Quick update on last week’s silent auction. It ended Saturday, the winner was notified and the chair will be on its way to him tonight (I hope).
Several of you asked what the winning bid was. We’re going to remain silent, as this was a silent auction. Plus we don’t want to drive up the price of my chairs. I will say that the winning bid was higher than my typical price for a chair (so apologies to the guy who bid $50; you were not close).
Speaking of chairs: If you are coming to our open day this Saturday, I will have a couple Irish prototype chairs for sale for $500, cash and carry, as-is where-is etc. If the chairs don’t sell on Saturday, I’ll do a raffle here on the blog.
The open day is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 11, at our storefront at 837 Willard St., Covington, KY 41011.
We will have tools and books for sale during the day. We will be give away free Lost Art Press pencils and yardsticks. Plus we will have some blemished tools, books and apparel for sale for 50 percent off (cash only on blems).
And do ask to see the clock. Most of you will like the clock.
See you Saturday.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. We ask that visitors to our storefront be vaccinated against COVID. We won’t check vaccination cards; it’s the honor system.
Would it be okay to drink from your water fountain if we aren’t vaxed?
We don’t have a water fountain. So….
Sorry I won’t be there but if anyone is interested in my “Fancy” shave horse or Totem, I’ve put pictures of them in a folder and sent to LAP. Ask to see. Enjoy.
Gorgeous chair! Lucky winner!!
Chris – I’m really enjoying the new book! Thanks, as always, for such clear and compelling prose.
In comparing some of the designs in the book to your chair photos on Instagram and Twitter over the past few years, I realized that I have lost track of how certain designs evolved and were changed throughout your R&D process.
If it wouldn’t be too much hassle, I’d love a blog post with photos of the prototypes you built and discarded en route to a final design. (Or maybe you’ve already written a few posts like that which I’m missing in the blog search?)
Alternatively: riffing on the Family Tree and Edwin Skul” posters, perhaps you could put together a digital collage of the designs that weren’t ultimately included in the book.
Hi Brian,
I’ll give it some thought, but the answer might be a second book (The Making of The Stick Chair Book).
But here’s the short answer:
The two Irish-y chairs are based off examples I saw in Ireland. I took those forms and added more rake and splay to the legs. I refined the two forms until they sat as well as possible with the internal rules I set forth for each chair (for example: the green chair could have no curves and no saddling).
The lowback is essentially the chair from The Anarchist’s Design Book with a backrest and undercarriage added on. That’s a simplified explanation, but it is really close to the story.
The six-stick comb-back is based on all the comb-backs I’ve made since 2003. Just gradual changes. Like erosion.
The chair with the bent arm is loosely based on the Scottish Darvel. But I have walked about 100 steps away from the old examples to make something that is neither old or new. I first built this form about five years ago and have been refining it since.
I didn’t photograph all the chairs in the journey. Many were built in a couple days, sat in and then destroyed or given away.
If I think of a better way to explain it, I’ll post something.
Thank you, Chris. This brief summary is awesome!
Over the past few years, I recall several posts that illustrate the evolution of a given style, or the design aspects you appraised while examining a historical example. I think readers could learn more from a post that illustrates your design process. (This summary comes pretty close, just lacking the visuals.)
Part of this is a kind of spatial time-warp experience I’m having while reading the book. After reading something that sounds particularly insightful, I’m drawn to look back for additional examples on the blog and Instagram. It looks like your design process wasn’t always linear — i.e. you’d experiment back-and-forth with some details (the rake angle, spindle spacing, undercarriage height) until the final chair looked and felt right. Perhaps I’m just squinting too hard at the photos! But I sense there is a process behind the chaos.
Thanks again for writing such a great book. And its excited to see LAP rolling out new Crucible tools and designs!
I was vacationing with my family in the Cincinnati area on the day before your open house. I told my wife that I WILL be stopping at the LAP storefront. I am sorry to have missed the open house but it was at least a delight to have gawked through the window (hopefully in a respectful-non-creepy way. Who can say?)
Thanks for your presence in the woodworking community. I appreciate all the blood sweat and tears you have put into your work. Maybe I’ll be able to meet you and shake your hand another day. Thank you!