Chairmaker/furnituremaker advice needed?

[myxpykalix]

What you see is the bottom of a chair seat that i'm trying to figure out how to cut the mortises in. I have the legs that are 2"x2" and i put a 1" loose tenon in the top of chairleg in center.

I want to make sure the legs line up front to back, side to side. My thought was to draw a square (in pink) then draw circles 1" dia. to represent the dowel hole. Do i need to be concerned about how close/far my legs are from the edges for esthetics/balance? The chairback is big and heavy.


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[rick_woodward]

Jack, I make rustic chairs and furniture. You do need to "splay" the legs out for stability. I just eyeball them. But for your application your going to need precise angles. The angled legs should be towards the corners of the seat. Hope that makes sense to you. I try to keep the angle where the bottom of the legs dont stick out past the seat much. That will give you stability and support for your chair back and also people tipping back in the chair wont be as likely to fall over backwards. You KNOW us guys will tip back.... I dont know why, its a guy thing. LOL ! I never seen a woman do that. You will also want to run stringers around the legs to help keep them in place. bout 5 or 6 inches up from the floor. Just my way of doin things.

[myxpykalix]

Rick,
I was trying to emulate somewhat this chair I have. Upon closer inspection i can see how the back legs are curved slightly. I wanted to attach my stringers similar to this one close to the floor so as not to mess up the spirals.

Do you use any "magic formula" for figuring out how to place mortises so they are spaced equally
both front and back so they line up properly?

I agree normally you would splay your legs at a certain angle but this chair is just going to be a display piece and won't be sat in much.
I guess my concern was because i had square legs and a cut corner, how close to the edges should i go, or does it matter?
When you make your legs and stringer do you assemble that, then attach it to the seat (this having the effect of making your legs square) or am i overthinking this?
What is also confusing me is because i have a loose tenon in the center its hard to figure how to line up legs correctly.
Should i just draw a square (similar to illustration above) drill 4 holes and be done with it? Thanks for the help.


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