Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Leg jig

I realized that I had enough flat surfaces remaining on the upper side of the chair seats to do the angled leg holes on the drill press, that makes it easier even though I have to reset the table angle for each hole to reach the right spot. One of the seats was too uneven to rest properly on the table, so I did use the jig for those holes. Strangely the best drill I have is the cordless number here. It fits nicely into the little guide column jig and I made a couple of angled blocks to screw that on to. This one is for the 8 degrees on the front legs. I am too much of a wimp to use a proper bit with a screw to pull it into the wood, I am worried it would pop itself straight through the seat. I use a forstner bit instead. Those layout lines I mentioned yesterday are a bit more evident on the nearest seat blank here. Matching up a center line on the angled block makes sure the drill is tilting in the right direction.
I was getting worried that my design was not going to be comfortable, so I put one of the backs (peeping up behind the vice here) into a scrap of 1 inch plywood to try it out. It seemed like I was within the right area and a bit of shaping would give a pretty comfortable back rest.
I also had a bit of a tidy up so there is less to trip over in the shop now. And went with Sammy on what I hope will be our last trip to the stock yard for the season. It was a very mild day making it seem a bit silly to be collecting firewood, but I guess we may get a bit more chill before we reach the summer.