# Porch Glider



## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

*First entry, not exactly just starting out...*

A little over a year ago, I started this project with the intention of it being my in-laws Christmas gift. I was slightly overly optimistic on the time it would take me to complete it… The sad thing is I'm still only about 50% complete on it, with lots of little life issues getting in the way. In the 13+ months since I've started, I have probably only put 100 hours into it, if that. It is starting to come together though, so I thought I'd start posting some updates in the hopes that it helps motivate me when I'm dragging my heels or agonizing over some detail.










I bought this plan from Woodcraft, and decided to do it in white oak instead of the cedar they use. I wasn't really finding any good sources for clear cedar around me at the time, but there are always lots of sources selling white oak on Craigslist around my area for anywhere from $1-2/bf. The initial boards I bought had been stashed away in a guys barn for 3+ years, so they were a bit weathered and warped, but over 1" thick so I knew I could mill them down to the required 3/4" easily.

Finding 6/4 was another issue, and for some of the initial pieces I laminated two boards together. I got sick of doing that pretty quickly, so for the seat frame I broke down and bought some 8/4 (at over $5/bf from the local lumber yard) to mill down. The base and the arm rests are made up of these laminated boards, but I took a lot of time and care matching up the grain and rays in the oak so that you really can't see the glue line unless you're looking for it. Plus you hardly see the base at all unless you get on your hands and knees, so you'd never see them anyway.

So here's where I am as of tonight:










I just got done cleaning all the mill marks from the jointer/planer/tablesaw off the seat slats, and put the 1/4" round-over on all the top edges.

Here's a closeup of some of the joints on the seat frame (front corner, then back corner), which I'm really pleased with:



















And here's one of the end assemblies (the armrest goes on top of this):



















The vertical piece in the front is one of the laminated 6/4's I mentioned above, and you cannot see the glue line at all (it's essentially where the lap joint is).

I have very much enjoyed working with white oak on this project. It has not been nearly as bad as I thought it would be, though I did learn early on be very careful about splintering the edges. I have used some super glue and painters tape to reattach more than one chunk I accidently took out when not being careful with my hand planes.

I have pretty much every piece I need at least rough-milled, so once I attach all these seat slats the next step is to assemble the seat back and attach it to the seat frame. That'll take some time, as I still have to cleanup all of the back slats and cut one more piece that will be the back brace (there are essentially 3 back braces, made up of 5 pieces of wood - one at the bottom, one near the top, and one in the middle that attaches to the armrests).

Despite the fact that it is taking me forever to complete, I have enjoyed this project, but I will be very happy when it's done. I just hope the outdoor oil I bought a year ago is still good :-/


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## tierraverde (Dec 1, 2009)

Jimi_C said:


> *First entry, not exactly just starting out...*
> 
> A little over a year ago, I started this project with the intention of it being my in-laws Christmas gift. I was slightly overly optimistic on the time it would take me to complete it… The sad thing is I'm still only about 50% complete on it, with lots of little life issues getting in the way. In the 13+ months since I've started, I have probably only put 100 hours into it, if that. It is starting to come together though, so I thought I'd start posting some updates in the hopes that it helps motivate me when I'm dragging my heels or agonizing over some detail.
> 
> ...


Great looking work so far.
I'm anxious to see the finished piece.


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## Woodfix (May 14, 2009)

Jimi_C said:


> *First entry, not exactly just starting out...*
> 
> A little over a year ago, I started this project with the intention of it being my in-laws Christmas gift. I was slightly overly optimistic on the time it would take me to complete it… The sad thing is I'm still only about 50% complete on it, with lots of little life issues getting in the way. In the 13+ months since I've started, I have probably only put 100 hours into it, if that. It is starting to come together though, so I thought I'd start posting some updates in the hopes that it helps motivate me when I'm dragging my heels or agonizing over some detail.
> 
> ...


It looks great, hook in,icannotwaittoseethat wood with a finish over it. Good luck.

