Bucket-list sub folder - The mock-up

In the bucket-list - there is a sub-folder. The furniture sub-folder. I add to this folder way faster than I take from it. Some of the pieces on the list include some sort of Seymour inspired piece - likely a sideboard, something Ruhlmann, and something Danish and Sam Maloof inspired - dining room chairs and a table perhaps.

I love chairs - and they have always terrified me. Of all the furniture we make, the chair is the one piece that has the most interaction with our bodies. This means when it is done poorly - it is usually a catastrophic failure. When it is done well however, you have a piece of furniture that hugs you in a way that is comforting and relaxing. You should melt into it and not actually ‘feel’ the chair beneath you.

For me, there are 2 major criteria for a chair. Firstly - it must be comfortable. If it does not meet this criteria - it is not worth taking any further. Once the comfort hurdle has been crossed (which is no small task), it becomes a very compact opportunity to make something beautiful - the second criteria. There is a long list of other criteria that are also important - things like keeping it light weight yet strong, building it in such a way that it is repairable, keeping it somewhat compact so it does not take up too much room around a table. Chairs are a complex dance of angles and human anatomy - there are few if any 90 degree angles or flat surfaces.

We are fortunate to have several very well made, comfortable chairs. We have a wonderful chair by Brian Boggs and a set of 6 Windsor chairs made by Bruce Chambers. These 7 chairs are the ones that everyone fights over when we have large gatherings. You can sit in them for hours and not get a sore butt. Everything is where it should be - the arm rests are in the right spot, at the right angle, the height of the seat allows your feet to hit the ground, the seat is not lumpy and does not have any pressure points, and the back rest allows you to sit at a comfortable angle for eating as well as relaxing afterwards.

The first step was to figure out what type of chair to make. I have always loved Danish chairs and Sam Maloof’s chairs. From what I have read, Sam was heavily influenced by Danish furniture and when you look closely at his work, it is readily apparent. This was an early decision for me - to explore and work within a Danish and Sam Maloof inspired style.

One of the biggest appeals of Sam Maloof’s chairs is how sculptural they are. They look to be as much about artistic expression as they do a place to sit - and they strike this balance wonderfully. I was drawn to the idea of working with spokeshaves, rasps and files - something I have become familiar with when making planes. This settled it for me - I wanted to make a sculptured chair.

With the recent purchase of 220bd/ft of 8/4 curly black walnut - the ‘materials’ issue was a bit of a no-brainer.

It was time to gather information and start the process.

I have a rather extensive collection of web images of Sam’s work as well as various Danish chair makers (Wegner, Moller). Jeff Miller’s excellent book, ‘Chairmaking & Design’ was also a valuable resource. My Tilt-box also proved to be a valuable tool. I used it to compare angles on Brian’s and Bruce’s chairs and cross checked them with the information in Jeff’s book. It is amazing how close everything was - from seat angles, to the angle of the back rest as it relates to the seat, the width and depth of the seat. All these measurements and dimensions fell within a very small margin and suggested that I was on the right track.

A very close friend in Toronto has this amazing Rosewood lounge chair that I have always loved. The arms in particular have always captivated me. Of course it could have something to do with the fact that it is Rosewood... but the arms are beautiful to look at and extremely comfortable.




I wanted to see if I could capture the look and feel of these arms.

A friend lent me a DVD on Sam Maloof which provided a great deal of information and insight into how he worked. The way he sculpted the seat was of particular interest as were the integrated joints he used to connect the legs to the seat.

I purchased 30 bd/ft of 8/4 Poplar and jumped in with both feet.

(the poplar seat blank with the center piece shaped on the bandsaw)

I used the same technique as Sam - cutting 3 degree angles on some of the individual seat boards to help achieve a pleasant curve. I also used the same joints for attaching the front and back legs to the seat.

(the front leg joint cut into the seat)

I decided to tilt the back legs in by 3 degrees as well as rotate them in 5 degrees. This made for a lot of head scratching when figuring out how exactly to cut these joints, but it really helped give the chair a very solid look and a graceful hourglass shape.

These next 2 images show the progress of the arm and back rests. At this point, I was using the mock-up as a working drawing - taking it apart, cutting a bit here, drawing a bit there and placing cardboard templates to get a sense of how it might look. I decided not to glue anything together so I could take everything apart to do any additional shaping and to allow me to make a set of templates as I went.








One of the early shaping decisions was to avoid round or square looking legs. A triangular based shape was really appealing and I had a notion of how this might transition into a detail at the top of the back leg.




This was the first arm I made. It was pretty stiff looking and way too flat, but did have a detail that I really liked - the cut-out where it joined the back leg.




This detail would end up being repeated several more times throughout the chair.




You can see the intended shape of the arm rest drawn on the end. You can also see some of the shapes drawn on the back rest. It was at this point that I decided to work on one half of the chair at a time - essentially giving me 2 prototypes in one.




The next day I continued refining both the back rest, the arm and the front leg. This was a really exciting stage - things were finally starting to take shape and some of the visual bulk was being removed.

(top view of the arm rest joining the back leg)

These next 3 shots show where I ended up. The shaping under the arm worked out very well as did the front leg.










The arm rest needed some serious changes - it is way too straight (and too long) and the transition into the back leg is too abrupt. Glad I had a second arm to mess with on the other side.
All was not lost with this side though, and I decided to continue shaping the back leg to see if the cut-out on the arm would work with my vision of the top of the back leg.




I also ended up shaping half of the back rest - to make sure the transition between the leg and the back rest would work.







The hard line created at the top of the back leg extends down the entire length of the back leg.




I was quite pleased with how this turned out and was happy with the interplay between the flourish at the top of the leg and the arm rest.

It was time to work on the second arm.




Here is the set-up I was using. A large plank clamped to the bench with the chair clamped to the plank.




The second arm is closest to the camera and was a big improvement from the first arm.




This second arm also allowed me to start working out some of the joinery details. I used a 1/2"D, 2" long dowel to join the top of the front leg to the arm rest. I used a Domino to join the back leg to the arm-rest.







One other detail was to modify the back edge of the seat. By mirroring the sculpted area where you sit, it created a thinner looking seat and created a better transition into the back leg.







This also allowed the hard line that runs from the top of the back leg to the bottom to be highlighted a bit more.



At this point, I was pretty happy with the prototype. Happy enough to proceed to the walnut at least.