December 22, 2024 • 37 mins
In this podcast, I talk about my recent chair I built, and invite you all to critique the chair.
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
https://the-sawdust-newsletter...
PLANS (slot bench)
https://drive.google.com/file/...
Consider donating to the channel
https://www.paypal.me/unplugge...
Tools
https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/...
I value everyone's beliefs, and knowledge, so feel free to leave a comment.
I also appreciate all feedback, Even bad feedback, just make it constructive.
link to all my content, including the free Roman workbench ebook and plans.
https://linktr.ee/DW_woodworks
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
https://the-sawdust-newsletter...
PLANS (slot bench)
https://drive.google.com/file/...
Consider donating to the channel
https://www.paypal.me/unplugge...
Tools
https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/...
I value everyone's beliefs, and knowledge, so feel free to leave a comment.
I also appreciate all feedback, Even bad feedback, just make it constructive.
link to all my content, including the free Roman workbench ebook and plans.
https://linktr.ee/DW_woodworks
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In today's podcast, I'm going to be talking about this
chair that I've just built and all the mistakes I've
made in it, and basically the proportions I'm not happy with,
and I invite you, invite all of yours to come
in and critique the chair. So what I will say
(00:22):
it is, don't just say it shit and leave it
at that. Say it shit and give us a reason why.
I'm very open to criticism, and you know, hopefully I
can learn from some of the criticism. So I'm just
going to go over a few of the proportions, things
(00:42):
I'm not happy with, and you know, some of the
mistakes I've made. What I will say, and I'll get
this out of the way straight away, is that it's
very comfortable to sit on. So some of you might
say that I've you know, I've succeeded because I've got
a chair that's comfortable. So for me personally, I'm just
(01:05):
sitting down there for those of you that aren't watching,
So for me personally, this is a very very comfortable seating, hep.
For me, I'm only a little guy, so probably looks
a little bit smaller on camera, but for me, this
is perfect. It's perfect for sitting down to have a
couple of day to eat your food with, which obviously
(01:26):
that's what that's what it's intend. Four. This is gonna
live in my kitchen and me kind of downing table bench,
whatever you want to call it, and it's probably going
to be decent. Although I haven't done it too much
yet obviously you know, it still needs some more oil
on it, but I think it's going to be okay
(01:49):
to sit on and work at the at the computer
when I'm down the news that are and such, which,
by the way, if you aren't aware, I am doing
a free newsletter the highlights different people in the woodworking
community from around the world, and you know, obviously I
do highlight myself a little bit, keep you up at
(02:11):
the date with things I'm done and such and many articles.
So if you're interested, check out the description and the
will be linked in the description for the newsletter. So
some of the proportions that I do not like, so
the crest at the top, the backrestrail, I'm not sure
(02:35):
that the correct terminology for it, so that I personally
feel it should have been there should have been more
width to it. I personally think maybe another inch to it,
So what is it now? It is it's near enough
(02:59):
to inch, so I think maybe three inches, which is,
you know, around about seventy five millimeters, that would have
looked better. I personally feel it would have looked better.
And I don't feel the length of it as well.
I think the length past past the center center line
(03:23):
of the of the spindle, that's like, you know, twenty milimeters,
so you know, it's it's just over our three quarters
of an inch. I personally feel if I had of
maybe taking that, I don't know, maybe thirty five forty milimeters,
I think that would have been a lot better. But
(03:47):
obviously it is what it is. It didn't look too
bad when I was making it, and then obviously when
everything was glowed up and you know what kind of
the first quote of oilin I'm looking at. I'm just
I'm just really really not happy with it. So something
that somebody just said today on Instagram, I believe it was,
(04:14):
was that is the backrest leaning back too much? Now?
For me personally? No, it's not. For me personally, it's
it's fine. And if I wanted this to be a
bit more of a like a lounge chair, I would
actually add slightly a bit more angle going backwards. Now,
(04:34):
I do realize that some people this might be a
bit too much, and that goes back to the old
adage of kind of when you're making a chair, you
should be making it for that person or for yourself.
I've thought about this like kind of with Roman workbenches
and stuff. It's like, if I build a Roman workbench
(04:56):
or even a chair for me, helf, it's not going
to be suitable for somebody else, you know, like six
and a half foot talk, because I'm only like five
and a half foot tall, so they're gonna find it
a little less comfortable. And if I'm sitting in a
seat made for somebody that's six, you know, six six,
it's it's going to be uncomfortable for me. There's going
(05:17):
to be pressure on the underside of my leg from
this because my feet aren't able to touch the ground correctly,
and it's it's obviously it's the same for you know,
for the backrest as well. So the backrest again, for me,
it's perfect, but for some people, you know, because you
do get people that have got extremely straight box. Mine's
(05:39):
not extremely straight minds extremely bent. I do so from
kai forces and this is due you know, twenty six
years of scaffold, and unfortunately and it's it hasn't been
kind to myself. So I personally feel that is okay.
So another thing that that I'm not happy with is
(06:03):
the actual shape of the spindles. So again at the time,
it seemed like a good idea. So basically, I've got
a chronical tenance on each of these, and you know,
it kind of goes up maybe maybe a fist, and
it does start the tape down, and the tape that's
(06:25):
down to like ten millimeters. So while I'm confident these
are strong enough and I don't think they're going to break,
I'm just not happy with the shape. I would have
liked to see a bit more of a bulb, same
way the legs are, because the legs have got like
(06:45):
kind of a bulb, and I would have liked to
see that and for them to tape it down to
the seat itself. So obviously I and happy with that.
When when I initially made the stretchers, I had I
(07:06):
think was the extra sixty millimeters of heights on the legs.
So obviously this was too tall for myself and I
had already leveled the feat I just find it easier
to work if you level the feats. I don't, I
don't necessarily think that's the done thing, but I think
(07:28):
on I've built about three or four like kind of
stick chairs, and I've always just leveled the feats like twice.
So basically I get a rough level, you know, get
everything leveled out, get this, get the angle of the
seat I want, and then the next the next time
I'll level it will be the heights that it's going
to see, that type of thing. So this time, when
(07:52):
I've done it, I I basically I had sixty millimeters
of extra height on it. And how I actually drilled
for the for the stretch as I had to chair
on me workbench and basically just used the level of
(08:15):
me work bench because my work benches is flat, and
just use the base of the drill cord to the drill.
