kindofyoung
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Been a few months so time for another update in here. Started my new bachelors this fall so it's been some very busy months with not much time for personal projects, but it's a lot of fun and feels really good to be back in Stockholm.
First of I've been doing some more BW photography, experimenting with large scale landscape and panorama images that could be printed 2-3meters long in quite good resolution.
But more appropriate to this thread and what is normally posted here, is my latest school project which we just wrapped up with an exhibition.
One of the most well-known courses here at Konstfack is called Plankan, in which the first year students of Interior Architecture are given a single plank of pine with the dimensions 950x120x50mm (~37x5x2"), to create a sittable chair (with a back) in one week. If you get a plank with a crack or some knots you just have to deal with it, and likewise if you mess up then you'll just have to figure it out and adapt.
First of I've been doing some more BW photography, experimenting with large scale landscape and panorama images that could be printed 2-3meters long in quite good resolution.
But more appropriate to this thread and what is normally posted here, is my latest school project which we just wrapped up with an exhibition.
One of the most well-known courses here at Konstfack is called Plankan, in which the first year students of Interior Architecture are given a single plank of pine with the dimensions 950x120x50mm (~37x5x2"), to create a sittable chair (with a back) in one week. If you get a plank with a crack or some knots you just have to deal with it, and likewise if you mess up then you'll just have to figure it out and adapt.
I started sketching on the chair a few days before we got access to the workshop, and came up with a concept about using the Festool Domino (fancy proprietary handheld router/dowel system) as my construction method, showcasing them as visible tenons rather than hiding them internally.
After that there was a whole bunch of iterating and sketching, but the main takeaways could be shortened as:
- Experimenting with splitting up and re-attaching wood for improved strength.
- Steambending pine? Not really a wood you'd usually go for, but seemed doable
- No additional/external materials other than the given plank.
Once I was happy with the design there wasn't any time to lose, so the first step was to split the plank into 8mm thin wood strips that I'd use for all components, so that I could get the piece that I'd steambend (for a curved back rest) into water as quickly as possible.
I left the piece submerged for 2 days to saturate it as much as possible, steamed it for 20mins, and lastly had about a 2 minute window to get it into its template and bend it to the right shape before it would cool down and stiffen again. I wasn't sure how much springback there would be so I opted for a much smaller diameter than I needed, which I could then stretch out with a heat gun. As it turns out it there wasn't much springback to speak of, so for future iteration I won't need to bend it as small, but everything worked out regardless.
After that there was a whole bunch of iterating and sketching, but the main takeaways could be shortened as:
- Experimenting with splitting up and re-attaching wood for improved strength.
- Steambending pine? Not really a wood you'd usually go for, but seemed doable
- No additional/external materials other than the given plank.
Once I was happy with the design there wasn't any time to lose, so the first step was to split the plank into 8mm thin wood strips that I'd use for all components, so that I could get the piece that I'd steambend (for a curved back rest) into water as quickly as possible.
I left the piece submerged for 2 days to saturate it as much as possible, steamed it for 20mins, and lastly had about a 2 minute window to get it into its template and bend it to the right shape before it would cool down and stiffen again. I wasn't sure how much springback there would be so I opted for a much smaller diameter than I needed, which I could then stretch out with a heat gun. As it turns out it there wasn't much springback to speak of, so for future iteration I won't need to bend it as small, but everything worked out regardless.
While the water, steaming and drying was doing its thing I was busy at work processing the rest of my pieces, with some adaptations such as milling all the holes with a big ol table mill rather than the Festool since I couldn't get enough planks at 21mm height, so I had to adjust the holes to 19mm.
But aside from some rushed milling not leading to the kind of precision I had originally hoped for, it all worked out pretty well and by that Friday I was able to put together all my pieces (although not yet glued) and sit on the chair. With no braces and no glue it was understandably not very stable, but I was still pleasantly surprised at just how strong it turned out once glued, despite the lack of cross-braces or other reinforcement between its legs.
But aside from some rushed milling not leading to the kind of precision I had originally hoped for, it all worked out pretty well and by that Friday I was able to put together all my pieces (although not yet glued) and sit on the chair. With no braces and no glue it was understandably not very stable, but I was still pleasantly surprised at just how strong it turned out once glued, despite the lack of cross-braces or other reinforcement between its legs.
So finally and without further ado, here's the finished end result which I'm really proud of.
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