Sellers Home Dining Chairs: Episode 6
Posted 11 May 2022
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There are many unusual features to Paul’s dining chair design which makes the many processes in the making extremely interesting. We cover creating superbly accurate cauls for laminating the chair backs and seats, and then show the method Paul used to create gap-free laminations without relying on thicknessing jigs or very much planing to every piece. At this stage, Paul combines oak with walnut facings for a strong contrast in the laminations and a simple system for making several laminations in each clamping.
It always strikes me as funny all these years that Paul, a collector of tools, a maker of tools, a connoisseur of fine craftsmanship, has the cheapest looking tape measure I have ever seen. There must be a sentimental story there?
My measuring tape costs under a $5 bucks. It’s called Workpro, sold at Lowes. Fits perfectly in my pocket, so I don’t have to keep looking for a measuring tape 🙂
He has had an underlying motive that expensive tools are not needed to make quality pieces. This shows those of us with limited budgets that it is not necessary to have “designer tools” to do designer work. Yes, we should take up a collection and buy him a new Stanley tape.
Thanks Paul. Was your apprenticeship still of the era where work songs were sung in the shop? Just curious. If not, any idea when that died out?
Ice cream sandwich-inspired slats? The chairs look amazing.
Paul, I love this build series! I unfortunately don’t have access to a bandsaw and my living situation doesn’t allow me to buy one. What would you suggest is the least painful alternative to preparing these thin strips, ideally with hand tools? I suppose I could try ripping them off with my panel saw and planing to thickness. Is that the only way to go? I don’t think I’ve ever tried cutting such thin strips by hand but assume it can be done with practice?
It can be done but it would be lengthy process. We would suggest trying to find someone or somewhere to machine them for you.
Guess I’ll stick with the earlier projects that don’t require a bandsaw which will always be outside my budget. Paul stated in the bandsaw intro video that it was going to be a complimentary piece of equipment and that projects can be done without it, but I guess not with the number of recent builds requiring very thin laminations.
Thanks for the feedback on our bandsaw use everyone!
We have tried to make sure our projects are accessible to as many people as possible. Getting curved parts for chairs is a tricky one to get right. We either sawed them curved (which would result in inferior strength and still a lot of work) or steam bent them (requiring additional skills and set up) or laminated. We felt laminations were the best approach, but we certainly recognise that this is going to be harder for those of you without a bandsaw.
I’d make two points on that. One, we think it is a lot of work but certainly possible to make these laminations by hand. Two, we are currently doing some experiments in laminating fewer, thicker pieces together. This might work out to be a more accessible approach for those doing this with hand tools only.
Would it also be a possibility to have straight slats and then add a curved piece to either end. The curves could be formed on two ends of a short board, that is then ripped and cross cut and then the individual curved pieces are glued on. (Plane a bevel and then fair it with a scraper, or cut with a coping saw and finish with a scraper.)
I wouldn’t give up on steam bending in this case because the pieces are relatively short and not very thick. I have a big oval pot that would hold them and suspect many others have such a pot. Shaker box makers bend using hot water in very simple troughs of on a hotplate rather than steam. I’ve wondered if a metal drywall “mud pan” on a hotplate would work for this. Also, there are steam bending methods using microwave ovens that might work on these pieces, so there likely are other options using solid slats, which would avoid all the thin resawing.
There are 10 years worth of masterclasses and the vast majority do not require a bandsaw. If the goal of MC is to instruct, then I think it is reasonable to have later (current) episodes venture into areas that some may not be able to follow or require more independence from the student. In this case, the design of the chair (the lion’s share of the work) is done, but the student without a bandsaw needs to do research and figure out alternative ways to achieve a portion of the design.
This is a hard tradeoff (what tools, how much to leave to the student) is hard to make, but I think you guys are doing an excellent job at it. At first, I didn’t like the new format videos that started some time ago, but I’ve come to appreciate and like them because they really are like master classess in that more is assumed of the student’s experience; the student is expected to be able to figure some things out; and there is more free flow of the teacher so that we get to see how he would work if he (Paul) were just at his bench working instead of the stilted pace of teaching.
I appreciate your reply Joseph!
In my local area people are quite often selling old bandsaws for a few hundred dollars that would easily be as good if not better. for the laminations You could also use a table saw with a ripping blade if you have one (this is what I was going to do).
Chris, Especially since these are short pieces, I wonder if you might find relevant information about riving (splitting) dry wood? I’ve never tried it, so it is just a guess. If you try it, please post something. This may require careful wood selection, both species and grain.
I recommend a Roubo frame saw and kerf saw (parts kit from bad axe tools, lacrosse, wisconsin, usa is $290-$315) and a turning saw for curves. While a bandsaw is admittedly easier, the turning saw/frame saw combo can replicate most work done with bandsaws.
You also don’t need a thousand dollar plus bandsaw. Unless you are ripping 10 inch veneer all day , a small table top saw could do a lot of work for you. For a couple hundred bucks.it would be slower but handy.
at 8.50 minutes into the video you have 44 15/16 =1117 mm but its actually 1141 mm
I don’t think converting inches to mm is a good idea.
It usually gives weird numbers.
I would like dimensions which are rounded in cm (with a 0.5 cm precision if useful).
Changing all the dimensions to give nice numbers for metric people (like me) would, of course, be a lot of extra work for Joseph 😉 .
So, unless I change all the dimensions myself, while keeping the whole thing coherent for assembly, I will use the foot and inches.
Changing to round cm might also need slightly different angles where things are not square..