Chair seat carving: Probe or Aspire?

[Ajcoholic]

[Ajcoholic]

[Ajcoholic]

Here is a better shot of the finished rendering.



If I am doing a set of seats I usually trial cut one in a blank of poplar or something cheap, and sit in it to make sure the proportions are correct. After a few seats you can usually get pretty good just on the screen.

One thing, with the sweep, the carve gets deeper in the rear section where your butt sits, and shallower in the narrower section where your thigh is, and deeper again at the front edge. Just like you want it to be.

I also sometimes round off the front section with more 3D manipulation, but generally find it faster to just pass a roundover bit with a hand held router (with the base sitting on the front edge of the seat, while clamped vertically in a bench vise).

[Ajcoholic]

And usually, with my 5/8" Onsrud spiral carbide ball end mill, and a stepover of 5% to 7%, I can forgo the roughing pass and just carve the seat going back and forth starting at the rear and working side to side, and ending along the front edge. That way you start with a very light cut and get progressively deeper.

Just hit it with a 120 grit disk in a random orbital and you are good to go!

[Ajcoholic]

Andrew - I am still interested in your method. If you could still help out, it would be greatly appreciated.

Brad did this help you at all?

[blackhawk]

Andrew - Yes, I think that I have it. Great write up! I read your post twice through and in about 15 minutes created one of my own. Take a look below and see if it looks OK to you.