Chair leg mortise reamer

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I am diving head first into the world of chair making. I have wanted to make a windsor (ish) chair for many years so I'm just gonna go for it. I looked all over for this style reamer and they are on the expensive side of things just for an experiment in chair making. So, I just decided to make my own. This one is admittedly sort of crude but it works great! The body and handle are poplar (not the best choice i know) but I wasn't sure i could actually pull this off. The blade is from an old saw plate i used to make card scrapers. I will be making the tennon cutting rig next using an old plane iron. 

Jerry-Holland Mi

13 Comments

Neat! Can’t wait to see the chair! MYbe do a blog series on it as you go??

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

I was thinking about starting a blog to keep track of my progress. I will probably do that

Jerry-Holland Mi

That is neat, never heard of one before. I'll be following that blog.

Main Street to the Mountains

Cool,  you'll have to show it in use..

Figuring out how to do something you have never done is what makes a good challenge.

go for it man,good luck !!!!

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Looks like a serviceable reamer! Looking forward to seeing the results.

May you have the day you deserve!

Thanks everyone. I will take some pictures when I start making holes

Jerry-Holland Mi

Very cool.  How is the blade attached?  

--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.

Just with friction in a slot. It self centers when reaming

Jerry-Holland Mi

Oh that's cool! I saw your forum there and now you really get on it. Nice!

No name noobie here

Thanks! I moved over here and haven't updated anything over there since. I started a blog on here about the chair project if you are interested 

Jerry-Holland Mi

 I like the reamer and have been wanting to do the same. Do you have any dimensions for it? Any wisdom that you found from making it? Thank you for any advice you might like to share.
I can get you some dimensions next time I'm in the shop. I'll try to remember lol. This one is made from a chunk of large poplar dowel I had laying around and when using the narrow end of it on the back tapers it caught and cracked the tip. So next time I will use harder wood like maple or something.  I also sharpened both sides of the scraper. Some only sharpen one side. Both seem to work ok. With this design you get about 3 or 4 turns and then have to stop to clean out the chips/shavings.  Thats not a terrible thing at all and only takes a second. 

Jerry-Holland Mi