Please critique my chair...

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

These are pics of a 'Mission Mesquite' chair I just completed (oiled, not sprayed yet). It's based pretty much on the WOOD magazine dimensions, but I've made some cosmetic changes...put a curve in the upper part of the back leg, three back splats instead of four, and the splats are bent (contoured?) to fit my back...and hopefully the backs of other people. :) I've made (and sold) a couple of Mission rockers already with the curved back, but with splats that just follow the curve of the upper leg, not with the contour of this chair. I may put the contour on the next one, because it makes a real difference in the 'feel' of the sit. These splats are 3/8" thick (laminated and bent dry), and offer support, but give enough to kinda fit the back. It's comfortable to me just sitting on the plywood seat...hopefully the cushion will 'bottom out' 1/2" or so above that. Dimensions are 46-1/2 high at the back, seat (inside the frame) is 17-1/4 at the front, 15-3/4 at the back, and 16-3/4 deep. The lower side stretchers are through tenoned into the legs. These, the rear stretcher, and the two back supports are pegged with dowels and covered with 1/4" square ebony plugs (proud of the surface and chamfered a bit). All edges have a 1/8" or so chamfer except the back splats...I just knocked the edges off those.

http://www.kcwoodworks.net/misschair1.jpg

http://www.kcwoodworks.net/misschair2.jpg

http://www.kcwoodworks.net/misschair3.jpg

http://www.kcwoodworks.net/misschair4.jpg

My specific concerns are that the chair may be too tall...it looks awkward to me. The WOOD design has the back support as a separate assembly...two support pieces and the splats, and a rear seat frame piece. I decided to eliminate the rear seat frame piece, and just put the lower back support piece there instead. I did this because I had existing bending jigs for the splats, and I knew they 'sat' well. It seems to have worked out, but I'm not sure I like it. Opinions on these two items are especially welcome, but I'll listen to all comments. Fire away... :D

[Chris Padilla]

How did you like working with Mesquite? I am very curious...always wanted to play with that wood.

Mesquite has some amazing properties: very dense and hardly moves at all...almost like plywood. I heard it can dull tools pretty quickly.

I like the style of the chair quite a bit and the back initially seems a bit high and awkward but after looking for a few minutes, I like it just fine.

However, those are some ugly shoes! :p

[Bob Lasley]

KC,

At first glance the back looks too tall to me as well, but then after looking at it for a bit, maybe not. Alot of Mission/Arts and Crafts chairs have tall backs. I'm sure no matter which way you build it, someone will want the other way. Maybe do a tall and a shorter one.

The rest of the chair looks great, BTW.

Bob

[Eric Naessens]

Very nice chair, KC. I'm intrigued by the contour you designed into the back slats - I would love to sit in one of these and experience it for myself. But being from Michigan, I highly doubt I'll get the chance anytime soon! :)

As to the height...it looks right to me. To my eyes, the style of the chair lends itself to being taller, so it ends up looking good. I would love to see the finished product when it's complete.

[Joe Tonich]

My specific concerns are that the chair may be too tall...it looks awkward to me. The WOOD design has the back support as a separate assembly...two support pieces and the splats, and a rear seat frame piece. I decided to eliminate the rear seat frame piece, and just put the lower back support piece there instead. I did this because I had existing bending jigs for the splats, and I knew they 'sat' well. It seems to have worked out, but I'm not sure I like it. Opinions on these two items are especially welcome, but I'll listen to all comments. Fire away... :D

KC,

I'd leave the design alone. I personally love to sit in high backed chairs. They are so much more comfortable than the chairs that the backs only come up "mid back". The curved back slats make it look even more inviting to set in after a long days work. (SWMBO thinks I'm nuts as I'd rather sit on a hard DR chair or the wooden rocker than the couch or recliner. :confused: ) What steps did you take to get the right curve for the back slats? Was it trial & error or do you have some kind of formula?

Joe

[Jim Becker]

I'm with the others...the back does seem tall at first, but then it becomes "majestic". There might be no harm in creating a shorter version, however, for your own personal comparison and to have an alternative when customers want a pair of tall ones for the "head and tail" of the table and shorter units on the sides.

Very nice looking chair and frankly, it looks comfortable...at least it will once you have a seat pad on it! :D

[Mark Singer]

Kirk,
Nice design! I will make a couple of suggestions. The seat should "rake" 1" min from front to back. Typical strecher to floor dimension at front is about 17" to the unpadded strecher. The back should be 15 1/2 to 16" . This assumes a padded seat of 1" to 1 1/2" thickness. The raking will position the body against the seat back and is more comfortable. Here is the tricky part...if you rake it and don't angle the tenons it will "relax " the back angle (less steep) . If you feel the chair needs that modification then it is just a question of leg length. If you want to keep the same back angle...the tenon angle is compound...angle down for the rake and taper back for the narrow rear dimension. The lower side stretchers might look better raised up and would allow for moving ones feet through and around the legs. The rear lower strecher can probably be omitted which will "open" the design a bit. Bring the chair to a dining table sit in it and consider the back angle. When you upolster make sure you cut out a seat hole for strapping ...it is much more comfortable than solid plywood. About 2 1/2" donut is good then the center is strapping.The back height is fine unless it bothers the shoulder blades. Very nice work overall! I never get my prototype to work without some tweeking..

[Mike Scoggins]

Kirk,

Your workmanship on the chair is great!

Two things jump out at me when I look at the chair. First, the back seems too tall. When the padded seat is added however, I suspect the proportions will be more in line with that extra seat height.

Second, the strechers on either side seem too low (too close to the floor) which makes it seem as if the legs are too short. I think these two things together somehow throw off the proportions a bit. If the stretchers were a little higher I think it would look better and might even balance the back height.

