Chinese Chairs Ver 2.0

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about Big Blue.

Vaughn McMillan said:

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about Big Blue.

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Big Blue is a tool that I don't use that often, but when I do use it, nothing else does as good a job.

Here are some off cuts from the seat pieces, the wood started at 35mm thick, but needed to be only 20mm finished, so I cut off 10mm thick slabs and then ran the seat pieces over the jointer and through the thickness planer.


Here are a bunch of pieces being glued up, the stock is 35mm thick, I need 40 mm thick for a few things, I used some of the slab off cuts from the seats to glue to the 35mm stock to make them thick enough for use.



So far this is all the waste I've produced, well except for the wane I tossed out on the first day.


The slabs I took off with Big Blue will be turned into boxes of some sort, just about the perfect thickness and size for making boxes.

I'm almost done with the initial blank production, I should put the jointer and planer away tomorrow for a while.

Then the WoodRat will make it's debut.

Cheers!

OK last shot of the night, it is now almost midnight, I can't be running my cyclone and thickness planer this late

The last of the glue up are clamped and will be machined tomorrow, as well as the last few boards that are cut, but need to be jointed and planed to final size.



As it sits now that is 178 parts

There are other parts to build as well, but nothing major, some chairs have certain additional bits.

I've tired to make at least two spare or test pieces for each major component, some I make four extra as I did want to provide a spare part of two just in case.

Really moving along here, but then again I need to get this done, they are really wanting these chairs.

Cheers!

Vaughn McMillan said:

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about Big Blue.

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Just for you Vaughn....


Yes it only does resaw but boy does it do resaw!

Cheers!

This is interisting Stuart, I've restored a lot of oriental chairs and it took some time learning how to take them apart. I have a new Chinese customer who has a garage full of 18 centery Chinese furniture maybe much older. I'm very interisted in your project.

Dave Hawksford said:

This is interisting Stuart, I've restored a lot of oriental chairs and it took some time learning how to take them apart. I have a new Chinese customer who has a garage full of 18 centery Chinese furniture maybe much older. I'm very interisted in your project.

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Thanks for the interest Dave, but these are NOT really "Oriental" chairs, they are acrobatic equipment used by Chinese acrobats in a performance called "Chinese Chairs"

I often say these are really "Chair Like Objects".

Cheers!

OK another bench full of parts, but this really and truly is the end of the milling of parts...



All milled to final dimensions, now I have to make the mortise and tenons on the various part.

The next step is to fix the blueprints, there are a lot of mistakes, stuff like...

4+4+4=15

Also I have some minor design changes mentioned above which are going to happen, so I have to adjust the plans a bit, some serious head scratching, to add to that I've caught another summer cold/flu, I've been popping cold meds like crazy

Oh well, it is moving along nicely.

Cheers!

I got the WoodRat set up and working, going to do the tenons first, seems a bit simpler than doing the multiple mortises on one leg for example.



This is the first successful tenon, took about six attempts to dial it right in, but I'm happy with it, it is just over 10mm thick, the mortises will be 10mm so I have a bit of extra material to work with.

This is a great set up, I think I'm going to like it, very production line like, if that makes sense, the number of steps I go through to do one tenon is kind of a lot, but still much more accurate and repeatable than most methods I think.

Maybe I'll film one go to show you all.

Cheers!

Stuart Ablett said:

Maybe I'll film one go to show you all.Cheers!

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If you can work it in, that would be very educational.

Brent Dowell said:

If you can work it in, that would be very educational.

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Dunno about that, but here you go...

In this video I try to tell you what I'm doing before I did it, and it has a demo of doing one end.

After doing a few, my technique certainly improved, so I shot another video of just the tenons being cut...


The first set of tenons are cut!




Oh, and I was not kidding about the poor DC performance....



Get out the snow shovel!!

Cheers!

Thanks for taking time to show us Stu. In the midst of all the work u have its appreciated.

I wont claim to know the ins and outs of alternative methods. But i bet there will be some out there that believe the tenon cutting task could be done just as good on something like your sawstop table saw.

Could u offer some thoughts as to why you chose this method over say using a table saw ?
I don't do enough woodworking to know the nuances.
I am going to guess it has a lot to do with cutting the mortise to match a tenon rather than just the tenon.????

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

Thanks, Stu. I wondered how the rat worked. It looks a bit complicated to set up, but the results look great and consistent.

