Z-chair

[Popeye]

A buddy of mine ran across this plan last fall and couldn't get it out of his head. A few months ago he was asked if he would provide a chair for a "Chairity Auction" to benifit something or another in St Marys, Ga. (Mike owns Hanna's Custom Woodworking)
To make a short story long he asked if I would like to collaborate on the project. We modified the construction alot because neither of us has a Domino machine.
"A" chair ended up as 4 chairs, one for me two for Mike and one for the auction.
Here is a link to the plans we started out with http://www.festoolusa.com/Web_files/...WCM_zigzag.pdf
We used spines and hardwood dowels with epoxy on the joints. Wood is Jatoba (Brazilian Cherry) with maple seat slats. Finish is 3 coats of pre-cat lacquer buffed out with steel wool and waxed with Minwax paste wax. Pat

http://bt3gallery.cpu-etc.com/main.php?g2_itemId=16140

[Black wallnut]

Beautiful chair but even if I was to actually see it up close there is no way I'd sit on that! It just has to be a lot stronger than it looks.

[Popeye]

Beautiful chair but even if I was to actually see it up close there is no way I'd sit on that! It just has to be a lot stronger than it looks.

I don't see it getting alot of use either but it has held up my large butt for a number of hours in WW club meetings. Pat

[Richard in Smithville]

That is way too cool. Thanks for the link. I may give it a try one day.

[Uncle Cracker]

Very nice look, but if I was to plop my 300-pound azz in it, then it's kindling...

[GPA61]

Interesting looking chair, very nice work Pat.

[footprintsinconc]

wow! looks real beautiful! i too would be scared to sit on it.

[footprintsinconc]

i just saw the link below your picture, the bt3gallery website. is that your website or is that a gallery for bt3 projects?

[crokett]

That is a fantastic chair! I don't think it looks all that strong either. If I were to do it I think I'd do mortise/tenon and pin them with dowels.

[Pappy]

Slick chair, Pat! I like the accents from the lighter dowels. May be just the angle of the picture, but the leg stretcher looks like it has light pocket screw plugs in it.

[David Dundas]

Very nice look, but if I was to plop my 300-pound azz in it, then it's kindling...

Uncle Cracker,

As the designer of the chair, I can assure you that, if built according to my plan, the Z chair would easily bear your weight without damage. This video shows destructive testing of frames of similar dimensions to my chair: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hngXHv7rV34 . The frames finally broke when four men weighing a total of 800 lbs climbed onto them. The testing was carried out at a gtg of Australian Woodworking Forum members in January.

One of the frames was built with the miter joints reinforced by twin splines of maple instead of dominoes. In effect, the strength of the frames depended on the strength of the wood used (jarrah and Tasmanian blackwood), since the wood broke rather that the epoxy failing. If built of a hardwood like white oak or maple, the chair should be strong enough to safely seat anyone who could comfortably sit on it - say anyone weighing less than 350 lbs.

Popeye,

I would be interested to know how much the chair fetched at the auction.

David Dundas

[shoottx]

Very nice look, but if I was to plop my 300-pound azz in it, then it's kindling...

I've made kindling out of chair that were no where as nice as this. It is beautifully constructed !

[Popeye]

Uncle Cracker,



Popeye,

I would be interested to know how much the chair fetched at the auction.

David Dundas

I'm not sure if it's happened yet but I'll let you know. Modifying the construction and building prototypes and then building the chairs took so much time I hope it sells well. Pat

[John Hunter]

Now that is different! Very nice.

[Uncle Cracker]

Uncle Cracker,

As the designer of the chair, I can assure you that, if built according to my plan, the Z chair would easily bear your weight without damage.

The guy who owned the last horse I rode said the same thing... Had to change the poor thing's name to "Ruptured Dreams"...