Doug


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

Jimi_C said:


> *First entry, not exactly just starting out...*
> 
> A little over a year ago, I started this project with the intention of it being my in-laws Christmas gift. I was slightly overly optimistic on the time it would take me to complete it… The sad thing is I'm still only about 50% complete on it, with lots of little life issues getting in the way. In the 13+ months since I've started, I have probably only put 100 hours into it, if that. It is starting to come together though, so I thought I'd start posting some updates in the hopes that it helps motivate me when I'm dragging my heels or agonizing over some detail.
> 
> ...


Me either. I've cut most of the pieces out of the edges of the boards, so all of the pieces are pretty much rift sawn and have that amazing white oak pattern from the medullary rays. I picked up GF outdoor oil for this, so I'm hoping it works well.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

*Seat Done*

Spent the week drilling and countersinking the holes for the seat slats. I used my drill press instead of my hand drill this time to ensure a nice consistent depth for the holes, since these are very visible. I did have one screw break off, but I was able to extract it successfully using this extractor and a dowel to fill in the hole. Just follow the instructions in the comments about making a jig and going super slow when extracting and it works fine. Since the patch is getting covered up by the seat slat, I didn't really care much about the appearance (I used a store bought dowel which was undersized, if you use this to patch some place visible I'd recommend cutting a plug from a similar board and matching up the color/grain to hide the patch).

All of the slats were left a little long, to both ensure I could match up grain patterns as well as getting a nice consistent alignment. To flush them up, I clamped a card scraper to the side of the seat and used a flush cut saw to trim them off, and then hand-planed everything flush (after resharpening my #4's blade of course). I used a chisel to bevel the edges of the slats so I didn't blow them out during planing. Despite all of this prep, it took quite a bit of planing just to get rid of that 1/32" left over - my arms are quite dead right now.

Here are the results:




























Along the way, I took extra care to make sure the slats came out to the proper spacing and that the correct amount was left over for the seat back mounting. The plan doesn't really show what that should be, but I was able to figure it out as 2.5" from the plan schematic. I was concerned about compounding a small error, since with 12 slats even being 1/32" off for each one would have meant I would be 3/8" off at the end, which could have caused some issues.

Next up is the seat back, which should be interesting. According to the plan, the screws for the slat running along the top of the seat back are put in through the back, but the screws for the bottom piece (which is also beveled) go in through the front… This means I'll have to attach one slat and then flip it over to do the other one, while keeping everything aligned and square - should be fun!

Once the seat back is attached, the arm rests get attached to each end and the top is attached to the base with swing arms. There are still some patches to put in on the base (my first attempts at lap joints were not as successful as later ones, and there are some gaps), and then everything will need a final round of sanding followed by several coats of General Finishes Outdoor Oil. I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel though.


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## degoose (Mar 20, 2009)

Jimi_C said:


> *Seat Done*
> 
> Spent the week drilling and countersinking the holes for the seat slats. I used my drill press instead of my hand drill this time to ensure a nice consistent depth for the holes, since these are very visible. I did have one screw break off, but I was able to extract it successfully using this extractor and a dowel to fill in the hole. Just follow the instructions in the comments about making a jig and going super slow when extracting and it works fine. Since the patch is getting covered up by the seat slat, I didn't really care much about the appearance (I used a store bought dowel which was undersized, if you use this to patch some place visible I'd recommend cutting a plug from a similar board and matching up the color/grain to hide the patch).
> 
> ...


That looks great… a lot of effort that will pay off big time when finished.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

*Starting Seat Back*

Started work on the seat back today. I had the wood milled up to thickness, but it was all still oversized in width (and some pieces still have a live edge on them from the rough lumber) so I ran it through the tablesaw again to get it a close as I like and then broke out the hand planes to finish them off.

