The Lund Chair

After my last series of posts regarding the furniture of the Codex Amiatinus, I found myself on a prolonged woodwork kick. Our group still needed camp gear and my lovely fiance, who had the misfortune of a car accident when she was younger, expressed that she would like a seat with a back of some kind due to back issues; I knew the perfect chair.

After using modern screws and hinges on the last project to make them collapsible, I decided on no modern fixtures at all on this one.

The original find was only the back of the chair, discovered in Lund, Sweden and dated to 1000-1050AD. It lacked the whole front end, but the holes in the rear give a pretty good idea of it's construction. I based my concept on the museum reconstruction piece, but decided against the woven seat in favor of something solid.




Like the original, which was found fully constructed, the back is all one solid piece-- while the original was made with trenails in this section, I preferred mine glued together. The front two legs are as glued well. The side pieces are 1" diameter which fit into the holes, after which a 3/8" trenail is pounded into an intersecting hole, securing them in place; this is the method used in the original to secure the back together, and as such is a reasonable method for securing the legs. I'll be sealing the piece with linseed oil, the most similar finish to what we know was used. The slats in the back were much thinner on the original-- but I need this to be practical, and if those break, they will be very difficult to replace!

I'm really pleased with this piece, and, more importantly, so is my fiancé! A throne fit for a queen. 

[[Please ignore the old toilet in the background, that is a totally different unrelated chair... Prepping for our upcoming event has left me no time to take scenic, flattering photos, so the picture in my driveway in front of the house currently under renovation will have to do!]]