Six Chairs in Alaskan Yellow Cedar

Three of the six chairs getting some sun.

I have built this chair design a couple times before, but I had wanted to challenge myself to build a full set of six matching chairs for some time.  Finding 60 board feet of clear, straight grained Alaskan yellow cedar triggered the impulse dive in.  Fabrication was a combination of straight line milling and CNC augmented techniques, detailed to distraction in a companion build blog here.  I found the cedar to be relatively easy to work, but it needed extra care to prevent blow outs.  It also helps to have really sharp chisels. 

It took a lot of experimenting on scrap pieces to teach the CNC to incise the delicate inlay patterns on curved surfaces, and for me to learn how to pour bubble-free epoxy into the resulting 1/16” wide grooves.  (Maybe next time I will inlay wood instead.)  

The finish is three coats of hand rubbed shellac to seal the grain, followed by three coats of hand rubbed Minwax Tung oil varnish. The varnish adds a slight yellow tint to the cedar that actually enhances the look of the wood. Overall I am pleased with the results.