Making the Brass Cross Ties...

Click here for some photos of the fabrication of the brass knuckle for the center of the cross ties between the legs.  Also, a test of the strength of a mock up of the wood nub, to which the cross ties will attach.  The nub held fine with the weight of my tool box, even when I bounced it up and down.  But, when I applied a very small bending force to the nub, it snapped right off.  I am sure this is a property of the Afromosia, and will not be a problem with other wood species.  To complete this first chair, however, I decided to run the rods deep into meat of the leg, rather than simply into the protruding nubs.  The last photo shows the ball with one rod fitted and a terminus at the opposite end.  This terminus is too elaborate, and I will replace the knurled nut with an acorn nut, with a 1/4" hole drilled through it's crown to allow the rod to pass through.  The nut will retain the large, thick brash washer at the end, finishing the round end of the wood nub.  The edgers of the washer and the nub will be sanded together for a perfect fit.  A fine point on the ball is that in order to assemble the cross between the legs, I have made one hole in each direction with a reverse thread, and a mating thread on the end of the rod it receives.  This will allow me to twist the rod with one revers thread to shorten the length of the whole assembly, so that I can get it between the rigid legs, and then twist the rod the other way to lengthen it again, and position the ball correctly in space, before backing the apposing rod into it's normally threaded hole.