Chair - Morris Chair.pdf - Projekty - stolarstwo - amok10

Morris Chair

A faithful reproduction of a classic.

I don't care what they say about dogs,

Morris chairs are a man's best friend. The

reclining back, wide arms and expansive

seat create the perfect place to watch TV,

read the Sunday paper or simply

contemplate the finer qualities of a well-

crafted beer.

For the last 10 years, I've spent every

weekend planted in the original version of

this chair, which was built by the Shop of

the Crafters in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the

heyday of the Arts & Crafts movement.

The Shop of the Crafters was founded by

German-American businessman Oscar

Onken (1858-1948), who ran a successful

framing company until he entered the

furniture business in 1902, according to

Make the mortises in the legs before you

shape the curve near the bottom or make

cutouts on the top.

Kenneth R. Trapp's history of the

company.

Unlike many furniture-makers of the day,

Onken didn't want to merely copy the

Stickleys of the world. Onken produced an

unusual line of Arts & Crafts furniture that

was influenced more by German and

Hungarian designs than the straight-lined

Stickley pieces of the day. In all honesty, a

few of Onken's pieces were kind of ugly.

Most, however, had a refinement and

lightness that rivaled some of the best

work of the day.

When pattern-routing the curve on the legs,

make sure you have the work firmly clamped

in place. I have the pattern and leg wedged

between two pieces of oak (the pattern is on

the underside of the leg). Then the leg itself

is clamped to the table. You also could

perform this operation on a router table with

a starting pin for pattern-routing.

This Morris chair is an almost exact

replica of the one produced by Onken and

his company. It differs in only two ways.

One, the original chair was constructed

using dowels at the major joints. After

almost 100 years of use, the front and

back rail came loose. This chair is built

using pegged mortise-and-tenon joints.

Second, I made one change to the chair

frame so that furniture historians of the

future will know instantly that this not an

original piece. I did this to prevent people

from passing off these reproductions as

originals.

Though this project might look daunting to

you, it can be completed by beginners

who have just a few projects under their

belt. There are only a few principles to

learn here: mortising, tenoning and routing

with a plywood template. Plus, I'll share

with you exactly how I achieved this finish,

which has been something we've been

working at for several years.

To make a template for the mortises in

the arms and the cutouts on the side

slats, position your plywood over your table

saw and raise the blade into the ply. Move

the fence over and repeat. Then turn the

pattern 90 degrees and repeat for the other

edges of the pattern. Note that I made cuts

in the front of the pattern to help me size the

pattern to the tenons.

How to Save Money on Lumber

Begin by choosing the right quartersawn

white oak for this project. It requires about

10 board feet of 8/4 and 30 board feet of

4/4 lumber. Quartered white oak can be

expensive, from $6 to $12 a board foot. If

you live in the Midwest, or will pass near

east-central Indiana on your vacation, I

recommend you check out Frank Miller

Lumber Co. in Union City, Ind. (765-964-

7705). The company is a huge supplier of

quartersawn oak. As a result, prices are

reasonable, about $4 to $6 a board foot.

Once you buy your lumber, save the

pieces with the most ray flake for the

arms, legs, front and sides. To save

money, use flat-sawn oak for the seat and

the adjustable back.

Be sure to make a full-size mock-up of the

legs and sides to determine the angle you

need to cut on the bottom of the legs.

Mortises: Machine or No

Machine?

First cut all your pieces to size according

to the Schedule of Materials and begin

laying out the locations of your mortises.

The rule of thumb is that your mortises

should be one half the thickness of your

tenon's stock. When your stock is 3/4"

thick, your mortises and tenons should be

3/8" thick. That means the tenons for the

beefy back rail should be thicker (7/16")

and those for the side slats should be

thinner (1/4").

When you determine that angle, use a

grease pencil or magic marker to paint the

bottom of the legs. I cut the back and front

legs simultaneously. Slowly inch your legs in

after each cut until the color is all gone.

Also remember that except for the tenons

on the legs and slats, all the tenons are

3/4" long. To ensure your tenons don't

bottom out in your mortises, it's always a

good idea to make your mortises about

1/16" deeper than your tenons are long.

After you mark the locations of all the

mortises, it's time cut them. There are 38

mortises in this project.. You'd be nuts to

do these all by hand. Use this project as

an excuse to purchase a hollow chisel

mortising machine (about $250) or a

mortising attachment for your drill press

(about $70). If you can't swing the cash,

I'd make plywood templates and cut the

mortises with a router and a pattern bit.

Making plywood templates is something

covered later in the story.

Peg the tenons that join the front rail to the

front legs and the back rail to the back legs.

