From The Bench

I've recently just finished building a American Irish arm chair which is (I believe) a Chris Schwartz design, and features in one of his books where I followed the build plans from. I did alter the design a little to my own preferences, and material availablity. The build itself was pretty simple, and the hardest part was drilling the holes for the armrests. The chair is pretty comfortable with a cushion placed on the back spindles, and the 20° angle of the spindles makes for a good 'pull up beside the fire' chair. I think the design is really nice although 2 things did bother me, the first being the thickness of the spindles which (to me) just don't look good. I like to see taper's on spindles, I do realize the thinner the spindles are obviously going to be weaker, and require more work to shape them, but I just think it looks so much better with the taper.

The other thing that has niggled at me is the lack of stretchers, which I could have done but felt I was drifting too far from the original design. Having no stretches is beneficial on uneven floors because the legs will flex, and adjust to the floor which is nice. However, adding stretchers is going to help a great deal with the longevity of the chair, creating a semi-frame under the seat is always going to help. A morbid thought I know, but I would like my furniture to still be here when I'm not, that's not to say the chair won't be, It just would have better odds with the stretchers in place. Another thing I changed was to add a quadrant to the underside of the seat. I like to do this to give the illusion that the seat is thinner than it actually is, again I think this looks much better than the original square seat.

I used oak for the build, but elm and oak would have been visually better (in my opinion), but oak was at hand! Although I sound a little negative about the chair, I'm really not. I think the design is very beautiful and Chris made a great job with the design. The chair is so nice just to look at, and this is originally the reason I decided to make one. I seen so many on Instagram and spent far too much time looking at them, I really like the form.

I am considering to make another matching chair for my sitting room, however it wouldn't be matching 100% because I'd be changing a few things. In this build I dropped the height of the armrests, which I can definitely feel, they would be made higher in a future build. I think I would also add stretchers just for the longevity aspect. I'd also add an extra spindle in the back, so that there's no middle spindle sticking in my back, which is a personal preference because my back/posture is in such bad shape, this probably wouldn't bother the average person, I could also just continue to use a cushion too? Two wood species would be good too but we'll have to see what happens because I have enough oak to complete another chair! As of writing I still haven't finished the edit of the build video, but it is coming soon so keep an eye on social media should you be interested in watching the build.

Maker Spotlight

I came across this the other day and have to say the Idea is really smart. This is a folding shelf/desk by the saw wright made from walnut. Click the image to see the desk position.

Question Of The Week

Q.Should I buy a disposable saw or a saw I can sharpen?

Nick - UK.

A. Good question Nick, and I must admit I do have both. It depends what you are using the saw for, and what type of saw you are using. For Japanese saws I'd say just buy disposable, because they last a long time with heavy use unlike western disposable saws (in my opinion). If you're going to be using a western style saw, I'd encourage you get one you can sharpen yourself, like a spear & Jackson which Paul sellers recommended some time ago. This way you can learn to sharpen the saw (as I did), and get something a little more expensive down the road if you choose too, without fear of screwing up the teeth. I still own the spear & Jackson saws and rarely use them, but I would never get rid of them because I know I can always sharpen them to a good standard, and have them to hand if there was ever the need. Hope this helps.

Do you have a woodworking related question? Reply to this email, or login and leave your question below. I read them all and will feature one in the next issue.

What Caught My Eye

This is a pretty cool idea by SK custom builds, I did have a similar idea, but this is way cooler. I could see this being very useful carrying out work in someone's house. Click the image to see the reel.

Final Shavings

I've just been given a Victorian captain's bow chair to spruce up, but it turns out this maybe worth some money, and sanding is a no no which will devalue the chair. So today I removed some small paint patches by scraping them off, and I did a decent job of not removing to much of the old patina. Maybe I'll make a post about it next week?

In case you missed it, my last video (building a coat hanger) can be watched here, and a podcast is available to those who are interested. You can listen on Spotify here, and Apple Podcasts  here, and watch on YouTube here.

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Until next time

-David 

DW Woodworks