For Sale: Painted Stick Chair in Oak

This six-stick comb-back is a significant step forward for me. While I would never call my chairs “Welsh” (I am but 2 percent Welsh and live in Kentucky), this chair is the most Welsh of the chairs I’ve made to date.

What’s different? Mostly the wood for the arms and the comb. The oak’s grain follows the curve of the arm and the comb. While many Welsh chairs would use a curved branch to obtain this curved grain, I used oak from a trunk that had grown incredibly curved. This required a lot of careful cutting and a lot of waste. But I am pleased with the result.

Also Welsh-ish: the color. During my visits to Wales I saw traditional cottages with the doors and woodwork painted red. I am sure I don’t have the correct shade, but it is close to my memory. Plus, I have left many of the tenons slightly proud and burnished them smooth.

The chair is one of the four shown during the filming of our new video about how to build stick chairs, so you will see your chair a few times as it comes together in the background of the video. 

I am selling this chair for $1,700 via a random drawing. The price is a little higher than usual because of all the waste – plus the involved finishing process. Instructions on purchasing the chair can be found near the bottom of this blog entry. Here are some more details about its design and construction.

This particular chair is set up for general use. The back is fairly upright at 12° off the seat. And the seat tilts at 4°, giving the chair an overall tilt of 16°. The seat is 16-3/4” off the floor to accommodate both short and tall sitters, and the chair is 39” high overall. 

All the straight components of this chair were sawn or split out to be as strong as possible. The arms are made from four pieces of red oak. All of the chair’s major joints were assembled using hide glue, so repairs in the (far) future will be easy. 

The chair’s finish was a multi-day process. First, the entire chair was burnished with a chainmail pot scrubber (a detail I learned from John Porritt’s “The Belligerent Finisher”). Then I applied three coats of acrylic paint. Finally, I applied a coat of black wax to fill the pores and mellow the bright red paint.

How to Purchase This Chair

This chair is being sold via a drawing. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Monday, Sept. 5. In the email please use the subject line “Chair Sale” and include your:

• First name and last name
• U.S. shipping address
• Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)

After all the emails have arrived on Sept. 5, we will pick a winner that evening.

If you are the “winner,” the chair can be picked up at our storefront for free. Or we can ship it to you via common carrier. The crate is included in the price of the chair. Shipping a chair usually costs about $175 to $300, depending on your location. (I’m sorry but we cannot ship it outside the U.S.)

— Christopher Schwarz