Welcome and Great looking couch, now for the complaint, where are the progress/build pictures.    Very nice work, how many hours did it take you to complete?

Hi Kieth,
Welcome. I'm new around here myself. You have made something as beautiful as it is timeless.
I live in a 1910 California craftsman bungalow and have built most of the  new cabinetry in Cherry. I much prefer it to oak and think your choice suits the Stickley design well.
Any primers on upholstery in the future would be appreciated.
Roger

Keith -

Do not sell yourself short.  This a beautiful piece of furniture that I am sure anyone would be proud to have in their homes and even more so if they built it from the design on up as you did.

I just finished a coffee table in solid cherry.  I finshed it with a clear Danish Oil, rubbed out garnet shellac, and a dark brown wax.  My first experience with cherry and I am pretty happy with it.  Until now, my woodworking did not deserve more than poplar.

Good luck with your future projects and I hope we get to see them.

Neill

Thanks everyone for the comments!!   

Steve-CO, I'm not sure exactly how many hours, but I'd guess maybe 80-120?  I'm not always the speediest guy in the world.  As far as progress pictures--I do have a few, but it didn't actually occur to me to document the process until I was about 75% done.

Roger, as far as the upholstery, I did fabric stretched around a frame as opposed to separate cushions which is *much* easier than sewing.  I actually can sew and have done a few cushions (Morris chair and some for my patio furniture) but didn't relish doing it on this scale.  So for the seat, I started with a single frame the size of the cushion made out of 3/4" thick by 2" wide white oak.  I then stretched strips of 2" rubberized elastic webbing in a basket weave across both directions of the frame with 3" between each strip to make a spring bed for the cushion.  The webbing comes in a 100' roll, so you just cut off strips the length you want, then you press mounting clips onto each end.  To attach them to the frame I cut a dado 1/8" wide (blade kerf) and 1/4" deep along all four side of the frame which will receive the mounting clip.  Ok, I'm not explaining this very well, so I will try to take some pictures and post again later. 

Once the frame was done, I added a piece of 6" thick high density foam and then three layers of 1" batting.  This makes for a fairly firm seat.  I then took my upholstery fabric, cut it to size and lined up the pattern so it was even and running parallel to the frame and then carefully turned the whole thing over so the bottom of the frame was facing up.  I then started attaching the fabric to the bottom of the frame by first stapling along the front rail, stopping about 8" from each end.  With the fabric now secure on the front, I started stretching the fabric at the back of the cushion until it is taught (basically pull as hard as you can) and then staple it to the underside of the back rail.  I started stapling in the center and worked toward either end, putting in a few staples then looking to see everything is straight and consistent, then repeating until done.  If something doesn't look right you pull out the staples and start over.  All that pulling on the fabric is a real forearm workout--believe me!  If I had it to do over again, I would have gotten a helper to either pull or operate the gun--doing both by myself was an essay in frustration.  Once the front and back are done you repeat with the side, once again leaving 8" or so on each end.  When that's done you have to do the corners.  This requires trimming away most of the excess fabric and then tucking the remaining back towards the center until you get a crease which looks good.  To be honest its almost impossible to explain, but actually pretty simple to do--you just play around with it until you get something you like, then you cut off the excess material and start stapling.  The back and end cushions are basically the same process, except even simpler because you just use a piece of 1/2 ply for the backing instead of the frame and webbing.  The one difference with the back cushions is since you want them to be triangular shaped you have to start with 3" foam and build the cushion in four layers.  To cut the foam, I just used my bandsaw--cuts like butter.  The first layer is eight inches wide, the second 6, third 4 and the top 2.  I then tilted the table on my bandsaw to the angle I needed and cut the bevel on the edge of each piece so that when they are stacked the edges all line up.  So if you look at the stack on end it forms a right triangle with the hypotenuse being the bevels (this will be the surface your back rests against when sitting on the couch).

Looking back over my explanation, I'm not sure it makes sense.  If anyone would like further details just let me know.

Great job, I love the cherry, and the color of fabric you used. I'd be proud to set my butt in that couch!!!!