Morris Chair from PW plans

[William Chain]

I finally finished my Gustav Stickley Morris chair from the April 2011 issue of Popular Woodworking. Nice plans from Robert Lang, though there are a few typos that one must be careful to check. I originally found the plans in one of the PW books on sale with many Mission and Craftsman plans, and ended up finding the original issue of PW. Quite a bit of challenge in there, and I ended up using my old high school trig (sin, cos, tan) to work out some angles and such. Who knew that would actually be useful!? But it all worked out. I'll spare you all the pile of in progress photos. The finish came out a bit darker than I would have liked, but I dig the feel of the shellac. Leather cushions in progress to wrap this guy up.

[Ron Citerone]

Beautiful! Looks like it will be comfortable for sure, and that arm begs for a beverage!

[Andrew Hughes]

Nice looking chair did you fume the oak?

[Yonak Hawkins]

Nice chair, William. I like how the arm bends at the wrist. Was that in the plans ? I'll bet it wasn't easy to do.

[Phil Mueller]

Really well done, William. I also like the wrist bends...nice design. I’ve used a bit of algebra from time to time, but I‘m afraid the trig is long lost...

[William Chain]

No, I used Lockwood dye #94 (Fumed Oak) in ethanol, followed by sanding with a maroon pad, followed by two coats of a 50/50 mix of amber and clear shellac (1 lb cut in ethanol from flakes). I can get ammonium hydroxide, so I might experiment with fuming on some small pieces to work that out for next time.



Nice looking chair did you fume the oak?

[William Chain]

Yes, they are. It is more straightforward than it looks. The arms are 15/16" thick. I made a mark about 1/4" from the bottom surface on the front edge. Then I measured back I think it was 6 inches and made a mark on the top face. I connected a mark on the side of the piece at that 1/4" mark to the tic 6 inches back on the top, and cut that wedge out on the bandsaw. I then glued that wedge to the bottom surface (clean face to clean face) and voila, bent arm at the wrist. The bandsaw marks I removed with a hand plane. I think those were the measurements, my notes are elsewhere. In doing this, I matched the angle on the stretcher, which is pitched at 7 degrees. Note the rear legs with the through tenons are also cut to match that 7 degrees. Once you have all the jigs dialed in at that angle, it all magically fits. With a little persuasion with some chisels and a mallet of course.


Nice chair, William. I like how the arm bends at the wrist. Was that in the plans ? I'll bet it wasn't easy to do.

[Jim Becker]

Really nice execution!

[Charlie Jones]

Nice job. I have always wanted to do one of these.

[Patrick F Graham]

Great work!

I'm working on a reproduction of the 369 Drop Arm Spindle version of this chair - different set of plans but many of the same bits.
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I have a question - the back-slats, that's where I am right now, just waiting for the steaming beding of my first back-slat to dry but wanted to know how awful was the added wedge on the ends of the slats?
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Upon reflection and after knowing how many of the same back-slats they produced, do you really think the original way to make them was adding that wedge?

Or is it more likely that when Bob Lang and Gene Lehnert (FWW 1993) and a couple others did their books they all copied one another with that method?

Now that full morticing machines are easy to come by, why not just use an angled mortise cut into the back-slat posts?

Very interested in hearing your thoughts.

Thanks - Patrick

[Bill Carey]

Well done William. Not usually a fan of darker finishes but it works on your chair - very handsome. I too am waiting on the cushions for 2 Morris chairs I finished last year. What color did you go with?