Here's a shot of a pair of the back slats showing the burn and blade marks (I really need a new rip blade…):










And here's the after:










As you can see, I ganged them up to make the edge planing easier. I started with my #8 on a heavy cut, and then went over each piece again with my #4 to make things glassy smooth. After doing one pair of edges, I used my wheel marking gauge to scribe a parallel line on each piece and then planed down to that line, ensuring a nice square piece. I didn't get a shot of this part of the process, but here's a shot of my planes and a closeup of the shavings:



















The #8 is a Stanley from 1910-1917, with a Lee Valley blade in it. The #4 is my cheapo Grizzly in which I've also put a Lee Valley blade. Overall, I'm happy with the performance of both. You can see the honking huge shaving from the #8, which I had no problem with. What little tear-out did occur from the heaviness of the cut was easily removed with the #4.

Finally, I cut the bevel on the strip of wood (N) that is used for the bottom brace. It is this piece that is is glued/screwed to the seat frame after all the slats are attached to it:










Thankfully I managed to clean up the bevel with my planes, without affecting the angle.

The pieces labeled R, U, and V are the other strips of wood that are used as the back braces. At least one more gets a 15 degree bevel too, but it comes later in the process.

Still have to clean up the faces of the slats to remove the jointer/planer marks, and cutting the curves on all of slat tops. I still need to find a piece to use for the center slat (see my first post in this series for a pic of the completed glider), which I've put off because my last oak plank has been buried under pre-milled pieces… The original plans also call for a scroll-sawed apple pattern for this center slat, but I'm thinking of doing something more personalized for my in-laws, since this is a gift for them - possibly their initials or something along those lines.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

*More Seat Back Progress*

Got all the curves cut on one half of the slats, and then used a Microplane rotary shaper with a follower bearing to duplicate the patter on the second half of the slats. I prefer the Microplane over a standard router, since this is end grain and would have been a major PITA to do without blowout.




























I misread the plan, and ended up cutting one of the slats too short by about half an inch, so I improvised the curve pattern on the tops of the slats. I think it came out pretty well, but we'll see once it's all assembled.










Next I need to select a piece for the center slat, and then start screwing things down to the bottom brace. I also still need to scrape/sand all of these pieces too…


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

*Back Building*

Progress on a rainy Sunday. Got all the back slats cut and sanded, including the middle one. I'm not particularly happy about the center piece, as I had to buy a new board for it. The one I thought would work was so cupped I wouldn't have been able to keep it thick enough at 7" wide. As a result, it is a slightly different color. At the same time, the color difference between the seat slats and the back slats is pretty major two unfortunately - the seat is much more red despite all of the wood being white oak. The center board is closer to the back slats, but you can see it has slight reddish hue too. The rest of the back slats are all creamy brown - no red at all.

I'm debating staining this a bit now, to even out the color differences, but I haven't decided yet. I need to get some samples with oil on them to see how well they blend then.




























Just leaning the seat ends up against it, to get an idea of how things are coming together. These don't get attached until after the back is attached to the seat frame.










Besides the center slat, I cut all of the back slats out of a single board. I did my best to preserve the grain patterns, which is really evident on this side of the back.










Overall, I'm happy with the results. Next up is attaching the upper brace to the back, then I'll be able to attach the back to the seat frame.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

*Momentum*

It's nice having some momentum going on this, with my third night in a row in the shop after spending nearly a month not working on the glider. I actually got a lot of this done last night, and finished up attaching the upper brace when I got home from work tonight.

The upper brace attached:










I rounded off the end of the upper brace. The plan didn't call for this, but I thought it'd look much better. I still need to sand this brace, so it's going to have to come off again. I'm planning on rounding over the corners at that time too, as I think it will look better and not so chunky:


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

Jimi_C said:


> *Momentum*
> 
> It's nice having some momentum going on this, with my third night in a row in the shop after spending nearly a month not working on the glider. I actually got a lot of this done last night, and finished up attaching the upper brace when I got home from work tonight.
> 
> ...


