Vidar Bar Stool - Done!

[Wilsoncb]

I wanted to make a couple bar stools out of oak and found some pictures of a chair I like. The chair was designed by Vidar Malmsten of Sweeden many years ago. I emailed a couple of schools that have classes and plans for making them, but they were not willing to share. Since I wanted a bar stool height anyway I figured I was on my own. I drew up some rough plans at this point and started making the rear legs since they were going to be challenging. Being curved and tapered they could be cut from a solid piece or laminated.

Inspired by Mike Davis’s design of curved tapered legs (table in his case), I discussed it with him and decided to give it a shot. The trick is to make thin strips narrow on the ends and thicker in the middle. Mike made a fixture that hooked up to a vacuum to hold the strips on a curve so they could be cut on a table saw. I decided to try using a thickness planer. I made a sled by mounting a 1/2” thick board onto a 1” piece of plywood. After determining the thickness required at each 5” interval, I then put shims between them as required. Since my strips were narrow on the end, there were no shims in the middle and gradually increased towards the ends. The bottom of the leg is thicker than the top so it’s not symmetrical. I used 2 face tape to secure the strips to the sled. Much to my surprise, it worked pretty well.

Sled with 3 or 4 strips at a time .

Sled at bottom, shims, sled board, 2 face tape, strips for legs.

Leg clamping fixture.

Leg.

To be continued…

 

[Tim Sherwood]

That double ended taper is striking. Your engineering approach is very thorough. I like the sled and shims method a lot. Your clamping jig must have been a pain to get the right profiles both top and bottom. I'll be watching for more WIP pics.

 

[Wilsoncb]

I’m back on this chair project and made a bit of progress the last few days. I thought making the curved legs would be the hardest thing about this project…wrong! Cutting the mortises wasn’t too hard, I just took my time when I layout all of them. Cutting the tenons was pretty tricky since I decided to cut the mortises straight I had to cut the tenons at compound angles.

The rear legs are narrower than the front so the tenons are cut at 6 degrees on the front and -6 degrees at the rear for the side rails and seat parts. The side rails are square at the front but at the rear it has to align with the curve of the back leg. The side seat part is at a 4 degree angle from front to back horizontal and 6 degrees vertical.

I did a full scale drawing of the side profile to help with the layout and verify things were going together right. My first attempt on the side rails was off just a bit so I had to rework those parts to get it right.

This joint comes in at 6 degrees a has to match up with the leg. Pictures below shows how the Leigh M&T fixture came managed the compound cut.

Once I get the seat back and arms fit I can start shaping the legs and rails. Then it’s time to learn how to do Danish cord weaving.

 

[Wilsoncb]

More fun & games this week. This seat back section is all interconnected the shaped (vertical) back parts had to have the tenons cut at 11 degrees on the bottom. The top is square since the top of the back legs are cut at an angle. I’m using dowel pins at the top of the legs to connect the top back part. (The top back piece is laying on the sear in the first picture).

After dry fitting I know where to position the round at the top of the leg. This is necessary because the top of the legs are a little bigger than the width of the top sear back. The straight line is where the top back piece landed on the top of the leg. This is my first attempt at using a spokeshave and it wasn’t too bad. I had one set to remove more material and the other set to shave less so I could fine tune it once I got close.

 

[JNCarr]

Great project - thanks for sharing the details.

 

[Mike Davis]

Nice work. Well thought out design. Can’t wait to see the finished chair.

 

[Wilsoncb]

Getting down to the final assembly. The picture below shows how I clamped the arms in place and used a guide stick to help insure I drilled the holes for the dowels right. After I finished this it occurred to me that if I would have used screws to attach the back of the arms, it would have naturally pulled the joint tight. Maybe next time.

After assembly was completed I couldn’t resist putting it in its natural environment to see how it looks. Now I need to decide what finish to use…and if I wipe on or spray.

Oh yeah, there that little issue of that big hole where the seat goes. I made this little stool so I could work the kinks out of the seat weaving process. I used fiber rush instead of Danish cord which I plan to use for the chair. I definitely learned the minor details I need to improve upon when I do the chair. Like leave just a little more space between the nails than the width of the cord. And, don’t make the first set of cross cords too tight.

 

[Jack A.]

Looking great!

Regarding finish, one thing to keep in mind is that the arms especially will see a lot of skin contact, and you don't want body oils reacting with your finish if you can help it.

 

[Tim Sherwood]

The stool is an impressive project on it's own. Great idea to use a practice piece. I r3eally like the seat pattern. I don't think you said how many stools are in this set?

 

[Wilsoncb]

Thanks @Tim Sherwood , I’m making two…for now.

 

[LeftyTom]

Great details and explanations, Willie.

 

[Wilsoncb]

After doing some test pieces to figure out what finish to use I decided on Rubio Monocoat Pure. I’m always amazed at what a finish does to bring out the grain and character of the wood. I took this picture to show the difference.

Next, it was on to the Danish cord. I’m using a cow hitch on the front and back so I don’t need all those nails you see on the sides. The downside to this is you have to estimate how much cord you need because you need to feed the coil through tight spaces to make the knots. Because the seat is wider in the front I needed 6 cords between the stringers in front and 4 in the back. On the back, or left side in the picture below I’m using spacers equivalent to the width of 4 cords. This is necessary because the back piece is curved and the cord wants to slide. If it was straight I wouldn’t need them.

Onto the weave. Here you just weave a pair or loop that goes around the side piece and hooks onto the L-nails.

Done!

Below you can see the walnut dowel pins I used to join the arms to the legs. I used a pleated dowel pin for the connection and the walnut dowel is just for looks. This method made it easier to align the parts, but meant the pin would be exposed. I contemplated doing this in two other places (top to legs and front of arms to front legs). In the end, this was the only place it seemed more natural.

 

[creasman]

Nice job! I like how those seats turned out.

 

[Canuck]

Beauty!!! Great work!

 

[Craptastic]

Love how this turned out! Beautiful and practical. I see the three weave on the sides and front. Did you consider doing 3 cords throughout? About how much time did the 2 stools take to complete? How long did the weaving take?

 

[Wilsoncb]

Love how this turned out! Beautiful and practical. I see the three weave on the sides and front. Did you consider doing 3 cords throughout? About how much time did the 2 stools take to complete? How long did the weaving take?

Thanks, it’s actually 4 on the first stringers on the sides, 3 at the front. The sides I was just following some examples I found. The 3 on the front just ended up t to that way, we just had to fill the space and that’s how it ended up. I thought it looked better than if I would have just done a single. Doing sets of 3 doesn’t really work. If you look at the first partially done weaving picture you can see 2 strands pulled through, one is tight against the others, the other strand is not pushed tightly yet because the two strands are like a loop, (the arm is hiding the end of the loop which will be hooked onto the L-nail). I might need to draw a sketch if this doesn’t make sense.
Not sure how long this all took, I started early July but had to take a couple weeks off between then and now. The weaving took about 4 hours for my wife and I. It really helps to have help with the process.

 

[JNCarr]

Great project and fantastic results. Keepers (bar keepers? ) for sure.

 

[HMH]

Excellent work and a great write up of the play-by-play!

 

[David Justice]

Awesome work and beautiful chair. The walk through is great.

 

[HITCH-]

Beautifully done!