Advice for Making Ladderback Chair

[Doug Hepler]

I need advice about where/how to obtain stock to make a full-size ladderback chair.

For practice, I have made a child-sized ladderback using commercial furniture grade(?) birch dowels. I've located sources for rail spindles, seat webbing, etc. But where can I get the long (40-48") 1-1/4" diameter rear posts? I would prefer maple.

Of course I could make them out of flat stock. My lathe will not accept a turning that long. The only way I can think of to make them myself is to use a spokeshave.

If you have experience making ladderback chairs, please tell me what you prefer for the long posts --

1. species?
2. green or seasoned?
3. sources.
4. is riven stock really essential?

Any advice will be most appreciated.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

The only way I can think of to make them myself is to use a spokeshave.

Or you could build a special application lathe using mostly wood with a router bridge built in to make the geometry you want. You can get straight and tapered all on the same set up that way.

1. species?

Any strong wood will do

2. green or seasoned?

I prefer seasoned and not kilned

4. is riven stock really essential?

Yes and no. Riven stock will prove essential if you want to use a material like maple or if you are going to work thin cross sections.

[Doug Hepler]

Cliff,

Great idea -- I had seen something like you refer to, but I had not thought of it as a possibility for this application. But it seems that a spokeshave might be just as fast unless I had a lot of them to do.

Can you point me toward some plans or a photo? Can an assistant just turn the blank by hand while I run the router back and forth?

Best regards