Architect’s Chair #1

Well, it’s a been a while. I’m useless at keeping up with New Year’s resolutions. The truth is, I have been doing a lot of wood-turning recently, and I don’t tend to blog so much about that. Well, that’s my excuse anyway.

Although I loves my wood-turning, on balance I prefer joinery. It takes a lot longer, the results aren’t so immediate, but it is far more rewarding, to me anyway. But, my favourite projects are when I can combine the two, and that is what I’m working on at the moment.

A few years ago, I starting following Tom Fidgen on YouTube. Then I bought his books and made a few of the projects in them. One of his books has plans for an Architect’s Table, which I would love to build one day, but his YouTube channel has a few videos for an Architect’s Chair, a project which didn’t make it into the book.

I thought I would have a crack at it, so I emailed Tom’s people to see if there were any plans available. Apparently there aren’t so I’ve had to do a bit of guesswork because all I’ve got to go on are the videos. The joinery consists of four legs connected to a central hub with 4″ sliding dovetails, and two cross-members lower down. The hub is bored and threaded to accept a wooden screw with the seat on top. Turning the seat adjusts the height. I’ve decided to make a few adjustments to the design, namely: my hub will be bigger than the one in the video, and I’m going to attempt an upholstered leather seat.

Unusually for me, at the time of writing, the project is still ongoing. There have been a few interruptions and mini disasters so far and I’m no out of the woods yet. Anyway I thought I start a series of posts to document the build.

Stage one, as always is timber selection and dimensioning. I went with my favourites of Cherry and Walnut. Next, I made a template for the shape of the legs and marked out the sliding dovetails. I haven’t got much experience with this type of joint but you’ve got to try these things. I also laminated some timber for the hub