I really like the overall style of the chair and the curved-slats enhancement you made. The mesquite is great with the Mission style.

Mike

[Scott Coffelt]

I like it, looks really nice. I like the cirves, plugs, etc.

[Jamie Buxton]

Kirk ---
Beautiful as usual. Here's a couple of thoughts...

The "correct" height for the back depends, IMO, on what else is in the room. If it is a big room and a big dining table, tall backs fit better.

I'm a little surprised the curves in the back slats sit well. To my eye, the break in the curve should be higher, so that it hits you in the lumbar vertebrae. But I'm only looking at it. Sitting is the real test.

I'd consider adding the plugging on the tenons at the seat level. In the side view, they look kinda lonely when they're only down at the floor level.

Jamie

[Todd Burch]

I'm with Jamie. The rails at seat level, on the sides, and front, need plugs too. You have them everywhere else.

I would also lean towards moving the lower side rails up, perhaps to the bottom height of the rear lower rail.

I think that if you modified the rear leg, so that the top (above the seat) stayed the same, but the lower portion angled back an inch or so (by the time it got to the floor), I think it might not appear so top-heavy with the high back. Also, with the rear legs canted back, it would be less prone to tipping backwards. I can do a drawing for you if I'm not explaining this clearly.

When you sit in this chair, and you sit all the way back, do the inside corners of the rear legs cut into your hiney? (If you are thin, you've never had this problem!!) If so, you might consider knocking down those corners a little.

Finally, have you considered making the lower side slats the same width as the upper back slats?

What type of padded seat will you be using? Leather? Naugahyde? (har har har).

Do you have other chairs in your inventory, or is this a new line?

[Terry Quiram]

KC

If you add a stretcher in front the chair will be perfect. I also vote for more plugs. How many ornaments do you want for a set of 4 chairs? :D

Terry

[Peter Stahl]

KC,

Nice chair! Really like the design.

Pete

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

Thanks for all the replies.

As to plugs, I only use plugs where they really cover something...not just for decoration. It's one of my 'rules'. I also won't use fake though tenons. In this case, there's a dowel pin in the holes. The tenons in the upper frame aren't long enough to pin, so no plugs. I may rework the joinery on the frame members...I agree, it looks like they oughta be there.

The other chair I build has the rear leg angled back a bit (see pic below). This is an awfully 'simple' design, and I've made more than I care to remember...but they pay the bills. :)

http://www.kcwoodworks.net/images/kcdining.jpg

The first thing I tnoticed when I saw the WOOD plan was that straight rear leg. It doesn't seem tippy, but the straight leg does make the whole chair look a bit unbalanced.

The lower side stretchers look low...but I did that so the slats in the side would look long enough. My thinking was that without the side slats, it's just another boring, simple chair. As suggested, I believe I'll move the side pieces or the rear piece such that they're a little closer. I removed the lower front stretcher because it gets in the way of feet. The 'other chair' has a single middle strecher between the sides. I may add one of those just a bit toward the front from the middle.

Especially to Todd...6'1, right around 240. Skinny is not an issue for me.

Thanks again for the comments!

KC

[Dan Bussiere]

Personally, I like the design. The back will not look so high when you put the seat pad in. I suggest a striking color will draw your attention away from original notice of the high back. Looks nice!
Dan

[Dave Smith]

For what it is worth I will give you my ideas. I like the upper part of the chair. The bottom looks out of balance to me. It appears as if the side stretchers are low to accommodate long slats. Also, the back stretcher looks out of place. I am trying to imagine the side stretcher a little higher and joined in the middle with a flat stretcher curved on both sides. And I would eliminate the back stretcher. An other idea would be two stretchers spaced about a quarter of the way from the front and back tying the sides together.

Dave Smith

Free advised is worth just about what you pay for it from Longview, WA.

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi KC

I like the looks of it. The back is a little high, but I think that if it is as comfortable as you describe, the experience of sitting in the chair will go a long way towards integrating the height with the overall experience of using it. I don't know if I am expressing myself as well as I should, but I hope you get the idea. There are things that don't always look like we think they should, but once the function is taken into account, the user can say, "yeah, that works well".

Nice work, and I really like the accent pegs.

Bill

[Mike Mastin]

KC,

I have never attempted to build a chair before, so this is just my thoughts.
The chair looks great to me. I have seen some of Frank Lloyd Wright's dining room designs. He did a dining room set that had very tall backs in a very Mission oriented style. At first they looked extremely odd to me, due to the tall backs (much taller than yours by the way). After more thought I really found them very graceful and elegant.
Your chair is beautiful to me. The only thing that I might have done would be to gently angle the back legs.

I personally love Mesquite. It has such incredible grain structure and color. It is one of the finest looking (and working) woods period.

Look for me to be dropping by to see you some weekend here in the very near future. Need to get out of the shop and make a road trip and "blow a little stink off" as my mom used to say when we were younger :-)

[Richard Gillespie]

Having built chairs for a furniture company, my opinion is influenced by that experience. IMHO the straight bottom, rear legs are a potential future joint failure problem. The reason I say this is, the force the chairs receive during the act of sitting down is towards the rear. The most abuse a chair receives is being tipped and when being scooted back. We had joint failures returned to us for repair and the majority were at the side skirt rear leg joint.

I saw the glue blocks across the skirts which will help but being the king of over building I would peg the skirt joints on the side of the chair also.

I would also suggest that the seat area is too low and should be raised by 1"-2". However, you must understand that I'm 6'-2" and like a taller chair. The height of the back seems out of proportion to the height of the seat. The chairs we built were 40" to 44" tall.

I love the color, finish and curves of the chair. The mission style of the sides is very appealing. From past experience the curved back slats can be very comfortable in that they give when pressured.