how would you make this?

[Bob Riefer]

My wife is interested in having me build some stools like these and I was wondering what sort of reading / video watching I should do in order to learn how to accomplish the curved backrest portion. Thanks in advance for any tips!

[Lee Schierer]

Most of it is pretty straight forward woodworking with mortise and tenon joints. For the back rests you will need to learn to do steam bending or thin material glue up to make the curved backs.

[Bob Riefer]

This is perfect Lee, thanks for the link to that video series!! The curved backrest would be a fun new challenge to learn, which is an important part of how I pick designs these days (to have a practical reason to learn a new skill).

[John TenEyck]

Those stools are gorgeous. I hope you build them - and let us know how you go about it.

John

[Erik Loza]

My wife's aesthetic leans toward mid-century modern. We tried out a set of chairs that were very similar in design to those (curved backrest) and went a different direction. We both found the contour and position of the backrest borderline uncomfortable after more than a few minutes. If your wife is just going off aesthetics for this selection, I would highly suggest actually sitting in one before she commits. Just my experience.

Erik

[Bob Riefer]

My wife's aesthetic leans toward mid-century modern. We tried out a set of chairs that were very similar in design to those (curved backrest) and went a different direction. We both found the contour and position of the backrest borderline uncomfortable after more than a few minutes. If your wife is just going off aesthetics for this selection, I would highly suggest actually sitting in one before she commits. Just my experience.

Erik

I suppose a key trick in this design execution will be to mockup and find the perfect angle for the back rest ahead of actually going for it. Perhaps I'll build from the seat upwards out of cheap materials as a first / test step.

[Erik Loza]

I suppose a key trick in this design execution will be to mockup and find the perfect angle for the back rest ahead of actually going for it. Perhaps I'll build from the seat upwards out of cheap materials as a first / test step.

That's a smart idea.

Erik

[Lee Schierer]

I suppose a key trick in this design execution will be to mockup and find the perfect angle for the back rest ahead of actually going for it. Perhaps I'll build from the seat upwards out of cheap materials as a first / test step.

One other area for concern is the joint between the curved back rests and the support piece. That is going to be a face grain to end grain joint so mortise and tenon would be a wise choice for that joint as well. You are probably going to want the leg and the arm rest support piece to be one continuous piece of wood.

[Bob Riefer]

Good advice there!! Thanks Lee!!

[Edwin Santos]

First off, beautiful seat. I sincerely hope you take it on.

Not sure if I'm being humble, honest or stupid here, but a piece like this would not be straightforward for me.
Without an actual working sample available, sorting out the angles and relationships properly will take a bit of doing, maybe a few mock-up iterations. Most important would be the seat angle and its relationship to the angle of the back. Many people will sit far enough forward at a bar to not be leaning against the back, but for those that do, you want it to be comfortable. It also looks like some complexity in the joinery of the multiple pieces that form the back and the main back leg pieces. The manufacturer used finger joints, but as a non-factory woodworker there are other ways to do it that you might try. I do not think any parts have been bent, I think they are sawing all curves which is why the pieces need to be smaller to minimize waste and subsequently joined. The good news is plenty of photos are available. They offer downloadable CAD files which are usually intended for designers not builders, but if you have access to CAD you can try and see if they are helpful.

Good luck, and if you take them on, please share. Thanks for sharing this designer, some of their other pieces in the collection are superb.

SOSSEGO_AP_Duda Stool_19 (1).jpgSOSSEGO_AP_Duda Stool_20 (1).jpg10-02-2020-pflumm-herronandpartners-229.jpg

[Bob Riefer]

Very interesting, thanks for those close-ups.


My initial thought on the curved back was to glue up a shallow v-shaped series of 8/4 blocks, and then resaw the curve shape from that. Does that make sense? Could it work? Would it be strong enough?


If I went that route, I would oversize so that the point where back rest meets arm rest has enough "play" for me to sneak up on the angle for that joint. Then carve the joint to blend it.

[Jared Sankovich]

Very interesting, thanks for those close-ups.


My initial thought on the curved back was to glue up a shallow v-shaped series of 8/4 blocks, and then resaw the curve shape from that. Does that make sense? Could it work? Would it be strong enough?


If I went that route, I would oversize so that the point where back rest meets arm rest has enough "play" for me to sneak up on the angle for that joint. Then carve the joint to blend it.

That is how the back above was done. Follow the path of the finger joint, it bisects the curve.

[Erik Loza]

More of an opinion than anything else: The finger joints make the whole chair look cheap to me. Maybe because every time I see a finger joint, it's the cheapest of cheap framing studs or Ikea furniture. The original MCM designs I saw were either bent-lam or machined from a solid piece.

Erik

[Jared Sankovich]

More of an opinion than anything else: The finger joints make the whole chair look cheap to me. Maybe because every time I see a finger joint, it's the cheapest of cheap framing studs or Ikea furniture. The original MCM designs I saw were either bent-lam or machined from a solid piece.

Erik

The Danish use a longer finger joint, that does look "better" but it's still a finger joint.
a3f28fd6134b4a9bf866c813d06ea741.jpg

[Erik Loza]

The Danish use a longer finger joint, that does look "better" but it's still a finger joint.

That finger joint is a whole lot less ugly than the one I'm used to seeing. By the way, in case anyone is curious, that Brazilian place is almost certainly using a 5-axis CNC router to crank those parts out. That's the only way to economically do that at scale.

Erik