Who makes chairs?

[Marc Casebolt]

I'm thinking about making some dining chairs, and would like to study up on the process. How many of you have made something like a formal dining set, and can you recomend a book on the subject? There are several books around, but I would like to find one or two that give useful information.
I want to learn the proper joinery, design considerations, etc. for a set of ten chairs, two with arms.

Thanks

Marc

[Kyle Stiefel]

Marc,

You have your work cut out for you, that will be alot of repitive work but something to cherish.

The best book I have is:
Chairmaking & Design 2nd Edition by Jeff Miller

Second choice that I have is:
Designing and Building Chairs, The New Best of Fine Woodworking by Taunton.

I am sure others will give you their input but the book by Miller is well spent money I think. Hope that helps for what it is worth.

Kyle

[Jim Nardi]

There is no perfect chair. I built a few windsor chair that look so perfect in my house. No one liked to sit in them. So we went out and sat in 20 styles of chair before deciding on them. Then I followed the David J Marks theory of patterns with pattern making bit and loose tennon joinery. I see Sam Maloof has alot of patterns.

[Joe Unni]

I did these not too long ago http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=62031 and I had more fun doing them. I referred to the Taunton book as mentioned.

Good luck,
-joe

[John Timberlake]

The answer to your question will partly depend on the type of chairs you want to make. I also like the Miller book as well as "Making Classic Chairs" by Ron Clarkson. Clarkson makes Chippendale style chairs in his book, but the contruction techniques would be useful for any style chair.

I recently made a dining table and eight chairs for my daughter (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=61529). She wanted something fairly modern and not too many curves. After going back and forth with design, I made a mock up out of 2x4s and had three people sit in it. Made a few modification and went to work. I had to make 12 jigs during the process.

Let us see what you come up with.

[John Stevens]

Miller also has a VHS tape in which he shows how he makes a chair. I usually prefer learning from books as compared to TV, but for me it was worth buying and watching the VHS as well as reading the book. YMMV.

Regards,

John

[frank shic]

marc, get a bandsaw and a festool domino if you don't already have one.

[Calvin Hobbs]

Marc,

I have made several simple chippendale chairs like the ones attached. It is a repro from an 18th century "neat and plain" North Carolina chair owned by my parents. I obviously learned it from my Dad (Ben Hobbs), who has a class on how to build these chairs a couple of times a year. I know he has made several hundred chairs in his career as a furnituremaker. If you are interested check out hobbsfurniture.com. Of course this might be a totally different style than you are looking for....

Cal

[Marc Casebolt]

It's nice to see the pics of the chairs you guys made. Those are really well done, every one of them. I've got the tools and hopefully the chops to do these, and have ordered the books you recomended.

Wish me luck,

Marc

[Mike Henderson]

Just a suggestion - before you make ten chairs, make one out of some cheap wood - maybe poplar - to test out your techniques and to see if the chair is comfortable to sit in. Much better than having ten bad chairs on your hands, not to mention the cost of the wood.

Oh, and one other suggestion. When you make the chairs with arms, make the back wider than you do on the chairs without arms. It'll make them more comfortable to sit in. In other words, you want two designs, not the same design with and without arms.

Mike