Patrick Melchior’s Viking Chairs

A viking chair has a fighting chance at being considered the easiest style chair to make (see what I did there?). For those who don’t know, a viking chair is nothing more than two boards that interlock to form a chair. The seat board is typically the “peg” that fits into a hole in the back board. As simple as the concept is you can get pretty creative with the design process. That’s what Patrick did here. He made a couple chairs with some interesting details and learned a few new skills along the way. Patrick writes:

Hello Jay,

I was asked by a co-worker to build his girlfriend a Viking chair with a Celtic knot ( TRIQUETRA). I told him I never have carved in wood before but I would be willing to give it a try. I have built one other viking chair out of cedar. I chose cedar for its durability outdoors. I started out with a 4x4x8 and 4x4x10 cedar lumber. I re-sawed the and glued them up into slabs, one for the seat and one for the back. I then used my domino jointer to assembly the seat and back, probably over kill but what the heck. I learned how to cut a circle for my router on the bandsaw. I was totally impressed by how fast I was able to cut a circle. patrick viking chair (2)Once the circle was cut I laid the template in place and begin clearing out the background and the areas in the knot.

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Once the routing was done, I grabbed my chisels, watched a YouTube video on how to carve knots and went for it. The cedar carves nicely and smells amazing…

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Now that the carving is done, I grabbed my Dremel and a diamond ball mill and stippled the background to enhance the carving. A bit of sanding and rounding over the edges on the router table, and the the Lady Ellen Viking Chair is almost done. I did add a feature to this chair that I did not have on the first chair and that is a bracket to store the seat when not in use or if you need to transport it. The cedar is soft and shows some dents and dings, but that just adds to the charm.
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Overall I am pleased with the chair. If and when I do an other, I would approach the knot a little differently. I would pay attention more to the “over under” portions, but overall it looks carved by hand.

I call the chair the Lady Ellen Viking Chair because her name is Ellen and thought it to be fitting…. It gives the chair some “swag.”

I have included a link to my woodworking page on Facebook, Dragonfly Woodworking where the build album is posted along with 4 videos, one of which I set the chair up and enjoy it.

Best Regards,

Patrick Melchior

Dragonfly Woodworking

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There are a lot of satisfying feelings you get from woodworking. Not only was he able to make a really nice gift for a friend but he was able to learn a few new tricks along the way. Great job Patrick. What do you all think of his viking chairs? They definately give me the urge to make one…or six!

 


 

3 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks Jay for the post. I hope the new shop is working out for you.

    Patrick Melchior
    Dragonfly Woodworking

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