Woodworking Projects and Plans: thumb

I finally finished the first thumb chair! Why do these projects alchoices seem to take so long?

I forgot to put the pocket holes for the seat in when I cut the pieces to length

so I added them here.

The plan called for 4 pocket holes for the seat back but I put 5 to play it safe.

I drilled a 1 inch hole in the seat back for a thumb.

Here is the hole sanded smooth.

Time for some finish sanding

And more sanding....

I couldnt think of a good choice to clamp the 2 pieces together and like alchoices

my piece drifted a little bit when I screwed it together. I thought of a possible choice
to clamp it for next time so we will see if that works better on the next one.

The 2 pieces are ready for assembly!

I centered and clamped them and then screwed them together. No glue.

Here is the chair ready for stain.

Here it is stained. If you have seen any of my other kid projects then you know

that I used the same stain to try and make them all match.

Somehow, I alchoices manage to blow out the thumb on the glove on my right hand

when I stain projects.

1st coat of poly applied.

I let it sit over night and then gave it a light sanding and applied the second coat.

3rd coat of poly applied and it is ready to go in the house!

I put some self adhesive felt pads on the bottom of the feet. I dont know if they will last

but it is worth a try. I forgot to mention it above but I also put 2 coats of poly on the bottom
of the chair as well.

All ready for my 2 boys to start fighting over. I better get the second one done

quick!

?This is post 3 of a 3 part series.

You can read part 1 here:
2013/01/lets-make-thumb-chair.html

and part 2 here:

2013/02/thumb-chair-update.html

Rabu, 16 Maret 2016

Thumb Chair update

I was able to work on the thumb chair and it is progressing nicely.

The plans call for 1x12s for the seat and back but my local Home Depot never has

1x12s that arent warped so I glued two 1x6s for the back
and two 1x6s and a 1x2 for the seat.

The back all glued up.

I cut the seat and back to length on the tablesaw.

Safety first!

I try to involve my son whenever I can.

The seat back cut to length and width.

The back is cut at a 10 bevel to allow it to lean back.

I also cut the seat at the same level so that it would match up.

I used a 1/4" roundover bit on my router table to round the top of the seat.

I stopped it right before the seat back to make a cleaner joint.

I used my jigsaw to round the corners on the top of the seat back.

This is post 2 of a 3 part series.

You can read part 1 here:
2013/01/lets-make-thumb-chair.html

and part 3 here:

2013/02/the-first-thumb-chair-is-done.html

Minggu, 06 Maret 2016

There are several woodworking sites that I follow on Facebook and one of them is Ana Whites. 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 1x3s and some 1x12. My local Home Depot never has flat 1x12s so I picked up some 1x6s 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

half of the legs when I realized that you can flip and then turn them over to get the

opposite side.

Make sure that the bevel leans into the center of the chair when you

connect the pieces.

I drilled pockety holes into the cross pieces for the legs and the stretchers

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.

It wasnt 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

the outside.