THE HANDY MAN’S CORNER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3833, 30 August 1927, Page 10

THE HANDY MAN’S CORNER.

MAKING AN ADJUSTABLE ARM-CHAIR.

(Special for the Otago Witness.)

Amateur carpenters, able to make a straight-forward mortice and tenon joint, should have no difficulty in constructing the adjustable armchair pictured in Fig. I. The cost for materials is small, even if a hard wood is used—though ordinary sound wood is effective and less costly A matter of paramount importance is the fit of the joints; these are not difficult to make, but they must lit nicely if the chair is to be durable. The chief dimensions are given in Fig. I, but within ordinary common sense limits, any available material that is somewhere near the sizes given can be employed.

Adjustment is provided in a very simple manner, and consists of making a movable inner seat with a back rest hinged to it at the lower edge. The inner seat rests upon two runner pieces or rails morticed and tenoned to the front and back cross rails of the main framework. Dowel pins are provided on the underside of the seat frame, as shown in Fig. IV, and are so spaced that the front cross rail can lit between any pair of them. The back rest, which is hinged to the seat frame, bears against a cross bar jointed to the back ends of the arm rests. To adjust the slope of the back it is only necessary to raise the front of the seat, draw it forwards or push it back as desired, dropping it into place again when the dowels will hold it securely. Commence the constructional work by making the frame of the chair, beginning with the four legs. The front legs measure 24in high and the back legs 23in high, and should be 2in square, tapered at the lower ends to about ljin square, and fitted with domes of silence or castors as desired. The arm rests are tapercred, measure Sin wide at the front and 2in wide at the back, and should be slightly rounded off at the edges. These

are dowelled to the tops of the legs, as shown in Fig. 11, and the exposed heals should be nicely rounded off or covered with an ornamental cap piece. The dowel holes should not be drilled until the rest of the frame has been completed and assembled.

The rails which connect the legs together comprise a middle rail 3in deep

and lin thick, slightly shouldered at the ends and morticed into the legs, as shown in Fig. 111. When finally assembled these joints should be well coated with glue, and pinned or screwed from the inner faces of the legs. The upper edge of the middle rail ought to be lOin above the bottom of the leg. The lower rails measure IJin deep and lin thick, and should be similarly morticed and tenoned to the legs, the upper edge of these lower

rails being located just 2Ain below the underside of the middle rail. Two runners each 2in deep and lin thick should be morticed and tenoned to the front and back middle rails, and should be one inch away from the sides of t! chair frame. Their upper edges must be flush with those of the front and back cross rails. Assemble these parts, glue, and pin all joints, and then drill the holes through the arm rests for the front pair of dowel pins. Insert these pins temporarily and while the arm rests are in their proper places, drill and temporarily fit the dowels to the back legs, and also fit the back cross rail, which is 2in wide and lin thick, morticed and tenoned to the end’., of the arm rests. Next prepare and lit the uprights between the middle rail and the arm rests, dowelling or morticing and tenoning them together. Assemble all these parts, and, after seeing they fit properly, glue all joints, and finally fasten them together. The seat frame and back rest each consist of a simple framework of wood, 2in wide and lin thick, morticed and tenoned at the front and top, and halved at the lower or hinged ends, the frames being covered on the seat side with a sheet of thin three-ply wood glued and pinned securely to the framework. The dowel pins are then fitted and glued in place to the lower front part of the scat f me, is in Fig. IV, and spaced as already described. The width of these frames ought to be a little less than the width b.tween the front legs and the arm rest at the back. The whole of the woodwork is then sandpapered, given a coat of wood filler, again sandpapered, and stained, polished, varnished, or enamelled in any desired colours. Loose, squab scats upholstered in any suitable material complete a practical and economical armchair.