Friday, August 11, 2017

And so it was,...

...That on this glorious 72nd day of June, I finished my chair in the month of June build extravaganza hosted on line by Brian Eve, currently in Spain.

 72nd  of June??? Well yes, let see...

June 10th (day one) I realized that I had something suitable for such an entry!

Translation:
 I banged my toes one too many times 
on this pile of @@#$#&%*%chair...

By June 12th (second day of work on it), I started to wonder how much fun I was going to have at glue time...

That is one complete split.
A previous one was glued slightly offset in thickness.

There is a lot of tension in that chair, and it is obviously a manufactured one, done mostly with machines, no attention given to swelling and compression, like a good chair maker would had.

After a few years with the heat of a wood fireplace, in the winters, it shrank and fall apart every Spring literally.  That would be normal with lots of antique chairs BTW.
The devil is in the details, which were mostly ignored in the days of mass productions. Only time can truly judge the effectiveness of a design...
There are no shortcuts.

Self explanatory ... :-)

So my first bright plan was to disassemble it (just because I can) and rebuilt it, turning the two spindles that were missing. Turns out, there was only one missing (on the arm rest) and it was long missing, and was told not to fixed it, but rather solidify it for display.  Keeping the old weathered look.

So plan B, on June the 56th, (3rd day of work) I started by gluing up the lower assembly to each parts of the seat.

That was not too complicated, but I keep making sure 
both halves would still come together.

It basically laid there ever since, until, yet again it became in our way and had to move again...

On June the 71st (fourth day of work) I glued both halves together. That turned out to be a very &??%$#@*)?!@ exceptionally smooth operation, hence no pics! :-) In the end, I ended up with a small step just like the other previously glued half. Best I could do without pulling all my hairs out (I don't have that much left, so I don't like doing that...)

There was an amazing amount of tension building up when trying to mary both halves with the undercarriage already glued, hence fix... Lesson learn, should had take the whole seat out, all spindles out, then glue the seat blank properly.  But instead, to expedite and keep it weathered, I did partial subassemblies, trying to guess the best sequence and easiest way (yeah right :-)

Today (5th day of work on it) after the glued was fully cured, and did some light scraping, glued up the rest of the back splat, arms spindles etc.

Lots of banging on and off a few times, light sanding and scraping on some tight tenons and...&*@#$%?** TADA! Done

And to perhaps my ultimate surprise, after all that banging on it, it still is together, only split a small part by a screw for the arm. Fixed.







So there you go, it only took 5 days in June to accomplished that, well into the month allowed :-)

After a quick spray coat of weatherproofing, it will go on take it place back into our latest resting spot, which is in the shade from about 0900 to mid afternoon, right now. The sun start to be in your eyes through the foliage around 1530

Its resting place once finished. 
That was just to get a feel of the look


The rocking chair will go on the front piece of landscape fabric.
pic taken at 1540

Behind the chair, I am calculating the amount of light this area get

Once I know what it is, it is just a matter of choosing like plants...
I also know the PH of the soil. Too easy :-)
Knowing these two things make for easier gardening/landscaping.

The candle lamp fixture got an electronic LED candle. It has a timer, so whatever time I start it, it shuts off 4 hours later and start next day at same time I initially started it.




I saw a small Solar LED projector I wanted in a recent flyer, must look for it.
It would suit the decor just right... :-)
Need a small table for our morning coffees and we are all set.

And,  YES, at each station, there is a ground post for Rudy leash and we move his ground pillow around. NO he is not spoiled :-)

Bob, ready for a siesta...

2 comments:

  1. How'd I miss this! Congratulations!

    Mine's still not done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. No problems Brian, we are still in June :-)

    Bob, calendar challenged in retirement...

    ReplyDelete