Morris Chair Pegs

The back of the Morris Chair pivots on a pair of wooden pegs to allow the back to be adjustable. Another pair of pegs that are stuck into holes in the armrests set the position of the chair back. These pegs would be very simple to turn on a lathe. Since I don't have a lathe I make them up using different sizes (1", 5/8") of dowel and the drill press.

First I clamp down a scrap 2x4 to the drill press table and drill a 1" diameter hole about 1" deep into the 2x4. Without moving the 2x4, I insert a 2" section of the 1" dowel, then drill a 5/8" hole 1" deep into the 1" dowel. Using the hole in the 2x4 to hold the dowel in place ensures that the 5/8" hole will be centered in the 1" dowel.

The 5/8" dowel needs to be sanded down a little to fit into the 5/8" hole in the dowel and the matching 5/8" holes that are on the chair. (I should probably have invested in a 21/32" drill bit). So I load the 5/8" dowel pieces into the drill press, turn it on and use some 80 grit paper to sand them a little thinner. Checking and recheck to ensure the proper fit, then some further sanding to 120 to smooth them out. Since that sanding is against the grain, I removed the dowel from the drill press and sanded with the grain to clean it up.

The 5/8" dowel are then glued into the 1" dowel, and you can see the result above. The peg can now be chucked into the drill press to round over the edges.

Again I use 80 grit to round over the edges, the clean it up with 120. Removing the peg from the drill press I sand with the grain using 120 and 220 grit.

On the chair, the only visible part of the peg is the large diameter dowel. Below you can see the final product on the chair.