Looks like you are doing very nice work on this Jimi. I like those square drive screws too.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

Jimi_C said:


> *Momentum*
> 
> It's nice having some momentum going on this, with my third night in a row in the shop after spending nearly a month not working on the glider. I actually got a lot of this done last night, and finished up attaching the upper brace when I got home from work tonight.
> 
> ...


Thanks Mike. I definitely like the square drives better. They're easier to put in, and if you cam one out a little it's hardly noticeable as compared to a Phillips-head, so they look better too.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

*Look Ma, No Clamps!*

Shaped and sanded the top back slat, and permanently attached the back to the seat frame. Once the back was attached, I cut the angled piece to size and flushed it up with my hand plane.




























Next up is attaching the end pieces - something I am kind of nervous about. The reason why is illustrated in these sketchup pics:



















The back/side of the seat frame are about 1 3/4" tall, and each of the existing screws is 1/2" from the top/bottom of the piece. That means I have about 3/4" to put two screws through - not a lot of room for mistakes :/ The plan calls for an angle brace under this corner to strengthen it, so along with some glue hopefully I have nothing to worry about.

But if there's one part of this plan I think was poorly designed it's this part. Not only are there all these screws, but there are the screws coming down from the top (through the seat slats). I actually clipped about 1/8" off each of the ones that are over the screws so they wouldn't bottom out on the 2 1/2" screws coming in horizontally.

I hope to get the ends attached tonight or tomorrow, so stay tuned.


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## kmh2412 (Feb 8, 2012)

Jimi_C said:


> *Look Ma, No Clamps!*
> 
> Shaped and sanded the top back slat, and permanently attached the back to the seat frame. Once the back was attached, I cut the angled piece to size and flushed it up with my hand plane.
> 
> ...


It's coming along nicely. Hope the next step goes well.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

*Stressful!*

Sides are attached, and I need a beer (or something stronger)...

Here's an in-progress shot, where 3 of the 4 corners are screwed. The far one is clamped in this picture, as I was checking to make sure I had it flat and level before attaching the final corner. The seat slats are off to allow a better drilling angle, plus they needed a final sanding anyway which is easier with them off.










Three screws hold the front (even though the plan only called for two). I eyeballed center, so they're about 1/4" off but this angle makes it look worse than it is:










And here is how close I got the screws in the one rear corner:










Despite getting them that close, the top one *STILL* hit the screw coming in from the back! I ended up backing the rear screw out and replacing it with a shorter 1.5". For the other side, I just took the top-rear screw out beforehand and drilled the hole, so they're not nearly this close. While drilling the last corner, my drill bit snapped off, so I had some fun getting that out as it was buried in the wood. This seriously added to my stress level about screwing this up (no pun intended), which is why I didn't take any final pictures - I got the last screw in without breaking it off and walked away.

The sides will be detached one more time, since I still need to put screws in the seat ends (the only thing holding them together right now is glue) and to drill the 1/4" holes for the bolts that attach the swing arms.

With the strap ties going on the rear corners, I'm starting to feel good about this bench structurally. It is starting to feel very solid. I'm also going to use some glue when I attach the seat ends for good and done, to make sure those suckers never come off, since my greatest fear is that it will fall apart the first time someone swings in it :/


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

*Metal Working*

Eventful two weeks. I ordered a 6' bar of 1/8" x 1" of 304 steel for the swing arms and angle braces, as this plan calls out making all parts yourself and not using anything pre-bought. McMaster Carr got the steel here fast, as in 2 days, which really surprised me. I also ordered the flanged bearings from them, which got here a couple of days later.

I had originally planned on doing all the metal working myself, but after drilling a single 3/16" hole in a test piece and seeing how long it took me (not to mention I started having concerns about an overheated piece of metal starting a fire in my dusty shop), I decided to contract the work out to a machine shop near my house. These were the same guys I had press the bearings into my rehabbed bandsaw, so I had been there before.They did the work for $45, while their regular hourly rate is $75, so they gave me a bit of a bargain. That's still twice as much as I paid for the raw material, but hey, it saved me a weekend of drilling metal.

