Shopsmith Forums

Holy Moley!

Down is up, up is down.

Wow. Nicely done. That is very impressive joinery.
Paul

Yesterday I put on the unfinished arms. Used a dowel through the rm into the front leg and a 3" screw through the back leg into the arm - with glue.
Almost forgot to add that the flush fit of the arms to the back legs were made with the disk grinder and the table at an angle.
Then I wanted to see if the rockers fit beneath the legs. The seat is resting on a step stool and the rockers placed beneath the legs.
Today I cut out the crest and fit it between the back legs with screws. The ends of the crest were cut with the Shopsmith table saw. The 5 deg. angle was set on the miter gauge with a "Miter Set" device. Had to sneak up on the final cut with about 6 or 7 strokes and fittings. Since there is also a slight forward to back slope on the legs, tilted the saw table a bit. Ain't Shopsmiths great??

Even broke off a screw during fitting and had to dig it out with a chisel and Vice grip. Photo Thursday, while trying to drill angled holes for the spindles.
Tomorrow wife has a Dr. Appt. down in Santa Monica.

Looking great! I can't even imagine the level of craftsmanship required for this project.

I love that fancy leg joint! Everything is looking mighty fine, for that matter.

I'm curious about the labor involved in chair making. Their construction looks very complex, compared to a table, for example. I would imagine that there is a huge time investment in the learning curve and in building jigs and such. But once you have it all figured out and tooled up, is making additional identical chairs still terribly time-consuming?

BuckeyeDennis wrote:I love that fancy leg joint! Everything is looking mighty fine, for that matter.

I'm curious about the labor involved in chair making. Their construction looks very complex, compared to a table, for example. I would imagine that there is a huge time investment in the learning curve and in building jigs and such. But once you have it all figured out and tooled up, is making additional identical chairs still terribly time-consuming?

Labor? - - No, but time consuming? - - Yes! This particular chair, since it is a copy of those by Sam Maloof, is VERY different from most. This project was taken on only because it is on my bucket (wish) list and had a specific person to give it to. Nothing in this project is square except the 5 boards to glue up and form the seat. That's my challenge! Nothing is measured out to fine dimensions as everything must be fit by trial and error. This is quite different from a table or a cabinet. No better - no worse! Just different!! It is scary every day.

Yes, there is a huge time investment in learning and figuring. The only jig involved is the one in order to lay out and laminate the rockers. Making that jig and the rockers alone required a week for me. (yes- I'm slow) And then I made a third rocker because waxed paper got scrunched up between two laminates and left an ugly white line.

Time is not the only investment. Since all parts are made from 8/4 wood the board feet required is doubled from my thoughts. $500 to $800 for the wood alone is not extravagant. But for me it was an emotional cause.

If you think that's steep, just think that a well done rocker sells for $4,000 to $6,000. (if you are inclined to sell)

Time used so far? The best I can figure is almost every day, 7 days/week, but only 3 to 4 hour days. Other time is reading plans and figuring out how to make a part.

Tooling up is the same as every other project in my shop. The Mark V, SPTs and assorted hand tools. Time is required to change or alter functions changing bandsaw blades, making different set-ups. Nothing new here.

For me this is a project of love. Probably wouldn't have undertaken it just for something to do. However I had wondered if I could do it with my Shopsmith shop. Hope it comes out as well s I envision! There is going to be hours and hours more to shape and sand. There will be a lot or use of rasps, rifflers and sandpaper.

charlese wrote:

BuckeyeDennis wrote:I love that fancy leg joint! Everything is looking mighty fine, for that matter.

I'm curious about the labor involved in chair making. Their construction looks very complex, compared to a table, for example. I would imagine that there is a huge time investment in the learning curve and in building jigs and such. But once you have it all figured out and tooled up, is making additional identical chairs still terribly time-consuming?

Labor? - - No, but time consuming? - - Yes! This particular chair, since it is a copy of those by Sam Maloof, is VERY different from most. This project was taken on only because it is on my bucket (wish) list and had a specific person to give it to. Nothing in this project is square except the 5 boards to glue up and form the seat. That's my challenge! Nothing is measured out to fine dimensions as everything must be fit by trial and error. This is quite different from a table or a cabinet. No better - no worse! Just different!! It is scary every day.

Yes, there is a huge time investment in learning and figuring. The only jig involved is the one in order to lay out and laminate the rockers. Making that jig and the rockers alone required a week for me. (yes- I'm slow) And then I made a third rocker because waxed paper got scrunched up between two laminates and left an ugly white line.

Time is not the only investment. Since all parts are made from 8/4 wood the board feet required is doubled from my thoughts. $500 to $800 for the wood alone is not extravagant. But for me it was an emotional cause.

If you think that's steep, just think that a well done rocker sells for $4,000 to $6,000. (if you are inclined to sell)

Time used so far? The best I can figure is almost every day, 7 days/week, but only 3 to 4 hour days. Other time is reading plans and figuring out how to make a part.

Tooling up is the same as every other project in my shop. The Mark V, SPTs and assorted hand tools. Time is required to change or alter functions changing bandsaw blades, making different set-ups. Nothing new here.

For me this is a project of love. Probably wouldn't have undertaken it just for something to do. However I had wondered if I could do it with my Shopsmith shop. Hope it comes out as well s I envision! There is going to be hours and hours more to shape and sand. There will be a lot or use of rasps, rifflers and sandpaper.

There ya go Chuck. Build a second one to sell and recoup monet for both, with some left over.

Finally - after a week of Dr. Appts. Got a chance to do some more work on installing the spindles and crest. Drilled 9/16" holes in the crest all at 5 degrees toward the front. After a couple trial fits with the spindles stuck into the crest, drilled 1/2" holes in the chair at approx. 4 degrees toward the back - This had to be done with my hand drill and it will only take a half inch bit.

What I've got, so far, is spindles stuck in the holes while the crest is not situated in the right place. It is at an angle and tilted to the rear too much. Tomorrow (next day) it is adjustments of the spindles. I've finally found that shaping of the spindle ends is a lot more effective than trying to get the holes drilled at a certain angle. The angle of the holes in the seat were set by eye with the help of an sliding angle gauge.

You can see the crest is canted high on the right side of the chair and tilted past the slope of the legs. This means more work with rasps on spindle ends.

Looks pretty comfy!