(upbeat music) - Welcome to the most unusual project of season 29.

It's the hearth seat.

It's 19 inches to the top edge, walnut, walnut, white oak, and unbelievably comfortable.

Learn how to make your very own today on the American Woodshop.

- [Narrator 1] The American wood shop with Scott Phillips is brought to you by.

- [Narrator 2] Woodcraft, since 1928, providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

- [Narrator 3] Pro tools for tool pros.

[Intense music] RIKON tools.

- [Narrator 2] Woodcraft magazine projects, plans, and web links designed to help you make wood work.

PS Wood home of Timberwolves Swedish silicon steel bandsaw blades, and super sharp scroll saw blades.

- [Narrator 3] A bed to sleep on, a table to share meals, a house that feels like a home.

The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio, providing furniture to neighbors in need.

- I went to a History Alive at the Johnston Farm in Piqua, Ohio, and saw this.

A gentlemen named Chris had one that'd been in the family five generations as the story goes, this came from Great Britain somewhere and possibly Ireland, which I would vote for because of this Shamrock inspired Trinity pattern that's on this.

And it's called a hearth chair.

That's what he called it.

I looked this up online.

They also call these birthing seats that go back several thousand years.

So, I love this chair.

It's time to make one.

Let's go build it together.

Now, I know you want all the details on making your own version of this chair.

So, let's get to it.

Look at that pattern, three holes, and we drill those at the drill press.

And I'll show you that in a second, but you have to understand all the design elements here.

How do you get that graceful curve?

Well, see that right there.

That's a six inch radius from a six inch compass radii or 12 inch circle.

And they sell these jigs, called quick corners that give you that perfect curve right there.

And I use that to lay in that pattern.

And then I made plywood patterns for both the back work piece and for the seat work piece.

Here's that seat.

Here's that pattern.

And what I did was I transferred the seat pattern and the back pattern to these wonderful pieces of barn beams that came from a blown down barn.

And this has been air dried, it's walnut, six inches across, four inches thick to make this work.

And earlier I ran this through a jointer first to make sure there was a square edge.

And once I had a square edge, I ran it through a planer so that I could plane both sides to see what defects I was working with.

Work around the knots, because they're going to be defects.

So, what I've done here is, I've traced out the pattern for the back right there, and I've traced out the pattern for the seat right here.

Okay.

And on walnut, it's a good idea to use a white marker.

That way you can see the line when you go to the bandsaw.

And the other thing that I need are three turned legs, and that's just an inch and three quarter square, white oak.

You want white oak.

So let's get over to the bandsaw.

One final thing before we make the cut.

On the back rest, set an angle gauge at 15 degrees and transfer that line from this long flat onto the blank.

That 15 degree cut will rake back the backrest.

Now, I'm going to make the cut and a couple tips before I turn this on, take the key off, so it's very safe to touch the blade.

This is a half inch wide silicon steel blade.

That's how I do those amazing cuts on the bandsaw.

The blade is key.

Don't use a cheap blade, and this has four teeth per inch, and I'm going to put good side pressure on it, about 20 pounds of pressure.

It should be that stiff.

And for that half inch blade, I had to take it up to three quarters of an inch in tension to make that happen.

That will give me control.

And then also this column, this guard has to be locked and the support bearings have to gently kiss the blade.

Now we can make those cuts.

Those are the tool tips, if you have a bandsaw, that are real helpful.

Be sure to read, understand, and follow all the instructions that come with tools and products you use in your woodshop, work safely.

Safety glasses, hearing protection.

Now dust collection on, fire it up, let it come to speed.

Cut out those work pieces.

Just cut them out.

I want to just barely take that line.

And give that blade time to carry away the sawdust in these big work pieces So we'll get these sculpted out with this half inch blade And then we'll go to a quarter inch blade to cut the circle.

[Bandsaw whirring] That's how I use a bandsaw to sculpt the back and the seat.

And what I've done is I've laid out my pattern, two and a quarter inch diameter circles with the center point on there.

That outside band is out an inch and an eighth, and we'll take that over to the bandsaw after we drill the holes.

So now, you bring this up quarter, two and a quarter inch forstner bit.

That center point comes right up on there.

Use these hold down clamps to hold it in place.

I always like to have two and then set this around four hundred.

It's secured and take your time, as you drill this.

If you see smoke, you're going too fast.

Notice you don't see any smoke, but what do you see?

You see that it's all the way through now, because it changed colors.

It's into the plywood.

Stop.

We have our two other center points.

I can release those hold downs.

I would not think of using a bit like this without the hold downs, not in a million years.

So, I line that up.

Maybe you can see that the center point of the bit goes right on that circle.

And this gives us that wonderful trinity pattern.

And when I can get the board secured flat to this drill press table, this is the best way to go.

Now, what happens if you don't have a drill press?

We'll get all the flat holes drilled, and I'll show you the technique for that.

This is a great hole saw, and it's carbide tipped on the teeth.

So more expensive, but worth it.

And also has these clean-out holes when we get a plug.

