The Great Morris Chair project

[gary Zimmel]

Good Day to the Creek!

Welcome James to our little build..

And congrats to Brandon and David for a job well done on your chairs.

In one of Walts earlier posts he had ripped
some of his boards to get the grain staight.

As I was milling the parts to my chairs I had to do the same.
If the correction is quite big I will use my bandsaw.
However most of the time I will use my taper jig to make my adjustments.



Morris chair and ottoman 083.jpg


Nice quick way to get a nice straight grain pattern.



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[gary Zimmel]

All of the mortises are in my legs for the chairs.
Not very hard set up as my mortiser was left ready to go for the legs.

I do my mortises and tenons opposite of Mr. Caza.
Mortises first and then tenons. 6 of one 1/2 dozen of the other.
As long as one is happy with the end result.

Another story stick and we were ready to go.
The holes for the plugs will be done after I do a test fit of everything.
The shoulders are all different depths so it will be easier
to mark the story stick for them then.

Morris chair and ottoman 121.jpg

Morris chair and ottoman 118.jpg

Now just a little clean up and we are ready for the rails and strechers...





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[Dewey Torres]

Nice progress guys. I just got back from my race. Love to see those tenons go together! Still have work left on the landscape but I am pressing to get much done this weekend.

[Walt Caza]

Good Day to All Creekers,
Well, it's 3am and my body is tired, but my mind is off racing again.
So, I'm gonna type at ya. More... frustrated clacking, actually!

Congratulations to Dewey! On your 'amazing' race, and soon-to-be-behind-you
landscaping. If your fan inlay tutorial was any indication, we eagerly await
your Morris postings! Well done on all 3 counts.
Can I request a string inlay tutorial for down the road?

Wow Nathan, terrific shop redo. 28 sheets speaks volumes about your effort
and intent. You are in for a great payoff as you get back to work in your 'new' shop.
A tip of the hat to your wife...good to have her on your team!
Sometimes it helps a project more, to push it to the back burner and then come back fresh.

I hope that's the case with your Morris chair. Your slats are lookin' good.
I am glad you had the courage to post your obstacles. It would be easy to
keep quiet. But there is value in sharing the reality of our woodworking.
I encourage others to show and tell their own shop 'challenges'.

Yikes Nathan...please tell us that your sliding miter saw has a blade guard?!?
Do we need to pass the hat to raise a Makita guard fund to keep you intact?

A big welcome to James Brown. (insert your own 'wow-I feel good' joke here)
[ya, like you haven't heard that before...]
Glad to have you, and your red oak with us for the group build.
I did not mean to flush you out of the bushes so soon, but glad you decided to join us!
It takes guts to emerge from stealth..... now eyes are upon you!

I hope the team momentum and spirit keeps us all going to completion.
I believe alot more projects get started, than finished (pun) in this world.
I see you are already posting well thought-out questions.
Good to have you on the team, Jim. (that's how he signed himself in pm's)

Wow Brandon, I had the nerve to come at you with 10 questions, and you responded in spades!
Thorough and helpful answers shared for the benefit of our group builders, and story followers.
Aside to BW: it's our community, you are a part of 'us' now

Thanks David F., for responding with answers and experience from building
your own beautiful Morris chair. It's great to see you participating and
adding value to our thread. We look forward to seeing your chair wearing
wood finish and cushions. I have never been near a Stickley store...
any chance of getting us a couple of spy pics?

Ya know, you put an idea like this 'out there', not knowing how it might go.
It feels rewarding to see meaningful exchanges between members.
As I wrote in the original invitation post to start this thread:
only your participation can make this group project 'Great'.
Gary and I are pleased that things are shaping up nicely.
Good Show!
Walt

ps It's not how you start, it's how you finish...
We are determined to see this project bear fruit.
(I really made you hang in there until the end for the title tie-in, huh!)
hehe

[Nathan Conner]

Wow Nathan, terrific shop redo. 28 sheets speaks volumes about your effort
and intent. You are in for a great payoff as you get back to work in your 'new' shop.

So far, it's been well worth it. It's a joy to go down to the shop and get work done, the miter saw station and the available workspace has been awesome! No more shuffling and moving pieces around just to find a clean place to work. Now I need MORE tables and benches!

Yikes Nathan...please tell us that your sliding miter saw has a blade guard?!?
Do we need to pass the hat to raise a Makita guard fund to keep you intact?

