Finishing the bow

 Now, the bow needs to be rounded (it was made into half an octagon back before bending), smoothed, and have its face flattened. Then tenons are cut into its ends, and it gets fitted to the chair.

The bent wood has actually relaxed to the point where the string is limp - this is good

The facets made before bending get faired into a smooth shape

The face gets smoothed and flattened

With a drawknife, I cut a small 5/8" tenon for the tenon cutter to align with

Clamped in the bench vise horizontally - tenon cutter ready to go

I use a bit and brace for this as it seems easier for me this way than with a power drill

Tenons cut

Testing the fit in the seat

Cut the tenon shoulders using a simple little jig and the flush cut saw

Pare to the line with a sharp chisel

Mostly fitted - these still need a small adjustment

This all goes pretty quickly, and it's exciting to see the chair really coming together. The last thing to do is to scrape the decorative beads into the face of the bow. Like the gutter at the back of the chair these serve no purpose other than aesthetics. I think they look very nice, and add an interesting detail to the flat face of the bow.

The bead cutter

A holdfast helps clamp the bow and the raking light makes it easier to see what's happening

You get a really nice little bead from this simple tool