Lost Art Press

Now Available: ‘Make a Gibson Chair’

Posted on by Lost Art Press
A Gibson chair in black cherry.

The Irish Gibson chair is a feat of ingenuity, simplicity and geometry. Its radical angles and spare construction suggest it is an odd place to sit. But everyone who has sat in one will tell you this: It is remarkably comfortable.

I first encountered Gibson chairs through my research on vernacular furniture. And I wondered the same thing. How could this chair be sittable? So I spent a year recreating a Gibson chair with the help of hundreds of photographs and a few books.

My cheap copy sat remarkably well, and it altered the gears in my head when it comes to chair geometry. Intrigued, I went to Ireland in 2019 and studied a lot of Gibson chairs, including some beautiful ones in the collection of Mark Jenkinson. Then I came home and started building lots of Gibsons, fueled by my hands-on experience with the chairs.

I made some changes to suit the way I work and the way I look at chairs. I make no claims that my chairs are “authentic” (stupid word, that). But I understand the chair and have made quite a few to earn that understanding.

A cheap construction laser can save you hours of layout.

This year I decided to make a video on how I build these chairs. Gibsons are quite unlike the other stick chairs I make. And I have devised novel ways to use cheap lasers to make your life easier when building them (meaning you don’t have to build a lot of complicated jigs).

Megan and I spent a lot of May 2023 filming the process, condensing it into a video that:

  1. Will not waste your time. I dislike prattling on and on in a video. I tried to make this video 100 percent meat – no gristle.
  2. Will show you how to build the chair and avoid common pitfalls. I have made a lot of mistakes while figuring out the Gibson. I am happy to show you my scars and detours.
  3. Is somewhat enjoyable to watch. In our video there are cats, self-deprecating jokes, the breaking of the fourth wall and other small amusements that will, I hope, keep you awake.
  4. Has the information you need. The video comes with all the patterns (hand-drawn by me) and cutting lists and sources so you will get up to speed quickly.

This chair is a good first chair. Yes, it’s a bit angular. But you can do it. You just have to commit.

We are releasing this 3-hour video today with the introductory price of $50. That includes all the videos and all the drawings and patterns. All free of DRM (Digital Rights Management) so you can put the video on your laptop, iPad, phone and desktop with no restrictions.

You can read more about it here and order it if you like. After June 18, the price will be $75 forever.

— Christopher Schwarz

53 thoughts on “Now Available: ‘Make a Gibson Chair’”

  1. Is there going to be a book? I much prefer them to videos. The Gibson is my favorite stick chair, I first saw a picture of one in Drew Langsner’s writings years ago.

      1. I was hoping you would do an operetta about making a chair, or potentially an oratorio if you feel ambitious. I know a great accompanist who could help with the musical arrangement.

  2. That is a really good-looking chair. Nice to see it in cherry, since that’s usually available in wide boards around here.

    1. No lathe work whatsoever. The legs and are shaped with a jack plane and block plane. The tenons are cut with a cordless drill and a plug/tenon cutter. The only machine I use in the video is a band saw.

  6. Good looking chair. Is it more for drinking and talking or drinking and reading?

  7. Does it mention tools needed toward the beginning? I like to make sure i have all the tools and bits etc before starting a project of possible.

    1. The Irish call this a “kitchen chair,” so it is used for eating – in Ireland. And guests use it for eating at times in our house. A comb-back holds you more upright. I’ll post a photo of what people look like when they are sitting in it in the product description in a few minutes. It’s not a dentist’s chair.

    2. You can beef up the thickness of the seat and the diameter of the legs to compensate for heavier sitters. I cover this process in The Stick Chair Book.

  11. I’m interested in this and the stick chair video, though I missed out on the introductory price for the latter. Is there any chance you will offer a chair video bundle at some point, or will these always remain individually offered?

  12. This is a great chair. I built one after seeing Chris’ at LAP. It’s the most popular chair in our home. Not going to lie… my wife hated it while I built it and now she claims it as hers. I hope a Gibson Chair book comes soon after this video.