No hat-passing needed. I have the guard. It's in a Safeway bag, underneath the saw station. :O But I'm good. I took it off the first day I bought it, and have left it off since. No laser guide on it, so I eyeball everything, and with the guard on, it's more trouble than it's worth. So far. On the TS, I always leave the guard, riving knife and palls on. But maybe when I get this new measuring tape for the workbench to quick measure at the miter saw, I can put the guard back on and stop eyeballing all the cuts.

The chair! Still working when I have time. Got all the rest of the pieces cut up for the 4 sides. All the correctly-sized spacers (needed 16 oversized ones for the ends) and the rest of the slats (I was short a few because of the continuous slats) are all cut. I started working on fitting the shoulders of the mortise/tenons, and found that my chisels needed a good going over on the sharpener. Now that's done, I can go back over them and get a tighter fit. They look ok.

I got the first bent-laminate arm done. Well, mostly done. It needs a bit more cleanup, but it looks great! I need to plane a little more cleanly after the resaw and before I glue up, as the lamination lines were still visible in a couple of places. I planed, but not perfectly as I didn't want the arms too thin. I started with 6/4 pieces, and after the resawing and kerfs, I was left with exactly 4/4 after the glue-up. A little shy of the intended 1 1/8. As you can tell, the 4 clamps they show in the book weren't NEARLY enough. I had maybe 20 on there, and even that wasn't quite enough. It may be worth it (if I were to make more chairs) to make a mate for this form and clamp the pair of forms together around the laminations. The 3/8- was a little tough to bend and keep together. No problems adhering to the form lines, but a little tougher than I thought to keep the 3 pieces tightly together.

Also, on the arm, I used brown veneer cold-press glue that I usually use in the vacuum press. I've found it to be pretty hardy and hold up well. It held up fine, and we'll see how it lasts.

I was not willing to run the edge of the arm over the jointer with the glue in it, so I took after it with a hand plane, and I was surprised at how easily it cleaned up. After the squeeze out was taken off, I took a couple of passes over the planer to square up the sides, but in general, the hand plane was the way to go. Tracing and one pass through the bandsaw made the final shape, and it turned out great. I had, I would say, 0 springback. When I put it back on the form, it matches perfectly. I think I'll use the arms as they're done to trace the cutlines on the tops of the arms, for a better fit with less clamping required.

Anyhow, still in the game, no huge issues. Still wondering about the mortises, but I think I can clean them up so the fit is good enough for my eye.

Keep it up, everyone! I love seeing everyone's progress as it comes along.

[Walt Caza]

Hi Everyone,
Well, after 28 days of building, I was able to have my first sit down in my chair.
Nearly a month of spare time gets me a dry fitted frame that supports me nicely,
without a hint of wobble, despite no glue. (snug mortises pay off)
I checked the feet for level on the tablesaw. Sitting pretty!
assemble-stretchers.jpg sitting-level-on-saw.jpg

This is the left front leg. And a quick pine test seat.
So far, there are 40 mortises and 40 hand tuned tenons.
left-front-leg.jpg Morris-test-drive.jpg

Gary had concerns about the 3" seat slope.
The real seat frame will sit lower down the stretchers, but I find the slant just fine.
purple-seat-slant-test.jpg
Keen eyes may notice my purple router table fence serving me well, again.
(it also appeared in my barebones router table thread)

Thanks to all who voted in my pick a front stretcher poll.
It was a landslide! I have posted new 'wet' grain pics in that poll thread. (link)
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=90630

Now it all comes apart to cut the top rails to receive the bow arms.
A long while ago I referred to that critical step as the Big Hurdle.
Too much time, effort and oak into it already, to scrap anything in the BH!
Better proceed with extreme caution...

Next post, I will make my arm bending form out of MDF.
be well,
Walt

[Walt Caza]

Hello,
I got some time in the shop and built my bow arm bending form.
I screwed together 7 layers of MDF.
The business depot wanted $5 per scan, and $6 per foot of big paper print out
to enlarge my template from paper plans. Forget that...
I wrestled with it on my own scanner and printer for more than an unfun hour. No joy.
Lee Valley had the drawing bow in my lap on the third day. (thanks for the idea GZ)
7-pcs-of-MDF.jpg asymetrical-bow.jpg

I left my blank wider than needed, to create a clamping caul, should I wish
that I had one later. The big block blank was nearly a half sheet, and thus heavy.
I considered building an aux. table for my bandsaw, but instead just
shoved it through, following the line carefully.
My actual cut is very smooth, but downsizing the pic caused it to look very jagged. (jpg)
big-block-blank.jpg one-careful-slice.jpg

[Walt Caza]

I carefully laid out the layers of screws, so that both pieces would hold
together once seperated. I did not want to try to bandsaw any screws!
Here is the form, the plans, and the clamping caul.
See, despite that jagged pic, it really worked out very smooth!
layers-of-screws.jpg form,-plans-and-caul.jpg

