A bit of progress.
Using my templates, I drew out the chair profile full-size on a piece of white hardboard. It doesn't photograph very well, but after a bit of manipulation I've got this. Yes, that is white board.
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Something was wrong. I'd been very careful to cut the templates accurately from the grid, but now they didn't seem to fit together very well on the rod. Eventually I twigged. I had the top of the leg an inch behind the foot and it should have been an inch forward of the foot. Easily remedied.
I cut a load of pocket holes and started to assemble.
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It very quickly became apparent that my nice slender back was actually rather TOO slender, even for my tastes. And the front was too wide. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo, though I do have some footage.
So I cut a new back rail 35mm wider than the original, and I also reduced the width at the front, all easily done with pocket screws.
The result was much better.
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The seat, of course, was now way too wide at the front
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So I took it to the bandsaw and rounded over all the corners too. I finished the curve for the roll over at the front
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I've taken too much off at the front corners, unfortunately, so I'll have to do that again. But the end result, without a back, looks like this:
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It tells me all sorts of things that I don't get from the SketchUp model alone. The taper for the back legs needs to start considerably lower down than it does at the moment. The front corners need to be squarer than they are.
But the seat height is about right, I think. I'm going to bring it up into the house and live with it at the dining table for a day or two to see how I get on with it compared to my existing chairs.
The whole thing is made out of scrap (not quite, I had to buy an offcut of 1/2" ply), so it's not cost me anything except time, and it seems to me that that has been time very well spent indeed.