Welsh Stick Chair - Done

It's not every day you see me finishing two projects on the same day!

Done today:  Vitrine and chair.

I painted the bits on the vitrine that I worked on yesterday.  For more info on this build, check out the previous post.  Essentially, it is a modern cabinet held together only with nails.

The exciting part, is I got finish on my Welsh stick chair!  If you remember correctly, I went to Denmark last fall to build chairs with Jonas from Mulesaw.  I viewed the build as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as he had a couple of monster elm logs set aside for just such a purpose.  Check out the build starting here.

I didn't quite get finished with my chair in the 4 1/2 days I was there.  This project has been languishing in my shop, not because I didn't want to get it done, but because there always seems to be something that pushes it's way forward in the queue.

Well cured epoxy dribbled here to fill a void.

With a tip from Dyami to use epoxy to fill a couple of voids on the chair, there was some final clean up before finish.  I smoothed it out with a block plane, a chisel, and/or a couple different scrapers.  The West Systems epoxy I used on the recommendation of Aymeric worked easily and looks good.

Epoxy flakes in my block plane.

OK, I'm not really done.  I put the first coat of finish on today.  But, in my book that gets the project off the bench and moves it past the "almost done" category.  Using that logic, if we are past "almost done," we are done.

In the white, ready for finish.

I chose to use a finish recipe that I haven't tried before:  equal parts boiled linseed oil and pure tung oil.  For this first coat, to thin the mixture a bit I added a glug or two of turpentine balsam.  Although I hadn't tried this mixture before, I knew it would leave the chair a nice, warm color. 

Perhaps the tung oil will give it a bit more strength, we'll see.  I'll put a few more coats of this on over the next days, and in a month or two when it is completely cured, I will buff it out with some kind of past wax.  Probably beeswax mixed with orange oil.

Here is my new finish components.

I am pleased with the results.  The elm (Ulmus sp.) darkened up nicely, and the ash (Fraxinus exelsior) for the sticks and legs so far has kept a nice light color.  I like the contrast.  The Frau worries these woods won't match our walnut table, but I think it will look great.

Finished chair.

While I had epoxy mixed up, I thought I would put some in the little pinhole knots on the seat to stabilize the wood, as well as a couple other places that needed filler.  After scraping it off, you could still see where the epoxy was on the wood.  I think the wood absorbs this epoxy.  I worried a little bit that it would show, but so far I think it looks good.

Some of the more interesting grain on the seat.

Here are a few photos of the chair in different glamour poses.

Before photo.  Couresty Mulesaw.

The three-quarter arms were an attempt at making the design look a bit more modern to suit the taste of the Frau.  Olav helped with designing these, and I think they turned out fantastic.

Here is a good view of one of the bits filled with epoxy.

The pair were both finished today.

Now that this chair is off my bench, I am excited to start another one.  I have a couple more seat blanks, and this lonely chair will probably need something to keep it company.