# Saddle chair seat or bore leg holes first?



## mmcc73 (Sep 6, 2016)

I all - I'm making an attempt at building a couple of Welsh stick chairs.

I've been watching the Popular Woodworking video with Don Weber on the topic - https://www.shopwoodworking.com/build-a-welsh-stick-chair-video-download - and in it, Don shaped the chair seat before boring the leg holes.

I would think one would be better off boring the leg holes first - it would be much easier to prevent breakout by clamping the seat to some scrap, and if there was breakout, it would likely be erased by the saddling process anyway.

There must be a good reason Don does it his way - any thoughts on what that reason may be?


----------



## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Probably so the holes will be fresh and 
the size he drilled them at. Holes can change
size if the moisture level in the wood changes.
They can also go out of round. If the work
is all done in one day or so it isn't likely to
make a difference if the holes are bored 
first or last.


----------

