ASSEMBLING THE. SEAT AND LEGS

ASSEMBLING THE. SEAT AND LEGS

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Подпись: The use of contrasting wood for the wedges in the leg tenons is one way of providing added visual appeal while reinforcing the joint. In the chair shown above, wedges of pan ferro have been hammered into the tenon in a leg made from cherry. Installing the legs in the seat

Place the seat upside-down on a clearance board narrower than the gap between the mortises for the back legs. Insert the leg in its mortises and tap it with a dead-blow hammer until the tenon is wedged tightly in place. Repeat for the remaining legs (above). [3]

3 Trimming the wedges

Holding the chair steady by one leg, trim the wedges and tenons flush to the seat with a flush-cutting saw (above). Finally, sand the surface smooth.

 

SHOP TIP

 

Drying green wood tenons in hot sand

if you are making your chair from green wood you need to dry the leg, post, and stretcher tenons before final assembly.

The dry wood will then absorb moisture from the mortises and swell when the chair is assembled. At the same time, the seat will shrink around the tenons as it dries, securing those joints togeth­er. You can do the job with hot sand.

Working outdoors, heat a bucket of fine, dry sand with a propane burner. Insertthe legs, posts, and stretchers in the bucket so only the tenons are submerged in the sand. Use a thermometer to mon­itor the temperature regularly, and adjust the flame to keep the sand between 140° and 160° F; the wood will be burned quickly if subjected to higher temperatures. Leave the tenons in the hot sand for a few hours, rotating them regularly to avoid scorching.

 

 

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ASSEMBLING THE. SEAT AND LEGSASSEMBLING THE. SEAT AND LEGSASSEMBLING THE. SEAT AND LEGS

ASSEMBLING THE. SEAT AND LEGS4 Shimming the chair

The legs of the chair must be shimmed level before trimming them to the desired height. To do this accurately, place the chair on a smooth, level surface. Level the seat from side to side and from front to back by positioning small shims under each leg as required. (Some woodworkers prefer their seats to angle slightly down­wards toward the back.) Then decide on the height you want for the seat; 17)£ inch­es is a good guideline, but you can cus­tomize a chair to fit the intended user. Make a mark on the chair leg at the point that the leg needs to be cut, then saw four blocks the same thickness as the gap between the mark and the work surface. Notch one of the blocks to fit around a leg. Place the block around the first leg to be cut. Holding the leg firmly with one hand, cut it to size with a flush-cutting saw (left).

ASSEMBLING THE. SEAT AND LEGS

Updated: March 11, 2016 — 11:20 am