# Chippendale Chairs



## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Two arm-chairs, inspired by Thomas Chippendale 1718-1779









































































Building these:

Start with a parametric drawing of the chair form, used golden ratio for seat height to back rest height. This can also easily be done with a sketch and trig for the angles, or a paper drawing.










There is actually a fatal joinery design error in the back rest, fixed this on the chair build, see if you can spot it?

From the drawings, print out letter sheets, tape them together and make a template for the back legs.










Cut the rear legs and pieces as per drawings and assemble dry no glue.










Do a pencil drawing of the backrest lattice, one half, then mirror with carbon paper for symmetry. Then carbon paper trace the patterns on the rear panels and legs. For the lattice, again used the golden ratio to get proportions.










Follow the traced lines with a scroll saw.










The carving is easy if tools are sharp. I use a soft fiber wheel with white rogue, as sharp as a razor in seconds.










The hardwood inlay is Padauk into Cherry, I use the easy old fashioned method. Double sided carpet tape, a pencil sketch photo copied and two boards 3/32" thick


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Four little strips of carpet tape, to hold the two boards stuck together, Padauk on top and Cherry on the bottom.










For the paper sketch, I use carpet tape to cover the whole thing, and then stick it to the Padauk.










I set the scroll saw table leaning to the left, somewhere between 7 and 8 degrees. Drill a tiny hole, now if I cut counter-clockwise the bottom board will be a precise inlay fit into the top board. Alternatively if I cut clockwise, the top board will be a precise fit into the bottom board. We start with inlaying the non fragile pieces into the Padauk. Start with a small pilot hole and cut counter-clockwise following the lines. The pieces are marked and then the Cherry is glued into the Padauk.










The next is to inlay the top board into the bottom board. The sequence is important as this inlay has small fragile lines, which will break if we remove them, so we keep them in the stacked boards.










The inlay is cut, and glued, we do not want to remove this as the thin Padauk lines will separate and be destroyed. Clean up with a scraper.










Next the thin inlayed boards are glued to the front chair rails.










For a veneer press, I use upholstery foam and glue both chair rail veneer inlays with one clamp.










The chair bottom bracing rails and arm rests were made without drawings, using measurements from the chairs. Below is the joinery (loose tenon) I use on the arm rests. The arm rests were shaped with bandsaw, spindle sander, disc sander and bastard file.










Glue-up.










The chair has enough strength at this stage, the seat pan sits in a recess in the chair, which adds tremendous strength. We need cross braces for fixing the seat though, these are doweled into the seat rails. The seat is then fixed onto the chair using T-nuts and bolts, this being the only hardware used.










The seats are 1/2" plywood, they need holes for the foam to breathe, I used 2" firm high density foam, batting and leather.










Ready for finishing.










For finishing, I sprayed with a Devilbiss HVLP gun, using one coat of Deft brushing sealer and three coats of Deft brushing satin Lacquer.

Thanks for looking


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## SteveEl (Sep 7, 2010)

Seriously cool. I'll need at least three lives before I get there. Thanks for the great story line in the pics


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

WOW!!:thumbsup: :thumbsup: That's all I got to say.

Have a Blessed and Prosperous weekend in Jesus's Awesome Love,
Tim


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## NIXILPLIXIN (Dec 5, 2010)

very nice:thumbsup:


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## Billy De (Jul 19, 2009)

Mega cool man way to go.:thumbsup::notworthy::notworthy::notworthy:


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Those are beautiful chairs and you did an awesome job as well. Great pics and tutorial. 
Thumbs up all day long. 
Thanks for sharing.


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## GROOVY (Apr 27, 2008)

Awesome.


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## Ostie (Dec 19, 2010)

Great work! Those chairs are beautiful. For us mere mortals, can you point out the "fatal joinery design" in the drawing?


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Ostie said:


> Great work! Those chairs are beautiful. For us mere mortals, can you point out the "fatal joinery design" in the drawing?


 I'm not sure where the error is either. Awsome job, beautiful inlay.