Here's the raw material, all that's left from the 6' bar.










And here's the angle braces I had made. These were custom designed by me, as I had concerns about the plan's version. I designed it to be sure the screws coming up into the seat frame would not be anywhere near the pile of mess that is the rear corner (which I'm pretty sure is at least 50% screw at this point). I drew up some plans to scale on graph paper and went over them with the machinist to be sure he understood what I wanted, and he definitely nailed it. I had them bend these pieces, since I wasn't sure I'd be able to bend it to 90 degrees without snapping it.










And here's one of the finished swing arms, which has 2 3/8" holes drilled in them. I hit the steel with some 220 sand paper to give them a nice satin looking finish and to remove all the markings (including permanent marker from the machinist):










I did the bends in these, as well as rounded off the corners with my wet grinder (which now needs some serious truing…). The plan called for them being completely circular on the ends, but I thought that was wasteful and unnecessary so I just gave them a nice radius to remove the sharp corner.



















The angle works out to be about 10 degrees, which doesn't seem like much until you tip it up.










And here's the mockup of the arm rests. The seat slats are getting their final sanding, just 4 more left to do (after doing 8 I got really sick of sanding and took a break).



















The plan here calls for the arms to flush with the inside edges of the seat ends:










But I think I like it better with a slight (about 5/8") overhang on the inside edge:










From the front:










Here it is as the plan calls, with the arm flush to the inside edge:










And from the front here:










Here's the piece (part letter U) that ties the arms together across the back. This will actually be joined via half-laps to the arm rests, not like I have it clamped up here:










There is one final piece (part letter V), which has a 15 degree angle - same as the bottom brace. V gets screwed to the underside of U, as well as to all of the back slats just like the top brace that's already attached. This locks the seat back to the arms and along with the angle braces prevents racking. After that, there's just a couple corbels that help support the arm rests on the outside, and that's pretty much it.

So, what do people think? Stick with the plan or go with the overhang. I am leaning towards the overhang, as I don't really like the way it looks perfectly flush to the inside edge, and I don't see anything in the plan that would cause it to be a problem.


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## Sarit (Oct 21, 2009)

Jimi_C said:


> *Metal Working*
> 
> Eventful two weeks. I ordered a 6' bar of 1/8" x 1" of 304 steel for the swing arms and angle braces, as this plan calls out making all parts yourself and not using anything pre-bought. McMaster Carr got the steel here fast, as in 2 days, which really surprised me. I also ordered the flanged bearings from them, which got here a couple of days later.
> 
> ...


When I had to drill several holes in my steel trailer frame, I discovered that you have to use some sort of cutting oil or it will take a long time and heat up like you said. I used some 3 in 1 oil and just kept adding it before it got all flung off. It was like a night and day difference. I also used regular titanium coated bits, but I hear the cobalt ones are the best for hard metals.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

Jimi_C said:


> *Metal Working*
> 
> Eventful two weeks. I ordered a 6' bar of 1/8" x 1" of 304 steel for the swing arms and angle braces, as this plan calls out making all parts yourself and not using anything pre-bought. McMaster Carr got the steel here fast, as in 2 days, which really surprised me. I also ordered the flanged bearings from them, which got here a couple of days later.
> 
> ...


I tried using some Boeshield, but then realized that was probably not a great idea as it would probably burn easily if overheated from going too fast. I had my drill press (cheap Ryobi with the electronic speed control) turned down as slow as it would go (about 600-800RPM), but it was still smoking a bit if I tried to drill down too fast.

