Popular Woodworking 2000-06 № 115, страница 20

cuse to purchase a hollow chisel mortising machine (about $250) or a mortising attachment for your drill press (about $70). If you can't swing the cash, I'd make plywood templates and cut the mortises with a router and a pattern bit. Making plywood templates is something covered later in the story.

One more thing: don't cut the mortises in the arms or the arm buildups until the chair frame is assembled. You'll cut these with a router and a pattern bit after the chair frame is assembled.

Tenons With a Dado Stack

Once you get your mortises cut, make tenons that fit snugly into the mortises. You can use a tenoning jig or the fence on your table saw, or you can use a router. I prefer to use a dado stack and my miter gauge. See the story on the previous page for details on how to do this.

While your dado stack is in your saw, cut

Be sure to make a full-size mock-up of the legs and sides (left) to determine the angle you need to cut on the bottom of the legs. When you determine that angle, use a grease pencil or magic marker to paint the bottom of the legs. I cut the back and front legs simultaneously. Slowly inch your legs in after each cut until the color is all gone (below).

Full-size Diagram of Arm

the groove in the back piece that holds the seat frame. See the drawing for the location of this groove.

Once you cut your tenons, prepare to assemble the drop-in seat and the adjustable back. To save yourself some grief, sand the edges of the rails that you won't be able to get to after the frames are assembled. Now put glue in all the mortises and clamp up the frames. Set them aside to dry.

Curves and Cutouts

What makes this Morris chair stand out are the curves and cutouts on the legs, arms and slats. Each curve and cutout needs a slightly different strategy.

The large curves on the legs and the small curves on the side slats were cut using a plywood template and a pattern-cutting bit in a router. I made the patterns from ^1/2"-thick Baltic birch plywood. Use the drawings to make your own plywood template using a scroll saw, band saw or coping saw. Smooth all your cuts with sandpaper, then try shaping a couple scraps with your template to make sure your pattern produces the right shape. When satisfied, cut the curves to rough shape on your band saw (about ¹/i6" shy of your finished line) and clean up the cut with a router and pattern bit. Finish shaping the legs with a chisel.

To produce the large cutouts on the front legs, do what Oscar Onken did: cheat a bit. Make the "cutouts" using a dado stack on your table saw, with the legs on edge. Then glue the applied sides to the legs to cover the open end of the cuts. Instant cutout. While you're at it, cut out the notches on the arm pieces for the rod that adjusts the back.

To complete the legs, you need to cut the bottom of all four legs at a 2-degree angle so the chair sits flat on the floor. I recommend you make a full-sized mock up (see the photo above) so you can get the angle exactly right. Cut the angle on a chop saw.

Assembly

Now you're almost ready to assemble the chair frame. You'll need to first miter the tenons slightly where they meet to fit in the mortises using your table saw. Now finish sand everything. I went to 150 grit using my random-orbit sander and hand sanded the whole piece with 180 grit.Yes, it makes a noticeable difference.

Now glue the front rail between the front legs and the back rail between the back legs. Clamp and allow your glue to dry. Use ¹/4" dowels to pin the tenons from the inside of the chair. This strengthens the weakest point of this chair. It's at this joint where the original chair came loose.

Glue the side rails between the front and back legs and you can see your chair take shape.

Learn to Make Square Templates

Now you need to work on the arms. First glue the arm buildup pieces to the front of the arms. Then get ready to cut the mortises on the arms that will hold the tenons on the legs and side slats. A word of advice here. Mock up an arm out of scrap wood and practice on it first.

To make plywood templates for the mortises, you need to make a square hole in the middle of a piece of ply. The best way to do this is by making plunge cuts into your ply-

10 Popular Woodworking June 2000