Taking Nathan's suggestion that much clamping would be required,
I notched the form to receive parallel clamps.
As my first try at brute force bending, I used slower white glue, and ran
through a bit of a mental rehearsal. Doin' the shop hustle again...
clamping-notches.jpg rehearsal.jpg

I hope to resaw rough 8/4 QSW oak into 3 pcs that will be 3/8" thick after dressing.
Hopefully, the gluelines will be less visible because the layers came from the same board. (?)
You can see my clamp layout lines, necessary to notch the form bottom.
8-quarter-arm-stock.jpg

Next time...
I will try my hand at bent lamination.
My concerns going in are to get a no-gap glue-up, and hoping for minimal springback.
I plan to use the actual arms as templates to cut the side frames.
So, I did not make an extra mdf template to match the form.
take it easy,
Walt

[Walt Caza]

Good Day,
Wow, labour day came fast! I had hoped for more shop time this summer,
but it just seemed to fly by... maybe you know how that is?

I resawed the 8/4" oak into 3 layers, jointing a good side between slices.
Dressed down to 3/8" thick, the 3 plys will yield the 1" plus 1/8" arm.
I leaned toward the heavy side with clamping. (tick tock)
nice-hidden-grain.jpg the-big-squeeze.jpg

I let this monster sit for 24 hours, with my fingers crossed.
The bow arm stayed tight to the form, down to the last few clamps.
tight-to-form.jpg

My new worktable proved handy for spreading glue on the layers.
Morris-worktable.jpg

My first try at a 3pc bent lamination went ok. When placed back on the form,
nearly a 1/4" of springback is revealed. Zero gaps between plys.
3-ply-bow-arm.jpg

After this effort, I did hours of research into bent laminations.
Old Creek posts, and the FWW archive proved insightful.

I learned that both yellow and white PVA glues can creep, both initially and
also over time. The glue remains flexible and can stretch.
Scouring my local hardware solutions revealed that glue is marketed without
identifying it's actual composition. Faster! Stronger! Yummy!
Silly marketing names aplenty...Sumo! Gorilla! Ultimate Bull!
Only the MSDS reveals what they are... a dismal joke really.

Lots of people say lots of things about glue. The polyurethanes foam, are messy and push layers apart.
Epoxy can be too quick, and does not like to be overly squeezed.
Titebond is good for bent laminations. Titebond is bad for bent laminations.
One part glues are inadequate for bent lams....on and on it goes.
You can read conflicting views all day long.

Ultimately, I decided I will next try UF glue. Either Unibond 800, Dap Weldwood,
or WoodCraft's own Pro Glue Resin Veneer Bond.
Unfortunately, none of these are available in Canada.
I killed an afternoon between the phone and computer to find that out.

I also learned that 3/8" is on the heavy side for bending. Between those thick plys, (pun warning)
and my white glue...it comes as no surprise that I got springback.
The wood fibers remember how they started, and aim to go back.
They even have a formula which predicts such things!
I could proceed with slightly-less-bent arms, or may try again.

I am stuck for now, needing to figure out how I will approach these arms...
how to build them, and how to attach them in a way that will last.
I may try thinner plys, and more appropriate glue for less springback.

Winter is a difficult time for me to apply wood finish.
I hope to push for more progress and wrap this up before then...
But as of now, I have stalled
W

[Ben Davis]

Walt,

I have been reading along over the past several weeks with keen interest. Good job(!) on keeping the thread going.

In terms of the lamination, I would like to share several comments.

(1) In terms of a clamping strategy, why not trace the desired shape of the arms into the original block of MDF, cut that out as well, and then have a perfect top and bottom bending form? As it is now, the top will not necessarily fit/match the bottom form due to the thickness of the lamination you're making. This would eliminate the need to notch your forms as you would have a perfectly co-linear top and bottom edges to the forms.

(2) 3/8" is thick! Since you're using QSWO, the tight linear grain patterns will be on the edges, right where you glue lines will be essentially hiding all of them! I think you could easily go to 1/8" or even 1/16" laminates and do just great. You will still get spring back, but that's life either way. It's just a matter of limiting it.

(3) You could likely get a more uniform clamping pressure by lining the MDF form with cork as well. Costly, I know, but it does make for a very nice fit. You can use clear packaging tape over the working side of the cork to protect it from glue squeeze out thus making the bending form much more re-useable.

(4) Was there consideration to making a single double width form and lamination and then bandsawing it in half to get matching arms? Seems like that would eliminate the need for duplicate work with possible discrepancies in the final outcome.

