It's a striking design, but I doubt it would be particularly comfortable.
The weight of it would make it difficult to move the chair backwards and forwards when you're sitting in it, and the seat should slope down towards the back more. I appreciate the cane will sag slightly but I'd still slope the seat a degree or two because if there's any tendency for the sitter to slide out of the chair then bracing themselves to prevent this can become very tiring on the legs.
Chairmaking is often pretty complicated, with a lot of critical tricks and techniques that aren't published on the internet or in books. I really struggle to make a chair that I can profitably sell for under £1000, and that's after I've made the dozen or more jigs that are required for virtually all of my chair designs. For a one off chair I would probably spend more time making the jigs than making the chair!
There are a few ways around this. Firstly windsor style chairs are far simpler to make than jointed chairs. The problem with windsors isn't really making them, for most people it's sourcing the necessary green timber and setting up for steam bending.
A second simpler option is this, if you separate the seat/back assembly from the frame then life becomes much, much simpler. A Canadian furniture maker, Michael Fortune, has done a lot to develop this style of chair.
These illustrate the general construction principles, but this particular version is more geared to batch production. I
think he made a nicer version for Fine Woodworking where you can order the plans plus a copy of the magazine article on how to make it?
A third possibility is that Paul Sellers has a video showing how to make and upholster a simple chair. The problem, to my eye at least, is that in simplifying the design he's ended up with a clunky, fugly mess...but if you're happy with the design then it's certainly a simple thing to make.
If you do decide to make a more complex jointed chair then I'd be happy to guide you through some of the specialist solutions, but don't underestimate the challenge. Even a superficially simple jointed chair design like this contains some fiendishly difficult constructional problems!
Heading back to the boat in 3 weeks until October so won't be starting a build until then. Thanks again, Graham.