And basically that's how I got on my heights and
it worked out very well, really really well. But when
I removed to sixty miller meat as I personally, I
(08:38):
personally don't like how low the stretchers are. So two
reasons I don't like the stretchers being where they are. Firstly,
I don't partict. I think it looks good. I think
these stretchers might have looked, you know, better. I've had
of been maybe I don't know, maybe an extra three
(09:00):
inches up something like that. I think it would have
looked the design would have looked better. And for those
of you that already know it's not really a good height, basically,
I think these are going to be more prone to
damage just with them being so low. If they had
(09:23):
to be higher up, you've got the side of the
hit the side of the seat to protect them a
little bit more so. Basically, for those of you that
don't know what stretchers to stop the legs from from
from coming apart, I mean, we'll probably be all right anyway.
And not all chairs kind of need stretchers, to be honest,
(09:45):
I probably could have got away with not putting stretchers
in this because the seats itself is actually beach beaches
extremely you know, it's hard and strong and good wear
and whatnot. But if you put the stretch as in,
it does add a lot of rigidity, you know, to
the chain. You know, the chair is probably going to
(10:08):
last a lot longer. I mean, this chair in general
is most likely going to outlive me. A bit of
a scary ford, but it is most likely going to
outlive me. But as I said, you know, for damage wise,
I think they should have been higher up. But it kain't.
(10:28):
It is what it is. It should be okay, but
you you have, I knowther type of thing there. Another
thing about the proportions is that I didn't I didn't
quite like the splay on the back legs. I feel
the splay should have been more out, you know, and
(10:53):
it should have had a little bit more rate on it.
I think it would have been or it would have
looked better. I mean stability eyes, Yeah, of course it
would have been. It would have been most stable. Obviously,
the bigger you build a base on something, the more
the more stable it's going to be. Kind of thing pyramids,
(11:15):
you know. Obviously the base of the pyramids is absolutely huge,
so it's a very it's a very stable structure. It's
the same with scaffolding. You put a scaffold up, if
you'll put a scaffold tower up, the wider you make
the base the most, the most secure that scaffold is
(11:36):
going to be as you go. Obviously there's limitations, but
and it's the same sort of thing with furniture. But
I mean, as it is, it's it is stable, it's
it's not gonna you know, I think you have a
lot of trouble making it rock wover when you were
sitting in it. But visually, for me, I think it
just would have looked better that way. So other other
(11:59):
than that, I'm kind of you know, I think those
are the purport for me, at least, I think those
are the proportions that stand out the most that I
personally feel need changed. What do you guys think? Do
you agree with us or do you think there's other aspects? Yeah,
(12:24):
so the seat, the seat probably could have used a
little bit more refining on the shape of it, but
in general I can kind of live with a seat.
It's it's not overly that bad that being the shape
of it. But obviously there is some things that I
(12:45):
don't like about it. One of the things about the
seats that I don't like, and I guess I could
still change it if I really wanted to. What I'm
not going to is that obviously I've put a dip
in this, and you should be able to see the
(13:09):
dip one camera. H h. The problem with the dip.
Is that the highest points or the lowest point roller
in the dip, it's not sent out to the chair
(13:32):
where it should be. It's slightly more to this side.
And obviously I don't know if you can notice it
on the camera. Maybe you can, maybe you can't. But
that's something I should have sorted out, and you know,
I kind of I didn't, so it's probably gonna lag
(13:56):
it us a little bit, but you know, yeah, just
just laziness basically, So to point out some of the mistakes.
So when I was making the spindles, I made the
(14:18):
two outside spindles first, and that's obviously how I got,
you know, me lines to drill all the angles to
drill for these these two middle ones. So when I
made the two middle spindles, I made them a bit
too thin, and and oh the holes a bit too wide,
(14:42):
which whichever weird is I've never actually measured the hose,
so I don't really know, but I am gallering. I
made the hoes a little bit a little bit wider
than or a little bit deeper than the two outside ones.
So again you might be able to say on the
camera or telling the camera that these two center ones
(15:05):
are actually slightly bigger in diameter. Maybe you can say
it might look a little from where I'm standing, it
actually looks a lot worse from what it is because
of the color of this one, this this outside spindles.
It's a bit more blonde than the two middle ones.
The two middle ones, they're a bit more darker, and
(15:25):
obviously the two outside ones, especially the one I'm touching
right now, it's it's actually like a lot more blonde.
So it does look a little bit worse than it is.
But you know, again it's my anything like this, I
tend to notice it's I'm quite bad for it. So again,
(15:49):
I mean, I could have chosen to, you know, kind
of make some more, but I kind of I kind
of chose not. I mean I could have cut. I
could have cut these and you know, and I could
redo it if I really wanted to. But because it's
for myself, I'm not going to. Another mistake that I
(16:12):
made was when I was actually gluing this thing up,
I've actually, unbeknown to me, I've glued this thing up
and this stretcher it should have been turned one hundred
and eighty degrees. So this whole, like you say, now
(16:33):
where it's pegged wedged, sorry where it's wedged that that
basically should have been on this side. So again I
don't know if you'll be able to tell, probably not
on the camera, but there's there is a slight bend
in in this stretcher, this middle stretcher. And again this
(16:55):
is carelessness or maybe half not paying attention, being lazy.
Basically what I should have done. I should have put
some tape around this stretcher and you and the other
stretcher and basically just signaled which way the holes needed
to face. But I didn't do that, and this is
(17:16):
the results. I mean, unless you're looking for it, you
probably you know, you probably wouldn't notice it. I suppose
I've been looking in a sense because it hasn't snapped,
you know, and you know, having a having a snap
during glue up. It's you know, as you can imagine,
(17:40):
it come by a little bit problematic. So obviously the
two the two middle spindles, just just just since i've
you know, kind of seen them there, I will show you.