Rob Keeble said:

Thanks for taking time to show us Stu. In the midst of all the work u have its appreciated.

I wont claim to know the ins and outs of alternative methods. But i bet there will be some out there that believe the tenon cutting task could be done just as good on something like your sawstop table saw.

Could u offer some thoughts as to why you chose this method over say using a table saw ?
I don't do enough woodworking to know the nuances.
I am going to guess it has a lot to do with cutting the mortise to match a tenon rather than just the tenon.????

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

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You are welcome Rob.

Yes there are many ways to make the tenons, but not nearly as many ways to make the mortises, so I decided on the WoodRat. If I did not have this job I would not have bought the WoodRat, as it is a bit spendy, but the job pays for it, I get great results, it saves me a lot of time and now I have a fully outfitted WoodRat

I could have made several shopbuilt jigs to do the same job, but time is money and as a hobbyist, you can get away with that, but this is on the clock.

The traditional Tenoning Jigs.....

these cost from about $150 to $200 and they are HEAVY and the shipping would be over $400 (I just checked on Amazon) OK that would cover the tenons, but what about the mortises? Well a stand alone Mortise machine would be in order I guess.


With shipping that is over $800 so without a pause I'm at $1200 and I have two tools that basically only do one job.

The WoodRat all in with every bell and whistle was $1570 and it is not a one trick pony.

The tool fits the job, so I bought it, is it the right tool for everyone? No, of course not, but just like Big Blue makes sense to me when I use it, the WoodRat certainly has found some space in my VERY crowded workshop.

Ted Calver said:

Thanks, Stu. I wondered how the rat worked. It looks a bit complicated to set up, but the results look great and consistent.

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Thanks Ted.

Really it is not that complex, it took me a bit to get my head wrapped around it, but that may be partly due to me having a cold/flu at the moment.



Some more tenons done

Oh yeah, I realized that my supply of good tablesaw blades was not nearly as deep as I would want it to be, in particular I had only the one decent ripping blade, and no real extra fine blade, so I remedied that too!



Remember I have a SawStop so the fancey teflon covered blades are not an option for me.

I guess my sander will arrive tomorrow, Amazon said by 8pm tonight, well it is after 11PM and no sander.

Cheers!

Stu, I also want to thank you for putting this together as you go. I really enjoy watching. I can't add any great words of wisdom, just a watcher.

Paul Douglass said:

Stu, I also want to thank you for putting this together as you go. I really enjoy watching. I can't add any great words of wisdom, just a watcher.

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I'm pleased you are enjoying it, and while you think you add nothing by just watching and commenting, you would be wrong, I post these long threads often because I have no one to share this stuff with, no real woodworking friends nearby (Alex is a good two hour drive away and I'm lucky to see him twice a year). My lovely wife is kind enough to listen, but I understand it's not her "thing" so I try not to bore her with it. You guys I can share with, and get feedback as well as some "at a boys" just make it more fun to do, an who knows, one day this thread might just help someone with a problem or decision they are mulling over about something woodworking related. I don't know how many times I've found an answer to a question I have here or on other online forums.

I'm glad you are enjoying it, I hope many of you are, it's fun to share your passions with others who at least understand if not share the same passions.

Cheers!

In the "Can't Catch A Break" department.....

I've been fighting a cold the last week, I'm getting 8+ hours a night sleep, eating right and taking lots of vitamin C but this cold just would not shake. Woke up today, Saturday and felt BAAAD with a really deep cough that was new. Went to the doctor and guess what....?

When trying to text my wife I could not spell the freaking word that I had being diagnosed, yes I had a high fever but it took me a while to remember that Pneumonia starts with a "P"..... massive does of antibiotics two bags of IV and handfuls of meds, the doctor told me bed rest for 5 days, that could be a problem.... I go back and see her on Monday and we will see what happens. All day Saturday, bed, all day Sunday Bed, Monday to see the doc, man I was ahead of the game on the chair build too.

Cheers!

PS Pneumonia in the middle of summer? I always thought it was a cold season sickness....

Sorry to hear Stu. Will you be able to shut it down while you recover? I have missed what your deadline is.

Bill Satko said:

Sorry to hear Stu. Will you be able to shut it down while you recover? I have missed what your deadline is.

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Thanks

I'm waiting till Monday to see how I feel and what the doc and the blood work say.
Deadline is the end of August beginning of September, but they would like the chairs yesterday

I should be OK either way.

Cheers!