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Woodworking with Mark Singer
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Teak Sofa for Ed... by Mark
Singer
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Well, a while ago I
mentioned that my friend Ed ordered a sofa...
The lumber came today
and it is about 150 bf of Burmese Teak... here goes my knives!
It is in the rough and looks like beautiful wood!
Straight, dry and plane sliced with some cathedrals ...but mostly
straight grained.
It is running $15 a BF
and was a special order from an old friend of Ed's , Paul
Badger, master window and door maker. Ed is a fellow
Architect and really liked the Schindler sofa designed for the
Kings Road House.
This is a linear
design and is not all that comfortable. I am making some design
changes to improve the joinery....eliminate the awkward miters
and try to make it a little more comfortable... I asked
him to design something and I would build it... I even designed
a more organic, raked sofa...but, this is what Ed wanted...
Design by my friend Ed.
Q. Why, oh why, would anyone
knowingly create an uncomfortable sofa?
Q. WAY deep! Is the recipient
an, um...large stature person with very long upper legs? Or
do they prefer sitting with their legs curled under them?
(The reason kids are fine with day-beds) I'm looking
forward to this project, Mark. Maybe some "electronic
prototypes" in SketchUp! might be in order to sift through
the possibilities for the ideas you have to work with the
design while still improving on it functionally. You,
after-all, have an expert available! (And she's really good
at it...)
I met with Ed and I
have revised the design for more comfort... Here is what I
propose.
On this type of sofa
extra cushions will change the depth and comfort... The extra
depth will allow it to be used as a sleeper also. You can
lift your legs up and support the entire leg on the sofa which
is comfortable. I can't rake the seat since the design is
in keeping the horizontal elements parallel to the ground.
It is proportionately a lot like the sofa I made which we use
daily and is very comfortable... see the insert below.
| My sofa and
thoughts on joinery
In reading John Piwaron question about "loose tenon"
vs. normal tenon joinery.
I think there are times
where each is the best choice. In the attached
photos of a recent Padauk sofa I made, I used both
methods. The back support was way too large to
run through the tenoning jig and while I could have
cut the tenon with a tenon saw or router, it was
more accurate to make 1 jig for 2 tenons and move it
from the backrest to the sides (arms).
The legs and the
stretchers I made in the traditional fashion, where
the tenon is an integral part of the stretcher.
In both cases it resulted in tight clean joints of
equal strength.
One photo shows the
jigs used for loose tenon construction and a piece
of tenon stock which I made on the router table to
match the radius of the mortise. (as Jim Becker
stated)
In my visits to Sam
Maloof's studio or my friend and master woodworker
Randy Bader, I saw their walls cover with templates.
The templates allow them to quickly duplicate or
modify previous designs. They have refined
these over the years to improve on already great
work.
All of this falls well
within the realm of fine woodworking.
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The joinery will be a
mix... mortise and tenon for most joints. Hand cut
dovetails on the double arms... - 4 total. Splines for arm
splices... loose tenons for splices. It is nice to have
hand and machine joinery options.
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