So those were the two original spindles, so you can
say that they are, you know, noticeably thinner, and basically
(18:03):
the reason I had to swap these out. I'm sorry
I'm backtracking here, but the reason I had to swap
those spindles out was because the holes what what I
had dreamed there was, there was basically a cap all
the way around. So basically this the original spindles weren't
(18:25):
wide enough, so it looked very unsightly, and that that
was something I just wasn't willing to, you know, kind
of grin and bear that. I think that would have
really bothered as I mean a lot more than you know,
these being slightly wide and diameter. I do when I
made the crest, the back, the backrail, the back crest,
(18:49):
the crest, whatever you want to call it. Somebody please
correct of the correct terminology for the backrest. When I
did make this, it took me free attempts to make this,
so the first attempt was steam bending. So basically the
(19:16):
whole chair is made with beach. And the reason it's
made with beach is because I got quite a lot
of beach at a very cheap price. So it was
taking up a lot of space and I thought, why
not why not use it get it out of the
way instead of going out and buying extra timber. Bearing
(19:37):
in mind that I have got a spoilted beach kind
of bench, breakfast bench table sort of thing in me
dining room or me kitchen, so obviously it's it's gonna
match somewhat, so I thought, use it up. The problem
(19:57):
with the beach is that it's killing ride and it's
it is pretty dry. I'm not sure of the moisture content,
but it is pretty dry. So knowing this, I said
to myself, I let it soak for a couple of
days in some water. So I did. I let it
soak for a couple of days in water. I tried
to steam bend it, and it just it fractured straight away.
(20:19):
It's just far too dry. Not to mention that I
was trying to bend it a bit more than I
needed to bend it, I don't I don't even know
what was going on in my mind trying to bend it,
so how I was trying to bend it, or all
of the shape of the bend, you know, it was
(20:43):
a lot. It didn't need to be the mountain bending.
It's that's this kind of jig. So basically I'm holding
in my hand is one part of if you can
call it, a very crude bending jig. So basically I've
got I've got two pieces holes drilled in exactly the
same sex area, sorry position, and you put three pegs in.
(21:09):
So basically the piece goes over the middle and it's
hooked underneath the peg on the right and the peg
on the left. And anyone who's done a little bit
or seeing a little bit of chairb they'll know, you know,
they'll know what I'm talking about. But as I said,
this is a very crude version of it, and it
(21:30):
failed straight away. So I kind of I thought myself,
you know, I'm not going to ball trying to trying
to bend another piece. I will laminate a backrest. So
I've got a lot of strips, and because I'm very,
(21:52):
very lazy, I decided to use this same jig. In
my mind, I thought, apply the glue, put the put
the laminates in, get them in the position, and just
use a lot of J clamps to apply pressure. It
should be okay. So I've done that, and what what
(22:17):
I ended up with was this, So basically, this is
a piece of ships. Basically, there's too much of a
bend in it. For start, it's twisted. I don't know
if you can see the twist and that maybe you
(22:39):
can't say that it's got quite a bad twist in it.
And I did actually try to salvage this. I thought
it myself, you know, I kind of I'll try and
work with it. I'll try and smooth it out a
bit and see what I can do with it. And
you know, I soon abandoned it that soon, you know,
(23:03):
for myself, it's gonna be easier just to make make
the backrest. Ironically, the way I made this bat rest
was the way I was going to make it in
the first place, which I just should have done. So
basically this come from a single piece of timber, drew
me curve out, then a lot of curve cuts, chiseled
(23:25):
it out, and then finished up with a spokeshave and
I think I got the whole thing done in about
an hour, nice quick. It was the quickest method, and
it's you know, it's it's absolutely sound. I personally think
the curve of chat is okay. It could have been
slightly a little bit more, but obviously we was using
(23:47):
one piece of timber and just the way the grain
was running, because the grain was pretty straight and that
piece of timber, obviously there's only so much curveage you
can put into something like that. Obviously, if the grain
had a being, you know, kind of given us some
sort of a curvature, that is the grain running and
the curvature, I could have put more of a curve
(24:08):
on it. But as it is, you know, it kind
of is what it is. So obviously the thing about
when you are doing stuff like this, it's just taking
time out of your day, you know, So I don't
know how long I wasted trying to steam bend something
and soaking. It's so there's also the fact that obviously
(24:32):
had to cut all these these laminates. How many laminites
is in you know, there's one, two, three, seven, eight, nine, ten,
so there's ten, there's ten laminites. So I did have
to cut tenlements. I mean, don't get its wrong. I
did cut these with my when we track, so so
you know, it wasn't too much of a heart. But
(24:54):
it's still time conshuman and obviously applying the glue, you know,
trying to get into the and then using like pretty
much all of those J clamps you can say on
the wall. And that was another thing as well. I
still again you might be able to say I still
had gaps, you know, And again this is me. I
(25:14):
should know better. I should if I had wanted to
do this properly, I should have took the time. I
should have built a correct form that you know, there's
a reason why forms get built, so you can clamor
to them and stuff and you get better results. Because
this is just absolutely you know, And I think one
of the things about it is is there's nothing I
can't do with it. You know, I kind of salvage it,
(25:37):
like salvage it some pieces. You know, when you're making
stuff and it doesn't go quite right. Sometimes a lot
of the time you can sell salvage it and you
can just you know, put it in your scrap pile
in a later date you might come back to it.
But like with this would have been so twisted. It's
like there's nothing I can do with it. So unfortunately,
(25:57):
you know, it's it's going to go into log burner.
The final mistake that I'm going to point out to
day is that's I believe it's this leg. The angle
of the rig and splay isn't the same as this leg.
(26:18):
So I did actually try and compensate, and I did
try to fix this and I thought I would have
been able to fix it, but it turns out that
I didn't. I didn't get that, and I did get
a little closer, a little bit more acceptable with this leg,
(26:40):
and I didn't want to take anymore out of the
female portion of the chronicle tenants. And what I decided
to do and all new wisdom, was to come to
this leg and to you know, just rum a little
bit out of this out of this leg, just to
(27:02):
kind of match this leg. So basically I did make
it a little bit better. It was better than what
it was. But what I also did, which is really annoying,
is that the holes on top these are no longer
a circle, but more of an elliptical shape. So basically,
(27:28):
I don't know if you just be able to say
on camera, let's say, tilt this chair a little bit.
So basically, yeah, where I'm pointing with my finger, now
I've got a gap. We don't get me finger nailing.
