, but not without some drama and a few near disasters...
I should have known that problems would arise when glue-up began. My first ever chair glue-up was no exception. It started out well, with turning tenons on a lathe. My first mistake was using too much of my prior woodworking knowledge as a basis. Rule #1 - CHAIRS ARE DIFFERENT. The sooner you accept this, the better off you'll be. So, with that in mind, I started assembling the legs & stretchers. This is shown on the right in the first photo (with Ferris making it look way too easy). Mine didn't go so well.
When I attempted to glue up the base assembly, I learned that I had made the tenons too fat, which didn't give me near enough time to make adjustments before the glue set up (Reference Rule #1 above). What happened next almost made my cry. When twisting the legs and stretchers to line them up, I heard a loud CRACK! The side stretchers both sheared right off . The 'lining' on this black cloud was that the legs were saved.
The rest of the class went much better. And I actually finished a day early. This took a colossal effort on Sunday (at the shop until 9 PM). I saw first hand what makes these chairs so strong. Every major arm, leg, and spindle piece is a wedged, through tenon joint. When done properly, it makes the parts near impossible to take apart. Below is an example of some of these wedges. It's a shot of the top bow where the spindles get secured. I just love the way the uncut wedges look like a bad Coolio-style hairdo. I deem this photo "Bad Chair Day". Bad pun, but I thought it was funny...
The whole process was quite enlightenening and very satisfying. Up until it was actually done, I had SERIOUS doubts about whether I could actually make a chair. Now I know I can, which is a really cool feeling. The last photo is the graduation shot with me & my chair, freshly painted and looking spiffy. The other chair is the one my instructor made. I must admit, mine didn't turn out too bad...Hooray!
The next thing I'm planning along these lines are a couple of stools with hand-turned legs. I want to do the proverbial "crawl-before-I-walk" thing in my shop since I won't have an instructor correcting my mistakes at every turn. I hope to start on those in the next few weeks.
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