I dont care what they say about dogs, Morris chairs are a mans bestfriend. The reclining back, wide arms and expansive seat create theperfect place to watch TV, read the Sunday paper or simply contemplatethe finer qualities of a well-crafted beer.

For the last 10 years, Ive spent every weekend planted in the originalversion of this chair, which was built by the Shop of the Crafters inCincinnati, Ohio, during the heyday of the Arts & Crafts movement.The Shop of the Crafters was founded by German-American business-man Oscar Onken (1858-1948), who ran a successful framing companyuntil he entered the furniture business in 1902, according to Kenneth R.Trapps history of the company.

Unlike many furniture-makers of the day, Onken didnt want to mere-ly copy the Stickleys of the world. Onken produced an unusual line of Arts& Crafts furniture that was influenced more by German and Hungariandesigns than the straight-lined Stickley pieces of the day. In all honesty, afew of Onkens pieces were kind of ugly. Most, however, had a refinementand lightness that rivaled some of the best work of the day.

This Morris chair is an almost exact replica of the one produced by

POPULAR WOODWORKING June 2000

Almost every woodworker

has the skills to build the

most comfortable chair

in the house.

by Christopher Schwarz

MorrisC H A I R

Phot

o by

Al P

arri

sh

Onken and his company. Itdiffers in only two ways. One,the original chair was con-structed using dowels at themajor joints. After almost100 years of use, the frontand back rail came loose. Thischair is built using peggedmortise-and-tenon joints.Second, I made one changeto the chair frame so that fur-niture historians of the future will knowinstantly that this not an original piece. Idid this to prevent people from passing offthese reproductions as originals.

Though this project might look daunt-ing to you, it can be completed by begin-ners who have just a few projects undertheir belt. There are only a few principlesto learn here: mortising, tenoning androuting with a plywood template. Plus, Illshare with you exactly how I achieved thisfinish, which has been something wevebeen working at for several years.

How to Save Money on LumberBegin by choosing the right quartersawnwhite oak for this project. It requires about10 board feet of 84 and 30 board feet of 44lumber. Quartered white oak can be ex-

pensive, from $6 to $12 a board foot. If youlive in the Midwest, or will pass near east-central Indiana on your vacation, I rec-ommend you check out Frank Miller LumberCo. in Union City, Ind. (765-964-7705).The company is a huge supplier of quar-tersawn oak. As a result, prices are rea-sonable, about $4 to $6 a board foot. Onceyou buy your lumber, save the pieces withthe most ray flake for the arms, legs, frontand sides. To save money, use flat-sawnoak for the seat and the adjustable back.

Mortises:Machine or No Machine?First cut all your pieces to size accordingto the Schedule of Materials and begin lay-

Climb-Cutting TenonsI own a commercial tenoning jig for mytable saw,but I rarely use it. I get betterand faster results by cutting tenons usinga dado stack and a trick that Contrib-uting Editor Troy Sexton showed me.Toavoid tearout on my tenons shoulders, Iclimb cut the last 18" or so of thetenon shoulder.Youve probably heard ofpeople climb cutting when using a router.Essentially, its moving the router in theopposite way you normally would toavoid tearout in tricky grain.

Thats exactly what you do on yourtable saw.The final cut on your shouldersis made by pulling the work toward youover the blade and only taking a small cutof material. It sounds awkward,but aftera few tenons you get used to it.The risk ofkickback is minimal because theres nowood trapped between the blade and thefence.To do this safely,hold your worksteady and dont get into a hurry.

Heres how you do it:First install adado stack into your table saw and setthe fence for the finished length of yourtenon (almost all of the tenons in thisproject are 34" long).Set the height ofyour dado stack to the amount you wantto thin one side of your tenon (for mostof the tenons in this project, that wouldbe 316").Then,using your miter gauge,push the work through the dado stack tocut the majority of your tenon.

When this cut is done, slide the workagainst the fence and pull the mitergauge back toward you to shave theshoulder of the tenon.Flip the work overand do the other side.Then do the edges.