So that's maybe a millimeter. Just shive a millimeter and
it's exactly the same on the other side. So the back,
(27:51):
the two backsides, they were perfectly fine. I got them
the right angle. I was happy with the angle of
those of course that's that's not that's not kind of
a bearing in mind that I think they should have
had a little bit more rate and splay on them.
But the rate and splay that I did initially want
(28:11):
to do the match, I did succeed with that, so
I didn't have to touch the rate and splay or
justin roller. So maybe you'll be able to say on camera,
but they're nice and round and there's no gaps. And
I love to say that. And when I say stuff
like this, especially when I've done it myself, it's in
(28:33):
the noises. I did actually think about filling them. I
did think to myself, you know, get some PVR glue,
you know, wax, some Sam Peter bar in there and
fill the hole. The only trouble with that, at least
for me, is that I'll know I've done it and
(28:57):
I'll look for it every time I said I'll for it.
So it's it's one of them because when I when
I go to said when, I'm going to notice them
every time. But if I had a filled it, i'll
notice it. So it's it's a bit of a catch
twenty two. But I think, out of everything, I think
that's one of the most annoying things. But I didn't
(29:20):
at the time, I didn't realize that I was going
to be going to be doing this. So let that
put you Listen to you. If you're all going to
if you're are going to start messing around, you know,
with a rake and splay with a remark, you know,
be sure that you are you're going down deep enough
(29:45):
so that you're not you're not going to be left
with an elliptical shape. We're all you go down deep
enough so it still remains, you know, like you know,
like a shoe circle. So what can our person take
away from this? Personally? I think that I probably should
(30:09):
invest in a couple of things. The first one what
I think I should invest in should be a small mirror.
So again, for those of you that have made chairs,
those of you that have seen, you know, chairs being built,
you've probably seen people drilling into chairs with a brace
(30:33):
and bits exactly the same way I have done that.
But what they'll have they'll have a mirror, and as
the drilling, they'll be able to say in that mirror
if the angle of the bit is matching the angle
of a sliding bevel. So for those of you that
(30:53):
don't know, quick demonstration here, So when you're drilling, you
would have your you would have your your bracing bits,
and your bit would be coming obviously towards towards yourself
and as you're using the bracing bits, and if you
had the mirror, you'd be able to you'd be able
(31:14):
to gauge the angle. So it sounds stupid, and I,
believe it or not, I haven't actually got a small
moral like that in my home, believe it or not.
So I think that's something I'm going to invest in.
So something else that I'm that I'm may investing is
some some layers as, and they've come down in price
(31:45):
since the first time I looked at them. In the
first time I looked at them most quite a number
of years ago, and no quite expensive. So what I
mean by layers as is basically you get these little
boxes and they just they just shine a beam out.
These are used in the building industry, you know, to
get like a straight line around the wall for whatever reason,
(32:07):
or a vertical parallel line. I think there's ones that
there will sorts of lines. I do believe you can
even get ones that will paste like layerser a graph
onto a wall. Now I believe boss. I think for
the price of them, because I have come down a lot.
I mean, I think I was in little whenever it was,
(32:31):
and I'm pretty sure I had some layerser like layersers,
like a little box like lasery thing what I'm thinking
about buying. I think at the time it was like
it was twenty poundish something like that. It's ironic because
at the time I had it in my hand and
I thought, shall I buy it? Shall or not? And
I was like, I don't really build enough chairs to
(32:54):
kind of warrant it. But at the same time, it
was only twenty pounds, and I was fortunate enough to have,
you know, twenty pounds to spend on it, and I
chose not to. But I think I might, you know,
kind of you know, bite the bullet and buy that.
I think I think with those two things. Don't get
(33:17):
us wrong. It's it's not the bay old endo. You
can have all the tools in the world and it
doesn't make you a good world worker. But I do
think that it will help us a little bit. I
personally think that in the future I should really either
(33:38):
use a user plan or design design something myself in
stick to that plan one of the one of the
bad things. And I did speak about this on one
of the last podcasts. I don't know about this chair.
When I was making it, it was full of mistakes
and is that I have a design in my head
(34:00):
and it changes so many times and I'm very, very
bad for it. So it wouldn't necessarily be a bad
idea just to buy some plans from, you know, a
professional chair maker. And there's you know, there's there's quite
a few that I follow on Instagram, some really good
chair maker as I follow, and I think in the future,
(34:26):
if I do have kind of a need to make
some chairs, I'm probably just going to buy plans that
you know, it's just going to save. There's a lot
of a lot of aggravation. The thing about this, now
this has made I can actually copy yet. But I've
(34:49):
got a bit of a dilemma with that because the
proportions obviously that I'm not happy with. Should I change
them on the new chair. That's the dilemma because if
if someone comes to the house, let's just say, they're
(35:10):
going to notice it straight away, and obviously I'll notice it.
I think in time I would get used to it.
But you know, I think it would be very noticeable.
So if you've got two chairs, you know, kind of
side by side. Obviously the reil is going to be bigger,
and the splayers are going to be different in the leg,
(35:32):
and obviously the stretcher is going to be a tad higher.
So do I do that or do I leave it
the same, or or do I build a completely different chair,
which I have been thinking about doing. I am kind
of leaning towards building George Nakashima, I hope I've said
(35:57):
his name right. There can leave a chair I've known
about that can't leave our chairs for such a long time,
and I've wanted to build one for such a long time,
and obviously I've never got around, so I didn't think
would it be would it be viable? Would it be
good to do something like that? And it would be
(36:17):
the thing about it is it would be a ballaint
and mismatch in the kitchen. Obviously, you know you've got
two mixtures of chairs. I did build when I first
built the table. Just give you a bit of a backstory.
I did first build the table, I built a bench
to go with it, and the idea I was have
(36:40):
a bench one side and have two chairs the other side.
And that's it. That's all I wanted to do. I was,
you know, I've always intended on keeping the bench, So
I don't know. You know, what do you guys think?
Do you do you think I should keep the bench?
Obviously I'm going to keep the chair. Do I builder
(37:02):
George Nakashima again, I hope I said his name right.
