Emily turned out to be a rocker. To such a degree, the high chair with its fairly narrow foot print was becoming a bit on the dangerous side. So a year early than I thought, I have cut the legs down to a  child’s height. I had designed the chair so that there was a turned ball just below the foot rail of the chair.  Thus with the lower barley twist leg removed the foot still looked finished. The leg sections that were removed will be made into a foot stool to match the chair, complete with rush fiber webbing.

• December 22, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.6 Done Baby Done! (2)
• December 20, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.5 Almost Done (0)
• December 14, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.4 (0)
• December 9, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.3 (0)
• December 7, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.2 (0)
• November 26, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.1 (0)

Weaving the seat with paper rush was harder than I thought ti would be. The top side looks really nice, but the under is a bit of a mess. Part of the problem is the thickness of the knotting of adjoining lengths. It wanted to pull the strands apart leaving unattractive voids in the pattern.

The cardboard added to the final tightness of the project. It also helped keep a visual eye on keeping the lines going straight towards the center.

Finshed top of the seat. I will not be showing the underside. (I do have some pride)

I love it. Now to make up a strap in belt and a cushion rail (she is still really small for this kids chair).

• December 20, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.5 Almost Done (0)
• December 14, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.4 (0)
• December 9, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.3 (0)
• January 16, 2010 -- 60 Spools (0)
• December 7, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.2 (0)
• November 26, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.1 (0)

This is the design I drew for the back board of Emily’s Chair. It has all three of her initials ECV in it.

The back spindles were a pain. 13″‘s long but only a 1/2″ thick. It wanted to chop so badly. I ended up trying to hold the spinning  dowel with one had while cutting uncomfortably close to my hand with the other hand. I really need to build me a spindle support one day.

Dry fit of the back spindles. I have no real plans for this chair, just a doodle or two, so It was very surprising after all my effort, that I only miss cut one part. The very last back spindle, I forgot to an 1″ to accommodate the holes the spindle sits in…doh!

I decided to use a wipe-on poly-urethane finish. I have used it in the past, and have been happy with the consistency of the finish. No bleeding run lines.  I did a coat on all the part before assembly ans I used a artist brush to get into all the spindly parts. It work so much better than trying to force a sopping wet rag into a tight area.

The center part I was kind of dreading carving. I am not an experienced carver, an so I eliminated the initial C to make it easier on myself.

Punching in the pattern

I managed to carving out without gouging out an area I wasn’t suppose too. Success!

More finishing I love the contrast between heartwood, and sap wood. I tried to include as much of the difference in the bigger parts of the chair. I love flat and satin finishes. I find them so much more satisfying to look at then a gloss.

Glueing the front and back section together first. Normally I would glue the whole thing together at the same time but….

As the old adage goes “You can never have enough wood clamps”. Too True! I used every clamp I owned (over 18″) to glue up the final pieces.

Next time: Weaving the seat material. I have never done it before, so I am kind of excited.

• December 14, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.4 (0)
• December 22, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.6 Done Baby Done! (2)
• January 16, 2010 -- 60 Spools (0)
• December 9, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.3 (0)
• December 7, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.2 (0)
• November 26, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.1 (0)

The arms are shape kind of like an exclamation point. I walked around the house menacing people with the club.

The under side of the arms had 1/2″ & 3/4″ holes drilled. The main post and 5 spindles will occupy these holes.

To give the arms a little bit of interest, I beveled along the side and around the hand rest. Carving around a round perimeter of a piece is not my idea of fun.

Checking to see if I drilled the arm  hole was in the right spot. I had to turn the flattened piece of wood on the lathe to get a nice 3/4″ round tenon on the back leg side of the arm.

The two arms are done but for a little more sanding. I also went ahead and cut out the back rail that will be the center of the chair. Everything but the circle in the center has to be worked with on the lathe. Its a little nerve wracking having the large disc spinning so close to the cutting tool being held in one hand. It also doesn’t help that the spinning disk in mostly invisible while its spinning.

I managed not to kill myself. It looks alright. I am kind of freaking out, as I still am not sure what I will be carving in the middle of the disk. I tell you… This whole en-devour has not been planed out well at all!

The small spindles that fit underneath the arm rests. I used a story stick to get the general dimensions the same.

I decided to alternate every spindle with a different style spindle. This way it adds to the coolness factore, and hides any inconsistency between similar spindles.

I think it worked out fairly nicely.

Next exciting episode: Mary finds out the horrors of turning a small diameter long spindle… Can we saw Choppy McChop Chop….

• December 20, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.5 Almost Done (0)
• December 22, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.6 Done Baby Done! (2)
• January 16, 2010 -- 60 Spools (0)
• December 9, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.3 (0)
• December 7, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.2 (0)
• November 26, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.1 (0)

I cut a board down to squared spindles. The four spindles that will have the reed seating strung over are boring 3/4″ dowels.

The lower spindles that circle the bottom are also being left plain. A simple ball and groove element to give it a little something.

The chair with the seat rails and leg rails in place. Finally starting to look like a chair.

These are for the arm rest spindle bottom rails. A set of five spindles will be placed between this part and the arm rest 6″ higher.

A little bit of chop on the rounded parts next to the drilled out sections. Not to bad… a little sanding will fix that up.

The arm spindle rail installed. I am starting to think I didn’t leave myself a lot of room for weaving the seat area.

• December 22, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.6 Done Baby Done! (2)
• December 20, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.5 Almost Done (0)
• December 14, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.4 (0)
• January 16, 2010 -- 60 Spools (0)
• December 7, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.2 (0)
• November 26, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.1 (0)

The barley twist and fluting is finally finished. Its a pretty good match, although the foot profile is different from the front to back legs. Once they are not so close to each other, it will hardly be noticeable.

This was the most difficult part so far. Trying to figure out where all the drill holes go. I used low tack sticky tape to keep track where the holes go. Even being extra cautious, I still almost goofed as I had the grain orientated the same direction in 3 out of 4 legs. Measure 8 times drill once.

I always have trouble with reference punch marks. I have started making a small hole with an awl, and then use then punch to widen the hole.

I used a Frostner bit to get a nice flat bottomed hole. I also used a piece of scrap wood to keep the leg lying flat. The drill press table is rather small for drilling long objects.

All the holes are now drilled. If I screwed up I will find out when I start turning all the cross spindles tomorrow.

• December 20, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.5 Almost Done (0)
• December 14, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.4 (0)
• November 26, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.1 (0)
• January 16, 2010 -- 60 Spools (0)
• December 22, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.6 Done Baby Done! (2)
• December 9, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.3 (0)

The hardest part was making sure it was dead center even. If it was off even a little the squared section would be out of wack.

Using the index plate I posted about previously I divide the round into forths and then drew a line from point to point on the diagonal.

I use a piece of tape on my pull saw to cut a depth mark around the spiral.

I used a circular rasp to cut down the the mark line, then a piece of sand paper wrapped around a dowel to sand the spiral.

I cut the grooves in the vase fluting with a “V” chisel. Lighted at the base and deeper near the top. Wrapped the vase rim with paper towel to prevent any chipping if my chisel slipped.

To check on what it will look like when finished I wiped it down with paint thinner. I think it looks OK.

• December 20, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.5 Almost Done (0)
• December 14, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.4 (0)
• December 7, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.2 (0)
• January 16, 2010 -- 60 Spools (0)
• December 22, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.6 Done Baby Done! (2)
• December 9, 2009 -- Emily’s Highchair v1.3 (0)