Slat Chars-Day 2

After a good night sleep a great breakfast and a trip to church we were ready to continue the work on our chairs. We were going back and forth on when to stain the wood. We had originally thought we would stain before we put it together, but we were worried about having to make modifications to the wood in case something wasn't fitting right, and also there was a lot of rain and humidity and it would take to long to dry. In the end I think we made the right decision because it did take us till 8pm to get them all put together. Of course we did take a break for dinner. It is the other great thing about using my father-in-law's workshop, Mom feeds up pretty well :)

Frederick using the palm sander to finish up the last of the chair rails.

 

This is all the pieces for the "love seat" or double wide chair

 The pieces for chair number 1

Chair number 2.

 

Frederick making a template out of a scrap off wood for where the holes should be drilled on each slat. The slats for the seat part of the chair needed to have the screws set in farther from the edge than the slats for the back of the chair and the cleats. Also the cleats and top and bottom slats on the back of the chair and the seat of the chair got 2 screws in them and all the rest just had one screw in the center. Frederick marked the spot with a nail and hammer and I drilled the holes using the drill press.

 

Easily my favorite machine in the shop. I love to drill holes. I think I must have been a woodpecker in another life.

 

Aside for the use of all his great tools, my Father-in-law's guidance and expertise in woodworking and engineering always makes our projects that much better. Here he set up a brace and clamp to help us make sure the slats are all square and even.

 

Frederick finishing up the slats on the first chair back. The top slat gets put on the top edge of the chair, then the next slat down is spaced 1 1/2 inches from the top slat then each slat is 3/4 inches apart. After the top slat gets put in nice and square and even we used wood that was the thickness needed to guide where the next slat should be placed. It really helped make it all even and it went much faster then if we had measured and marked the rails with a pencil.

 

Harry joins us for moral support. He missed all the sanding that he could have helped us with.

 

Frederick checking to see where the seat slats should go. It is starting to look like a chair!!!

 

We used some super strong wood glue for the "cleats". These are the slats that really support the chairs and keep them from sliding around. We want these to last for many, many years.

 

We were a little nervous about the double wide slats since the brace and clamps we used for the chairs wouldn't work for this. So we just used clamps and measured and squared a lot before we put in the cleats and the top slat. Then we used the 1 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch wood as a guide for the other slats like before.

 

The slats on the seat had to be 1/4 inch apart. We had a piece of wood that was a little wider but worked fine.

 

Putting together the first chair.....

 

Success!!!!

 

These are so comfortable, especially after spending 16 hours standing to make them :)

 

I love how they fold up and are easy to carry. Originally these were going to all stay in our Pennsic trailer, but now we think the single chairs will come with us to events and we will just leave the love seat in the trailer.

 

Frederick testing out the final product.

These will look great around the fire at Pennsic.

 

 

 

We still have a little bit of work to do. We are going to stain them with Thompson's water sealer to help keep them in good condition for years to come. I will also paint some heraldry on the top slats. So many people have chairs like this, it is easy to get them confused. And I always have to over decorate everything anyway (have you seen our tent at Pennsic?).

 

This whole project would have been so much more difficult to do without the help of my awesome Father-in-law (and Frederick's dad), Bob Fox. He has all the right tools for the job and always has great improvements to the patterns we bring him. The bed we made in 2000 is still going strong and I can't imagine camping without it.

 

Speaking of patterns, I can really recommend the patterns we use for most of our woodworking projects. I don't consider myself a skilled woodworker, and I have no problem understanding the instructions in each of the patterns. They are layed out clearly and the finished product is always top notch. I buy them at Panther Primitives but I am sure they are available at other places as well.