Making a set of chairs with carved seats? Would you like to make the seats appear as identical as possible? Check out this video on how to carve identical chair seats on your table saw!
I built the jig using your design and would like to add some comments after testing this on a single blank seat of what looks like mostly red oak (it was rescued wood from some old pallets). My project is to build at least 4 fiddle-back Windsor side chairs. The width is 17 inches, depth front to back is 19 inches including the 3 inch "tail." The thickness is supposed to be 2 inches (my test piece is 1 7/8 inches) with a maximum 1 inch scoop. Scooping it out to 1/4 inch as you recommended should be adequate, certainly not a full 1 inch. Notice that the seat is guitar-shaped. I will be using sapele other than the seat back, which is ash (I couldn't successfully bend the sapele). I first built Mr. Rodriguez's jig but its width was too small. This is what I discovered: At the time, it seemed easier to manipulate the work piece with the top guide rotated 180 degrees with the notch pointed towards me - except that the blade grabbed the work piece twice pushing it towards me. If using the work piece on the other side like you do it, that wouldn't have happened but it looked harder to reach that way - next time I'll do it your way. The pommel is determined by the width of the follower and the starting position. If you start with the top guide in the "top dead center position" (TDC), which is directly over the apex of the blade, you won't have much of a pommel, plus I see no need for one. The distance from the groove (which should be centered over the blade) to the stop blocks will determine your front-to-back cut length. I added 1/4" marking along the top guide's T-track with 0" over the notch and increasing in each direction outwards. The length of the T-track in my top guide was 36" and I needed to use 14" of it on each side of the notch. The inside width of the jig (between the 2 side supports) has to be at least twice the depth (front-to-back) of the seat including, in my case, the tail. The height of the side support pieces has to be greater than the thickness of the seat blank (2 /1/4" should be adequate for most seat blanks). It is way easier to drill any holes for the legs and seat back spindles or support before you scoop it. A detailed template helps. Starting the top guide at TDC, it doesn't matter which way the guide moves, towards you or away, although towards should be easier to reach especially if you're not 6' tall (the height of my table saw is 35" without the jig). In order to get the seat scooped out that far back from the front, you had to have moved the stop blocks more apart than initially showed, which you didn't show in the video! In order to get that part rounded would require moving the pivot point out another 4-6 inches or using a much shorter follower (lengthwise). You could than rotate the work piece against one side of a stop block for 90 degrees, then place the other stop block against it while sliding away the first one and continuing to rotate it another 90 degrees. Doing all of this scooping generated swirls of sawdust that tended to get between the work piece and the jig, elevating the work piece and I frequently needed to stop and sweep it away. That made it take a lot longer to scoop out the test piece. This jig is best for rectangular seats. For seat shapes that are more contoured like the fiddle back, it get a lot more complicated. I needed to recheck each scoop slice to see where the next 1/4" wider cut would take me and adjust the stop blocks inwards accordingly. Cutting such a contoured seat shape with this jig will result in an "integrated" (as in calculus) appearance with the edges needing a significant amount of hand carving and sanding. The best way to scoop such a seat to start with would be with CNC (and, unfortunately, I don't have one of those).