I can't leave our chair. Or do I build another
one of these and keep it exactly the same, or
do I build another one of these and change the
proportions slightly? That that's that's me a little bit of
(37:23):
me conundrum at the moment, And I don't really know
what I'm going to do because I have got beach
to do. You know, either another one of these chairs,
and I've also got enough beach to do. I can't
leave our chair as well. So that's the conundrum at
the moment. So there is know your fortunate comments, you know,
(37:47):
as I said, I'm very open to criticism. Just made
a constructive and until the next time, I shall see
you guys later.
In today's podcast, I'm going to be talking about this
chair that I've just built and all the mistakes I've
made in it, and basically the proportions I'm not happy with,
and I invite you, invite all of yours to come
in and critique the chair. So what I will say
(00:22):
it is, don't just say it shit and leave it
at that. Say it shit and give us a reason why.
I'm very open to criticism, and you know, hopefully I
can learn from some of the criticism. So I'm just
going to go over a few of the proportions, things
(00:42):
I'm not happy with, and you know, some of the
mistakes I've made. What I will say, and I'll get
this out of the way straight away, is that it's
very comfortable to sit on. So some of you might
say that I've you know, I've succeeded because I've got
a chair that's comfortable. So for me personally, I'm just
(01:05):
sitting down there for those of you that aren't watching,
So for me personally, this is a very very comfortable seating, hep.
For me, I'm only a little guy, so probably looks
a little bit smaller on camera, but for me, this
is perfect. It's perfect for sitting down to have a
couple of day to eat your food with, which obviously
(01:26):
that's what that's what it's intend. Four. This is gonna
live in my kitchen and me kind of downing table bench,
whatever you want to call it, and it's probably going
to be decent. Although I haven't done it too much
yet obviously you know, it still needs some more oil
on it, but I think it's going to be okay
(01:49):
to sit on and work at the at the computer
when I'm down the news that are and such, which,
by the way, if you aren't aware, I am doing
a free newsletter the highlights different people in the woodworking
community from around the world, and you know, obviously I
do highlight myself a little bit, keep you up at
(02:11):
the date with things I'm done and such and many articles.
So if you're interested, check out the description and the
will be linked in the description for the newsletter. So
some of the proportions that I do not like, so
the crest at the top, the backrestrail, I'm not sure
(02:35):
that the correct terminology for it, so that I personally
feel it should have been there should have been more
width to it. I personally think maybe another inch to it,
So what is it now? It is it's near enough
(02:59):
to inch, so I think maybe three inches, which is,
you know, around about seventy five millimeters, that would have
looked better. I personally feel it would have looked better.
And I don't feel the length of it as well.
I think the length past past the center center line
(03:23):
of the of the spindle, that's like, you know, twenty milimeters,
so you know, it's it's just over our three quarters
of an inch. I personally feel if I had of
maybe taking that, I don't know, maybe thirty five forty milimeters,
I think that would have been a lot better. But
(03:47):
obviously it is what it is. It didn't look too
bad when I was making it, and then obviously when
everything was glowed up and you know what kind of
the first quote of oilin I'm looking at. I'm just
I'm just really really not happy with it. So something
that somebody just said today on Instagram, I believe it was,
(04:14):
was that is the backrest leaning back too much? Now?
For me personally? No, it's not. For me personally, it's
it's fine. And if I wanted this to be a
bit more of a like a lounge chair, I would
actually add slightly a bit more angle going backwards. Now,
(04:34):
I do realize that some people this might be a
bit too much, and that goes back to the old
adage of kind of when you're making a chair, you
should be making it for that person or for yourself.
I've thought about this like kind of with Roman workbenches
and stuff. It's like, if I build a Roman workbench
(04:56):
or even a chair for me, helf, it's not going
to be suitable for somebody else, you know, like six
and a half foot talk, because I'm only like five
and a half foot tall, so they're gonna find it
a little less comfortable. And if I'm sitting in a
seat made for somebody that's six, you know, six six,
it's it's going to be uncomfortable for me. There's going
(05:17):
to be pressure on the underside of my leg from
this because my feet aren't able to touch the ground correctly,
and it's it's obviously it's the same for you know,
for the backrest as well. So the backrest again, for me,
it's perfect, but for some people, you know, because you
do get people that have got extremely straight box. Mine's
(05:39):
not extremely straight minds extremely bent. I do so from
kai forces and this is due you know, twenty six
years of scaffold, and unfortunately and it's it hasn't been
kind to myself. So I personally feel that is okay.
So another thing that that I'm not happy with is
(06:03):
the actual shape of the spindles. So again at the time,
it seemed like a good idea. So basically, I've got
a chronical tenance on each of these, and you know,
it kind of goes up maybe maybe a fist, and
it does start the tape down, and the tape that's
(06:25):
down to like ten millimeters. So while I'm confident these
are strong enough and I don't think they're going to break,
I'm just not happy with the shape. I would have
liked to see a bit more of a bulb, same
way the legs are, because the legs have got like
(06:45):
kind of a bulb, and I would have liked to
see that and for them to tape it down to
the seat itself. So obviously I and happy with that.
When when I initially made the stretchers, I had I
(07:06):
think was the extra sixty millimeters of heights on the legs.
So obviously this was too tall for myself and I
had already leveled the feat I just find it easier
to work if you level the feats. I don't, I
don't necessarily think that's the done thing, but I think
(07:28):
on I've built about three or four like kind of
stick chairs, and I've always just leveled the feats like twice.
So basically I get a rough level, you know, get
everything leveled out, get this, get the angle of the
seat I want, and then the next the next time
I'll level it will be the heights that it's going
to see, that type of thing. So this time, when
(07:52):
I've done it, I I basically I had sixty millimeters
of extra height on it. And how I actually drilled
for the for the stretch as I had to chair
on me workbench and basically just used the level of
(08:15):
me work bench because my work benches is flat, and
just use the base of the drill cord to the drill.
