Hogging out seat

Re: Hogging out seat

Jack Guzman from Maine

My experience is with windsor chairs. Traditionally the seats were made with some kind of soft wood such as pine or poplar which are fairly easy to carve with hand tools. The tools for this job are a scorp,which is a deeply curved drawknife and a travisher,which is a spokeshave with a shape that allows for hollowing. Some use an adze with a curved blade for initial stock removal. Since this is a power tool site I should talk about the power carvers that are available. However I have never tried any of them. I enjoy the carving of a seat more than almost any other part of the chair building process. Perhaps someone with experience using these tools will chime in. Good luck and enjoy the process.

Re: Hogging out seat

Barry Irby

I just made four chairs and a bench with sculpted seats. I have watched numerous videos from Canadian Woodworks where Paul has scupted many seats with Kutzal wheels. Amazon sells the wheels for $55. Paul likes the Dewalt cordless grinders, but I don't have one.

I cheaped out and bought a corded angle grinder and disk from Harbor Freight and I think I paid less than $55 for both. I have no regrets.

My seats were quarter sawn white oak. I seriously doubt I would have had the patience or strength to do them with a scorp and tavisher.

I also bought some flap wheel grinding disks for the angle grinder to smooth out the rough surfaces left by the carbide wheel.

Then I sanded them into submission with a Festool Rotex sander and a ROS. The Rotex was a big help, but any ROS would do the job with patience. Curved cabinet scrapers might help too.

This job created pounds of saw dust, I did it in the driveway and wish I had gone into the yard or woods. Or put down a huge tarp.

Go for it.

I always start with a chainsaw *LINK*

Dick Coers

I always start with a chainsaw, but that's just me. The choice for hand grinder tools is about hand strength. For the aging and safety situation, the new planer disc may be the better choice. Klingspor currently has that on sale for $99. I've not used one, but claims of smoother finish is appealing. Read about a horrible accident with the chainsaw cutter, but the guy was working one handed and it grabbed the rim of the bowl he was carving. Brought it right up to his neck! He lived.


http://warriorsmark.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-wood-shop-accident.html

Jerry, a circular saw will work,

Keith Newton

I often use it to hog lots of wood quickly by drawing it across the wood sideways. You can’t take more than the height of the carbide teeth per pass, but since there are so many teeth, you can traverse fairly fast. It would also have the possibility of using the base as a depth-stop.

Re: Hogging out seat

Paul Leuba

I have constructed about a dozen Windsor chairs with saddles carved using hand tools. I prefer this approach because I believe that I have more control over the shape of the end result. Errors are usually small and easy to correct compared to what can happen with the more aggressive cutting capabilities of the various hand tool options.

The tools used in their progression from start to finish are: gutter adze (2 1/2” Radius), #7 sweep gouge 2 1/2” wide, and ROS with increasing grits of paper from 40 thru 180. The saddle material is poplar and It usually takes about 3 hours to carve a saddle so that it is ready for finishing.

Paul in Hunt Valley, MD

Re: Hogging out seat

Paul Leuba

The last sentence in the 1st paragraph should have concluded with the phrase “. . . Various power tool options.”

Paul in Hunt Valley, MD

Re: Hogging out seat

JL

I use a Lancelot chainsaw grinder for roughing out seats w/ an angle grinder.

I then use a tungsten carbide "donut" - like the "Galahad" w/ an angle grinder to even it out.

I then follow w/ 36 grit sandpaper w/ an angle grinder.

This works well for hardwood seats.

Re: Hogging out seat

Michael van pelt

Arbortech works great. I can shape to half a pencil line with great control leaving a somewhat smooth finish. I shape sculptured rocking chairs and wooden bowls. I like the control and the long lasting from Arbortech. I use corded 4 1/2” grinders, the battery ones do not have the lasting power I need.