If I hadn't been drilling in my workshop, I wouldn't have been too concerned, I just didn't want to have a stray piece of overheated metal or burning oil start a fire. I thought about hauling the drill press up to my garage, but honestly I just wanted to get this done and not deal with having to lug equipment up from my basement


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## Sarit (Oct 21, 2009)

Jimi_C said:


> *Metal Working*
> 
> Eventful two weeks. I ordered a 6' bar of 1/8" x 1" of 304 steel for the swing arms and angle braces, as this plan calls out making all parts yourself and not using anything pre-bought. McMaster Carr got the steel here fast, as in 2 days, which really surprised me. I also ordered the flanged bearings from them, which got here a couple of days later.
> 
> ...


I actually did my drilling w/ a corded handheld drill, but at 3/8" you might be pushing it. The oil will keep the bit lubricated and cooled enough to keep it from burning.

When you don't have oil, the bit heats up, then gets dull faster, which makes it heat up more, and so on. That's why I say its really a night and day difference.

Here's a video that shows the process. It really does work like this.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

*Schwing*

Finished drilling the holes in the seat ends and in the base, and assembled the swing arms to see how it works. Amazingly, it swings very well and is very level with the base (one rear corner is 1/32" higher than the other 3 - I'll call that level).

Here's a quick video to show how well (and quietly) it swings. You can hear me stepping on hand plane shavings very clearly but the glider makes zero noise (I haven't even WD-40'd the bearings).






Still working on the arm rests, but once those go on this project is almost completely done beyond touch ups, finish sanding, and a nice outdoor oil finish.


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## GrandpaLen (Mar 6, 2012)

Jimi_C said:


> *Schwing*
> 
> Finished drilling the holes in the seat ends and in the base, and assembled the swing arms to see how it works. Amazingly, it swings very well and is very level with the base (one rear corner is 1/32" higher than the other 3 - I'll call that level).
> 
> ...


That's a great looking Glider.

Your own design or is there a pattern available?

Nicely done. - Len


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

Jimi_C said:


> *Schwing*
> 
> Finished drilling the holes in the seat ends and in the base, and assembled the swing arms to see how it works. Amazingly, it swings very well and is very level with the base (one rear corner is 1/32" higher than the other 3 - I'll call that level).
> 
> ...


Don't wd-40 the bearings. Use something like 3 in 1 oil that can be dripped in. WD is predominantly kerosene which is a cleaner but not much of a lubricant.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

Jimi_C said:


> *Schwing*
> 
> Finished drilling the holes in the seat ends and in the base, and assembled the swing arms to see how it works. Amazingly, it swings very well and is very level with the base (one rear corner is 1/32" higher than the other 3 - I'll call that level).
> 
> ...


@Len - it's a bought plan, originally I think from Wood Magazine but available through just about everyone of the major retailers (Woodcraft, Peachtree, not sure about Rockler). Here's the link to Woodcraft's.

@derosa: Thanks for the tip. They're actually SAE 841/Oilite bearings, which according to McMaster/Carr are porous bronze alloy "impregnated with roughly 19% SAE 30 oil. The oil reduces wear as well as required maintenance." So I'm not sure if I even need to lube them but if I did I probably would use Boeshield instead of WD40.


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## williel (Mar 15, 2012)

Jimi_C said:


> *Schwing*
> 
> Finished drilling the holes in the seat ends and in the base, and assembled the swing arms to see how it works. Amazingly, it swings very well and is very level with the base (one rear corner is 1/32" higher than the other 3 - I'll call that level).
> 
> ...


Hey nice glider, I made one just like it out of old used pallets . looks almost like mine!! Great job!!


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## steliart (Jan 15, 2011)

Jimi_C said:


> *Schwing*
> 
> Finished drilling the holes in the seat ends and in the base, and assembled the swing arms to see how it works. Amazingly, it swings very well and is very level with the base (one rear corner is 1/32" higher than the other 3 - I'll call that level).
> 
> ...


Excellent glider, thanks


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

*The Home Stretch*

As of writing this, the porch glider is 100% assembled - no more wood to cut, no more screws to screw. Just a lot of detail work and then the outdoor oil goes on.