And basically that's how I got on my heights and
it worked out very well, really really well. But when
I removed to sixty miller meat as I personally, I
(08:38):
personally don't like how low the stretchers are. So two
reasons I don't like the stretchers being where they are. Firstly,
I don't partict. I think it looks good. I think
these stretchers might have looked, you know, better. I've had
of been maybe I don't know, maybe an extra three
(09:00):
inches up something like that. I think it would have
looked the design would have looked better. And for those
of you that already know it's not really a good height, basically,
I think these are going to be more prone to
damage just with them being so low. If they had
(09:23):
to be higher up, you've got the side of the
hit the side of the seat to protect them a
little bit more so. Basically, for those of you that
don't know what stretchers to stop the legs from from
from coming apart, I mean, we'll probably be all right anyway.
And not all chairs kind of need stretchers, to be honest,
(09:45):
I probably could have got away with not putting stretchers
in this because the seats itself is actually beach beaches
extremely you know, it's hard and strong and good wear
and whatnot. But if you put the stretch as in,
it does add a lot of rigidity, you know, to
the chain. You know, the chair is probably going to
(10:08):
last a lot longer. I mean, this chair in general
is most likely going to outlive me. A bit of
a scary ford, but it is most likely going to
outlive me. But as I said, you know, for damage wise,
I think they should have been higher up. But it kain't.
(10:28):
It is what it is. It should be okay, but
you you have, I knowther type of thing there. Another
thing about the proportions is that I didn't I didn't
quite like the splay on the back legs. I feel
the splay should have been more out, you know, and
(10:53):
it should have had a little bit more rate on it.
I think it would have been or it would have
looked better. I mean stability eyes, Yeah, of course it
would have been. It would have been most stable. Obviously,
the bigger you build a base on something, the more
the more stable it's going to be. Kind of thing pyramids,
(11:15):
you know. Obviously the base of the pyramids is absolutely huge,
so it's a very it's a very stable structure. It's
the same with scaffolding. You put a scaffold up, if
you'll put a scaffold tower up, the wider you make
the base the most, the most secure that scaffold is
(11:36):
going to be as you go. Obviously there's limitations, but
and it's the same sort of thing with furniture. But
I mean, as it is, it's it is stable, it's
it's not gonna you know, I think you have a
lot of trouble making it rock wover when you were
sitting in it. But visually, for me, I think it
just would have looked better that way. So other other
(11:59):
than that, I'm kind of you know, I think those
are the purport for me, at least, I think those
are the proportions that stand out the most that I
personally feel need changed. What do you guys think? Do
you agree with us or do you think there's other aspects? Yeah,
(12:24):
so the seat, the seat probably could have used a
little bit more refining on the shape of it, but
in general I can kind of live with a seat.
It's it's not overly that bad that being the shape
of it. But obviously there is some things that I
(12:45):
don't like about it. One of the things about the
seats that I don't like, and I guess I could
still change it if I really wanted to. What I'm
not going to is that obviously I've put a dip
in this, and you should be able to see the
(13:09):
dip one camera. H h. The problem with the dip.
Is that the highest points or the lowest point roller
in the dip, it's not sent out to the chair
(13:32):
where it should be. It's slightly more to this side.
And obviously I don't know if you can notice it
on the camera. Maybe you can, maybe you can't. But
that's something I should have sorted out, and you know,
I kind of I didn't, so it's probably gonna lag
(13:56):
it us a little bit, but you know, yeah, just
just laziness basically, So to point out some of the mistakes.
So when I was making the spindles, I made the
(14:18):
two outside spindles first, and that's obviously how I got,
you know, me lines to drill all the angles to
drill for these these two middle ones. So when I
made the two middle spindles, I made them a bit
too thin, and and oh the holes a bit too wide,
(14:42):
which whichever weird is I've never actually measured the hose,
so I don't really know, but I am gallering. I
made the hoes a little bit a little bit wider
than or a little bit deeper than the two outside ones.
So again you might be able to say on the
camera or telling the camera that these two center ones
(15:05):
are actually slightly bigger in diameter. Maybe you can say
it might look a little from where I'm standing, it
actually looks a lot worse from what it is because
of the color of this one, this this outside spindles.
It's a bit more blonde than the two middle ones.
The two middle ones, they're a bit more darker, and
(15:25):
obviously the two outside ones, especially the one I'm touching
right now, it's it's actually like a lot more blonde.
So it does look a little bit worse than it is.
But you know, again it's my anything like this, I
tend to notice it's I'm quite bad for it. So again,
(15:49):
I mean, I could have chosen to, you know, kind
of make some more, but I kind of I kind
of chose not. I mean I could have cut. I
could have cut these and you know, and I could
redo it if I really wanted to. But because it's
for myself, I'm not going to. Another mistake that I
(16:12):
made was when I was actually gluing this thing up,
I've actually, unbeknown to me, I've glued this thing up
and this stretcher it should have been turned one hundred
and eighty degrees. So this whole, like you say, now
(16:33):
where it's pegged wedged, sorry where it's wedged that that
basically should have been on this side. So again I
don't know if you'll be able to tell, probably not
on the camera, but there's there is a slight bend
in in this stretcher, this middle stretcher. And again this
(16:55):
is carelessness or maybe half not paying attention, being lazy.
Basically what I should have done. I should have put
some tape around this stretcher and you and the other
stretcher and basically just signaled which way the holes needed
to face. But I didn't do that, and this is
(17:16):
the results. I mean, unless you're looking for it, you
probably you know, you probably wouldn't notice it. I suppose
I've been looking in a sense because it hasn't snapped,
you know, and you know, having a having a snap
during glue up. It's you know, as you can imagine,
(17:40):
it come by a little bit problematic. So obviously the
two the two middle spindles, just just just since i've
you know, kind of seen them there, I will show you.
