Popular Woodworking 2004-04 № 140, страница 60
Top rails and leg joint our special "Great American Furniture" publication, available online at popwood.com) in varying styles and by several designers. After looking at dozens of comparable ottomans, we selected a traditional and simple design from Gustav Stickley. The #300 ottoman we used as a model is one of Stickley's earlier pieces. Originally offered with a hard leather seat, it sold for $7.50 in the 1912 catalog. Recent auctions have seen this simple piece sell for as much as $800. The dimensions on our project match Stickley's, but we've updated the seat material to adjust the cost (as well as to make it a little more comfortable). How to Build It As far as furniture projects go, this is pretty simple. But it does give you a chance to work on a hallmark joint of Arts & Crafts furniture - the mortise and tenon. There are four mortises per leg, but for the first-time builder the construction method used is very forgiving. The blind tenons, including the ones in the top rail joints (which ultimately are hidden by the upholstery) make this project pretty simple. The simplicity of the mortise-and-tenon joint is spruced up a little on this piece with the addition of pegs, which make the joints more solid and add a nice decorative touch. The more significant step only sharp-eyed woodworkers will notice at first is to make the legs from multiple pieces of wood. By doing so, the highly figured quartersawn white oak shows on all four sides. Mother Nature hasn't figured out how to do this yet, but we have. Also, if upholstery is something that has kept you from trying this type of project before, don't sweat it. I'm hardly an upholsterer myself, and everyone who has seen my ottoman seems to think it turned out pretty well, so we've included a short story about the upholstery (see "Upholstery Made Easy" on page 61). Four-faced Legs Quartersawn white oak is one of the features that dresses up the plain styling of Arts & Crafts fur niture. Cut from the center of the log out to the bark, the orientation of the growth rings runs almost perfectly perpendicular to the face of the board. This reveals splashes of "ray flake" that are beautiful to behold, but they only happen on the perpendicular faces. There are a couple of good ways to give the legs this "ray flake" on all four faces, but Stickley chose to simply add quartersawn veneer to the two flatsawn faces, which I copied. Start making the legs by cutting eight leg halves that are 7/8" x 2" x 16". The 7/8" thickness will require you to start with 4/4 rough lumber, but ultimately the oversized dimensions will be to your benefit, as you'll see. First, glue each of the four leg Choosing the best grain pattern to face "forward" is a tough call. In any case, take a close look at the grain on the pieces for your legs and mark the tops to offer the best look. 58 Popular Woodworking April 2004 |
