I’ve just completed an American Welsh Stick Chair in ash that is available for sale for $900 plus shipping (free delivery within 100 miles of Cincinnati). Sorry the chair has sold.
The chair is a variation on my typical chair. This one has an entirely new rake and splay to the legs – pushing up against the limits of the form. To compensate, the seat is thicker than usual (it started at 2-1/4” thick to take full advantage of the tapered tenons, which are 2-1/4” long). All of the joinery in this chair has been compressed for an incredibly tight fit (read more about that here). All the joints are put together with hide glue, which means this chair can be easily repaired long into the future should anything go wrong.
Also, I omitted two of the short sticks to add some negative space adjacent to the back sticks.
The seat is 17” from the floor (that’s 1” lower than modern chairs and far more comfortable in my opinion). The crest is 22” up from the seat deck. And the seat has been tilted back so this chair is ideal for relaxing, as opposed to keyboarding and dining (though you can use it for all those things). The chair is built for a maximum weight of 225 lbs.
The wood is special. It’s local ash that is heavily streaked with minerals. Brendan said it looks like desert camouflage. (So, be careful if you take this chair to the desert – you might lose track of it.)
The finish is a shop-made basecoat of linseed oil and natural-resin varnish. Then it is topped with organic beeswax.
We ship these chairs via LTL anywhere in the country. Usually the shipping charge is $200 or less, depending on where you live.
If you would like to buy this chair, send me a message through my website. I’m happy to answer any questions, but the first person to say “I’ll take it,” gets it.
— Christopher Schwarz
A lovely chair, Chris! Call me crazy but the first thing that the undercarriage reminded me off was Chris Williams (minus the stretchers).
Huh. I’ll have to check it against my chair from Chris. I designed it on the fly while demonstrating at the Minnesota Woodworker’s Guild.
I suspect I could be the first to say ‘I’ll take it’ and still not get it — I am in Finland, how’s your international shipping (none if memory serves me well…)?
This is not a complaint, but I could not resist being a pendant. I am a horrible person.
I am assuming that the weight limitation is due to the new rake and splay?
I think the chair could stand more. But I just feel better putting a number on it. It’s what I tell everyone when I sell a chair without stretchers.
This is one of them ones. I love it. Well done on all the details, and that ash is ridiculous. Holy smokes.
Beautiful chair. The wood is incredible. To be honest it is so nice it takes my eye away from the chair’s shape.
How did you come up with the weight limit? I’m guessing you built a similar chair and had larger and larger people sit on it until it collapsed and then recorded the max weight; this is how they measure bridge weight limits right?
Every respectable chair manufactory “employs” a certain number of Oompa Loompas. They are added to new chair designs to test structural integrity.
Chair durability and stability are still tested by shop cats.
I set it based on watching hundreds of people sit in my chairs during the last 16 years. Plus a knowledge of the particular material in each chair. Zero science. It’s a gut feeling.
I love it, Chris! That negative space is what really does it for me. It adds a ton of interestingness, lightness and elegance. I wonder how far one could go with that, aka how many short sticks could be removed before the arm becomes to weak and it looks weird.
It was awesome watching you build this and learning about the style. Thanks for being the guest speaker at the Minnesota Woodworkers Guild seminar. It was great to see you again!
Thank you, Peggy, for the beer and the hospitality! It was a great weekend.
Shit dude. That’s nice.
“The seat is 17” from the floor (that’s 1” lower than modern chairs and far more comfortable in my opinion).”
That’s interesting. I’m now sitting on an industrially made stick chair (surprisingly decent looking & good proportions to my eye, but the shape of the turnings are … shall we say uninspired?) that I nabbed on it’s way to the skip. What is it they say about the shoemakers children again ?
Anyhow …. after using it for a while I decided to shorten the legs a bit. And then a bit more. And then some.
I’m 177 cm / 5’11” and the seat is down to 37,5 cm / 15”.
It looks ridiculous but I like it. It’s my chair.
I haven’t made a chair since the pair I made at ‘trade-school’ (I don’t know what the English equivalent name would be) but I’ve had the hankering to several times up through the years. Finding this blog certainly reignited that spark. Maybe someone, who’s actually been a very good boy this year, gets a small beginners lathe from himself this Christmas ? Now, that is a thought !
Merry Christmas to you all !
from a Norwegian Møbelsnekker
You might find this helpful.
https://www.core77.com/posts/90066/Rethinking-Chair-Comfort?utm_source=core77&utm_medium=from_title
Helpful indeed.
Interesting place, this.
I’ll be hanging around.
Thanks.