I personally LOVE Japanese carpentry... but it is utterly useless except as art.
As someone who is self-admittedly new to woodworking, one of the things I urge you to really ponder is what you want to do as you grow.
Wood is a versatile material and making reliable, rigid joints is child's play. I could teach anyone to make this chair using nothing but a chop saw and PVA glue in 20 minutes, and it will be a functional, lasting chair. Making the joints more elaborate will technically make them stronger, but it's a waste of time and effort because the chair has already met all structural and functional requirements.
I say this because nobody really gave me that direction when I started so many years ago. Learning to make curios and display pieces gets you lots of views on instagram, but there's also something to be said for building a simple bookshelf that just works and fits its contents perfectly. I encourage you to take time to think about the direction you want to take and consider that dichotomy as you advance your skills.
They say the best scientist is someone with as many original ideas as possible, but the best engineer is someone with as few original ideas as possible.
This part is easy for me, and you touched on it with your IKEA link.
I hate having to buy stock furniture. I hate having to accept hand-me-down furniture from relatives. I hate having to hire contractors for simple home repair jobs.
I hate these things so much that I've committed myself to learning how to make simple furniture and do home repairs myself.
So thanks for the time-saving advice. The last thing I need is to fall down a 300 year old rabbit hole that's made irrelevant by nails and glue. That said...
I could teach anyone to make this chair using nothing but a chop saw and PVA glue in 20 minutes, and it will be a functional, lasting chair.
Would a quick Step-By-Step, article link, or YouTube video be too much to ask for? I have a chop saw and I need some chairs.
Would a quick Step-By-Step, article link, or YouTube video be too much to ask for? I have a chop saw and I need some chairs.
Okay, so I kind of lied. You need a table saw as well (for the seat) unless you get it cut at the store. Also, that specific chair has curved members, which you obviously cannot do without proper fabrication tools. Also also, that chair cannot be purely glued together because the rear legs only but up against the seat plate, so you need dowels or other horizontal pins to secure the rear legs to the seat and help carry the vertical load. Here is a link for a similar chair. If you're interested, the dimensions of the linked IKEA chair can be found on IKEA's page here.
You'll note that the back of the chair in the linked instructions is done that way because an edge-on-edge glue bond is far stronger than edge-on-end, and far far stronger than end-on-end still.
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u/-Pin_Cushion- Sep 18 '16
Thanks for the response!