I'm making some chairs, turned legs (made a router copier following a template on the lathe, cos I'm fastidious and lazy) bolted to a laminated seat ring, to further the laziness I want to try a 3 legged version, has anyone sat in one of these, was it stable?
Often on a 3 legged chair with an array of equal height legs the breadth seems widened for stability (PK11) but not on this.
The biography links on the furniture index are a really interesting read, who knew?
Stability?
I was always under the impression that 3-legged chairs were inherently stable, which is why you find so many (e.g.) African stools with three legs (because they can't guarantee an entirely horizontal surface for the stool to rest on). We've all experienced that wobbly 4-legged chair or table in an outdoor cafe- it rests on three legs, but you can never get all four on the ground at the same time. Whereas it's impossible for a chair to rest on just two legs, right? All 3 have to be on the ground at the same time. Or am I misinformed?
Been thinking on this questio...
Been thinking on this question. Never seen this Thonet chair much less sat in it.
But I do believe you are right that there is a tendency to give such a three legged chair a wider stance up front.
In the pk11, I think there is also a trick going on whereby the seating position is also further forward that it looks like, meaning the sitter's hips are closer than expected to the more laterally stable front. I thin this is visible in the below photo.
Also I've often seen the rear leg on 3-legged chairs made to be quite broad. (eg Arne Hovmand Olsen designed on like this)
Another
Here's a three leg type (identified by parafo as a circa 1960 Pigreco chairs by Tobia Scarpa for Gavina) with a double-wide third leg and lots of hip width in the front. These are VERY stable.
http://www.designaddict.com/design_addict/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/th...
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