So those were the two original spindles, so you can
say that they are, you know, noticeably thinner, and basically
(18:03):
the reason I had to swap these out. I'm sorry
I'm backtracking here, but the reason I had to swap
those spindles out was because the holes what what I
had dreamed there was, there was basically a cap all
the way around. So basically this the original spindles weren't
(18:25):
wide enough, so it looked very unsightly, and that that
was something I just wasn't willing to, you know, kind
of grin and bear that. I think that would have
really bothered as I mean a lot more than you know,
these being slightly wide and diameter. I do when I
made the crest, the back, the backrail, the back crest,
(18:49):
the crest, whatever you want to call it. Somebody please
correct of the correct terminology for the backrest. When I
did make this, it took me free attempts to make this,
so the first attempt was steam bending. So basically the
(19:16):
whole chair is made with beach. And the reason it's
made with beach is because I got quite a lot
of beach at a very cheap price. So it was
taking up a lot of space and I thought, why
not why not use it get it out of the
way instead of going out and buying extra timber. Bearing
(19:37):
in mind that I have got a spoilted beach kind
of bench, breakfast bench table sort of thing in me
dining room or me kitchen, so obviously it's it's gonna
match somewhat, so I thought, use it up. The problem
(19:57):
with the beach is that it's killing ride and it's
it is pretty dry. I'm not sure of the moisture content,
but it is pretty dry. So knowing this, I said
to myself, I let it soak for a couple of
days in some water. So I did. I let it
soak for a couple of days in water. I tried
to steam bend it, and it just it fractured straight away.
(20:19):
It's just far too dry. Not to mention that I
was trying to bend it a bit more than I
needed to bend it, I don't I don't even know
what was going on in my mind trying to bend it,
so how I was trying to bend it, or all
of the shape of the bend, you know, it was
(20:43):
a lot. It didn't need to be the mountain bending.
It's that's this kind of jig. So basically I'm holding
in my hand is one part of if you can
call it, a very crude bending jig. So basically I've
got I've got two pieces holes drilled in exactly the
same sex area, sorry position, and you put three pegs in.
(21:09):
So basically the piece goes over the middle and it's
hooked underneath the peg on the right and the peg
on the left. And anyone who's done a little bit
or seeing a little bit of chairb they'll know, you know,
they'll know what I'm talking about. But as I said,
this is a very crude version of it, and it
(21:30):
failed straight away. So I kind of I thought myself,
you know, I'm not going to ball trying to trying
to bend another piece. I will laminate a backrest. So
I've got a lot of strips, and because I'm very,
(21:52):
very lazy, I decided to use this same jig. In
my mind, I thought, apply the glue, put the put
the laminates in, get them in the position, and just
use a lot of J clamps to apply pressure. It
should be okay. So I've done that, and what what
(22:17):
I ended up with was this, So basically, this is
a piece of ships. Basically, there's too much of a
bend in it. For start, it's twisted. I don't know
if you can see the twist and that maybe you
(22:39):
can't say that it's got quite a bad twist in it.
And I did actually try to salvage this. I thought
it myself, you know, I kind of I'll try and
work with it. I'll try and smooth it out a
bit and see what I can do with it. And
you know, I soon abandoned it that soon, you know,
(23:03):
for myself, it's gonna be easier just to make make
the backrest. Ironically, the way I made this bat rest
was the way I was going to make it in
the first place, which I just should have done. So
basically this come from a single piece of timber, drew
me curve out, then a lot of curve cuts, chiseled
(23:25):
it out, and then finished up with a spokeshave and
I think I got the whole thing done in about
an hour, nice quick. It was the quickest method, and
it's you know, it's it's absolutely sound. I personally think
the curve of chat is okay. It could have been
slightly a little bit more, but obviously we was using
(23:47):
one piece of timber and just the way the grain
was running, because the grain was pretty straight and that
piece of timber, obviously there's only so much curveage you
can put into something like that. Obviously, if the grain
had a being, you know, kind of given us some
sort of a curvature, that is the grain running and
the curvature, I could have put more of a curve
(24:08):
on it. But as it is, you know, it kind
of is what it is. So obviously the thing about
when you are doing stuff like this, it's just taking
time out of your day, you know, So I don't
know how long I wasted trying to steam bend something
and soaking. It's so there's also the fact that obviously
(24:32):
had to cut all these these laminates. How many laminites
is in you know, there's one, two, three, seven, eight, nine, ten,
so there's ten, there's ten laminites. So I did have
to cut tenlements. I mean, don't get its wrong. I
did cut these with my when we track, so so
you know, it wasn't too much of a heart. But
(24:54):
it's still time conshuman and obviously applying the glue, you know,
trying to get into the and then using like pretty
much all of those J clamps you can say on
the wall. And that was another thing as well. I
still again you might be able to say I still
had gaps, you know, And again this is me. I
(25:14):
should know better. I should if I had wanted to
do this properly, I should have took the time. I
should have built a correct form that you know, there's
a reason why forms get built, so you can clamor
to them and stuff and you get better results. Because
this is just absolutely you know, And I think one
of the things about it is is there's nothing I
can't do with it. You know, I kind of salvage it,
(25:37):
like salvage it some pieces. You know, when you're making
stuff and it doesn't go quite right. Sometimes a lot
of the time you can sell salvage it and you
can just you know, put it in your scrap pile
in a later date you might come back to it.
But like with this would have been so twisted. It's
like there's nothing I can do with it. So unfortunately,
(25:57):
you know, it's it's going to go into log burner.
The final mistake that I'm going to point out to
day is that's I believe it's this leg. The angle
of the rig and splay isn't the same as this leg.
(26:18):
So I did actually try and compensate, and I did
try to fix this and I thought I would have
been able to fix it, but it turns out that
I didn't. I didn't get that, and I did get
a little closer, a little bit more acceptable with this leg,
(26:40):
and I didn't want to take anymore out of the
female portion of the chronicle tenants. And what I decided
to do and all new wisdom, was to come to
this leg and to you know, just rum a little
bit out of this out of this leg, just to
(27:02):
kind of match this leg. So basically I did make
it a little bit better. It was better than what
it was. But what I also did, which is really annoying,
is that the holes on top these are no longer
a circle, but more of an elliptical shape. So basically,
(27:28):
I don't know if you just be able to say
on camera, let's say, tilt this chair a little bit.
So basically, yeah, where I'm pointing with my finger, now
I've got a gap. We don't get me finger nailing.
So that's maybe a millimeter. Just shive a millimeter and
it's exactly the same on the other side. So the back,
(27:51):
the two backsides, they were perfectly fine. I got them
the right angle. I was happy with the angle of
those of course that's that's not that's not kind of
a bearing in mind that I think they should have
had a little bit more rate and splay on them.
