Dining room carver chairs

[Derek Cohen]

The design of the chair needs to compliment the bentwood chairs we have, which are original and early 1900s. The table is to be replaced with a longer, wider one.





This table is over 200 years old, and has great sentimental value. It is built of Yellow Wood (top) and Stinkwood (legs). We bought this after getting married. Now, 42 years later, Lynndy wants a larger table.

The plan is a table with a top and skirts in Rock Maple and round, parallel legs in Jarrah - very Mid Century modern. The aim is to blend two modern Mid Century carvers in Rock Maple with the bentwood chairs. Consequently, a lighter look for the carvers is needed.

Here is the design.

The legs are curved and round, with 25mm top and bottom, and 32mm around the seat area to accommodate the joinery. The 35mm thick seat will be attached with mortice-and-tenons (not sure yet whether integral or loose tenons). These will be 25x10mm.

The curve in the legs is a desired feature to soften the look and also link with the bentwood chairs. The complication, in shaping, is that there is a taper and a curve.

The height of the top section has been reduced significantly. The design ...



Then there are finer details being worked out, such as the curve at the rear of the backrest and seat to link with the roundness of the bentwood chairs. The transition from the legs to the arm rest is borrowed from Hans Wegner and used when I build his The Chair.

Details of importance: the seat angled at 5-degrees off horizontal, and the backrest is 95-degrees to the seat. The centre of the seat is the same height as the benchwood chairs.

The plan shape for the arm- and back rest will come later.

Thoughts?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jamie Buxton]

So you're building only two of the new chairs! I'd been thinking you'd be building a full set -- eight or so. Considering all the hand work necessary, two is much more manageable.

[Derek Cohen]

Jamie, another 6 will come in the not-so-distant future, for my son. As a result, I am looking for a way to ease the build process. Two now is fun, 8 at one go is not

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Andrew Hughes]

I think it will look great Derek. Since you have already made a similar almost the same Hans Wegner chair you don’t need to mock up the design? For comfort
I like the stinkwood table legs I would save them just for a pattern at the very least.
I would be careful about adding maple to the tables apron. That would be a powerful design element I would be concerned it will complete with the top. A table should have a greatest looking top.
Having chairs and tables that look great together it just doesn’t get any better.
Good Luck

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks Andrew

The table design will have a shallow apron in Rock Maple, and as a result it will complement and not compete with the Rock Maple top. The Jarrah legs will be 90mm diameter cylinders. An easy build compared with the chairs.

These chairs are actually quite different to the Wegner The Chair. There is enough here that I needed to work out construction details. More later.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Andrew Hughes]

Oops my apologies I thought the table top was going to be Jarrah.
A Rock maple top sound fantastic
Good Luck always

[John Kananis]

I do mostly one-offs so there's a lot of latitude and I can grab a hand tool to do the simple things over setting up a machine but if I were to do 6 or 8 of something, I'd spend the time making templates and then just bang out the individual parts, then match pieces for grain, etc.

Also, I'm popping the popcorn - can't wait to see your progress. Good luck and best.

[Tom Bender]

The very wide aprons on the old table have, no doubt, contributed to its durability over the many years. Surely it has some stories to tell. A narrow apron makes a table easier to sit at but presents a joinery challenge. This is one of my favorite reasons to go into the shop.

Here is my best solution so far.

Joinery 3.jpg

It is a buried box joint. And the stretchers are narrower across the span. This joint should withstand any abuse.

[Jim Becker]

The very wide aprons on the old table have, no doubt, contributed to its durability over the many years. Surely it has some stories to tell. A narrow apron makes a table easier to sit at but presents a joinery challenge. This is one of my favorite reasons to go into the shop.

Here is my best solution so far.

Joinery 3.jpg

It is a buried box joint. And the stretchers are narrower across the span. This joint should withstand any abuse.

Making joinery like that would require a whole lot of adult beverages to recover from the task!

[Derek Cohen]

My plan for the apron of the table is rather a lot simpler.

I want aprons about 3" deep. These will be morticed into the 90mm diameter legs. To strengthen the apron, it will be built as a "T-beam" (to prevent flex), but in this case an "L-beam", where there is a horizontal section (rail) attached to the inside of the apron where it meets the table top. The rail will be multi-dominoed into the apron. The rail doubles as a place to screw down the table top.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Edward Weber]

The very wide aprons on the old table have, no doubt, contributed to its durability over the many years. Surely it has some stories to tell. A narrow apron makes a table easier to sit at but presents a joinery challenge. This is one of my favorite reasons to go into the shop.

Here is my best solution so far.

Joinery 3.jpg

It is a buried box joint. And the stretchers are narrower across the span. This joint should withstand any abuse.

Tom, those are great joints, I've used them many times.
They work really well for smaller scale joinery as well. Items where the tenon is say only 1/4" thick and the mortise isn't very deep. You are effectively lengthening your tenon.
They can also be as simple as a half lap, not a full blown box joint, if you need/want to keep things simpler.
Criss-Cross-Corner-Joint.jpg