# Scooping a chair seat



## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

On the repair of a spring rocker thread I had to make a new wood seat for the rocker because it had a fabric seat that I removed.

I did a search on the web and came up with Mario Rodriguez's video of using a table saw to do this. ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SveP71RLs4

So I made a jig for the table saw and went to Lowes and bought a 2X8 const.grade Hemlock board to practice on. After glueing up the blank I carved out a seat, took about 20 min. So I made another one with a pummel in the center. took another 20 min. and I decided to use that one on the rocking chair. I was extremely happy with them as they require minimal sanding and run a radius around the outside with a router and you are done, done, done in an hour or less.
I liked it so well I carved out a round seat from the scrap. Fun,Fun,Fun.

Herb


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Great job. With all the investment in the tooling, you need to start making wooden chairs.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

tomp913 said:


> Great job. With all the investment in the tooling, you need to start making wooden chairs.


All it took was a 1/2 sht. 3/4" Russian birch and a couple of short dowels for handles. I couldn't believe how fast it was.
Herb


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## jaguar1201 (Feb 4, 2015)

Herb, I see the photos, but do not understand the process using a table saw. How are you attaining the curvature shown in the photos? Do you raise and lower the blade as you move across the workpiece. I would like to be able to do what you show, but am lost on how to do it. Help me to understand, please.
Rick


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

jaguar1201 said:


> Herb, I see the photos, but do not understand the process using a table saw. How are you attaining the curvature shown in the photos? Do you raise and lower the blade as you move across the workpiece. I would like to be able to do what you show, but am lost on how to do it. Help me to understand, please.
> Rick


Rick , watch the U-tube video and you will see better than I can explain. After the blade height is set, you rotate1/2 turn, then move one end of the fence one notch forward, then rotate back, then move the other end of the fence 1 notch and rotate back again and keep doing that until you get the full cut. 
It is so simple that it is fun.
Herb


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## swarfmaker (Aug 27, 2012)

Herb, you missed the first "h"in your youtube link. the correct link is 



. Nifty idea.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

swarfmaker said:


> Herb, you missed the first "h"in your youtube link. the correct link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SveP71RLs4. Nifty idea.


Thanks Ron, I wondered why it did not come up blue when I posted the link. I did click and copy it into my address bar and it worked so I just shrugged it off,

Herb


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

I did change the jig slightly . When I started out the jig was made like Mario's with the round holes drilled to remove the sawdust. I was getting a lot of sawdust flying around ,so I cut out the hole to match the insert hole in the table saw. This helped a lot, I would say that 85% of the sawdust is sucked out by the dust collector. Also not considered a safety hazard because the bridge on the jig covers the hole.

When I made to stool seat in the first pictures, I used sheet rock screws to fasten on the handles on the bottom of the blank and they were a tad too long. As you can see the blade took the tips off, this caused a noticeable slowing down of feed rate into the blade. In other words it dulled the blade considerably. I started with a new 40t blade, just a cheap $20. blade that I got on sale. So I changed out the blade to another one and was back in business. In doing so I dropped the washer into the saw cavity below and couldn't reach it. Ever done that? 
I keep an extendable magnet in the drawer in the saw cabinet just for that use.


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## jaguar1201 (Feb 4, 2015)

Thanks Herb. The video did fully explain the process, and I understand the full technique. It is very clever.
Rick


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

again...
KUDOS....


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## gmercer_48083 (Jul 18, 2012)

Herb, I made one of these a couple years ago but only tried once... it worked great! Since then I've wondered about trying different diameter blades for a more defined seat, but I never tried it. Also I used holes as in his design with a zero clearance blade slot, but now that you mentioned enlarging the blade opening I can see now it doesn't need the zero clearance blade slot because it is carving above the table and dust extraction would be a much better! Is the first and eleventh picture a bowl?


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

gmercer_48083 said:


> Herb, I made one of these a couple years ago but only tried once... it worked great! Since then I've wondered about trying different diameter blades for a more defined seat, but I never tried it. Also I used holes as in his design with a zero clearance blade slot, but now that you mentioned enlarging the blade opening I can see now it doesn't need the zero clearance blade slot because it is carving above the table and dust extraction would be a much better! Is the first and eleventh picture a bowl?


Gary,
I found that there was too much sawdust on top of the table with the holes for extraction,and after I opened it up there was a significant improvement.

The round piece was kind of an experiment with the scrap cut off the seat blank. It was supposed to be a stool seat. Every thing was going fine till I made the last cut in the center and the blades hit the screws because I was either too deep or the screws were too long. It caused the blade to dull to a point that I changed blades and didn't proceed with finishing the seat and went on to cut some more chair seats. But I did accomplish what I was after by determining that a stool seat could be scooped also on this set up by rotating the blank in a circle instead of back and forth like a chair seat.