First up, views of the armrests and the brace that ties them together across the back. I left the piece of wood to the left in order to give me something to brace against when gluing up. I used two wood shims to force the wood up against the shoulder of the other piece, ensuring a perfect 90 degree angle. Once the glue dried, I cut that off and planed it flush (final picture of that a bit further down).










The shoulder and router planes made short work of getting a perfectly flush lap joint:



















And the front corners of the armrest got rounded off for a nice pleasing shape:










Here's the third brace across the back, cut with the same 15 degree angle as the piece that attaches the seat back to the seat frame. This then gets screwed up into the cross brace for the armrests to lock everything together.










A lot of screws…










Here's the back corner of the armrest, which got this semi-circle cutout after being glued. There's a little bit of blowout on the back from pattern routing this side, so I need to hand plane it a bit to clean it up. I haven't really mentioned it before, but I've been using the Microplane drum with the follower bearing on my drill press to do the pattern routing, and it has worked out really well - just gotta be careful with the end grain on this oak as it loves to blowout.










A (somewhat blurry) view of the rear corner and the corbels that support the armrests.










A better pic of the front corbel.










And finally, after just 1 and a half short years of work, the finished and fully assembled bench!










The todo list is shrinking, and I hope to have this done in a couple of weeks. Just about every piece (at least on the show surfaces) has received a sanding with 100 grit at this point, so now I just need to start moving up the grits to try and eliminate any spots with obvious tear-out (there are a few spots I've found so far).

There's also a few spots where the lap joints were not top-notch (mainly the very first ones I did on the base before I bought a shoulder plane) that need to be touched up and filled in with a little epoxy and saw dust, and I need to cut the bolts for the swing arms down with a hacksaw, since they're about 1/2" long. After that, it's oil time and out the door!

As always, thanks for looking.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Jimi_C said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> As of writing this, the porch glider is 100% assembled - no more wood to cut, no more screws to screw. Just a lot of detail work and then the outdoor oil goes on.
> 
> ...


That turned out really nice! And I know how much work went into it as I built one (though not as nice as yours). How do you like that Microplane drum? I will have to look into that bearing thingy as I haven't seen that.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

Jimi_C said:


> *The Home Stretch*
> 
> As of writing this, the porch glider is 100% assembled - no more wood to cut, no more screws to screw. Just a lot of detail work and then the outdoor oil goes on.
> 
> ...


@gfadvm: I really like it, I used it on pretty much every curve on this bench. It makes very short work during pattern routing and since it's a lot lower RPM-wise than a router bit I think it's a bit safer.


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## Jimi_C (Jul 17, 2009)

*Starting the Finish*

Took me a while to get the finish sanding complete (didn't touch it for a month or so), but the last piece was sanded to 150 yesterday. I decided to take the bench back apart, to ensure that every crevice got sanded and finish on it to make sure water didn't touch any parts that weren't glued - that definitely contributed to the time delay a bit.

So yesterday/this morning I started applying the General Finishes Outdoor Oil:



















I'm hanging the pieces using picture wire from a pipe clamp pipe held up to the rafters by F-clamps. That's working pretty well right now, and I can put up another one if I need more space to hang things (I have plenty of pipe clamps).

And here's what's left:










Hopefully I'll get the first coat done in a day or so and let it cure for a few days, then get a second and maybe even third coat on over the next couple of weeks. The seat slats are already feeling pretty dry and not tacky to the touch, while the one seat end I did in my garage took overnight to get to that point. It's pretty humid here, so finishing in my basement may be a better, more controlled environment.

It's a little hard to see, but the oak has taken on a nice honey color. I'm looking forward to seeing how well it all blends together since the wood was sourced from different trees, as you can see from some of the earlier pictures. It's all white oak, but some of it had a more red tone while other pieces were more brown/grey (namely the seat back).


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