Let’s make a thumb chair
There are several woodworking sites that I follow on Facebook and one of them is Ana White’s. She runs a DIY blog and gives out plenty of free plans that she sketches. A couple of weeks ago she posted a plan for a thumb chair that you can find HERE. Once I saw it I knew that it would be perfect for my two boys. It can be made out of 1×3’s and some 1×12. My local Home Depot never has flat 1×12’s so I picked up some 1×6’s and will be gluing them up for the seat bottom & back.
This is the example from her blog.
I set the angle for 10 degrees
and the bevel for 5 degrees
Here is the mitre saw all set up and ready to cut
I am making 2 chairs and I set up a stop block to make sure all the
legs are the same length. I almost reset the saw to the other side to cut the other
legs are the same length. I almost reset the saw to the other side to cut the other
half of the legs when I realized that you can flip and then turn them over to get the
opposite side.
opposite side.
Make sure that the bevel leans into the center of the chair when you connect the pieces.
I drilled pocket holes into the cross pieces for the legs and the stretchers
that connect the two leg assemblies.
that connect the two leg assemblies.
This Kreg clamp is a life saver. I have a real problem with the wood shifting
when I drill in the pockets holes and making the pieces uneven.
when I drill in the pockets holes and making the pieces uneven.
It wasn’t in the plans but I used a 1/4″ roundover bit on my router table
to ease over the sides of the legs and bottom of the crosspieces. I left the top
and bottoms flat. The top of the legs is at a 5 degree bevel but the crosspiece
is not so I had to be careful when I attached them to keep the high point to
to ease over the sides of the legs and bottom of the crosspieces. I left the top
and bottoms flat. The top of the legs is at a 5 degree bevel but the crosspiece
is not so I had to be careful when I attached them to keep the high point to
the outside.
I also rounded over the bottom of the stretchers.
I used my Rockler mini clamp-it to get the stretchers in the right
place and angle for gluing and screwing.
place and angle for gluing and screwing.
It’s always good to have a helper.
I marked the two pieces to make them easier to line up.
One side done.
I test fitted it before applying glue.
One of my legs shifted a little so it’s not quite square but
it sits flat on the ground so I am not going to complain.
it sits flat on the ground so I am not going to complain.
I’m halfway done with the first chair.
This is post 1 of a 3 part series.
You can read part 2 here:
http://funwithwoodworkingtoo.blogspot.com/2013/02/thumb-chair-update.html
and part 3 here:
http://funwithwoodworkingtoo.blogspot.com/2013/02/thumb-chair-update.html
and part 3 here: