Rocking Chair Summer Camp with Bill Kappel #2: chair day 2

wow, that looks great. you did a wonderful job on the curvature of the piece! thanks for the post.

Interesting post.

A couple questions if you don’t mind.

Do you cut those joints on the table saw before glue up?
Did you use a template to layout the pencil lines of the seat?
Was the piece carved a bit before glue?

Thanks.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

OK you’ve got me on the edge of my seat! I am hooked on Windsor chairs but would love to make other styles eventually. My next class is Aug 18th with Mike Dunbar at the Windsor Institute in Hampton NH where I will be taking on a Philly High Back. Glad to hear you are enjoying yourself keep the posts coming. That must have been amazing to see those slabs of wood transform into a seat that beautiful.

-- Fred.... Poconos, PA ---- Chairwright in the making ----

GREAT, YOU HAVE ALREADY TAUGHT ME THINGS…..I have the same basic questions as gismodyne. plus was there a special stone or blade or ???? on the grinder. please keep it up with lots of pictures, you’re not the only one who is learning rt

-- RTB. "dumb animals are not stupid they simply can't talk "

Thanks for the kind comments. I keep telling people that I am an old man that got to go to summer camp.. Summer camp was the best time of my youth.

The joint were cut on the table saw prior to glue up. If you get a copy of Sam Maloof’s DVD, you can see the process as he did it. Next, I doweled them and dry fit them. In a dry fit stage, the templates were used to show the seat outline to be carved and also the front edge.

The dry fit is taken apart to then use a template on each piece to allow band saw cutting to rough cut the seat to get waste away and set depths so that after the seat was glued, reference depths were obvious and also a good percentage of material is already removed so that you don’t have too much to grind away. Look at the picture above to see how it looks pre-grind but post glue up.

As for the grinding head, I think it is called a donut shaped cuts-all.. but I am not sure. I will ask and see if I can find out.

I am on a lunch break when i am writing this. Wait till you seehow cool today’s work is coming. Photos will be posted. I am really like a kid at camp. This is so much fun and my skills are growing every minute. I highly recommend that everyone take a class from Bill Kappel. He is a great teacher.

-- making sawdust....

Great work!

Thanks for the post

Callum

-- For wood working podcasts with a twist check out http://thetimberkid.com/

Great post. I have his documant on making chairs, but you can’t beat being taught by him!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Gary,

The document on making chairs that Bill sends out is for a simpler chair without a shaped bottom. It lacks many steps and drawings. I am loving the details of the hands on. You have to pay to get the full drawings and templates of his best chairs. He also does group seminars that are a lot cheaper than the 1:1 class I am in.

-- making sawdust....

Looks great. I’m saving some of my thicker pieces for rocking chair seats. Now to reserach this guys plans. Thanks for the post.

-- Jerry, Set in the foothills of the Smokey's

Sac,

the seat needs 6/4 lumber, but other parts are even thicker 8/4

This is why this style chair gets so expensive to make.

Bill has a free set of instructions you can get on his website, but it is a basic chair. To build the best style with a curved seat bottom and other features, you have to buy a set.

-- making sawdust....