My kitchen chairs are a reality now

[pixelplucker]

After finally putting some time in I finished off the kitchen chairs that I originally modeled in AM.

I took my 3d model and rendered out my base views then reverse engineered my blueprints to match and made minor adjustments for available stock. These are all mortise and tenons and couple pegs for the corner blocks. The only metal hardware is some carriage bolts that hold the seat down.

 

Starting with the conceptual design really made a difference on how they would come out and made it much much easier to match the antique table.

 

The 2d blues were done in Canvas which allowed me to extract finish dimensions based off rough sizes I did from AM.

[Darkwing]

e ones in the last three pics look so fake, you really need to work on your CG modeling...oh wait.....

[HomeSlice]

Those are nice looking chairs. One of the jobs I had in college was helping a master woodworker. He mostly did cabinets, but every so often he would get a commission for a piece of furniture. I can appreciate the work that goes into a mortise and tenon construction, even with power tools.

[robcat2075]

Those look real nice!

 

How do you put the bend in the back pieces?

[pixelplucker]

It tricky work and did it to see if I could as well as the need for chairs that match a table that has been in the family for going on 5 generations. Store bought chairs are too wide for the old tables.

 

The backs were pretty easy, I simply made a couple of forms out of 2x4 and sliced the profile. I then used my bandsaw and roughed some maple into 3 slices using a 123 block as a mobile fence and planed the wood to 1/8 thick. I then pressed them together and let them cure on my furnace using urea resin glue.

 

To bend thicker pieces or make really extreme bends you can either steam the wood which takes forever or do it the easy way and simply soak the wood in a tank or tube of water until it is waterlogged then press it to shape and let it dry. I built a recurve bow by waterlogging some ash and laminated the limbs to some bamboo.

 

Boat builders used to sink boards in salt marshes and then bend them to make the hulls

 

Thanks for the compliments, just thought you guys might get a kick out of some reverse engineering of 3d stuff to the real world.

[itsjustme]

Very impressive, Ken! I'm jealous of your woodworking skills. Nice 3D models too.

[NancyGormezano]

It tricky work and did it to see if I could as well as the need for chairs that match a table that has been in the family for going on 5 generations. Store bought chairs are too wide for the old tables.

 

Nice, nice chairs!

 

And coincidently, I have some 8 vintage, antique? chairs from the era of teensy-weensy butts. No table. Unfortunately, the chairs need the cane seat webbing replaced. The cane backs are ok.

 

Seeing yours, I'll probably make cushions instead for them - BIG BUTT cushions, of course.

 

I'm guessing big butts challenged the integrity of the cane seats, seated around big tables.

[pixelplucker]

Cool caned seats, heres a link if you feel ambitous:

http://www.woodcraft.com/Search/Search.aspx?query=caning

 

Good store to shop for high end woodworking toys.

 

Not sure if you change the seats to padded if that will weaken them. In some cases the seat helps strengthen the overall chair. The chairs I made are fully self supporting and the seat is 1/2" ply that bolts into the cross braces underneath.

 

On cloth webbed chairs, the tops tie the whole thing together making it stronger. If the cane is inset into a frame you might be ok with a ply top and pad.

[John Bigboote]

Great work! Looks really sturdy, and a timeless design- you've made an 'heirloom'!

[pixelplucker]

thanks, either an heirloom or eventually yard sale material..... only time will tell

[NancyGormezano]

Cool caned seats, heres a link if you feel ambitous:

http://www.woodcraft.com/Search/Search.aspx?query=caning

 

Not sure if you change the seats to padded if that will weaken them. In some cases the seat helps strengthen the overall chair. The chairs I made are fully self supporting and the seat is 1/2" ply that bolts into the cross braces underneath.

 

On cloth webbed chairs, the tops tie the whole thing together making it stronger. If the cane is inset into a frame you might be ok with a ply top and pad.

 

Thanks for the link and information - the cane is inset into a frame - so I think I can so something with plywood and pad/cushion. I just went digging in the garage and re-discovered a furniture reupholstering tool kit from 1960 (was my father-in-law's), along with some loose cane materials. He was into caning.

 

The chairs that you did remind me of some of the chairs we have - with the mix of spindle legs and straightish legs. We also have 4 round seated Victorian? bentwood type (some with needlepoint seats), as well as 2 bentwood rockers with cane (needing repair). It seems a waste to have them hanging in the garage. I must find a way to restore them, make them comfortable, useful, without ruining them.

 

Now I know who to ask for advice!

[pixelplucker]

I would have an antique dealer appraise them before you attempt anything on them first. Sometimes there are super rare pieces worth tons. My granduncle one time had an ugly chair sitting in his basement that was worth over $25,000 that nearly got tossed out when he was moving.

 

Restoring antiques scare me because it is so easy to take something and create junk out of it, something that I have become adept to.

 

Woodworking for me isn't really my specialty but becoming a fun hobby. I used to build split cane flyrods along with a good friend of mine so picking at details is something I got used to.

http://cybamboo.com/

[MJL]

Very nice work on your chairs.

 

Reading in one of my Fine Woodworking magazine "collection" (starting with issue 14, I think), some time back, I saw in an article that making a simple chair is a very difficult thing to do. The Windsor chair being one of the most difficult.

[pixelplucker]

Thanks, making the chairs was far easier than I even imagined, much much easier then building a split cane rod.

 

A Windsor chair I would need to make a steam box since the bent wood is solid and not laminated, water logging it may not do the trick and the wood might want to regress back to its original shape.

 

My brother has a harpsichord kit he never finished, think that is my next project, the veneer work looks like fun. With any luck it won't sound like a mouth harp

[Beniamino75]

Those are nice looking chairs. One of the jobs I had in college was helping a master woodworker. He mostly did cabinets, but every so often he would get a commission for a piece of furniture. I can appreciate the work that goes into a mortise and tenon construction, even with power tools.

 

Yes, it is really good design you have created via 3d. I also work on furniture designing but I concentrate more on wardrobes and bookshelves. Furniture designing is really interesting and fascinating to work into.

[Rodney]

Nice Chairs! Taking something from imagination to final product like that has got to be a rewarding experience.

 

Boat builders used to sink boards in salt marshes and then bend them to make the hulls

 

This may be lost on some but those of us here should find it particularly interesting.

Those bent boards have a peculiar name given to them; splines!

 

From reality to CG and back again the spline-cycle continues.