I might add here that I experimented with jacking up the front of the blank 3/8" by fastening a small block on the sides of the front edge. What this does is scoops out a deeper Butt cheek area in the back of the seat and makes a more comfortable seat. It requires raising the blade a tad more, and when you begin the cut it only cuts the back portion until the blade gets high enough to start cutting the front. It works just as good as cutting them flat as far as the cutting operation goes.

Herb


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## david bowen (Jan 5, 2013)

I made three chair seats with my unisaw using this jig about 20 years ago. It cost me $500+ to buy and install new drive shaft with bearings for my saw. Nice chairs by I took the jig to the dump.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

david bowen said:


> I made three chair seats with my unisaw using this jig about 20 years ago. It cost me $500+ to buy and install new drive shaft with bearings for my saw. Nice chairs by I took the jig to the dump.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Sorry to hear that, I have made more than that so far on my old craftsman TS and plan on making more, will let you know when the wheels fall off. 
It is no different than making crown molding on the table saw and I plan to do that too.

Herb


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## gmercer_48083 (Jul 18, 2012)

Herb, Good idea about using the blocks to scorp deeper on the rear of the seat.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

david bowen said:


> I made three chair seats with my unisaw using this jig about 20 years ago. It cost me $500+ to buy and install new drive shaft with bearings for my saw. Nice chairs by I took the jig to the dump.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


David,
I think I might try the box cutter blade or dado blades as they are smaller diameter and will put less sideways stress on the bearings. BTW I am using a 12" saw with a 10' blade.

I might ask if you were using a carbide blade or a HSS blade and how many tpi if you can remember? 

thanks for the alert to a potential problem.

Herb


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Herb Stoops said:


> David,
> I think I might try the box cutter blade or dado blades as they are smaller diameter and will put less sideways stress on the bearings. BTW I am using a 12" saw with a 10' blade.
> 
> I might ask if you were using a carbide blade or a HSS blade and how many tpi if you can remember?
> ...


and depth of cut...


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hey, David; welcome!

Sorry to hear about the old saw mishap...  
$500? Ouch!


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Herb , who the heck thinks of these ideas . I'm quite amazed at how that works


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

david bowen said:


> I made three chair seats with my unisaw using this jig about 20 years ago. It cost me $500+ to buy and install new drive shaft with bearings for my saw. Nice chairs by I took the jig to the dump.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


sounds like you were taking to much off at once ?


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

RainMan1 said:


> Herb , who the heck thinks of these ideas . I'm quite amazed at how that works


Well Mario in the video said he read it in a book about 20 years ago, so it has been around awhile. First time I have seen it,but it is the slickest way I have seen. Sure beats hand scorping, I would probably get some lopsided thing I'd have to throw it away. 

There are others that use a tablesaw and dado and feed it straight in to hog out most of the material and then use those rotary grinders with the chainsaw wheels on them to carve out the rest. I could not feature that as that method would suddenly turn into a disaster for me.

The results of this method comes out so nice and only a moderate amount of sanding is required by an ROS that it is actually fun to do.

Herb


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Herb Stoops said:


> Well Mario in the video said he read it in a book about 20 years ago, so it has been around awhile. First time I have seen it,but it is the slickest way I have seen. Sure beats hand scorping, I would probably get some lopsided thing I'd have to throw it away.
> 
> There are others that use a tablesaw and dado and feed it straight in to hog out most of the material and then use those rotary grinders with the chainsaw wheels on them to carve out the rest. I could not feature that as that method would suddenly turn into a disaster for me.
> 
> ...


Yes it's a very impressive jig setup and you pulled it off , but with your background was there ever any doubt . Great work Herb


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## glenn2017 (Aug 24, 2017)

Herb Stoops said:


> On the repair of a spring rocker thread I had to make a new wood seat for the rocker because it had a fabric seat that I removed.
> 
> I did a search on the web and came up with Mario Rodriguez's video of using a table saw to do this. ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SveP71RLs4
> 
> ...


Hi Herb,
Just saw your post and pictures about scooping out a chair seat, and in the last photo, you have a round seat carved out. Did you use the same jig, and if so how did you manage to do it?


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

glenn2017 said:


> Hi Herb,
> Just saw your post and pictures about scooping out a chair seat, and in the last photo, you have a round seat carved out. Did you use the same jig, and if so how did you manage to do it?


Glenn, it has been awhile since I have done it. If I remember correctly, I used just one handle mounted in the middle of the blank and inserted into the center notch on the bridge fence and rotated it around in a circle instead of back and forth for the chair seat.

Hope this helps.
Herb


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