What does a medium contour plane look like?
Printable View
What does a medium contour plane look like?
Here's one from lee valley; http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...t=1,50230&ap=1
I assumed I would be using appropriate drill bits for the Spax 10 x 3" screws, with the final hole being either 3/8" or 1/2" wide.
Brock recommends a "1XJ" Miller Dowel bit. The width for the opening is .412".
I still assume I can use regular drill bits and make plugs with a regular or tapered plug cutter of the right size. (Padauk is hard, so I will test the drill sizes in advance on scrap.)
Am I missing something?
I also used my own countersink and pilot bits. Not sure what the big deal on the Miller is - especially since the Spax screws are supposed to be self-piloting.
I'm using a 31/64" brad point csink + 1/8" pilot. I'll be using 1/2" dowels for the plugs.
One thing that got me: On the front legs, CB sometimes shows chairs with one screw, sometimes with two. I was scared to use 2, since i didn't want to poke through the seat. I ended up using 1. Just consider it b4 you drill.
Also, there are a couple flavors of Spax screws. I used the general construction ones, but there are stainless steel decking ones and lag type screws with wider heads and no threads at the top. The latter ones are probably better at pulling the joint tight. My BORG only had the generals, though. They work fine for me.
Am I the only one who finds it surprising that for how meticulous this chair seems to be designed, it's joined with a lot of butt joints, dowels, and screws?
At the "Day in Maloof's Workshop" Mike Johnson said that many woodworkers told them that they did not need the screws at all, because there was so much contact on the joints for gluing.
He said that it is probably true, but since none of Maloof's joints had ever failed, they'll stick with a good thing.
I can see the advantage of being able to screw and unscrew the joints during the building process.
I don't remember if it was in the book or the DVD, but I remember Chuck's recommendation to use just one screw if the seat is deeply shaped. Sounds like a safe idea.
Sounds like you guys are making some great progress! Since there are naturally so many questions on a project like this, have you guys had any contact with the designer? You might even want to let him know about this thread?
Yes, as a matter of fact Charles Brock e-mailed me a couple of times today with responses to my question here. He's quite helpful.
I was going to use a 3/8' or 1/2" plug cutter. He says he uses the Lee Valley 3/8" tenon cutter. Start with a 1/2" x 1/2" piece of ebony and sharpen it with the tenon cutter. It comes out the other end at 3/8" but like a sharpened pencil tapers down to that, so it can fill the .412" hole left by a Miller Dowel bit.
I finished the rough work on my headrest. I realize that band of sap isn't for everyone, and that the sweep is asymmetric, but it feels right to me, and I really like the intersection between this piece's sap and heartwood. Interesting lines and colors there.
The design calls for a 7" headrest. I ended up making it 6" tall, since that's the capacity of my bandsaw. I took 1" off the top instead of the bottom, since I didn't want to mess with the distance to the seat and hence the length of the spindles. This means i'll either have 4" horns, or will have to take 1" off them too (probably the latter).
I did all the initial smoothing work with that little 102 block plane ($12 on ebay...) . It's surprisingly good at finding the high spots without flattening the profile. Gotta work across grain and at skew angles mostly, though. I'll do the fine smoothing and concave work with a contour plane.
And Richard, to answer yr question: yes, I'm in regular contact with Charles. He's extremely open and helpful. He follows this thread regularly, but refuses to chime for conflict-of-interest reasons. One thing I like is that he never tries to push his plans or to imply they're in any way superior to the others. In fact, when I run into conflicts - like on what to do if the headrest is too high for my bandsaw, he's quick to recommend alternative approaches like those followed by Hal Taylor. Since this thread has popped up @ SMC he's informed me that traffic to his site is way up. He thanks us!
Beautiful job, including the sapwood. I love the fact that the chair is a combination of very precise angles and open, flowing lines. I like the fact that the grain is asymmetrical.
Good to know you guys have the support to complete this project.
