Holding It Together

 Most all the spindles in my chairs are split and wedged, which holds them a lot more securely than glue can alone, especially as the pieces move in response to humidity changes.  At the bottom of the spindle, where it goes into the seat, it is a blind hole, meaning that the hole does not go all the way thru, hence blind.  As a result, the end is super dried down to 2-3% moisture content, and when this end is hammered into the 12-14% m.c. seat, along with glue, the end will never come apart.  ( I picked a green chair because.....St. Paddy's Day! )

 But on the top end of the spindle, the fit can't be that tight, or else you'd never get the rail or bow on.  It's hard enough when it's a little loose!  So the top end, seen here, the fit is a little loose, and the joint is tightened with a wedge.
The legs are the same deal, dried, split and wedged, which fills in any little gaps and in effect clamps the joint together.

 Here you can see how the wedges can be used for a decorative effect on a chair that is not painted, as on the arm on a sack back bench.  You can't see from this shot, but on the bottom side of the arm, where the bow protrudes out the bottom side, that end is also split and wedged, and then left fat.  This prevents the bow end from being pulled back thru the arm, which is what you need.  This is a very tricky joint, and while some builders will taper the bottom side and then taper the end of the bow, I prefer to run the end more or less straight, which allows me to fine tune the height of the bow.  This is one of those times when looks are more important, and by making the ends straight, I can simply slide the bow end in and out until the height is sweet.  Then I wedge the tops of the long spindles, and then finally the end of the bow.  This way the bow is held firm and after the end is wedged, the bow is secure.

 I love this shot,  shows the arm stump top and the hand, which contrast beautifully against the walnut wedge.  The arm is ash and the stump is sugar maple.  Hey, speaking of which, the sap ran pretty good today, got about twenty gallons, start cooking over the weekend, can't wait.

This shows how the leg joint goes together, wedge ( 6 degrees ) shaped from the bottom, split on top, and then wedged from the top.  You can clearly see how tight this gets, and because of the tapered hole the glue doesn't get scraped off when you put the leg in.  Add to that the moisture content difference, and this is one chair that the legs won't loosen up on, unlike factory chairs.