Pair of Walnut Chippendale Chairs - Part 3

I am beginning to work on the details. Below I am feathering out the side rails in the rear so they meet the rear leg flush.

Carving the ball and claw feet on the two front legs as well as smoothing and shaping the cabriolet leg.

Using a small router to remove the material at the top of the leg for the seat recess.  The other rabbets on the side rails where completed on a router  table.  The rabbet was 3/4 of an inch deep.

Carving the  rounded edge on the front of the leg to match the round over on the side and front rails.

Using a file here to shape the side of the rear leg to match the ears on the crest rail.

The front and back of the legs have to meet the crest rail perfectly.

Beginning to shape and carve the crest rail.  There is a lot of work here to be done with rasps and files since the shoulders of the crest rail have to be rounded over and feathered so that they look thin at the top. I think you can see that the shell is rounded over to the back before carving begins.

This photo shows a little better just how much must be removed from the crest rail so that it just flows from the bottom to the back edge.  You can see the line below where the round over will stop.

The shell is carved below.

Starting to carve the ears, there are veloutes to be carved on the outsides of the ears. You can see all of the rough marks from the rasps.  This will be cleaned up later.

Adding the veloutes to the outside of the ears on the crest rail.

Crest rail and feet shaped and carved. The arms have only been put up temporary, these will be shaped and carved later.

Time to glue up the frame.

In the next installment I will work on the shoe and the back splat.
That's it for today.