  14. I like it already. Due to many back surgeries (to many rodeos) most chairs don’t fit my shape and can be painful (sob) but this chair shows promise. Back sticks seem to be arranged such that they would miss sensitive areas of this old back. I’m ordering today.
    Thanks Chris.

      1. Strange. There’s a lot more room reverb than in your other videos. I wonder if maybe the phone mic’s audio somehow got mixed in. Anyway, it’s not a problem. It’s perfectly intelligible, just different.

        Here’s my favorite mic story: When our band was recording our second album we splurged on an AKG-414 mic. One of the other Steves and I did some test recordings with it and we were really disappointed with the sound. Until we figured out we were singing into the backside of the mic.

        1. Haha. I just did some tests with our equipment. Both lavs are working. Both sets of transmitters and receivers are working.

          BUT…. we have two cables that connect the receiver to the video camera. And one of them is dead. And that’s the one we used. So it used the on-board mic. We didn’t catch it because we haven’t done a video in ages. The audio didn’t sound quite as good as I remembered. But it was coming through the receiver great.

          I just threw away the cable. If anyone has real trouble with the audio, let me know. Apologies.

          1. Damn cables! I’m sorry that happened to you. Bad cables are so frustrating. We saw a band last month with a favorite guitarist I knew from back in my Sacramento music scene days. He was having a lot of sound problems and ended up throwing his guitar as hard as he could. It bounced off his amp and hit the stone wall behind it. It turned out to be a cable issue but his poor guitar paid the price.

  17. Is there an issue with the store right now? When I click on checkout, it gives me an error and says to try back later.

    2. Andy, just seen your post, I recently had an issue with purchasing something online, I contacted the company who said try a different browser, subsequently that resolved the issue, have you tried that ?

      1. Yes, that is actually what worked for me. I kept getting errors on the safari browser on my laptop, but on my phone it worked fine. Thanks for the suggestion.

  18. Any chance of a short video dedicated to just showing snippets illustrating the various uses of the green laser level in chair construction?

  20. Just bought it and starting to watch. Is it as short as it looks in the intro? Looks like your knees would be in your chin….

    1. It looks exactly like that in person too. But then you sit in it and it’s more comfortable than you could believe. And I’m 6’2”. I’ve been anxiously waiting for this video. Ever since I was in Covington last September I’ve been wanting to sit in one of these again.

  21. Hi Chris, just started watching, I saw you use a pencil gauge for the saddle, something with rollers for curves, I’ve been looking for one like that, do you know the maker?

    1. Chris was the maker. I copied the below from an earlier Open Wire:

      “Take any marking gauge. Drill a hole in the beam so it will accept a pencil. Then nail a couple half-dowels to the face of the gauge. Voila!

      “The gauge is used for marking lines off of a curved or straight edge – think the line of mortises in the seat for the spindles. Or the limits of the saddling. Or the centerline on the arm for mortises.”

      And here’s a link to a suitable wooden gauge for the task: https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/marking-and-measuring/marking-gauges/32623-beech-marking-gauge?item=35N0605&utm_source=free_google_shopping&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=shopping_feed&gclid=CjwKCAjw36GjBhAkEiwAKwIWyZ87bPrStiO27by–BAY_ueBXgKClFpVSYMoYa_phzJ0OKLTrxqo6hoC6zwQAvD_BwE

      Put the half dowels on the side w/out the brass strips, and you have two gauges in one.

  22. I must admit I have never thought of building chairs, all those angles, compound at that, turned spindles, yuk, I have however after following your LAP posts and the American Peasant changed my mind, not quite sure but it has become appealing, it springs to mind that every so often I digress from the norm (for me anyway) and enter a different area of my interests, ie from making square chests, cabinets and tables to most recently chairs and a long time ago renovation of machinery, all are linked and have an element of making, designing and art. My background is engineering, apprenticeship in design of electro mechanical equipment and latterly Automotive parts design.
    One other thing, in your post you mention that the plans for the Gibson chair are $50, rising to $75 ‘forever’, do you never raise your prices ? what about the gradual increase due to inflation ?

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