Futon/Couch

Index

Futon/couch: I pretty much followed the same procedure outlined with my earlier Mission-style futon/couch though the slat-design on the end pieces differed. The wood this time was African mahogany (pic 1). Windsor Plywood had stacks of the stuff, very rough sawn, about 1-1/4" thick, about 42" long. It was easy enough to plane the boards to an inch, then cut out all the smaller pieces. I couldn't find any efficient way to cut the 14 seat and 14 back slats though; plans called for 1/2" thick and 22" and 25" long, and any cutting from the original boards would have left a lot of waste. So I bought long 1x3 Honduran mahogany boards for those. Plans also called for six long boards -- the seat and back rails and a pair of leg stretchers, all over 70 inches in length. My friend Mike McMullen's son Michael suggested I rip one-inch strips to create these boards. I made a jig (pic 2) with which I could cut tapered ends, leaving about 6" surfaces for gluing the strips end-to-end (pic 3). These were then glued side-by-side, with joints at varying locations, to form the 3" wide boards to any length (pic 4). Progress was slow since a lot of time was taken up simply waiting for glue to dry during this operation (two days for each board). My friend Michael Flaherty had given me a piece of purpelheart (which I had never worked before). From this I cut the central arm slats and arm supports (pic 6). The legs were 1/4" too short. I was going to just ignore that, but I was able to fashion "feet" for the legs from the purpleheart. I used pocket holes to secure the seat and back slats. I used dowels to join the legs to the rails, the arms to the leg structures, and the purpleheart feet to the legs. I didn't use any stain; the finish was the same Jel'd Kote satin finish I used before. The futon came into our upstairs office/guest room March 23.

Futon/couch: I pretty much followed the same procedure outlined with my earlier Mission-style futon/couch though the slat-design on the end pieces differed. The wood this time was African mahogany (pic 1). Windsor Plywood had stacks of the stuff, very rough sawn, about 1-1/4" thick, about 42" long. It was easy enough to plane the boards to an inch, then cut out all the smaller pieces. I couldn't find any efficient way to cut the 14 seat and 14 back slats though; plans called for 1/2" thick and 22" and 25" long, and any cutting from the original boards would have left a lot of waste. So I bought long 1x3 Honduran mahogany boards for those. Plans also called for six long boards -- the seat and back rails and a pair of leg stretchers, all over 70 inches in length. My friend Mike McMullen's son Michael suggested I rip one-inch strips to create these boards. I made a jig (pic 2) with which I could cut tapered ends, leaving about 6" surfaces for gluing the strips end-to-end (pic 3). These were then glued side-by-side, with joints at varying locations, to form the 3" wide boards to any length (pic 4). Progress was slow since a lot of time was taken up simply waiting for glue to dry during this operation (two days for each board). My friend Michael Flaherty had given me a piece of purpelheart (which I had never worked before). From this I cut the central arm slats and arm supports (pic 6). The legs were 1/4" too short. I was going to just ignore that, but I was able to fashion "feet" for the legs from the purpleheart. I used pocket holes to secure the seat and back slats. I used dowels to join the legs to the rails, the arms to the leg structures, and the purpleheart feet to the legs. I didn't use any stain; the finish was the same Jel'd Kote satin finish I used before. The futon came into our upstairs office/guest room March 23.