Sheffield Tony
Ghost of the disenchanted
I don't know if you are all bored of greenwood chairs yet, but perhaps its a break from discussing the merits of the new look forum 
Some time ago, I was speculating - a bit doubtfully - as to whether Joshua Klein's method of making the back slats for his banistair back chair was actually what you would have done in the era of the pole lathe. I made some of my own by my alternative turn and saw in half the hard way approach:
joshua-klein-s-banister-back-chair-t109758.html
Well, seemed a shame to waste those bits. So, some more bits. Steaming the back legs ... We've seen some quite nice steamers on another thread, just to show you can get away with something a bit more expedient:
I've got a length of 4" aluminium pipe in there, wrapped in a blanket. Steam is from a wallpaper steamer.
This chair was done in bits at various events, so it has a bit of an identity crisis. The back legs are from Cambridgeshire and the front ones from Shropshire ! And the ash is different; the younger coppiced Cambridge ash is kind of stringy to work.
As well as that, these back slats are not something I've seen done on this side of the pond in a greenwood chair. And they pose the question of how to join them to the back rails; I quickly discounted the idea of half-moon shaped mortices, and went with rectangular ones. But with green wood, I didn't want to use a sharp shoulder; getting them all tight without gaps opening during drying would be tricky, I thought. So I carved the ends down to a rectangular tenon thus:
The rails then join the legs using an oval mortice and tenon made by boring a pair of holes. I just whittled the tenon to fit with my Flexcut carving jack.
Front view:
And round the back:
Just oiling and weaving to do now.
Some time ago, I was speculating - a bit doubtfully - as to whether Joshua Klein's method of making the back slats for his banistair back chair was actually what you would have done in the era of the pole lathe. I made some of my own by my alternative turn and saw in half the hard way approach:
joshua-klein-s-banister-back-chair-t109758.html
Well, seemed a shame to waste those bits. So, some more bits. Steaming the back legs ... We've seen some quite nice steamers on another thread, just to show you can get away with something a bit more expedient:
I've got a length of 4" aluminium pipe in there, wrapped in a blanket. Steam is from a wallpaper steamer.
This chair was done in bits at various events, so it has a bit of an identity crisis. The back legs are from Cambridgeshire and the front ones from Shropshire ! And the ash is different; the younger coppiced Cambridge ash is kind of stringy to work.
As well as that, these back slats are not something I've seen done on this side of the pond in a greenwood chair. And they pose the question of how to join them to the back rails; I quickly discounted the idea of half-moon shaped mortices, and went with rectangular ones. But with green wood, I didn't want to use a sharp shoulder; getting them all tight without gaps opening during drying would be tricky, I thought. So I carved the ends down to a rectangular tenon thus:
The rails then join the legs using an oval mortice and tenon made by boring a pair of holes. I just whittled the tenon to fit with my Flexcut carving jack.
Front view:
And round the back:
Just oiling and weaving to do now.
