Winging it

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What has always stumped me is how to determine what the chairs final shape will look like once the upholstery is on.  How much wood to leave on or off in the upholstered section.  Does one do a consult with the upholsterer first?
 
John, It is an excellent idea to work with your upholsterer. Just as a finish on a piece of furniture it takes a delicate touch. I once made two chairs for a rather prestigious client. Once we got them back from the upholsterer the looked like Pee Wee Hermans chair on his Saturday's children show. Overstuffed!!! But what matters is our customer was happy. And I said nothing as I cashed the check.
 
The fasteners are just wood screws. Most of the time we would use poplar, but this one is a mix of poplar and southern yellow pine. Many patterns we work with are ones from originals we have worked on since 1967. Our shop burned in 1967 where many of my fathers and grandfathers and great grandfathers patterns were destroyed. A few patterns were saved and I think some were wing chair patterns. We did tweak our original patterns on this one.
 
Jeff:

That chair sure is beautiful.  Nice job.  Never having built one, I've never seen one that wasn't plumb full of tack holes.

Maybe someday you could teach me how to build that.

JD

P.S. Did your customer select the fabric?
 
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