Bob’s Chair

For a couple months now I have mentioned all the work Bob and another Woodworker Guild member have been doing on furniture for OLLI’s new building.   The last remaining item has been the 12 chairs they need to make.  Bob is doing some parts and Dan is doing some parts and neither of them has ever made a chair so they both have quite a learning curve.   It has taken much longer than expected to get even the first chair frame done.  Here it is:

Neither of us will ever look at a chair quite the same way.   Getting these 16pieces to fit together is not easy.   What you can’t see are all the mortice and tendon pieces that hold it together.   The legs still need to be tapered a little.  Dan, the project leader, is looking for some more people to help because the pieces need to be cut, shaped, sanded, stained, glued together and a finish applied.   There will be an upholstered  seat also.  Bob is hoping he just has to do the five pieces for the back of the chairs.  Surprisingly he is still in a good mood about doing the chairs.   He said he has learned so much about using his equipment and also about how to make a chair.  This is by far the most complex and difficult piece of woodworking he has done.  We both agree doing the small projects like pens, boxes and candles is more our style.

Bob and Dan also made 4 square oak tables, 8 craft tables with laminated tops and 8 book cases.   I will get photos of those later on.   There were some other people who stepped forward to do painting and staining so those were not nearly as much work.