Shawn,
To smooth the inside of the headrest, take a piece of the fall off from the inside cut and use it to make a sanding block. It'll take some effort but that's the surest way to get it smooth and even.
I am thinking about all that rich real estate available in the rocker's ears. I would like to use a feature like a concave line coming um from the headrest or a scroll from behind the headrest.
One example is the carved top corners on the Maloof chair on the cover of the book "The Furniture of Sam Maloof".
Any examples of your creative ears?
I am practicing on scrap wood and looking for our clay.
Brian-
Sorry you didn't get any ears responses. I cut mine this weekend per the profile pattern. Watch out when you go to cut the 9degrees off the front and back of the tops of the back legs to flow into the headrest. Setting the bandsaw to shave this was a challenge bkz the headrest isn't flat along it's entire length, so you can't ride the ear part tight against the fence. You have to adjust the depth of cut to account for this. I think it's wise to cut it 'shy' and true it up later with a plane. I also made a sacrificial fence so I could partially bury the blade and get a shallow cut. Also, drill your holes for the headrest AFTER you cut those profiles - else your holes won't be center on the leg (um, DAMHIKT).
Man, have you started making your spindles yet? The first is tricky. The second is fun. The rest get old really fast.
I'll edit this post tonite with pix.
Thanks for the tip on the contour plane from LV. It's wonderful for the spindle work. I skewed the blade angle a hair by accident, but it's turned out to be great. I can take heavy and light cuts by just shifting the tool left and right.
I still highly recommend a small (102 size) block plane for smoothing the convex parts and straightaways. Really makes quick work of truing up the bandsaw lines. Much better (IMHO) than a spindle sander. No dust!
I also made a profile gauge for the front which is just a 3/4" thick piece of stock with 1 1/2" curved crown cut out of the bottom. It's hard to make a profile gauge for the rear of the spindles, because the roundover radius changes along the length - or at least mine does. However, that's easier to eyeball vis-a-vis the frontside crown.
Reminder, I'm happy to send you my 'pencil sharpeners' for the spindle ends after I'm done. The way I'm going, that might be mid Feb though...
Shawn,
I started experimenting with the ears. I had to do several before I could figure out what I was seeing in the pictures. I want them to be concave on the inside, with the groove extending down the back of the headrest support a few inches. First I started with a gouge, after which I realized I didn't know what I was seeing in the pictures. (One of Charles Brock's gallery and the cover of a Sam Maloof book). As I experimented on a stationary belt sander, I found it.
I did the inside work on the sander before making the headrest. After it is roughed out I'll cut a curve to blend the profile together. The concave shaping is done on the sander rollers with 80 grit, which really cuts well.
These photos are from the back of the headrest supports (rear legs).
Brian
I have not started on the spindles yet. I am looking forward to them a lot.
I made a Lee Valley order and included some "pencil sharpeners" thanks to a late Christmas gif - and thank you for your offer.
I started contouring the arms.
Very rough cut with band saw.
Hogged off material with the belt sander.
Shaped with 3 tools - an old Staney Sureform rasp that I inherited, a Nicholson #49 rasp, and the contour plane.
Although I love my #49, it was the Sureform and the contour plane that did the amazing work. So much control and together they leave a pretty smooth and shiny surface before any sanding.
I looked at pictures to find a good line for the curves, but before that I would do a tiny bit of shaping, then set the arms over the arms of a real chair and sit there for a while to see where they put pressure points on my arms. Then I would mark those spots and take a little of, until they started taking shape. Then the curves in photos started making sense.
I do it two ways - In iPhoto on the mac, I choose "export" and then make the biggest dimension "640 pixels". Or in Photoshop I resize, the same way. But I am seeing your pictures very clearly.
These pix show where the ear and the headrest come together. I drew a vertical line where the two will meet.
The 1st picture shows the test piece on the left with the real piece on the right.
Picture 2 is from the front and above.
Pic. 3 is straight on from the front.
Pic. 4 is straight on from the back.