Quarter-Sawn White Oak Mission Sofa

sprague lake, estes park, colorado, 09.19.2004

Quarter-Sawn White Oak Mission Sofa A co-worker asked me if I would be interested in building this mission sofa for her, which she had already purchased the plans. I looked them over and realized this project had over 200 pieces and would be a lot of work. I was correct about the amount of work, but it was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. Someone else is doing the upholstery. I will add final pictures when that is completed.
I got some really nice quater-sawn white oak from George in Glenwood Iowa.
I wanted all four sides of the legs to show quarter-sawn grain. Here is the end-grain to show how this was done.
I used a mortising attachment on my drill press to make the mortises. While this worked well, I decided that a dedicated mortiser was in my near future.
This shows one of the completed sides.
Clamping the sides to the long rails was a little tricky.
Here is the sofa sanded and ready for finishing.
The first step in finishing was Lockwood American walnut water-based dye mixed 1 lb. in 8 gals.
Then I applied a coat of 1.5# blonde shellac (sealcoat) sanded lightly with 400 followed by Varathane mission brown oil-based stain as a glaze.
To complete the finishing I applied three wiped-on coats of Waterlox Original Sealer/Finish. After that, I applied a final coat of original and satin in a 50/50 mixture to knock down the sheen.
The walnut square plugs weren't part of the plan but i thought they would add a nice touch. They were left a bit proud.
This picture really shows off the figure of the quarter-sawn white oak.
I wanted the back to look good in case the sofa was not against a wall.
Here is a shot showing off a leg and corbell.
A view from the side.
Here it is after getting upholstered.