The multi-purposed 2x4 Winter 2008 #1: Roughing it out.

I normally spend very little time in my workshop in the winter months. The build-up to Christmas is a busy time, what with all the gifts I choose to make, and it always seemed much more appealing indoors. The ten paces through wind and rain to my ‘shop seemed such a long walk.

(Here's the finished chair.)

Until the Lumberjocks challenge, that is! My wife can’t believe the enthusiasm I’ve shown the last few days to get out there after breakfast, only returning when she presses the buzzer from the kitchen to call me in for elevenses, lunch and mid afternoon sustenance.

I thought long and hard over what to make for the 2×4 challenge. I wanted something as far away from the shape of 8’ of 2” x 4” as possible. I eventually came up with the idea of a chair. It took quite a lot of doodling to identify that it would be possible, but only in a scaled-down form; probably something to fit a large child/small adult.

One of my favourite styles is the Welsh Stick Chair. It’s a primitive or folk form of Windsor chair, and therefore designed around a plank seat with legs tenoned into the bottom of the seat and a back bow supported on a number of sticks tenoned into the top of the seat. Although they’re simple, I think they have a lot of charm. And my favourite style of stick chair has the comb back. So that’s where I’m heading.

I’ve done the occasional chair before, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a challenge. The material – building grade pine – is far from being the traditional wood for such a chair. And the configuration of the ‘board’ is less than ideal.

However, having roughed out my intentions, I did a few cuts:

I was hoping to simulate the style of the legs and sticks of many of the older handmade chairs. They were often split and then planed, or draw-shaved. I planed the legs from their original square section to a tapered octagon. I’ve tried to avoid using the lathe overmuch, but I did rough turn the legs before planing, and I turned the round tenons on the legs. The sticks were shaped solely using spokeshave, plane and scrapers.

I re-sawed a length of the 2×4 down to about 1 ¼” to enable the seat plank to be constructed. The corresponding thin board provided material for the sticks.

Can’t wait for tomorrow….
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-- Res severa verum gaudium - True pleasure is a serious business.