Aspen Settle
Building the settle…
The chair
A lodge armchair from the pile
The Aspen Settle is a saddle-notched lodge armchair built entirely from the logs in the yard: white-bark aspen for the frame, the two standing rounds as front legs, the knotted foreground log as the top rail, and the dark brush pile as X-braces.
Semi-debarked so plates of lunar bark remain, antiqued with iron acetate, then sealed satin for Colorado weather.
Measure
Overall
- Width
- 28 in
- Depth
- 30 in
- Height
- 38 in
- Seat height
- 17 in
- Seat
- 22 × 20 in
- Arm height
- 23 in
- Back rake
- 9°
- Pieces
- 23
Joints
How it holds
Saddle notch
Arms into front legs and rear posts. Depth about one-third the arm diameter. The joint should look like the log was always that shape.
Through-mortise and peg
Stretchers and back rails pass through the posts. Wedge aspen pegs from the show face. No metal visible.
Hidden lag backup
Colorado freeze–thaw will work a green joint. Drive 5/16 in lags from the inside of each leg into the stretcher, filled and oiled over.
Half-lap braces
The dark X-braces cross with a half-lap, pegged at all four ends. They are structural and the only dark bark on the chair.