3 3/8"

7/8"

1 3/8"

7/8"

1 3/8"

5/8"

2 1/4" 1/16"

1 1/16" 3/4" 7/16"1/16"

3/8"7/8"3/8"

1 5/8"

7 1/2"

1 5/8"

2"

2 3/16" 3 3/4" 1/16"

1/2"3/4"3/8"

5/8"7/8"

1/4"

1 1/4"

1"

Cleat

Backrail

4 3/4"1 7/8"

3/4"

Cleats

Cleat

Frontrail

3/4"

2 1/8"

4 3/4"1 7/8"

The "X" on the rails and cleatsdenotes a cross section ratherthan an end view.

Leg

Arm

Side rail

Front rail

Leg

Back rail

Set your fence so thedado stack will makea 34" cut (the lengthof your tenon).Holdthe piece about 18"from the fence.Pushyour work through theblade using yourmiter gauge.

After you finish thatfirst pass, slide thework against thefence and pull itback toward youover the blade toshave the last littlebit of the shoulder.

Repeat the sameprocedure for theedges of the tenon.(If you like a littlemore shoulder onyour edges, increasethe height of theblade.) First push thework forward.

Then slide it againstthe fence and pull itback toward you tomake the finalshoulder cut.

Make the mortises in the legs before you shape thecurve near the bottom or make cutouts on the top.

Rail Locations

Cleat Location, Front Rail

Cleat Location, Back Rail

ing out the locations of your mortises. Therule of thumb is that your mortises shouldbe one half the thickness of your tenonsstock. When your stock is 34" thick, yourmortises and tenons should be 38" thick.That means the tenons for the beefy backrail should be thicker (716") and those forthe side slats should be thinner (14").

Also remember that except for thetenons on the legs and slats, all the tenonsare 34" long. To ensure your tenons dontbottom out in your mortises, its always agood idea to make your mortises about 116"deeper than your tenons are long.

After you mark the locations of all themortises, its time cut them. There are 38mortises in this project. Youd be nuts to dothese all by hand. Use this project as an ex-

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Schedule of Materials: Morris CHairChair frameNo. Item Dimensions T W L Comments2 Front legs 158" x 334" x 21" 12" TOE2 Back legs 158" x 214" x 21" 12" TOE2 Applied sides 158" x 1316" x 4" 1 Front rail 34" x 434" x 22" 34" TBE2 Side rails 34" x 434" x 24" 34" TBE1 Back rail 78" x 434" x 22" 34" TBE2 Side slats 12" x 758" x 1138" 12" TBE2 Arm bldps 78" x 6" x 412"2 Arms 34" x 6" x 3514"2 Cleats 34" x 178" x 2012" 1 Back rod 34" x 2" x 23516"

Drop-in seatNo. Item Dimensions T W L Comments2 Seat stiles 34" x 212" x 2312" 5 Seat rails 34" x 212" x 17" 34" TBE

Adjustable backNo. Item Dimensions T W L Comments2 Back stiles 34" x 178" x 2814" 5 Back rails 34" x 178" x 1712" 34" TBE1 Bot rail 34" x 314" x 1712" 34" TBE

TOE = tenon on one end TBE = tenon on both ends

2

1 5/8"

9 1/2"

4 3/4"

6 1/4"

22 1/8"

2"7 1/2"

1 5/8" 1 5/8"22 1/2"

1 7/8"7/8" 5/8" 7/8" 1 7/8"

6"

6 1/8" 8 1/4"8 1/8"

35 1/4"

10 3/8"

See plan details forinfo on the rails.5 3/8"

7 5/8"

3/4"radius 1

3/4"

1 3/8"radius

4 1/2"

1 3/4"

4 3/4"

5 1/2"

4"

1 5/8"

22 1/8"

1"7/8"5/8"

7/8"

1 3/8"

3 3/4" 20 1/2" 3 3/4"

2 1/2"

2 3/8"

1 3/16"

6"

1/16"overhang

See rail locations forinfo on the rails.

