09 – Turn the Undercarriage

  1. A Walnut Windsor Chair – Introduction
  2. The Log
  3. Transport
  4. Rough Lumber
  5. Seat Blanks
  6. Legs
  7. Arm Posts and Tapered Holes
  8. Carve the Seat
  9. Turn the Undercarriage
  10. Assembling the Seat and Undercarriage
  11. Spindles
  12. Arms
  13. Assembling the Spindles and Arms
  14. Crest Version 1 — The Form Bent Laminated Crest
  15. Crest Version 2 — The Steam Bent Crest
  16. Final Assembly
  17. Detailing
  18. Finishing a Walnut Windsor Chair
  19. Final Notes

Entry 9

Turn the Undercarriage  –  1/1/2008

Now, with a seat and legs ready, it is time to turn the stretchers for the undercarriage. Then, drill some holes for the tenons to fit into.

The undercarriage bracing is a very simple H-brace.  The two front to back stretchers are socketed into the legs.  The side to side stretcher is socketed to the front-to-back stretchers.

Since there are small variations in the angles of the legs, I do each stretcher individually to each chair.  At the top, I have a ruler clamped to the front and back legs to measure the distance.  In the second picture, this measurement is being repeated on the other side.  Under the chair sits a freshly turned stretcher and the turning blank for the next stretcher.

The third picture shows the ruler clamped in place again so that I can measure the angle between the leg and the stretcher for both front and back using the sliding bevel gauges shown.  These gauges allow me to set the angle of my tilt table on the drill press to drill the holes in the legs for the stretcher tenons.  This process of drilling the holes is shown in the fourth picture.  Note the jig that cradles the leg so that it can be held or clamped firmly in place.  After drilling the holes in the legs, the two stretchers are dry assembled so that the length of the side-to-side stretcher can be measured.  This stretcher is then turned on the lathe.  The side-to-side stretcher is shown in the picture at the bottom right, along with the sliding bevels used to measure the angles between the stretchers.  Then, back to the drill press to drill the holes in the two front-to-back stretchers.

The side-to-side stretcher is a bit different than that in most historical windsors.  It is straight out of Dunbar’s book.  Each end of the center stretcher has a taper similar to the lower part of the leg.  I like the look of this design so I’ve continued to use it.

The last step, below, is to dry fit everything.  (April, 2007)