Chair Steps Project

[AndyT]

That's looking very tidy indeed!
And as for the exotic planes count, I am confident we could award the forum's trophy for 2025 now, secure in the knowledge that you have achieved the maximum score already

 

[rxh]

To my dismay, I saw that one of my housing joints had sprung open - I feared that that would happen sooner or later. My first idea for a fix was to use screws to hold the joints together and conceal the screw heads with cross grained wood plugs. A quick test on scrap wood showed that mahogany is very poor for retaining screws in end grain, so I abandoned that idea. I decided to reinforce with dowels instead, which should result in strong joints (but with the disadvantage that their ends would be visible).


I made some mahogany dowels using a dowel plate.


Then I drilled holes and glued the dowels in place.


And pared them down level.


Now it was time for the final glue up.


Then I planed the step flush with the sloping legs.

 

[Cabinetman]

The other way would be to put the dowels through where the sharp end of the screw would pierce them, sorry I’m trying to be unambiguous.

 

[Mike G]

If that were a set of bookshelves, those joints would probably be sliding dovetails. The limitation with using dovetails is usually order-of-assembly, and whether you end up with something which can never actually be fully assembled. Would it have been possible to dovetail those joints?

 

[rxh]

If that were a set of bookshelves, those joints would probably be sliding dovetails. The limitation with using dovetails is usually order-of-assembly, and whether you end up with something which can never actually be fully assembled. Would it have been possible to dovetail those joints?

Sadly, sliding dovetails would not work in those positions.

 

[rxh]

The next task was to attach the seat pieces. I marked the positions of the screw holes by squeezing a screw with a g-cramp.


Then I drilled pilot holes in the seat pieces and attached them with brass screws, having first inserted and withdrawn a greased steel screw to reduce the risk of snapping the brass ones.


Then it was time to fit the hinges. I cramped the two parts of the chair together so I could mark the positions of the ends of the hinges.


An ordinary marking gauge was not suitable for marking the width of the hinge pockets here owing to the direction of the sloping seat edge. Instead, I used the equivalent metalwork tool: odd-legs calipers.


However, a marking gauge could be used here.


I chiselled out the hinge pockets.



The hinges stick up a little above the surface of the seat. This doesn't seem to cause too much discomfort. I did consider using counter flap hinges instead but decided that they would be too conspicuous.


I intend to remove and polish the hinges before final assembly.


Next, I made some fine adjustments to the ends of the legs.


I fitted a cabin hook to prevent flapping about when the chair is lifted (following AndyT's example once more).


Then I shaped the tops of the back legs.




This is how it looks now. The next stages will be general clean-up and staining. I propose to try potassium permanganate for staining (or would "shading" be a more correct description of its action?).

 

[AndyT]

I'm enjoying your detailed write-up - it's reminding me of all the enjoyable little problems this design gives you, and you are solving them all.

And thanks for the tip about the clamp and screw to show the position!

 

[GaryR]

I'm really enjoying this WIP.

I'll toss this out there as a solution for assembling sliding dovetails that are in the wrong orientation for assembly. Might not fit this project, but perhaps another project someday.

 

[Mike G]

Superb, rxh. That's a really nice project.

Please tell me you'll try your proposed finish on a bit of scrap first. It would be such a shame if something went wrong this far into the job.

 

[AndyT]

I should add that although I used potassium permanganate on mine and was initially very pleased with the deep red colour, it's not been very sunlight-proof. I'll post some before and after photos tomorrow, if there's enough daylight, to show how it's faded.

 

[NickM]

It looks super.

 

[AndyT]

As promised, here are some shots of mine, after 12 years in a sunny window. It used to be all the same nice dark colour but the exposed seat and upper part of the back legs have gone a pale tan. If the second photo looks a bit odd it's because I'm holding it half way, to show the contrast.

 

[Cabinetman]

That certainly has faded a lot Andy, 12 years sounds a lot but really that isn’t good enough imo.

