The table was done a while ago, all it needed was to be cleaned up a bit and mostly re-assembled. The chairs on the other hand came with NO legs. I designed and turned eight legs and recently re-attached them to the seat and back.
Making the legs was an interesting process. I used some off cut maple stair treads that fell into my hands a few years ago. Maple was quite wonderful to turn and it was easy to get it super smooth. The legs and table are unfinished, my sister-in-law needs to paint the set before turning it over to her grand kids.
Assembling the chairs was an interesting process:
First I set up a temporary jig to measure each leg.
This way I made sure that each leg was the same length to the shoulder at the top. For a couple of legs I had to cut a little bit off the bottom end.
This jig helped me hold onto the round leg as I pushed it through the band saw blade. In this photo I am cutting the tenon, but it works just the same.
The sockets in the underside of the seat were 3/4" and slightly different depths so I assigned a leg to a position, measured the depth and trimmed the tenon accordingly.
For assembly I dampened the socket and tenor slightly, applied Gorilla Glue and press fit the leg. Once all four legs were attached I used gravity to hold things in place.
Those lead diving weights are heavy enough to sink a large buoyant man. With the glue dry I feel that the legs are sturdily enough attached that they don't need braces. After all the chairs are for really little people. If need be I can add bracing later.
I am onto picture frames and hoops for a covered wagon bed, there is always something to do, hooray.
cheers ianw
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