If you've ever pegged tenons before, you

know that dowels can be wildly different

sizes than they're supposed to be. Here's a

trick. If your dowel is a bit undersized, glue it

in place and cut it nearly flush to the surface.

Then put several drops of thinned glue on

the end grain of the dowel. It wicks in the

glue, expands and glues up tight. When the

glue is dry, cut the dowel flush.

One more thing: don't cut the mortises in

the arms or the arm buildups until the

chair frame is assembled. You'll cut these

with a router and a pattern bit after the

chair frame is assembled.

Tenons With a Dado Stack

Once you get your mortises cut, make

tenons that fit snugly into the mortises.

You can use a tenoning jig or the fence on

your table saw, or you can use a router. I

prefer to use a dado stack and my miter

gauge.

While your dado stack is in your saw, cut

the groove in the back piece that holds the

seat frame. See the drawing for the

location of this groove.

Be sure to make a test arm before you go

mortising the real thing. You'll be glad you

did.

Once you cut your tenons, prepare to

assemble the drop-in seat and the

adjustable back. To save yourself some

grief, sand the edges of the rails that you

won't be able to get to after the frames are

assembled. Now put glue in all the

mortises and clamp up the frames. Set

them aside to dry.

Curves and Cutouts

What makes this Morris chair stand out

are the curves and cutouts on the legs,

arms and slats. Each curve and cutout

needs a slightly different strategy.

The large curves on the legs and the small

curves on the side slats were cut using a

plywood template and a pattern-cutting bit

in a router. I made the patterns from 1/2"-

thick Baltic birch plywood. Use the

drawings to make your own plywood

template using a scroll saw, band saw or

coping saw. Smooth all your cuts with

sandpaper, then try shaping a couple

scraps with your template to make sure

your pattern produces the right shape.

When satisfied, cut the curves to rough

shape on your band saw (about 1/16" shy

of your finished line) and clean up the cut

with a router and pattern bit. Finish

shaping the legs with a chisel.

To produce the large cutouts on the front

legs, do what Oscar Onken did: cheat a

bit. Make the "cutouts" using a dado stack

on your table saw, with the legs on edge.

Then glue the applied sides to the legs to

cover the open end of the cuts. Instant

cutout. While you're at it, cut out the

notches on the arm pieces for the rod that

adjusts the back.

To complete the legs, you need to cut the

bottom of all four legs at a 2-degree angle

so the chair sits flat on the floor. I

recommend you make a full-sized mock

up (see the photo above) so you can get

the angle exactly right. Cut the angle on a

chop saw.

Assembly

Now you're almost ready to assemble the

chair frame. You'll need to first miter the

tenons slightly where they meet to fit in

the mortises using your table saw. Now

finish sand everything. I went to 150 grit

using my random-orbit sander and hand

sanded the whole piece with 180 grit. Yes,

it makes a noticeable difference.

Now glue the front rail between the front

legs and the back rail between the back

legs. Clamp and allow your glue to dry.

Use 1/4" dowels to pin the tenons from the

inside of the chair. This strengthens the

weakest point of this chair. It's at this joint

where the original chair came loose.

Glue the side rails between the front and

back legs and you can see your chair take

shape.

Learn to Make Square Templates

Now you need to work on the arms. First

glue the arm buildup pieces to the front of

the arms. Then get ready to cut the

mortises on the arms that will hold the

tenons on the legs and side slats. A word

of advice here. Mock up an arm out of

scrap wood and practice on it first.

To make plywood templates for the

mortises, you need to make a square hole

in the middle of a piece of ply. The best

way to do this is by making plunge cuts

into your plywood on your table saw.

Refer to the photo earlier in the story to

see how to do this.

Now cut your mortises. I used a template

bit with cutters on the bottom and a guide

bearing on top. If you don't have a bit with

cutters on the bottom, you can still plunge

with a straight bit. Just plunge slowly and

wiggle the router a bit as you go. Cut the

mortises in two passes.

After you're sure the arms fit on the legs,

cut the curve on the front of the arm.

Attach the full-size pattern to your arm and

cut the shape on a band saw. Clean up

the cuts with a stationary belt sander. Now

taper the arms with your band saw and

clean up the cut with your jointer. Glue the

arms and slats in place.

Now shape the back rod that adjusts the

seat back angle. Bevel one edge of the

rod on your jointer and cut notches on the

ends so the rod fits between the arms.

Attach the back to the seat frame with a

piano hinge. Screw the cleats to the front

and back of the frame in the locations

shown in the diagram; slip the seat in

place.

Finishing

This takes some effort, but it is well worth

it. The first step is to dye the chair with an

Chair - Morris Chair.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: