I’m designing a new dining table and side chairs. As I work in my chair design, I like a design using a splat back chair concept. I have read that the back should have an even number of vertical slats. This would leave an opening for the human spine. I like a design with three vertical slats to make a centered splat back look. I also see many examples of single solid vertical slat (splat) used in beautiful chairs. Some are curved.
My question is would I be sacrificing comfort by having a center vertical slat? If using a center vertical splat does it need to be curved or hollowed to compensate and be sure the the back rests on the two additional slats making up the three combo slat back design to insure spine clearance? Feedback from experienced chair builders would be appreciated.
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Odd numbers of spindles or slats do not dig into the spine. Don't worry about that, not even a little.
Go and sit in a bunch of chairs if you doubt. Other things matter, number of spindles does not.
Thanks. On wood waste. Do you work each back leg from a milled seat flats or nest them. I read Jeff Millers book on using a jig to flatten the nested seat flat area. I have always used wood milled flat and square as my surface for joinery on my curved work, but making a set of chairs would generate a lot of waste and added cost.
You can go either way. If you are short on material nesting saves some, but also introduces unpleasant variables and adds quite a bit of work. (Including a day of jig building, will you use them again?)
Starting from identical blanks and measuring from known points makes joinery easier and minimizes variation.