 

[rxh]

Superb, rxh. That's a really nice project.

Please tell me you'll try your proposed finish on a bit of scrap first. It would be such a shame if something went wrong this far into the job.

Thanks Mike. Yes, I am testing finishes on offcuts.

 

[rxh]

As promised, here are some shots of mine, after 12 years in a sunny window. It used to be all the same nice dark colour but the exposed seat and upper part of the back legs have gone a pale tan. If the second photo looks a bit odd it's because I'm holding it half way, to show the contrast.
View attachment 31733

View attachment 31734

Thanks Andy, I wonder how well dyes such as Rustin's or Liberon would have done in the sunny conditions. The room I intend to put my chair in faces north so I may not have a fading problem. Today I tried potassium permanganate on a couple of offcuts. In this photo the sample on the left is from the same board as the seat and steps of my chair. The rest of the chair is made of the lighter and pinker wood on the right. The lower bands of the samples are stained and the upper bands are untreated. I'm leaning towards leaving the seat and steps un-stained but staining the remainder, with the aim of having a nearly uniform colour over all the chair.

 

[Cabinetman]

Yes, I think that would probably work, they are approximately the same shade/darkness.

 

[AndyT]

Yes, on a more positive note, nearly four years ago I used the same approach to staining on some reclaimed mahogany, here:

Slow hand tools centre bit box wip - finished

Ok, last lap! With the box beginning to look like a box, I thought the lid was a bit too thick. It's too late to thin the whole thing down, so I just planed a bevel around the rim to make it look a bit lighter. Before During After This is a trad box out of mahogany so it's getting...

www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk

The box has been kept in my basement workshop ever since, exposed to no sunlight whatsoever, and still looks the same rich dark colour as when I made it.

 

[rxh]

Yes, on a more positive note, nearly four years ago I used the same approach to staining on some reclaimed mahogany, here:

Slow hand tools centre bit box wip - finished

Ok, last lap! With the box beginning to look like a box, I thought the lid was a bit too thick. It's too late to thin the whole thing down, so I just planed a bevel around the rim to make it look a bit lighter. Before During After This is a trad box out of mahogany so it's getting...

www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk

The box has been kept in my basement workshop ever since, exposed to no sunlight whatsoever, and still looks the same rich dark colour as when I made it.

Thanks again Andy. I'll go with the potassium permanganate. I need to do some defect filling and sanding first.

 

[rxh]

At long last it felt warm enough to complete the chair. I ended up treating it all with potassium permanganate as I wasn't able to keep drips and splashes off the darker wood. I finished with Danish oil and wax.

 

[toolsntat]

At long last it felt warm enough to complete the chair. I ended up treating it all with potassium permanganate as I wasn't able to keep drips and splashes off the darker wood. I finished with Danish oil and wax.View attachment 32207View attachment 32208

Well done Richard, looks a treat.
Cheers, Andy

 

[Reggieb]

Very nice. I've enjoyed watching this project progress.

 

[NickM]

It looks great. Beautifully made.

 

[AndyP]

Stylish and practical. Excellent.

 

[AndyT]

Yes, very well done and thanks for writing it all up so clearly.

 

[Pete Maddex]

I like that.

Pete

 

[duke]

Great , well done build and I like the hardware.

 

[Mike G]

That's a nice end result, and it's been a great project to follow. Thanks for writing it up so well.

 

[Lurker]

I echo others, good WIP by a skilled craftsman and a fine end result.
Thank you

 

[Cabinetman]

Looks really good, especially the polished brass against the dark wood,

 

[GaryR]

I love the look and the way the design gets your brain thinking about how it works.

Is the hook necessary for safety?

 

[rxh]

I love the look and the way the design gets your brain thinking about how it works.

Is the hook necessary for safety?

Thanks. No, the hook is just to hold it together when in "chair" mode to allow it to be picked up and carried like a normal chair.