Replies

1. 
   stevo1952 | Oct 20, 2008 09:17pm | #1

   Not sure what a DR chair is. But I have attended a couple of classes from Curtis Buchanan and he always tries to bend because you dont have to cut the grain. When chairs made from cut lumber break, it is almost always where the grain runs out, whereas a continuous back or hoop that is bent from a piece where the grain goes the entire length, is much stronger. Bending is not difficult at all to do.
   Good luck.
   Stevo

1. 
   delaunj53 | Oct 20, 2008 09:34pm | #2

   Thanks Stevo.  Sorry, DR = dining room

2. 
   joinerswork | Oct 21, 2008 04:24am | #3

   Jules,

   I've never seen a shield back that was not sawn.  Period chairs were of two types- chairmakers' chairs, and cabinetmakers' chairs.  Windsors, ladderbacks, Hitchcocks, are examples of chairmakers' chairs, with lots of turned elements, round tenons fitted to bored holes, and bent components shaped from green wood.

   Cabinetmakers made their chairs from seasoned (dry) lumber, just as they did their case goods.  So the curved parts were sawn out.  Queen Anne, Chippendale, and Hepplewhite chairs were made this way, joined with sawn tenons fitted to chopped rectangular mortises. If you have access to wide stuff for the rear legs, you can saw several from a single plank, laying them out like spoons in a stack, for minimal waste.

   A shield back is one of the more challenging chairs to build.  A full size drawing, front, side and top (seat plan) is pretty nearly a necessity, and lets you make your patterns from the drawing, assuring the components come together the way they are supposed to.

   Ray

1. 
   delaunj53 | Oct 21, 2008 03:44pm | #4

   Thanks Ray.  Very helpful insight.

1. 
   joinerswork | Oct 21, 2008 04:18pm | #5

   Jules,

   You're welcome.

   Here's a pic of one that I built.  See, it can be done.

   Good luck with your project,

   Ray

   
1. 
   chuckh | Oct 21, 2008 04:24pm | #6

   Ray,

   Wow!  If that's your porch furniture I would really like to see what your dining room furniture looks like.

    

1. 
   joinerswork | Oct 21, 2008 08:48pm | #7

   Thanks Chuck.  As for the dining room, I have a complete set of those white resin chairs.  hah hah

   Ray

2. 
   delaunj53 | Oct 22, 2008 04:51pm | #8

   Ray-

   Gorgeous work.  How did you mortise the pieces for the shield? Do you still have the scale drawing, and if so would you mind sharing? 

   Thanks for your insight and encouragement.  This might be too big a bite for a first timer, but winter's coming up so I can find some use for it no matter what.

   Jules

1. 
   joinerswork | Oct 22, 2008 09:14pm | #9

   Jules,

   I used the mortising attachment for my drill press for all the mortising.  The top, or crest rail, I sawed out its underside, then mortised for the three points where the splat is attached before sawing the top side, so I had a flat to ride on the table.  The bottom rail for the back was done the same way- sawed the inside profile, mortised, then cut the bottom side out.  I cut the tenons on the ends of the bottom back rail at the proper angle before doing any cutting out. Similarly, the rear legs were partially sawn out, mortised, then completed.

   I'm afraid I can't send you a copy of the drawing.  It is full size, plus done in pencil on brown paper, making copying problematic.  Typically, I make the chair drawings' front, side and top views all overlaid on one another, to both save space, and make it easier for me to transpose dimensions and relate parts one to another.  This makes sense to me, but I've been told it looks like gibberish to anyone else.  You could probably make your own drawing in less time than figuring mine out would take!

   Wallace Nutting's Furniture Treasury, Vol III, has a scale drawing of a similar chair to mine.  Also Salomonsky's Masterpieces of Furniture (Dover Press) has two shieldbacks, measured and drawn.  There is one in another Dover book, Measured Drawings of Early American Furniture, by Osburn and Osburn.

   In all seriousness, I'd recommend building a simple Queen Anne or Chippendale chair before tackling a shieldback. I'm glad that it wasn't the first chair I undertook.  But, as they say, YMMV. 

   Ray

2. 
   delaunj53 | Oct 22, 2008 11:52pm | #10

   Thanks Ray. Much appreciated.