32 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
Straightest Path to a Great Chair
27 28
25 I save the offcut from the band-
sawn curve to protect the top of the
crest rail during clamping, and thin
MDF pieces to protect the faces of
both rails.
26 After giving the arm a tap to
mark the mating dowel hole in the
arm, mark the angled line where the
front of the arm will end.
27 After drilling dowel holes in the
back legs where the arms connect,
dry-assemble the chair.
28 Cut the curves on the arms
and the shallow taper If desired,
but leave the arms a hair long at
the front end. You can sand them
fl ush later.26
cleanly. Then I drill a dowel hole
into this beveled fl at, by placing a
wedge under the workpiece.
To locate the dowel hole at the
front of the arms, I attach them
briefl y to the back legs and place a
dowel center in the hole in the top
of the leg, giving the arm a tap to
dimple its lower face for a mating
dowel hole. This step also shows
me where to cut off the front end
of the arm. I leave them about^1 / 32 "
proud at this point, cutting them
at a compound angle to match the
front face of the legs (miter gauge
at 4° and blade tilted at 9°), and
sand them fl ush after assembly.
Next, I lay out the cloud-lift
shape on the front of the arm. I do25
it with a shaper jig, but you could
do it on the bandsaw and smooth it
by sanding. Then I use my horizon-
tal mortiser again to cut the slot for
the spline (a router jig would also
do it), and square off the back of
the cut with a chisel.
After the arms are cut out to
their general shape, I taper their
bottom face so they get thicker
at the front, to echo the general
splay of the chair. The taper starts(^1) / 4 " deep at the back and ends
about 1" from the front end. Now
the arms can be rounded over,
sanded, and glued onto the chair.
Last, I make splines that echo the
cloud-lift shape, and fi t them to
their slots.