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Thread: finally finished the mineral stained poplar dining set

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    Collegeville PA (30 min west of Philly)
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    finally finished the mineral stained poplar dining set

    This is the first time I ever built a set of dining chairs. I now understand why chairs are so expensive - it's like building a more complicated table, but having to do many exactly the same.

    Recap of this journey:
    - Customer asked me to build them a table with painted base
    - Since base was to be painted, I selected poplar
    - When I prepared the lumber, I found a bunch of mineral staining that I (and my wife) found beautiful
    - So I kept that batch of poplar for myself and built a new dining table for our sunroom
    - Since that was poplar, we decided to build a new bench and chairs too... this post is mainly about the chairs
    - All the chairs, bench, and table were somewhat designed on the fly, with some scratch ideas in a notebook along the way


    A few callouts about building these chairs:
    - The large 'condor tails' connecting front to back legs were entirely unnecessary, but I wanted to try it out
    - I used an old delta tenon jig at the table saw to cut the tail in the stretcher, and then the shoulder cut using table saw sled
    - For the sockets, I set up stop blocks so I could nibble away at the table saw.
    - Since my blade is not a dovetail blade, I cut just shy of the desired depth and finished with a chisel

    - After shape cutting all parts, I clamp them all together to sand and fine tune so that they're all identical

    - For contouring the back rest, I made some curved guide blocks that I could follow with angle grinder and then sanders


    As with other recent projects, my son helps me more and more. He's 16 now and getting quite strong. Smart kid too. He worked the router, the band saw, table saw, helped me glue up, and did a lot of sanding during this project.

    Anyways, my wife gets home from a weekend away tomorrow and I think she'll be happy with how the sunroom looks now.

    Edit: I tried to up my photo game a bit this time around, but please forgive the wrinkles in the white sheet


    Dining chairs 009.jpgDining chairs 012.jpgDining chairs 018.jpgDining chairs 053.jpgDining chairs 021.jpgDining chairs 051.jpgDining chairs 057.jpg
    Last edited by Bob Riefer; 06-26-2022 at 10:20 AM.
    - Bob R.
    Collegeville PA (30 minutes west of Philly)

  2. #2
    They came out well. I like poplar and often use it. Looks like a fun project.
    It's an interesting touch to have the grain on the seat running left to right. I haven't seen that before.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Cashiers NC
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    603
    You did a really nice job. The “condor tails” add a lot of beauty to the chair.
    Charlie Jones

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    That's really outstanding, Bob!!
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Doylestown, PA
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    I would never have guessed those were poplar. Great job.

  6. #6
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    Thanks guys! I agree... poplar can be sneaky good looking if you pick through the pile a bit. And I've been on a run of celebrating unique variations in lumber, so the fact that each chair has its own look is something I find visually interesting (vs. perfect matching if that makes sense).

    Grain direction on seat... Hmmm... I didn't really think about that too much other than I wanted the grain direction to match from the seat to the back rest.

    The condor tails definitely added time to this project, but I felt the visual benefit was worth it.
    - Bob R.
    Collegeville PA (30 minutes west of Philly)

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Upland CA
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    Beautiful job. They look great!
    Rick Potter

    DIY journeyman,
    FWW wannabe.
    AKA Village Idiot.

  8. #8
    They are stunning. Well done.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    Really appreciate that!!

    The family ate around the table last night... I'm now entirely positive that food tastes better at a dining set that you built yourself.
    - Bob R.
    Collegeville PA (30 minutes west of Philly)

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