Ottoman Build:Mahogany

[Michael Todrin]

Today saw the beginnings of the new ottoman for my living room. I live in an 18th century farmhouse and the furniture is mid-century modern style so to avoid mixing too many styles I will stay with simple clean lines.

Started off with milling the stock.

Then plane to remove milling marks. Can you tell which two have been planed?

Marking out for the mortises.

Chopping!

Managed to get all the mortises chopped today. Let’s hope for weekend of profligate tenoning.

[ken hatch]

Michael,

Always good to to see a build thread.

ken

[Frederick Skelly]

Looking forward to seeing more of this project!
Fred

[Michael Todrin]

I had some extra 6/4 mahogany from a shoji screen build this winter. The pieces that were not quite straight enough for a 60 inch panel will do just fine as an 18 inch tall ottoman.380322

[Frederick Skelly]

Those are nice too. I'm going to try my hand at that one day.
Brian Holcombe has done several of them in light wood. Look up some of his posts if you're interested.
Fred

[Michael Todrin]

I have read a couple of Brian's post on his shoji screens. Between his writings and Odate's book on shoji I felt fairly well prepared.

I like them in lighter wood too. That is what I have at my house. It is a bit more subtle and understated. The mahogany makes quite a striking contrast with the paper. It was chosen to match the trim in the clients' house.

You should give them a try. They are fun to do and look great. I find myself fantasizing about removing walls in my house so I can install sliding shoji panels. Alas, there is only so much time in the day.

[Michael Todrin]

A little bit more progress made. Got all of the tenons cut and fit with the mitres cut for the intersecting top tenons and square edges for the offset lower stretchers. I even got the first pair of sides glued up and lounging in a sunbeam.

Next I will use a combination of machine router and planes to give everything a round-over and then I will glue the other stretchers in place.

Then I get to teach myself some basic upholstery for the top. Stay tuned...

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[Frederick Skelly]

Thanks Mike. Keep us posted.

[Brian Holcombe]

Nice work Mike, certainly interested to see this project develop.

[Matt Evans]

Looks like a good start.

Upholstery can be fun or a real pain.

I find myself jealous of your natural light. Been working in a windowless shop for the last year and a half or so.

[Michael Todrin]

After a busy morning chasing around with the painter at a remodeling job I am finishing I got to go home and finish the glue up of the frame. Everything square and lining up nicely. Routed a couple of edges while still in halves, lots more rounding over to do.

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[Michael Todrin]

Finished the rounding over work. Got more or less the curves I had initially imagined. I am pretty happy with it. Some machine router, some block plane, some spoke shave and a fair amount of sandpaper by hand later, this is what I got.
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Cut the rabbett for the upholstered bit out of the top. I wanted to make sure I got some bearing on the legs in case the invevitable happens and someone sits on the ottoman.

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Then I cut a sheet of plywood to size This will be what I glue the foam to and staple the fabric around. I plan to chamfer the top edge so there is nothing to knock a limb against while it is cleverly hidden by fabric.
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[Christopher Charles]

I like the clean design and your joints look nice and tight. Will look forward to seeing the fabric.

Best,
Chris

[Michael Todrin]

Put the chamfer on the plywood cap piece. (Actually I am not sure what the proper name for it is). The wooden Jack that I refurbished made short work of it.


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Here is the fabric I am using. Picked it up a long time ago at the local fabric store for an as yet unforeseen project.

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Fabric, four inch foam and plywood ready to go.
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And here it is.

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I still need to put the finish on the wood before it is truly complete, but this is the rough outline.

Thanks to all for your kind words and your encouragement along the way.

The general design was popular among the members of my household and there may be some tables of a similar labor intensive rounded over design in the future.

Michael

[Christopher Charles]

The fabric looks great and congrats on the pass for more of the same!

[Michael Todrin]

Finished!

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And brought inside.
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