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Phenomenal work. Those chairs are simply classic.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*"fatal"?*



Ostie said:


> Great work! Those chairs are beautiful. For us mere mortals, can you point out the "fatal joinery design" in the drawing?





rayking49 said:


> I'm not sure where the error is either. Awsome job, beautiful inlay.


Just a WAG, but I don't think you can assemble the pieces as shown in the drawing, as the mortises won't allow it....:blink: 
Great work and very helpful tutorial Willem. :thumbsup: 

How about a curved arm Mission chair for us non-carver types? :laughing: bill


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## burkhome (Sep 5, 2010)

Beautiful work man...How long was the actual build time...Looks like it probably took more than a few minutes.


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## robertd (Jan 28, 2010)

I hate people that are more talented then me! Which is most everyone!:laughing: Actually really well done. I definitly want to learn to make chairs next.

Bob D


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

woodnthings said:


> Just a WAG, but I don't think you can assemble the pieces as shown in the drawing, as the mortises won't allow it....:blink:
> Great work and very helpful tutorial Willem. :thumbsup:
> 
> How about a curved arm Mission chair for us non-carver types? :laughing: bill


Thx for the complements all, just trying to do the Cherry justice.

The error is in the strength of the back piece M&T joints. The tenons should not be on the rails, as they are 1/4" and will be subjected to across the grain tensile strength which will fail at some point. The tenons should be on the vertical back rest, with the mortises in the rails, they way the chairs were actually built.
The moment I looked at the grain on the wood, I realized the error.

Send a pic of the mission chair, one can never have enough chairs.:laughing:


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

These are extremely impressive and you have done a fantastic job in making them. I love it. Thanks for taking the time to post the build pictures. When I saw the finished pictures first, I wondered "how'd he do that". Then I scrolled down and there it was. Thanks. Great work.


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## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

Fantastic work and thanks for the great tutorial!


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## Lola Ranch (Mar 22, 2010)

Willemjm,

You are obviously one of the more talented craftsmen on this site. Thanks for the fine documentation and my compliments on the excellent workmanship. 

Just my opinion and maybe I just need to get used to it but, the top half of the chairs don't seem to go with the bottom half. The beautiful carvings and fretwork on the top half seems juxtaposed onto the mission style lower half. Was this an intentional design decision on your part?

I'm not one who does a lot of reproduction pieces but your chairs seem to be begging for some Queen Anne legs. 

Bret


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Lola Ranch said:


> Just my opinion and maybe I just need to get used to it but, the top half of the chairs don't seem to go with the bottom half. The beautiful carvings and fretwork on the top half seems juxtaposed onto the mission style lower half. Was this an intentional design decision on your part?
> 
> I'm not one who does a lot of reproduction pieces but your chairs seem to be begging for some Queen Anne legs.
> 
> Bret


+1. :yes:








 







.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Great work. Thanks for showing the steps involved. Great job on the inlays too.


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## kjhart0133 (Feb 4, 2009)

Amazing work. The chairs are beautiful.

Need an apprentice??

Keep up the great work.

Kevin H.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Lola Ranch said:


> Willemjm,
> 
> You are obviously one of the more talented craftsmen on this site. Thanks for the fine documentation and my compliments on the excellent workmanship.
> 
> ...


Brett, thanks for looking, the complements and the critique, appreciated.

While the chairs rely heavily on Chippendale's architecture, and inspiration, they are not worthy of reproduction status. That would have been a bit more work. In their detail, there is a big difference between true originals and these. These go next to a bar in a somewhat modern setting and to my personal preference I did not think the bowed legs with ball and claw feet would have been a good fit, for the specific placement.

To my knowledge, Queen Anne was before and alongside Chippendale, but not associated with his work.

Incidentally, while the ball and claw foot is probably the most commonly found feature on Chippendale chairs, when he published the book which actually made him famous, (The Gentleman & Cabinet-Makers Director) the ball and claw foot was omitted as it went out of fashion at the time of print. Instead Rococo, Chinese and Gothic designs were featured.

In short, I actually planned something totally different and just as building time arrived I saw something similar to these and changed my mind.


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## CasinoDuck (Jun 15, 2011)




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