1"

6 1/4"

When pattern-routing the curve on the legs,make sure you have the work firmly clamped inplace. I have the pattern and leg wedged be-tween two pieces of oak (the pattern is on theunderside of the leg).Then the leg itself isclamped to the table.You also could perform thisoperation on a router table with a starting pinfor pattern-routing.

To make a template for the mortis-es in the arms and the cutouts onthe side slats, position your plywoodover your table saw and raise theblade into the ply.Move the fenceover and repeat.Then turn thepattern 90 degrees and repeat forthe other edges of the pattern.Note that I made cuts in the frontof the pattern to help me size thepattern to the tenons.

Profile

Elevation

make cuts in the frontedge of the board tocheck your templateagainst the tenon

POPULAR WOODWORKING June 2000

cuse to purchase a hollow chiselmortising machine (about $250)or a mortising attachment for yourdrill press (about $70). If you cantswing the cash, Id make plywoodtemplates and cut the mortiseswith a router and a pattern bit.Making plywood templates is some-thing covered later in the story.

One more thing: dont cut the mortis-es in the arms or the arm buildups untilthe chair frame is assembled. Youll cutthese with a router and a pattern bit afterthe chair frame is assembled.

Tenons With a Dado StackOnce you get your mortises cut, maketenons that fit snugly into the mortises.You can use a tenoning jig or the fence onyour table saw, or you can use a router. Iprefer to use a dado stack and my mitergauge. See the story on the previous pagefor details on how to do this.

While your dado stack is in your saw, cut

the groove in the back piece thatholds the seat frame. See the draw-ing for the location of this groove.

Once you cut your tenons,prepare to assemble the drop-inseat and the adjustable back. Tosave yourself some grief, sand theedges of the rails that you wontbe able to get to after the framesare assembled. Now put glue inall the mortises and clamp up theframes. Set them aside to dry.

Curves and CutoutsWhat makes this Morris chair standout are the curves and cutouts on the legs,arms and slats. Each curve and cutout needsa slightly different strategy.

The large curves on the legs and thesmall curves on the side slats were cut usinga plywood template and a pattern-cuttingbit in a router. I made the patterns from 12"-thick Baltic birch plywood. Use the draw-ings to make your own plywood templateusing a scroll saw, band saw or coping saw.Smooth all your cuts with sandpaper, thentry shaping a couple scraps with your tem-plate to make sure your pattern producesthe right shape. When satisfied, cut thecurves to rough shape on your band saw(about 116" shy of your finished line) andclean up the cut with a router and patternbit. Finish shaping the legs with a chisel.

To produce the large cutouts on the frontlegs, do what Oscar Onken did: cheat abit. Make the cutouts using a dado stackon your table saw, with the legs on edge. Thenglue the applied sides to the legs to cover theopen end of the cuts. Instant cutout. Whileyoure at it, cut out the notches on the armpieces for the rod that adjusts the back.

To complete the legs, you need to cutthe bottom of all four legs at a 2-degree angleso the chair sits flat on the floor. I recom-mend you make a full-sized mock up (seethe photo above) so you can get the angleexactly right. Cut the angle on a chop saw.

AssemblyNow youre almost ready to assemble thechair frame. Youll need to first miter thetenons slightly where they meet to fit inthe mortises using your table saw. Now fin-ish sand everything. I went to 150 grit usingmy random-orbit sander and hand sand-ed the whole piece with 180 grit.Yes, itmakes a noticeable difference.

Now glue the front rail between thefront legs and the back rail between theback legs. Clamp and allow your glue todry. Use 14" dowels to pin the tenons fromthe inside of the chair. This strengthensthe weakest point of this chair. Its at thisjoint where the original chair came loose.

Glue the side rails between the frontand back legs and you can see your chairtake shape.

Learn to Make Square TemplatesNow you need to work on the arms. Firstglue the arm buildup pieces to the front ofthe arms. Then get ready to cut the mor-tises on the arms that will hold the tenonson the legs and side slats. A word of ad-vice here. Mock up an arm out of scrapwood and practice on it first.