Looking great!!

[David Fortin]

Walt, I had the same problem with 3/8 inch thick laminations and springback but as long as both arms spring back the same amount and you use the bent arms as templates it should work fine. I would be more concerned about creep than springback (you can overbend to compensate). I used Pro glue resin veneer bond. If you can't get that Titebond makes a hide glue that according to their website has no creep.
Good luck

[Nathan Conner]

Well, after a couple of weeks of frustration and feeling like there was little progress, I got some good time in the shop this week, and the sides/arms are coming together!

Lots of part sanding, and it's going great. Started with 120, moved up to 220 for the "final" pre-assembly sand. There are LOTS of those little parts! To sand those little spacers, I clamped a piece of 220 to the workbench, and used that as my sander. It worked better than I expected, and I ended up putting a tiny chamfer on each piece (Not the ends, though!) with that setup. Two swipes on each corner was enough to make an attractive edge for each spacer.

I got going with the assembly, and Walt was right, I sure felt like I was doing the glue dance. Those extra few slats made it even more fun (I skipped the center slat idea). It took some speed, but I got both sides all glued/clamped and the joints wiped down before the Titebond II started to set up. It was easiest for me to, with the bottom stile of the arm to me, run a bead along the bottom, quickly insert all the pieces, starting from center, then add the top stile, pre-glued. A quick check for square and then glue on 2 of the tenons for one leg, slide it in, and then the other. It went much more smoothly the second time, and I'm guessing the 3rd and 4th will go even better. A few light clamps and some joint wiping, and all was good.

A test fit of the curved arms revealed the need for a little sanding, but I was able to get a good fit, and will have those and the corbels glued up this evening. I did use the arms for each side as a pattern for the curve, but it was a match to the jig, anyhow, so the juggling a machinist's square and holding the arm while I traced may not have been necessary.

This morning, will have some time to start milling up the pile of lumber into seats/backs. If I'm lucky, will have one set of those assembled today!

Progress looks great, Walt and Gary - nice to see some detail work in yours that I've had trouble with - the pictures look...just like mine! I'm seeing lots of familiar issues, and it's nice to compare.

Keep going, guys!

[gary Zimmel]

Good Day to the Creek!

With all the legs out of the way it is time
to move on to the strechers, rails and slats.
I first made the shoulders as they are a few
different sizes.


Morris chair and ottoman 133.jpg Morris chair and ottoman 134.jpg

I make a test tenon to make sure it is a little fat.
It is then cleaned up with my 60 1/2R to get a proper fit.

Morris chair and ottoman 136.jpg Morris chair and ottoman 138.jpg

With everything set finishing the tenons is a snap.


Morris chair and ottoman 142.jpg


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[gary Zimmel]

After all my tenons are cut a 1/2" chamfer is put
on the two front strechers.

Morris chair and ottoman 143.jpg

To clean up the edges of any machine marks
I used my LN 164.

Morris chair and ottoman 145.jpg

Now that the tenons are all done next on the
agenda will be to put the grooves in the rails.

Morris chair and ottoman 184.jpg

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[David Fortin]

Just got the MC back from Mike the upholsterer. A couple pictures are attached. The cushions are actually dark brown, not burgundy. This is not its home but rather a pit stop for photos only. Its home in the family room is in a corner with an end table next to it.

My brother who is very generous with his N.E. Patriots season tickets (how much are those things worth the rest of this year) has expressed an interest in one for his family room as well, but prefers the spindle look so I will be making the “Group Chair” after all as a gift for my brother. My only real concern is how to attach the arms. “Glue and clamp the arms to the side frames” doesn’t fill me with confidence. I think some kind of tenon or spline would be desirable. I’ll be interested in how the Group tackles the problem.

Back to MC 1: I feel that I did really well cost wise.

QSWO was about $270
Leather (on sale at local leather shop
recommended by upholsterer) $ 99
Upholstery (make cushions and web bottom) $ 280

Total $649

I’m happy with the upholstery job. It looks traditional to me and is very comfortable with medium-soft seat and soft back. Mike had to use Pirelli webbing (no room for hand tied springs and every upholsterer I talked to gave me a very funny look when I mentioned zigzag or sinuous springs).

I’m glad I made the changes to the plans I did (1” higher front, 2” in rear and 1” wider). It is a really nice comfortable chair. The bow arms are comfortable and will hold the remote and a beverage.

Now for my real reason for writing this post: I believe woodworkers can do anything. Seriously, does anyone out there know a really quick way to repair a torn ACL?