I think the one thing that attracts me to furniture making is the amazing diverisity in differnt things we can make. There is not question that "seating projects" are more difficult for me, and this project started out that way. The idea came from a picture I had been saving for many years, then I discovered AFTER I built it, that the picure came from woodworking magazine article from decades ago ... but still a lovely project.
My version is similar, but actual measurements are not the same, and there are some design changes I made that I will talk about later on here ...
Of course when all you have is a picture to go by, you need to come up with some sort of measurments, or even a plan. I can't remember the last time I used an actual "plan" so I did my usual, scribble out a super rough drawing and assign dimensions to it .. like height of legs 26 inches, sitting heigh 14 to 16 inches (which is an industry standard) depth of sitting bench 14 inches and length 40 inches ... that was it. From these rough measurements all the othe measurments fall out of these !!
First things first, moisture content of the wood is critical, otherwise it creates a variety of problems later on during the build, after the build, and sometimes even months after the build ... I never start a project like this until the content is very close to 9%.
Next comes "breaking down" the lumber into useable and "square" sizes. For this project I am using rough cut, 8/4 Beech whic needs to be jointed first on a face side, then squared up and jointed on an edge side, then off to the table saw and or planer.
One of the things I discovered years ago, is that some pieces of furniture with "Curved sides" and NOT curved on all sides, even though when you look at them they give the illusion of curving on all sides, they are acutally flat and straight on the inside edges, which makes woodworking MUCH easier a you don't have to custom fit EVERY joint.
I forgot to mention in the video, I am trying out a couple of new Safety Items on the table saw, first is a Featherboard that attaches to the mitre slot of you table saw, fully adjustable, and what I liked, you can even purchase doubles size which gives even more control for higher lumber pieces, and of course can be broken down to a singe featherboard too ... I really liked this item you can read more on Woodworkweb Amazon Page.
And to go along with the featherboard, and from the same company I liked the design of the push stick, which quickly made it's way to being my new favorite ... again, you can check that out here ...
Now off to some serious cutting on the table saw and the bandsaw, below are the legs. They were a bit complicated to cut because you need to use the cut off pieces from the first cut as support pieces for the second bandsaw cut. I used double sided tape to attach the cut-off piece, the went ahead and made the second cut. Remember, we only need to make 2 curved cut offs for the legs.
I did video tape, but did not post the whole series on my discusson of what the arm rests should look like. The picture I had showed arm rests that appear to be curved all the way, under and over. As I experimented with what looked best, I finally opted for what you see below where the arm rests are thick at the front but are cuved down in the middle. I liked this because the theme of the arm rests tended more to match the theme of the whole seat of thick on outsides and thinner in the middle.
And this is what the final version looked like. A beautiful design by Swedish Designer Carl Malmsten, who sadly passed away in 1972, but his desgins and ideas live on after him for all of us to work with and appreciate.
If you are ever looking for a project to make, that you can take you time with and enjoy woodworking, this could be that project. I will take a while to make, but I can assure you it will something that will be appreciated and will have a multitude of places it can be used in, and don't be surprised if others want one too ...
Colin Knecht
- - Taylor Tools Affiliate Store - https://lddy.no/18zkg