You can unplug this drill and pop the core out, and drill your next one on the outside diameter, right there, it's two and a quarter inches, just like the two and a quarter inch, forstner bit that we used over at the drill press.

Now, look at this.

Why are we doing it this way?

Well, it's fun.

And it's freehand you get to express yourself.

You get to do some power sculpting now, but it's also because of this curve.

If you try to clamp that down on a drill press table, good luck.

You can make a mega jig or something, or you could do it this way.

I like doing things the easy way.

I'm using the tail vise on my work bench.

I bring up this piece of wood right there to support it.

So that as I'm drilling this, I know exactly where I have this stop on that piece.

It's right under that hole.

I clamp it down like that securely with that tail vise, and now only on a corded drill, never cordless.

What I can do is take that pilot bit, put it on that center point, right there, brace this, and you only do it with this and variable speed control.

You have to have a handle to hold on to.

And now what I do is brace my arms to my body and I drill the holes.

Okay.

And that way with everything locked in position, I can drill all three holes left and right on the seat work piece.

[Drilling] Now a tip is don't go all the way through, start the other two holes now, that way you've got perfect alignment.

[Drilling] There's the second, come right on down here to the third.

I'm changing the angle just a bit.

That's right where it needs to be.

[Drilling] And that's a fine set tooth on that hole saw again, carbide, but you have to slow down your feed now, to finish it, so you don't break out the backside.

You cut out the backside.

[Drilling] Okay.

So unplug it, pop that core out, drill the other holes, left and right.

And then we'll head over to the bandsaw, use a quarter-inch blade to sculpt the outside edge of this.

So look at this, now we can sculpt away this shape.

No problem, by just keeping the workpiece flat to the table.

That's easy.

And this is a technique I learned from Sam Maloof, and he had a saying, "Don't try this at home."

And this is an advanced technique that I'm doing, because I have to keep that curve flat, as I sculpt away the top part of these curves and cut away that sharp edge.

That's tricky.

So, I'm going to do that carefully.

The key to this is bracing my arms to my body, and then, keeping it flat to the table.

Now, let's make those cuts.

Bring that up to speed, turn on dust collection.

And I'll just leave the line.

Start flat.

That's no problem, flat to the table.

And I'm gonna leave the line.

And I don't want to back out of the cut because that could pinch the blade.

So I'll swing that blade right up and around like that.

And keeping your workpiece flat to the table, on these cuts.

And I'll come out right there.

And now, and with that scrap, don't worry about that.

Leave that where it is because you don't want to be in there reaching around the blade.

So sculpt away, carefully, thoughtfully.

Making all these cuts on the outside edge of the line.

I'll get these cut out, then it's over to shaping these.

Some great tools to use for that.

Do you hear the dust collectors going?

Three sanders are going to be used to profile all these curves, the edges.

This is an oscillating spindle sander.

This is a benchtop belt sander, and this is a strip sander for those tight spots.

So I'll use those very carefully.

With N95 dust mask and ambient air cleaners on as well.

So I'll just sand them all to perfection.

The cool thing about this piece right here, that's a two-inch diameter, 80 grit right there, and it fits through the gap just barely.

And I can bring that right on down.

So then, I'll go to the benchtop sander, and sand that smooth working off the top of the belt, keeping it moving, using the whole belt.

Again, that's on dust collection.

And then for those really tight areas, I can use the benchtop strip sander and get things just perfected.

From there, let's go do the domino cuts.

After a spot of sanding.

Look at that.

She's shaping up.

And this is so graceful now.

The chair's coming to life and look right here, you see those six holes.

Those are domino slots for loose tenon joinery and the dominoes, which are 12 millimeters thick.

And in this case, a hundred long.

Look at how all of that slides together.

And we've got mating marks right here.

And the theory is once we put glue in there and clamp that up, it's going to be rock solid.

Okay.

But, before we can do that, we have to talk about how the legs go in.

So, here's the back leg.

Here's the side leg.

I'll show you how to drill that mortise over here, but let's go turn that other leg first, so we have three legs to sit on.

The three turned legs are 18 inches long.

And once they're turned down, this right here has to fit an inch and a half diameter hole, the mortise in the seat.

And I like it to swell a bit here and then compress down to a gentle taper.

Starts with this inch and three quarter square piece of white oak, straight grain, kiln dried, and I've already malleted in the center point.

And so, we're going to mount that up between centers into the drive spur, tail stocks locked, advance the live ball bearing center into the very center point on this end and make it nice and snug and lock that, just like that.

And that's ready to turn.

The drive spur's seated nicely into that white oak.

So why white oak?

It's very durable.

Now, I have everything locked in place and that's going to set the diameter on this end of the tenon that will fit the mortise.

And I'd never turn without a face shield.

That's good.

So this is locked, that's locked.

The tail stock, the headstock is permanently fixed, and now we can bring that up to 1200 RPM.

Now watch what happens with this roughing gouge.

Once it's up to speed, I lay this in handle to my body and I just do a series of cuts.

You want to work from the center down like that, and then, you can come down here and take this down as well.

And you want to take off no more than a eighth of an inch at a time.

And that brings it down to a nice round form.

