One of the (many) barriers to making staked furniture or chairs is wrapping your head around the compound-angle geometry. And then figuring out how to execute it at the bench.
The new Crucible Chairpanzee ($16 plus shipping) does the trigonometry for you, allowing you to translate rake and splay into sightlines (which create your layout lines) and resultant angles (which is the setting of your sliding bevel).
This allows you to easily design new pieces of furniture with compound angles and to replicate angles from existing pieces of furniture from photos.
The Chairpanzee is a clever sliding calculator that is printed and assembled in the United States. Here’s how we use the Chairpanzee on a chair design (though it can be used for tables, stools or any other piece of staked furniture).
To calculate the “sightline:”
1. On the underside of the seat, draw a line connecting the two front leg mortises (as shown above). This is the baseline.
2. Move the calculator’s slider to the desired splay angle in the top window.
3. Next to the lower window, select the desired rake angle. The number shown in the adjacent window is the sightline angle.
4. Draw the sightline angle on the underside of the seat using a protractor. The 0° on the protractor should be directly on your baseline.
5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for the rear legs.
To calculate the “resultant:”
6. Confirm that the calculator’s slider is set to the desired splay angle in the top window.
7. Next to the lower window, select the desired rake angle. The number shown in the adjacent window is the resultant angle.
8. Set your sliding bevel tool to the resultant angle and place it directly on the sightline on the underside of the seat.
9. Drill your mortise. Keep the drill bit perfectly parallel to the blade of the sliding bevel.
The Chairpanzee is available for immediate shipment. We hope that some of our retailers will also carry this product for our international customers.
In the coming week I’ll post a video that shows how it’s used.
— Christopher Schwarz
Available in the UK?
“We hope that some of our retailers will also carry this product for our international customers.”
Classic Hand Tools in the UK is our supplier in the UK. I can’t speak for whether they will carry it. I hope so.
The Chairpanzee is available for immediate shipment. We hope that some of our retailers will also carry this product for our international customers.
Sorry, mate (for now). 🙁
Looks like an interesting product. One possible improvement suggestion would be to have a bevel gauge line print on the back side, so it functions as an all-in-one tool for the process. (I realize this competes with an existing product, but would be useful nonetheless)
Both faces of the Chairpanzee are printed. One is the sightline calculator. The other face is the resultant calculator. So no room for any extras, I’m afraid.
Hey When I just purchased this the shipping method that was cheapest was called Chairpanzee, does this mean a real chimpanzee will be delivering it?
I guess you’ll find out!
Thank you again Chris. I’ll be ordering one soon. I’ve been building staked / live edge furniture lately and have to go back and re-read your book to refresh the process in my mind each time I start a new piece. This will save me a bunch of time.
Cool! I will patiently wait for it to show up at my local LV store.
Yes, please. A video would be welcome.
Chris, this is stroke of genius. My wife teaches HS trig, but this is better. In some ways.
I like the old-school sliding calculators. And they are fun to use.
It would be helpful to have a shipping cost “calculator “ on your ordering web site.
I just ordered mine. GREAT IDEA on making the video! Looking forward to both.
Thank you for this and all your other products and books.
Greg