The Project.

Initially I thought the round part of that shown in Fig 1.had to be of such a size to fit over my lathe bed. First mistake as I could have

swivelled my lathe head round but it just didn’t dawn on me at the time. Duh! I started by working out the outer and inner

circumference and the number of pieces of timber required. Of course, this could vary depending on material available and size you

would like the finished article to be.

I then drew the whole thing out on paper calculating angles, thickness of timber and so forth. To cut the angles accurately I used a

manual (“handraulic”) version of a chop saw and carefully cut the pieces of timber to size. All the joints between the angles were made

using a biscuit cutter, gluing the biscuits in place and clamping the hexagon shape until the glue had cured; making sure the whole thing

was glued in a flat plain.

Mounting onto the Lathe.

To turn the outer circumference I firstly cut the sharp edges off the hexagon using a band saw but, how was I going to mount the open

piece on the lathe, centrally?

I found a roundel of melamine with an internal dovetail I had used for another project. This was big mistake which I will explain later.

The holes required to facilitate the cane/rattan needed to be 4mm in diameter and 12mm apart, marked out as in Fig 6.

Prior to drilling the holes I needed to establish where the legs would go in relation to the joints. I used the drawing I had

created to form an equilateral triangle out of cardboard. Having cut the triangle to shape I placed this on the ring and

marked the centres using the points of the triangle. See Fig7.

Why three legs and not four? An object with three legs wont wobble. Fitting four legs increases the accuracy element in

trying to keep it level thereby cutting out any wobble.

Now the legs. I turned three legs out of oak and rounded the foot. Again, this is easier than an angled flat foot to suit the

angle of the leg. I estimated the angle of each leg to be about 7 degrees but with hindsight it could have been 10 degrees

or slightly more.

To drill the holes for the legs I tilted my pedestal drill bed but used the ‘LEVEL App’ on my phone for a more accurate reading.

The topography of your workshop floor should be considered when making these calculations. That is to say make sure your

pedestal drill is level. The hobbyist/cheaper versions of pedestal drills and bandsaws have crude angle escutcheon rings and

shouldn’t be relied upon.

Three holes were drilled, using a Forstner bit of a size I had available, only half of the thickness of the top. I made the top

part of each leg a diameter to fit the hole.

I glued each leg in place but also pinned them from inside.

Once the legs had been fitted I stained and polished the top. The legs had been polished during production.

Now to create the top using the rattan. It had been some time since I had done any of this and I experienced a couple of

infuriating false starts. Fortunately I had a guide, ‘Cane Seating’ by Barbara Maynard (ISBN 1-89997-113-0) to help me on the

way. The end result being that at Fig 1.

What went well:

I was very pleased with the final product but should have used a better quality top. The design, from scratch, which is

imperative on an exercise like this. Being able to use a whole host of skills learned over the years and of course turning

skills learned from the Kennet and Avon Wood Turners.

What didn’t go well:

Using an internal dovetail with chipboard or Melamine. DON’T DO IT! I used scrap pine for the top where a more substantial

hard wood would have been much better. The design for the diameter of the top should have been bigger with cane work in

mind. Because of the small diameter it became very crowded during stages five and six (the final stages) of the weaving.

Recommendations:

If anyone is interested in the canework aspect I recommend that a hands-on course is sought from a professional. Its not

something that can be demonstrated.