Chronic Chair

Instructions

Start by measuring the diameter of your dowels, ( note they will probably vary a bunch ) place one of the files on a piece of scrap ply and experiement with offsets until you get a good friction fit for most dowels. ( make a note of the perfect offset, we will use that later ) Cut all dowels exactly in half Chamfer the tips of each dowel on a belt sander ( or hand carving ) so they self align when glueing up. Double sided tape the good surface of your ply, and adhere it to a spoil board, and Shaper tape Tape and scan the lower quality side of your ply. Using a 1/2" plungeable cutter, helix cut all the holes using the offset you determined earlier . double check dowel insertion friction in this state, as the holes can easily be adjusted at this time. Size A1 and Side B1 are full depth through holes. Side A2 and Side B2 are 1/4 pockets With the stock 1/4" cutter cut the perimeters of each leg ( 1/4" deep per roughing pass, followed by a nice smooth finish pass). The nesting of each shape results in tape being cut that is needed for future passes. add more tape where needed and perform an add to scan if nessesary. Using 4 * 2" long spare dowels ( sanded down to be a very light friction fit ) dry fit all 4 ply elements together using the dowls to secure the extents and the corners then sand till you achieve the finish you desire. Glue and assemble with plenty of clamps. To avoid glue buildup in the holes preventing the dowels from seating properly glue together side_A1 + side_A2 and seat the dowels in one operation before doing the same for side_B1 + side_B2. Clamp across the width off the chair , and also pay attention to make sure each side has adequte clamping pressure. Avoid clamping under the base of the chair so you can true up the sides by resting the chair standing upright overnight.