Chair Backs

[Mike Burke]

I am redoing an old chair and not sure how to make the curved top and bottom parts for the back. I would like to make new curved parts and have slats for the back rest. My thought is to make a new back insert with top and bottom rails with new slats and pocket screw in into place from the back. I could make some dowels to plug the pocket screw holes.

Or I guess I could make them straight with new slats and put a pad of some type for the back comfort.

From the little searching I've done, my options are

steam bending (I don't have any set up for this)
Laminating to a form
Face Sawing

Plan on making these out of quarter sawn white oak.

Asking for help. Thanks
back 1.jpgback 2.jpgback 3.JPG

[Mel Fulks]

Most slat back chairs have much thinner slats . I don’t think I’ve ever seen slats that thick. Pretty sure they sawed them out , NOT steamed
them. But it’s not difficult to steam and bend slats. Plenty of books on that stuff ! I would not discard the chair ,it’s a clumsy but
interesting relic . But too beefy to be a modern model ! Look at Windsor chairs,too. Will be watching, good luck to you !

[Derek Cohen]

Mike, the grain run out indicates the backs were bandsawn from solid.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mike Burke]

So would it be ok to saw new ones out off solid material ? Make them 1" thick
Or would it be better to keep them straight and therefore keep the back flat.
I was thinking of using straight slats 1/2 x 1 1/2

Its an old chair. They person we got it from is 70ish and said here Great Grandpa made it.
The original back had straw packed in it for padding. back straw.jpg

[Jim Becker]

I would choose either bent lamination with forms or a sawn back from thick stock since the bend isn't "yuge". The latter is quicker, but may not have the prettiest faces. A variation on that would be a sawn curve that's then veneered for looks. Bent lamination is likely stronger. With the dark coloration of those chairs, both the bent lamination and the veneered sawn version would not really show much of the construction method up top once finished.

[Mark Gibney]

Mike, if you want to make slimmer slats you could use the existing fat slats as forms. They should work for either steam bent or laminated slats.
You'd probably have to modify them a little to nest together, but it's doable!

[Mike Burke]

Thanks for the suggestions and tips. Here is what I was thinking about for the back. Making a complete unit and inserting it into the opening. then pocket screwing it into place on the back of the top and bottom rails.
The vertical slats would be straight/flat and 1/2" thick and mortise them into the rails. The top & bottom rails would be thicker like the originals 1"
I could make the top & bottom rails curved like the originals or I could make them straight. And position them so they cover up the dowel holes.

chair back 3.jpg

[Tom Bender]

Mike
That's a nice old chair. The original slats were sawn and that's how I would make the replacements. I would make them the same shape but would upgrade to M&T joints. Flat slats would be less comfortable and combined with pocket screws would make it a less nice old chair. Cut the joinery before you saw the curves.

[Mike Burke]

Thought I would post a finished update to this old chair we acquired.
I made some new back parts, put some extensions on the legs, put homemade veneer on the front legs, refinished with a mixture of different oils and stains and made a new seat cushion. After all this I am ready to build a new one.
old chair.jpgold chair 1.jpgnew chair 1.jpgnew chair 2.jpg

[John Kananis]

Hey, that looks great. Nice job.

[Ralph Okonieski]

Very well done!

[Carl Beckett]

Looks great! Its more difficult to fix old stuff than it is to build new. Nice transformation

[Tom Bender]

That's a beauty.

[Mike Henderson]

Mike, the grain run out indicates the backs were bandsawn from solid.

Regards from Perth

Derek

That's how I did some chairs I built. Use mortise and tenon and cut the tenons before you bandsaw the curve.

Mike

[Mel Fulks]

If that chair had been on the Titanic someone would have said “ I’m not leaving this ship ‘til I get to sit in that chair and have one last drink”