This was a copy of a modern highchair that our good friends saw online and loved; so I figured instead of having them buy one made of plywood (no disrespect to plywood) I would make them one out of QSO as a gift for their next child.
The lumber (QSRO) was from Scott and although it didn't show up too well in the photo the grain is spectacular.
The seat and the foot rest are held in place via compression. It is hard to see in the photo but there are two pieces of threaded rod sleeved by brass tubing that I "aged" to get more in line with the oil rubbed bronze hardware. Once you slide the seat and foot rest in to the desired slots those get tightened and pull the sides in. I assembled mine before the "dye/shellac/gel stain/clear stain" process and can tell you that it is sturdy and will support me.
For the leg joinery I used half-lap joints that I pegged with two 3/8" dowels just to be sure.
I milled the lumber to 5/8" thickness (thickest consistent measurement I could get away with, but appropriate dimensionally) but for the back I glued up two pieces of 7/8" stock matching the grain then cut the curved profile on the band-saw to 1/2" thick. The back pieces were joined with mortise and tenon then doweled from the bottom to get some good bite so that I could drill and tap them to accept the screws (this thing has to be able to be loosened up to be adjustable). The bottom cross-brace was also joined with M&T but I was able to dado out a groove to accept threaded rod and threaded end-caps (again this thing has to be able to be loosened). I then cut a piece of scrap to fill the bottom of the cross-brace just for strength so that I now have a channel through the piece to hide the threaded rod.
The finish was based on an old FWW Magazine article about combining dye and stain to enhance the grain while maintaining depth. I first dyed the piece with water soluble dye, the applied a thin wash coat of dewaxed shellac. Then came a gel urethane stain (one coat) and then gel wipe-on clear urethane for protection (6-coats).
The lumber (QSRO) was from Scott and although it didn't show up too well in the photo the grain is spectacular.
The seat and the foot rest are held in place via compression. It is hard to see in the photo but there are two pieces of threaded rod sleeved by brass tubing that I "aged" to get more in line with the oil rubbed bronze hardware. Once you slide the seat and foot rest in to the desired slots those get tightened and pull the sides in. I assembled mine before the "dye/shellac/gel stain/clear stain" process and can tell you that it is sturdy and will support me.
For the leg joinery I used half-lap joints that I pegged with two 3/8" dowels just to be sure.
I milled the lumber to 5/8" thickness (thickest consistent measurement I could get away with, but appropriate dimensionally) but for the back I glued up two pieces of 7/8" stock matching the grain then cut the curved profile on the band-saw to 1/2" thick. The back pieces were joined with mortise and tenon then doweled from the bottom to get some good bite so that I could drill and tap them to accept the screws (this thing has to be able to be loosened up to be adjustable). The bottom cross-brace was also joined with M&T but I was able to dado out a groove to accept threaded rod and threaded end-caps (again this thing has to be able to be loosened). I then cut a piece of scrap to fill the bottom of the cross-brace just for strength so that I now have a channel through the piece to hide the threaded rod.
The finish was based on an old FWW Magazine article about combining dye and stain to enhance the grain while maintaining depth. I first dyed the piece with water soluble dye, the applied a thin wash coat of dewaxed shellac. Then came a gel urethane stain (one coat) and then gel wipe-on clear urethane for protection (6-coats).