A Classic Settee

I have built a handful of settees in my life but only a few like the one I will start today. Follow along and I will attempt to capture what is involved in building a six foot long, ten legged settee with a triple back. There is nothing difficult in designing this piece I just stretch a sackback chair and add a crest on top. I'll try not to bore you with too many details. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

I start with an 8 foot long log and split down an arm piece. 95.5'' long for the arm and 97'' long for the back. 

 Here is the arm mounted to the bench to help lay out the details.

 I will carve knuckles on this arm later after bending and drying. I don't glue a piece but leave the knuckle solid.

 This shows the arm roughed out and ready for the steamer. Very awkward working pieces this long.

 Here is my beautiful steamer. 8 ft long pvc with a wood block strapped to keep the tube from bending. This runs on only one wallpaper steamer and did fantastic. I left it in about 50 minutes.

 My bending form for the arm with the arm successfully bent. Notice that I modified it to use the same form for 4 foot settees. Hey, plywood is expensive.

 Next is a mass spindle splitting party. 45 spindles total including 25 thirty inchers, 12 twenty-four inchers, and 8 twelve inchers.

 The party continues inside on the horse roughing out square. This took me to closing time today. I'll continue rough shaping the spindles to get them ready for the kiln in the morning. Stay tuned.

 Here are the stools that Logan and I finished the other night. I think they turned out great and so fast. Good job Logan!