To make plywood templates for the mor-tises, you need to make a square hole in themiddle of a piece of ply. The best way to dothis is by making plunge cuts into your ply-

Be sure to make a full-size mock-up of thelegs and sides (left) to determine the angleyou need to cut on the bottom of the legs.When you determine that angle, use a greasepencil or magic marker to paint the bottom ofthe legs. I cut the back and front legs simulta-neously. Slowly inch your legs in after each cutuntil the color is all gone (below).

Full-size Diagram of Arm

wood on your table saw. Refer to the photoearlier in the story to see how to do this.

Now cut your mortises. I used a tem-plate bit with cutters on the bottom anda guide bearing on top. If you dont havea bit with cutters on the bottom, you canstill plunge with a straight bit. Just plungeslowly and wiggle the router a bit as yougo. Cut the mortises in two passes.

After youre sure the arms fit on thelegs, cut the curve on the front of the arm.Attach the full-size pattern to your armand cut the shape on a band saw. Cleanup the cuts with a stationary belt sander.Now taper the arms with your band saw

and clean up the cut with your jointer.Glue the arms and slats in place.

Now shape the back rod that adjuststhe seat back angle. Bevel one edge of therod on your jointer and cut notches on theends so the rod fits between the arms.Attach the back to the seat frame with apiano hinge. Screw the cleats to the frontand back of the frame in the locationsshown in the diagram; slip the seat in place.

FinishingThis takes some effort, but it is well worthit. The first step is to dye the chair with analcohol-based aniline dye thats reddish.See the supplies list for ordering informa-tion. Then apply one coat of boiled linseed

oil to the chair. You can get this at any homecenter store. Wipe off the excess and letit dry overnight. The linseed oil helps sealthe wood before your final coloring stepand helps bring out the ray flake.

Now wipe on a thin coat of Lillys warmbrown glaze. We live and die by this stuffwhen finishing Arts & Crafts furniture. Were not aware of a catalog that sells it, butyou can visit Lillys website (at the addressin the supplies box) to find a paint store thatcarries this glaze. Wipe the glaze until youachieve an even tone. Allow it to dry overnight.Finally, apply three coats of a clear finish whatever youre comfortable with. PW

www.popwood.com

SuppliesSlotted Piano HingeRockler Woodworkingand Hardware: 800-279-4441 or www.rock-ler.comItem # 19241 $6.99

Mosers Aniline DyeWoodworkers Supply:800-645-9292Medium red mahogany,alcohol soluble item#A16701 $8.80

Warm Brown GlazeMade by Lilly Industries(formerly Guardsman).For a list of distributorsof Lilly wood products,visit the companyswebsite at:http://www.lillyindus-tries.com/en/sbu/wood/wooddist.htm

2 1/2"

2 3/4"

2 1/2"

2 3/4"

2 1/2"

2 3/4"

2 1/2"

2 3/4"

2 1/2"

23 1/2"

1 7/8"

3 1/8"

1 7/8"

3 1/8"

1 7/8"

3 1/8"

1 7/8"

3 1/8"

1 7/8"

3 1/8"

3 1/4"

28 1/4"

CL7 3/4" 2 1/2"

CL1 7/8" 8"

1/8"

1 1/8"

7/8"

3/4"

7/8"

1 1/2"

Peg the tenons that join the front rail to the frontlegs and the back rail to the back legs. If youveever pegged tenons before, you know that dowelscan be wildly different sizes than theyre sup-posed to be.Heres a trick. If your dowel is a bitundersized, glue it in place and cut it nearly flushto the surface.Then put several drops of thinnedglue on the end grain of the dowel. It wicks in theglue, expands and glues up tight.When the glueis dry, cut the dowel flush.

Be sure to make a test arm before you go mor-tising the real thing.Youll be glad you did.

Plan of Back and Seat

Back Rod

Editor's note:Plans for the Stickleyside table shown in the opening photocan be found on the following page.Also,did you ever wonder what hap-pens to projects built by the PopularWoodworking staff? Recently wevebegun selling some completed projectson ebay.com,an internet auction site.The Morris Chair featured on thecover and the Stickley Table will go upfor sale on May 1,2000.Check out theauction at www.ebay.com