Popular Woodworking 2000-06 № 115, страница 58
The arm shown with the wedge in place in the front-leg split tenon, waiting for a cookie. A finished version is shown behind (at left). At an early part of the weaving process, the herringbone pattern becomes evident (below). Patterns of chair parts One square = 1" very easy to maintain. Weaving the Seat To weave the seat and back on my rocking chairs I use hickory bark or Shaker tape. I usually weave a two-twill herringbone pattern, or a variation thereof. The procedure for weaving most materials is about the same. The warp is put on first, running front to back. The tension comes from weaving side to side so, to accommodate this, a little bit of slack needs to be cut in the warp. My general rule of thumb is when wrapping the warp, snug up each run without pulling it tight. Also, never nail anything to the chair. Not only might you split a part of the chair, you might also split that which you want to nail to the chair. There is a much better way. Simply loop the material around the back spoke and tie it, or in the case of Shaker tape, loop it and stitch it. When weaving the back panel, lay the warp in running top to bottom. Extra slack is needed in the warp to accommodate the curve in the back panel. Knowing how much slack to leave takes practice, and if you find that you didn't do the warp right while weaving, I wouldn't be ashamed to start over and do it again. A few short pieces are added into the weave at the front corners of the seat to fill up the empty places left by the seat's trapezoidal shape. Making the Rockers Trace the rocker pattern onto a 5/8" thick board trying to match the sweep of the rocker and the sweep in the grain. Cut the rockers out with a band saw. With the two rockers held together with a vise or clamp, finish the edges with a rasp. Pay close attention to the bottom edge, running your hand back and forth along the length of the arc to make sure that there won't be any bumps in the rocker. Bevel the corners with a carving knife and scrape the surfaces smooth. With the chair upside down, the final fitting of the rockers is done using chisels to make adjustments to the notch. Glue the rockers in place. While the glue is setting up, cut four 3/8" dowels about 2" long. I split these dowels out of scraps of straight-grain walnut. After roughing out the pieces with the carving knife, I drive them through a dowel reamer (a piece of plate steel with a wallered-out 3/8" hole drilled in it) to get the exact size. After the glue in the rocker joint is set, drill 3/8" holes and glue the dowels in place. Saw the excess off. More coats of Tung oil go on the frame of the chair, and before I call the chair done I give it one last coat of oil and wet sand the whole frame with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper. This is the only sanding I do. Making chairs is a lot different than making tables or cabinets. Accuracy is important in different ways. Good results don't come form a lot of fastidious measuring or planning. Good chairs are born of expe- 10 Popular Woodworking June 2000 |
