James Early's Blog at LumberJocks.com

Prairie Settle Sectional #4: Milling Begins!

James Early — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:35:54 GMT

I stopped into Lakeshore Hardwoods in Pulaski, NY on Friday and picked up about 35 bf of QSWO to begin this project. They have a fantastic inventory, and the folks there are extremely helpful. Do visit them, if you get chance.

Ah, there is something wonderful about preparing the first pieces for a new project. I don’t yet have a jointer, so I handplane flat one face, then dimension the piece in the surface planer. Next, I joint one edge with my Stanley 7C, then rip to width. Below is the before and after.

Love the figure! Here’s the result after a few hours yesterday afternoon.

I’m headed back to the shop right now…

Prairie Settle Sectional #3: Linking Stretchers - Advice Please!!

James Early — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:25:15 GMT

Ok. One of the things I’ve asked myself when designing this project is, “How are stretchers linked together?” In particular, I wondered how to handle intersections of three and four stretchers. I didn’t include this in the initial drawings, because I expected to add the details later. We call this “hand waving” in computer science.

Anyway, the time has come to nail this down, so to speak. I have an idea that I think will work, but I would appreciate hearing advice or alternate suggestions. So, here goes:

Notice this top (x-ray) view of four stretchers meeting at a front leg. Each leg face has a mortise to accept a stretcher tenon. This gives the joint strength, because the load is held by the mortise/tenon—not any linking hardware. Notice also the interior space (covered with a cap in the final construction)

Ok, here’s the idea. We will use two threaded rods running the length of the stretcher with coupling nuts concealed inside the leg to link sections. The process is as follows:

1) Mill a 1/4” groove to the center of the stretcher from the back
2) Mill a 7/8” groove that is 5/16” deep for a filler strip
3) Glue in filler strip
4) Plane filler strip flush with interior stretcher face
5) Form tenons on each end

Here’s the final product:

Notice that the grooves are placed 1” from one end and 1 1/2” from the other. This allows the stretchers to intersect without the coupling nuts colliding. In one direction, the 1” groove is closer to the top, but the 1.5” groove is closer to the top in the perpendicular direction.

Seems like it will work. I have thought about threaded inserts, bed hangers, etc., but I think this will work the best. What do you think?

Thanks!

Prairie Settle Sectional #2: Design Revision

James Early — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:48:58 GMT

I didn’t realize it had been so long since I posted my last entry. Well, life takes over, I guess. Anyway, there is some more progress to report. About a month ago, I was looking for uphostery foam online when I realized there was a problem with my design. A standard sofa cushion is about 24” square, but mine weren’t. I would save a great deal on the foam if I modified my design for this size cushion.

So, the new version can be seen below. The overall theme is the same, but now each section is based on a standard 24” cushion.

I will have more posts later. I need to tap into the collective wisdom here for some design advice. Also, I began milling lumber today! Stay tuned!

Prairie Settle Sectional #1: Design

James Early — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:17:17 GMT

This is my first blog entry describing my summer woodworking project. My wife and I love Arts and Crafts furniture, and so we’ve decided to build ourselves a sectional settle inspired by these classic designs. I began with the Prairie Sofa described in Robert W. Lang’s book, “Shop Drawings for Craftsman Furniture” (Page 44). I then tweaked the measurements and proportions until I had a design that minimizes the number of distinct components and provides a lot of flexibility of arrangements.

I recently found this link to a similar design. A beautiful creation, indeed. However, I don’t have the “15 large” it would take to get one. Also, my design will allow us to add sections as time and budget permit.

The result (produced in Google Sketckup) can be seen below.

One assembly detail: Each leg will have a groove to accept a corbel. However, the corbels will actually be held in place with rare earth magnets. Fellow LJ Tim Pursell did a similar thing in one of his projects. This will permit easy removal and access to the hardware used to connect the individual sections. More assembly details will be added to future entries. Also, I will be asking LJ members for suggestions.