But the rate and splay that I did initially want
(28:11):
to do the match, I did succeed with that, so
I didn't have to touch the rate and splay or
justin roller. So maybe you'll be able to say on camera,
but they're nice and round and there's no gaps. And
I love to say that. And when I say stuff
like this, especially when I've done it myself, it's in
(28:33):
the noises. I did actually think about filling them. I
did think to myself, you know, get some PVR glue,
you know, wax, some Sam Peter bar in there and
fill the hole. The only trouble with that, at least
for me, is that I'll know I've done it and
(28:57):
I'll look for it every time I said I'll for it.
So it's it's one of them because when I when
I go to said when, I'm going to notice them
every time. But if I had a filled it, i'll
notice it. So it's it's a bit of a catch
twenty two. But I think, out of everything, I think
that's one of the most annoying things. But I didn't
(29:20):
at the time, I didn't realize that I was going
to be going to be doing this. So let that
put you Listen to you. If you're all going to
if you're are going to start messing around, you know,
with a rake and splay with a remark, you know,
be sure that you are you're going down deep enough
(29:45):
so that you're not you're not going to be left
with an elliptical shape. We're all you go down deep
enough so it still remains, you know, like you know,
like a shoe circle. So what can our person take
away from this? Personally? I think that I probably should
(30:09):
invest in a couple of things. The first one what
I think I should invest in should be a small mirror.
So again, for those of you that have made chairs,
those of you that have seen, you know, chairs being built,
you've probably seen people drilling into chairs with a brace
(30:33):
and bits exactly the same way I have done that.
But what they'll have they'll have a mirror, and as
the drilling, they'll be able to say in that mirror
if the angle of the bit is matching the angle
of a sliding bevel. So for those of you that
(30:53):
don't know, quick demonstration here, So when you're drilling, you
would have your you would have your your bracing bits,
and your bit would be coming obviously towards towards yourself
and as you're using the bracing bits, and if you
had the mirror, you'd be able to you'd be able
(31:14):
to gauge the angle. So it sounds stupid, and I,
believe it or not, I haven't actually got a small
moral like that in my home, believe it or not.
So I think that's something I'm going to invest in.
So something else that I'm that I'm may investing is
some some layers as, and they've come down in price
(31:45):
since the first time I looked at them. In the
first time I looked at them most quite a number
of years ago, and no quite expensive. So what I
mean by layers as is basically you get these little
boxes and they just they just shine a beam out.
These are used in the building industry, you know, to
get like a straight line around the wall for whatever reason,
(32:07):
or a vertical parallel line. I think there's ones that
there will sorts of lines. I do believe you can
even get ones that will paste like layerser a graph
onto a wall. Now I believe boss. I think for
the price of them, because I have come down a lot.
I mean, I think I was in little whenever it was,
(32:31):
and I'm pretty sure I had some layerser like layersers,
like a little box like lasery thing what I'm thinking
about buying. I think at the time it was like
it was twenty poundish something like that. It's ironic because
at the time I had it in my hand and
I thought, shall I buy it? Shall or not? And
I was like, I don't really build enough chairs to
(32:54):
kind of warrant it. But at the same time, it
was only twenty pounds, and I was fortunate enough to have,
you know, twenty pounds to spend on it, and I
chose not to. But I think I might, you know,
kind of you know, bite the bullet and buy that.
I think I think with those two things. Don't get
(33:17):
us wrong. It's it's not the bay old endo. You
can have all the tools in the world and it
doesn't make you a good world worker. But I do
think that it will help us a little bit. I
personally think that in the future I should really either
(33:38):
use a user plan or design design something myself in
stick to that plan one of the one of the
bad things. And I did speak about this on one
of the last podcasts. I don't know about this chair.
When I was making it, it was full of mistakes
and is that I have a design in my head
(34:00):
and it changes so many times and I'm very, very
bad for it. So it wouldn't necessarily be a bad
idea just to buy some plans from, you know, a
professional chair maker. And there's you know, there's there's quite
a few that I follow on Instagram, some really good
chair maker as I follow, and I think in the future,
(34:26):
if I do have kind of a need to make
some chairs, I'm probably just going to buy plans that
you know, it's just going to save. There's a lot
of a lot of aggravation. The thing about this, now
this has made I can actually copy yet. But I've
(34:49):
got a bit of a dilemma with that because the
proportions obviously that I'm not happy with. Should I change
them on the new chair. That's the dilemma because if
if someone comes to the house, let's just say, they're
(35:10):
going to notice it straight away, and obviously I'll notice it.
I think in time I would get used to it.
But you know, I think it would be very noticeable.
So if you've got two chairs, you know, kind of
side by side. Obviously the reil is going to be bigger,
and the splayers are going to be different in the leg,
(35:32):
and obviously the stretcher is going to be a tad higher.
So do I do that or do I leave it
the same, or or do I build a completely different chair,
which I have been thinking about doing. I am kind
of leaning towards building George Nakashima, I hope I've said
(35:57):
his name right. There can leave a chair I've known
about that can't leave our chairs for such a long time,
and I've wanted to build one for such a long time,
and obviously I've never got around, so I didn't think
would it be would it be viable? Would it be
good to do something like that? And it would be
(36:17):
the thing about it is it would be a ballaint
and mismatch in the kitchen. Obviously, you know you've got
two mixtures of chairs. I did build when I first
built the table. Just give you a bit of a backstory.
I did first build the table, I built a bench
to go with it, and the idea I was have
(36:40):
a bench one side and have two chairs the other side.
And that's it. That's all I wanted to do. I was,
you know, I've always intended on keeping the bench, So
I don't know. You know, what do you guys think?
Do you do you think I should keep the bench?
Obviously I'm going to keep the chair. Do I builder
(37:02):
George Nakashima again, I hope I said his name right.
I can't leave our chair. Or do I build another
one of these and keep it exactly the same, or
do I build another one of these and change the
proportions slightly? That that's that's me a little bit of
(37:23):
me conundrum at the moment, And I don't really know
what I'm going to do because I have got beach
to do. You know, either another one of these chairs,
and I've also got enough beach to do. I can't
leave our chair as well. So that's the conundrum at
the moment. So there is know your fortunate comments, you know,
(37:47):
as I said, I'm very open to criticism. Just made
a constructive and until the next time, I shall see
you guys later.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!