One of the things that was very vague in the article I based my Morris Chair design on was the mechanism for holding the back up in three positions. From the measured drawing it appeared that it was just three 3/8” notches in the arm that the cross bar sat in to hold it. I was skeptical but I built it that way. I was not happy with how it performed, as soon as pressure from the back was on the bar it would roll backward and try to come up out of the notch putting pressure on the very edge of it. I knew it was just a matter of time before that thin sliver of wood would give way.

I came up with an alternative design that guarantees that the bar can’t roll backward. It consists of a 3/8” dowel through the bar and through a hole in the arm parallel to the notches on both arms. I used a nice oak dowel and finished the top side so it blends in nicely with the finish. I drilled the holes in the arms 1/64” inch larger than 3/8” so they slide in easily but don’t rock or come out.

Now with both the notches and the dowels holding the bar it is solid as can be and I think it looks good too.

One of the nice things about making stuff yourself is that you are empowered to fix them when they have problems.