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Construction of the "Imrie" High Back Dining Chair

1.Plan drawing of "Imrie" Chair                       2.  The prototype                    3.  Chair back rests in the vacuum press 

  1. This commission for chairs commenced with a computer drawn concept plan . 
    The timber species used are Australian Red Cedar and Queensland Silver Ash with stainless steel pins in the chair back. The seats will be upholstered in a fabric of the client's choice.

  2. A prototype is made to test strength, comfort and to streamline construction methods. The chair seats and backrests are laminated. The prototype enables us to observe the performance of the timber during and after lamination and adjust the mould to allow for any "spring back" that might occur once removed from the press.

  3. The chair backs are made up of bundles of 2mm thick veneers that allow the timber to bend into the desired shape. The veneers are carefully selected and placed in the order that they were cut from the board in order to ensure a continuous grain match.
     We used a vacuum press and a high strength Urea Formaldehyde glue to bond the veneers. Each chair back consists of two separate halves which are glued up together in the press. The glue up takes around 8 hours for each pair.
    Lamination increases the strength of the timber and is ideal for chairs as it allows a small amount of flexibility which will endure many stresses during use.

4. Chair backs after pressing 5. Seat frame in the clamps 6. Seat out of the clamps

  1. Once removed form the press, the backrests are ready for marking up for the final shape, pin positions and preparation of the mortising area where the back will attach to the seat. Each backrest is prepared in two halves that have been book-matched to enhance the final appearance. Each pair is numbered to ensure they remain in their correct place.

  2. The seat rails are glued up in a two-part former (or mould) using the same glue as  the chair backs. Each seat is made up of several thin veneers, each coated with the glue and then clamped into the former with as many clamps as possible.

  3. After about 5 hours, the seat is removed from the former and is ready to be trimmed to size and mortises cut. At this stage, the outside will be sanded and a coat of oil finish applied.

7. Backs and seats taking shape                  8. Aligning pin rebates                  9. Finished chair backs

  1. It has taken almost three weeks to get to this stage but the chairs are starting to take on a more meaningful shape.

  2. The chair backs have the holes drilled for the stainless steel pins. We use timber dowels to check alignment and to allow us to ensure mortises are exact on each pair before committing to the final glue-up. The dowels allow us to work with the backs as one piece or in separate halves as needed. This shot shows the mark out lines for the final shape of the backs, which will be cut out on a bandsaw.

  3. After the backs are cut to shape, they are all spokeshaved and sanded by hand to 1200 grit. Sanding took two of us over a full day to complete. Hand sanding ensures that no mechanical swirl marks are left on the timber and results in a superior finish which is well worth the extra effort.
    The chair backs are now ready to receive an oil finish. We will apply three coats of finish before gluing and several more coats afterwards.

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                                                          kk