Another Danish Modern Chair #7: Test Lacing

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There were a couple things I wanted to verify before the final glue-up:

  • Could I keep the paracord lacing tight enough so that it would support a person's weight without sagging.  With a woven cushion support, there would be no question.  But I wasn't sure about single-direction strands.
  • Would the cord anchors on the underside of the seat stretcher hold when the cord was under tension, or would they snap off.  I wasn't worried about the ones on the front and rear stretchers since they were more beefy.  I did make a test board to try to break them, but I couldn't.   But there's nothing like a real life test.
  • Would the side stretchers support the weight transferred from the seat stretcher without complaint.  The side stretchers are only 5/8" thick.

Before dry-fitting the chair again, I did glue the floating tenons into the seat stretcher and let that dry.  I didn't want a failure where too much weight blew-out the wall of stretcher mortise.  I dry fit the remainder of the floating tenons for the test. 

With the chair back together, I placed some clamps on the critical joints and began lacing.  This started with making a stopper knot at the end of the paracord and pressing it in to its recess on the back side of the front stretcher.   From there, it's just back and forth between front, seat, and rear stretcher until I reach the other side.  I used the paracord that I had leftover from an earlier chair build (not currently on Craftisian).



I thought that looping the cord over the anchor on the underside of the seat frame would require tipping the chair to its side so that I could see what I was doing.  It turned out that I was able to do it by feel alone, which saved some time.  Still, it probably took 45 minutes to complete the lacing.  It will probably go quicker the next time.





The underside of the seat stretcher.  I did need to go back and fully seat the loops after the lacing was complete.



Finally, a sit test with cushions borrowed from the last set of deck chairs.



The chair took my weight without complaint - no creaks or snaps.  The tension on the paracord lacing was just fine.  There was some spring to it without feeling like it was sagging.  The seat angle is comfortable, but with the high front edge (about 18" to the top of the cushion), it might not be comfortable for shorter people.  A couple options would be to cut down all of the legs an inch or drop the front stretcher, which I'm not crazy about doing.  I think I'll try a 2" cushion first, rather than the 3" test cushion.

The armrests are up next.
That looks so cool it's a shame there isn't such a thing as transparent cushions to expose the lacing.
You get a good view from the back, but I forgot to take a photo.  
Nice Ross, the lacing looks really good. After seeing your process it all makes since, not threading the paracord through all of the holes, slick idea. 

Main Street to the Mountains