Larry, Great video, thanks. I have watched both Mario's and your videos a couple of times and pick up on some techniques/tips each time. I plan to make one similar to yours, but have been scratching my head about a couple of design details. On each side of the front edge of your cross piece there is a dado with three holes drilled into the vertical face. I understand the stop blocks rest on the horizontal part of the dado, but there's not much pressure against them so why not just have them rest against the face of the board when down? And what are those 3 holes on each side all about? Thanks for satisfying my curiosity and for the very well done video. You have a new fan! Ron
I built the jig using your design and would like to add some comments after testing this on a single blank seat of what looks like mostly red oak (it was rescued wood from some old pallets). My project is to build at least 4 fiddle-back Windsor side chairs. The width is 17 inches, depth front to back is 19 inches including the 3 inch "tail." The thickness is supposed to be 2 inches (my test piece is 1 7/8 inches) with a maximum 1 inch scoop. Scooping it out to 1/4 inch as you recommended should be adequate, certainly not a full 1 inch. Notice that the seat is guitar-shaped. I will be using sapele other than the seat back, which is ash (I couldn't successfully bend the sapele). I first built Mr. Rodriguez's jig but its width was too small. This is what I discovered:
At the time, it seemed easier to manipulate the work piece with the top guide rotated 180 degrees with the notch pointed towards me - except that the blade grabbed the work piece twice pushing it towards me. If using the work piece on the other side like you do it, that wouldn't have happened but it looked harder to reach that way - next time I'll do it your way. The pommel is determined by the width of the follower and the starting position. If you start with the top guide in the "top dead center position" (TDC), which is directly over the apex of the blade, you won't have much of a pommel, plus I see no need for one. The distance from the groove (which should be centered over the blade) to the stop blocks will determine your front-to-back cut length. I added 1/4" marking along the top guide's T-track with 0" over the notch and increasing in each direction outwards. The length of the T-track in my top guide was 36" and I needed to use 14" of it on each side of the notch. The inside width of the jig (between the 2 side supports) has to be at least twice the depth (front-to-back) of the seat including, in my case, the tail. The height of the side support pieces has to be greater than the thickness of the seat blank (2 /1/4" should be adequate for most seat blanks). It is way easier to drill any holes for the legs and seat back spindles or support before you scoop it. A detailed template helps. Starting the top guide at TDC, it doesn't matter which way the guide moves, towards you or away, although towards should be easier to reach especially if you're not 6' tall (the height of my table saw is 35" without the jig). In order to get the seat scooped out that far back from the front, you had to have moved the stop blocks more apart than initially showed, which you didn't show in the video! In order to get that part rounded would require moving the pivot point out another 4-6 inches or using a much shorter follower (lengthwise). You could than rotate the work piece against one side of a stop block for 90 degrees, then place the other stop block against it while sliding away the first one and continuing to rotate it another 90 degrees. Doing all of this scooping generated swirls of sawdust that tended to get between the work piece and the jig, elevating the work piece and I frequently needed to stop and sweep it away. That made it take a lot longer to scoop out the test piece. This jig is best for rectangular seats. For seat shapes that are more contoured like the fiddle back, it get a lot more complicated. I needed to recheck each scoop slice to see where the next 1/4" wider cut would take me and adjust the stop blocks inwards accordingly. Cutting such a contoured seat shape with this jig will result in an "integrated" (as in calculus) appearance with the edges needing a significant amount of hand carving and sanding. The best way to scoop such a seat to start with would be with CNC (and, unfortunately, I don't have one of those).
Great video! Thanks Larry!
Glad I watched your video after Mario's! I'll check your site for jig plans.
Nice job.
Larry,
Great video, thanks. I have watched both Mario's and your videos a couple of times and pick up on some techniques/tips each time. I plan to make one similar to yours, but have been scratching my head about a couple of design details. On each side of the front edge of your cross piece there is a dado with three holes drilled into the vertical face. I understand the stop blocks rest on the horizontal part of the dado, but there's not much pressure against them so why not just have them rest against the face of the board when down? And what are those 3 holes on each side all about? Thanks for satisfying my curiosity and for the very well done video. You have a new fan! Ron
Do you have plans for this jig?
Hello - I would love to build this jig. Where can I find plans for your jig>?
Send an email to larry@larryciesla.com and I'll email back the plans.
12:00 Super Ghost!
ha we shojld have a special #mario group that intrigued is all. well do e mate!
Larry, do you have a means of contacting you privately? Thank you.
Debner Fine Art and Framing larry@larryciesla.com
Thanks
where can i get a copy of the plans so i can build one?
If you send an email to larry@larryciesla.com I can reply with a copy of the plans.
@@larryciesla That email address doesn't seem to work.
@@jaysigel9837 Try larryciesla@gmail.com
A flat chair is more comfortable though