Build-Your-Own Bow Arm Morris Chair Plan - American Furniture Design

I built this chair a couple of years back, using this set of plans, and it turned out beautifully. Of course, I am a seasoned woodworker, and my experience helped in a couple of places such as fabricating the quadrilinear legs, but a newbie could easily scoot by using laminated legs and still have a chair the kids will fight over down the road. As you can see in the photo, my completed chair looks just like the one in the plans picture. Expect to spend about a hundred hours fabricating, assembling, and finishing the chair. These plans are a great starting point for building this classic chair!

The overall design of this Morris chair is great. Classical lines, robust dimensions, a fun chair to build. However the plans are a lazy. Key information is such as tenon size are missing. The plans come on one poster-size sheet showing the assembled chair from several angles. There is no exploded view and critical measurements are not shown. The booklet of instructions spends far too much time on three techniques and skips step-by-step details that a novice or intermediate woodworker needs. I also purchased plans from Fine Woodworking. They are much better, but, in my opinion the overall appearance of this chair is superior. These plans are good for an experienced woodworker looking for a sharp Morris chair.

As a essentially novice wood worker I thought spending 20 dollars for plans would be a help. What you get is one sheet of paper with the plans...the accompanying booklet is a collection of generic woodworking tips. Other plans give you access to online videos...not this one. You can do just as well at your public library. And their customer service stinks

I am a total beginner so the plans are a bit frightening but i expected that and it doesn't make them bad. On the contrary, they look very full with a big fold out plan that looks very helpful and a comprehensive manuel / booklet on what to do. When i can get someone to help me understand the whole thing i'm sure they will be great.

So, I have plans in PDFs from woodworking sites. They're all a bit confusing to me; I go through them a few times, and eventually mostly figure out what's going on.This isn't a PDF. This isn't 8.5x11". This is a wall-sized poster showing me exactly how to build the damn chair, with an attached instruction book printed on 8.5x11. The poster - if it wasn't folded and creased - would be high enough quality you wouldn't feel silly framing the damn thing.Awesome. Worth every penny. Will order more plans from these guys in the future. Thank you!)

built the footstool. It turned out great.first time with mortise and tenon jointery.

I purchased these Bow Arm Morris Chair w/Footstool Plans and discovered a significant flaw in the measurements of the plan. This flaw caused me about 11 hours of additional work to fix after I discovered it. The width of the chair back as depicted on the plan is composed of the width of both of the chair back sides (1-5/8” each) plus the width of the chair back slats (20-3/4”). The total is 24” (1-5/8” + 1-5/8” + 20-3/4” = 24”). The problem is that 24” is about ½” too wide to fit between the arms of the chair when assembled as instructed according to the plans. To fix this, the chair slats should only be 20" wide instead of 20-3/4" wide as depicted on the plans. I had to rebuild the chair back from scratch.

I have spent months looking for a detailed plan for construction of a morris chair. This plan has everything you could need. The detailed drawings and easy to follow directions make this chair a simple step by step process. The plan also provides directions on how to make the needed jigs required for making the legs and also seat construction. Its the only plan available that covers every aspect of building this chair.If this was not enough to make you want to buy this plan the people at American Furniture Design are great with any questions you may have. Since ordering the plan i have email them with serveral questions about construction and within hours i had a detailed answer to all my questions.Excellent plan and great customer service.