African Mahogany Chaise

[RogerF]

About a decade ago my girlfriend and I were sitting on a wide chaise at this cool hotel in Mexico and she asked if I could make one when we got home. I sketched it and did as I was asked. Tweaked the design and  made a new template as three more were ordered by clients.
Recently another was ordered for a beach house in Manhattan Beach, California, where I had built an unusual staircase. This time I had some Festools and water based finishes to speed up the process. The latter is a mixed blessing. Of the Festools, the Domino was most effective.Here the cross beams are dry fitted to the center stringer.[attachimg=1] I used sanded dominos for easy disassembly and used Sipo dominoes for final.
The sides are attached.[attachimg=2] These were rough cut with a jig saw and shaped by OF 1400 around an MDF template.
In the past these indents were attached with screws and plugs. Now they are marked by pencil, referenced with the Domino fence and attached in a couple of minutes.[attachimg=3]
The ends are rounded over with a plane, sander and finally by hand.
The sanded frame is sprayed with water based garnet shellac to pop the grain and help achieve the deep color of an oil based varnish and top coated with Target Coatings hydrolyzed water based varnish.[attachimg=4]

 

[RogerF]

This product dries in minutes and can be re-coated in one hour. With good marine varnish I could only get one coat a day and with all the flipping to get all the sides this would stretch on for weeks![attachimg=1]
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[RogerF]

I chose wide boards with nice figure to rip for the slats. Nice figure translated into major tension in the wood and near death experience with the table saw. Having seen the riving knife on my TS 55 I will be getting a table saw with the same feature soon. The slats were first finished on three sides, then screwed, plugged, sanded and finished on the tops while attached to the frame.
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[RogerF]

The finish worked well and is a better approximation of good varnish than I have seen in water based before. It must be sprayed, I always got brush marks by hand. The feel is different, more like teflon than soft varnish. It didn't pop the end grain very well. Here is a comparison between a Dutch varnish and this project , both on African Mahogany. Note the end grain on the slats.
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So long as you don't put both side by side the water based looks great. Speed, ease of clean up, environmentally safe means I will recommend it.

 

[jaegerhund]

Great work!.  The finish looks really nice ---- do you have any idea how well this finish will hold up to the environment?

Justin

 

[RogerF]

Justin,
Time will tell! I have a cover for mine. In this case it will be protected from dew and direct rain but not sun. It must also repel a lot of particulate matter from a nearby power plant and oil refinery!

 

[rjfarel]

Lounge is very nice, but I also like the clamping slots in the assembly table!

 

[ROb McGilp]

Excellent!! Love African Mahogany!

Regards,

Rob

 

[Overtime]

Beautiful design and work. Love em.
Do they get custom Sunbrella cushions ?  ;D Hate to cover that woodwork.

 

[RogerF]

Thank you Rob, RJ and Patrick.
Patrick your question was spot on as it has been a quite a dilemma. The client has ordered a custom sunbrella pad. I was suggesting a sunbrella cover. She said a pad would do both. I know she is only trying to appease me though, as she can't leave a white pad outside there with the aforementioned particulate problem. I'm sure it will come out only for use. But hey!- makes for a good science project as we watch the deterioration of the finish ;-)
Happy Thanksgiving to my FOG friends.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Roger,

Great job.  I've been using Target coatings for a little over a year now, but none of my projects are intended to sit outside or be exposed to full sun.  I note the techical information for their sanding sealer states that it contains UV inhibitors and is suitable for exterior use.  I'm applying it over WB shellac applied over stain to help keep the stain from fading due to sunlight.

I note in the photos that the wood of the deck seems to be in quite good condition, not faded due to sunlight and air pollutants.  What is that deck wood and what finish, if any, is on it?

Dave R.

 

[toolbee]

Nice Project! Turned out super, thanks for sharing.

 

[jpb]

The lounge looks great!  I've been searching for some decent plans, do you have plans for the lounge?

Thanks
jim

 

[RogerF]

Dave,
I used Ipe (pronounced E-pay) for the deck and sealed it with Cabots Australian Timber Oil. The finish has barely survived. It gets soaked with dew every day, the salt from the surf a few yards away and the aforementioned dust is harsh. The Ipe, however, will last. At least the chair is under a roof where it sits. If it were mine I would sand and recoat it when necessary as the Target products dry so fast it would be a fairly painless task. I will be delivering the pad next week and will see what a month has done to the finish. I have an Ipe deck at home that is a few miles inland and the finish lasts about six months. I rent a square pad floor sander from HD and sand it with 80 grit. 400 SF takes about an hour and a fresh coat of oil after vacuuming about another three. Ipe is so hard that the sander just removes the oxidation.

Jim,
I only have a template for the sides, no plans. I can tell you that it is about 7' long and 46" wide. The frame is 8/4 and the slats 4/4

 

[bruegf]

I have several hundred board feet of Burmese teak that would be great for projects like this if anyone is interested.

Fred

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Thanks, Roger, for explaining in detail how to finish/refinish Ipe.  It appears that no one makes a finish for wood that lasts long in your environment.

Dave R.

 

[Dan Clermont]

That is gorgeous!!!

I sure wish you had a set of plans as I would buy them.

Dan Clermont

 

[KM]

Very Impressive Roger! love the combination of the sappelle with the ipe. I second Dan and would love to see any plans. might have to put something like this on my "to do" list.
Ken