First step is cleaning things up with a hand plane to get things flat, square, and smooth. I was starting with big box store cedar so I didn’t have to do too terribly much.

I ripped the tapers for the back and clamped them together so they can be planed even with my No. 5 jack.

I marked out for the back tennons referencing the square face I had cut before tapering. Hopefully this makes the mortise a simple square hole that is easier to fit. A magnetic saw guide really helped me keep things square.

First full mortise. Not too horrible, but I’m glad I gave myself a good shoulder line all around to hide  my less than perfect edges.

Tennon was touched up with my rabbiting block plane. It’s great for those last tiny adjustments but a router a la Paul sellers is way better at getting things strait, the plane just makes it flatter and thinner.

Base is done! 

For my next set I made a guide block to try to help me chisel strait. My chisel kept wanting to twist.

First dry fits! 

Unfortunately I lost a couple pics of doing the through mortises and wedging them. I used the block plane to chamfer the edges. The last trick to a level chair that doesn’t rock is to sit it on a flat surface and scribe the legs to the surface using dividers or using some scrap ply to evenly mark a level line all around to cut to final height. Cushions are courtesy of my better half.