Jan Bianchi
10-09-2010, 8:54 PM
I am about to finally assemble the parts for the eight Madrone dining room chairs I have been making and so have to make a decision. My current 70-year-old dining chairs do not have a rabbet for the seat. The seats sit on top the rails and are attached by screws to angle braces at the corners. Several chair designs have a 1/4-1/2 inch rabbet along the inside of the rails so the seat sits inside the rabbet, and may or may not be additionally supported by angle braces.
As near as I can tell the difference is mainly visual. The first allows the seat to spread out over the top of the rails; and the second more or less contains it within the rails so more of the rail show. Is there a preferred way? If so, what are the considerations?
Also, some chair designs suggest using just 1/4 inch baltic birch for the seat before upholstery, but that seems a little flimsy to me. I don't want th chairs to be as hard a rocks. Should I be moving up to 1/2 inch? If so, should the rabbet be 1/2 deep? Should the rabbet depth be the same thickness as the plywood for the seat?
*I posted this in the Design Forum this morning but no one has responded so I thought I would repost this over here. I hope that's ok.
As near as I can tell the difference is mainly visual. The first allows the seat to spread out over the top of the rails; and the second more or less contains it within the rails so more of the rail show. Is there a preferred way? If so, what are the considerations?
Also, some chair designs suggest using just 1/4 inch baltic birch for the seat before upholstery, but that seems a little flimsy to me. I don't want th chairs to be as hard a rocks. Should I be moving up to 1/2 inch? If so, should the rabbet be 1/2 deep? Should the rabbet depth be the same thickness as the plywood for the seat?
*I posted this in the Design Forum this morning but no one has responded so I thought I would repost this over here. I hope that's ok.