Now, let's see where we're at.

Turn that off and we need those calipers to see if we've got a fit.

I need to take that down just to get rid of that flat spot.

And that will make that the perfect size.

[chisel sounds] Now let's say, I don't want to sand this.

Well, that would make it awfully rough, right?

Because look at that roughing cut.

Well, there's a way around that.

You raise the tool rest and look at that rough cut and you bring up the trickiest chisel in woodworking to use.

It's called the skew, and you bring that up and you hold it at a skewed angle, about 30 degrees.

You press the bevel to the wood first, and then you make your cuts.

Now watch what happens.

It's magic.

Here we go.

From that to this, bring it up to speed, rubbed the bevel first and then engage the cutting edge.

And you rub the bevel at the same time that you make the cut.

And then as you finish the cut, be careful, just like that, now let's turn it off and look at the cut.

So much fun.

It's taken me 50 years to master this technique and that is ready for a finish, no sanding at all.

So, let's go drill the mortise for the legs.

See that mark right there, where the legs going to go.

It's two inches from the edge of this hole, in, and it's three inches side to side, right in the middle.

And I've set up the angle gauge, so that that's 15 degrees.

And then I keep it square here cause I want the leg to be square, but I want it to be splayed out at a 15 degree angle.

So, I'm using a multi-spur bit and that's important.

You want a lot of spurs that are uniform for you to do a hand drilling Forstner bit technique.

And I put that bit right on that center point.

And the first thing I do, being careful, and it's you always have to have a handle like this on the drill, if you're using a forstner bit.

First thing I do is I start the hole square.

How do I know it's square?

Because I have the square right there.

And I'm sighting down that angle gauge like a rifle sight.

So I make this in.

And once I have that established, then I can tilt this down to that angle and I drill it down.

So from this edge, down to the bottom, it's an inch and a half deep on a two-inch piece.

So, I'll just get that done.

So, splayed out, 15 degrees, inch and a half deep right there.

I can bring this up and it's slightly tapered.

So, I can wedge this gently because we need to do the test fit, the dry fit, as it were.

Everything looks really good right now.

And here's the seat, again, no glue yet, because we need to do the test drive before we glue it up.

And we'll slide those dominoes in like so, and voila, we have ourselves, a chair for the ages.

It's unreal, how comfortable this is.

perfect for by the fire, the hearth.

So, what's the key?

We don't want the legs coming through, because it would mess up the grain pattern here.

And we don't need for it to come through because what we're going to do, try to get these out.

That's nice, tight fit.

I can wiggle them out.

There we go.

But the first thing we'll do is drill a three sixteenths inch hole down about an inch.

And then, we're going to put it in this cradle, take it to the bandsaw, make a slot an inch down on the bandsaw, safely using this cradle jig, and then it's onto the glue up.

The yellow wood glue is brushed out in the cavities for the loose tenon mortise joints.

And I'm just using water along the leg right here and polyurethane glue, the brown one that expands.

And I fill up that hole, that three sixteenths inch diameter hole, because once it's to the top, that will create the exact amount of squeeze out when it cures out like this, it foams up about 50 percent.

So that swells and locks that joint, and it spreads that and locks it in.

Now that's ready to roll.

I'm going to set that, but the rest of this assembly now is ready to go together, like so.

And these tenons couldn't be longer because it would go through the back, weaken this part of the joint, and some people would say, "Hey, wait a minute.

What about, how do you clamp it?"

Well, I've done the test joint and it's nice and tight.

I'm getting good squeeze out right there.

Along that top seam.

So the way I clamp it is very simple.

I use gaff tape, which doesn't leave sticky residue behind because it's an unusual surface.

I just draw it all tight.

You don't want to use duct tape here because that would definitely, see it draws that seam right out, beautiful.

Right there.

That would definitely leave residue behind on the wood.

So, I'll let that cure out just like that.

I need one more piece to draw it tight, good joints help.

And then, I put moisture in this part of the joint, and then, in the mortis all the way around, one good, healthy bead of polyurethane glue.

And now this leg goes up and in.

We'll let that cure, do a bit of sanding, wipe on the finish.

See the final reveal.

Well, this is the chair.

Once I put exterior 450 on it, let it dry, three coats, great exterior product.

Of course, the white oak legs are very durable on their own, but man, you talk about comfort.

The hearth chair is a project, if you're up to bandsawing it, and using that creative drilling technique, will enrich your life.

And that's what the American Woodshop is all about.

So go have fun.

Use your hands and make beautiful things, and stay well.

That's a wrap.

- Woodcraft, since 1928, providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

- Pro tools for tool pros.

[Intense music] RIKON tools.

- [Narrator 1] Woodcraft magazine projects, plans, and web links designed to help you make wood work.

PS Wood, home of Timberwolf Swedish silicon steel, bandsaw blades, and super sharp scroll saw blades.

- [Narrator 3] A bed to sleep on, a table to share meals, a house that feels like a home, The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio, providing furniture to neighbors in need.

- For more information on tips behind the American Woodshop and to watch free episodes, 24/7, check us out online and like us on Facebook.

(upbeat music)