This chair is built using Honduran mahogany that is at least 50 years old that I purchased from a millwork and furniture shop in Norwood that was going out of business. I bought every scrap I could afford, and I used most of my stash to build the projects in “Campaign Furniture.”
The rest, I have decided, I will use to make stick chairs. I probably have enough wood for four or five more chairs. (Note that most true mahogany today is illegally harvested. If you are interested in working with it, I recommend you seek out old stock or recycle it from broken or discarded antiques.)
About the Chair
Because I don’t have a lot of thick mahogany, the seat is thin (about 1”) and the leg tenons are reinforced with battens below the seat that are attached with sliding dovetails. This makes the chair lighter in weight and in appearance. The seat is a single board of 16”-wide mahogany.
The seat is 16” off the floor, and the chair is set up for dining or office work. The seat is tilted 4°, and the back is tilted 14° off the seat. The overall height of the chair is 39-1/2”, with an overall width of 22-1/2” and depth of 22”. The splayed-out back sticks provide plenty of shoulder support. This is a quite comfortable chair.
All the joints are assembled with hide glue (that we make here). This means the chair will be easy to repair in the far-off future as the glue is reversible. The finish is blonde shellac with a coat of black wax.
All the through-tenons in the undercarriage and arms are left slightly proud. They add texture (and a little strength) but they won’t snag your hands. I polished them and slightly rounded them over so they feel like a river pebble. All the short sticks are wedged into the arm above and below in the seat.
It might seem odd to make a folk chair from mahogany, but it is historically appropriate. Many seaside villages would build their furniture from cargo that washed up after shipwrecks (even though that was illegal to do).
How to Buy the Chair
I’m selling the chair via a silent auction. Crating and shipping are included in your price. As this is a private auction, there is no dealer fee. Your bid is what you pay to acquire the chair and have it shipped to you.
Bids start at $500. My chairs typically sell at auction for anywhere from $1,200 to $5,000, with most of them ending up in the $2,500 range.
If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday, Aug 23. Please use the subject line: “Comb Back” In the email please include your:
- Bid
- U.S. shipping address
- Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
If you have the highest bid, we will notify you. Alternatively, the chair can be picked up at our storefront. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.)
— Christopher Schwarz
A really beautiful chair!
That is stunning!
I would take every bit of furniture out of the room to just let this chair have center stage. What a stunner.
Beautiful chair and excellent craftsmanship.
The stretcher tenon is perfectly centered in the flat on the leg. Something I struggle with, if off even a hair it looks bad. Any tips on keeping the mortise centered?
I don’t always get it perfect. But I’m getting better with practice. I know some friends who stretch rubber bands between the two legs to keep the drill centered. Have you tried that?
Tried rubber bands and got close. I think the key word is practice….off to build another chair.
Gorgeous.
How are you rounding over the tops of the tenons, especially on the armbow of late. You’ve shown before using a scorp to give a faceted look, and I’ve done that on the hands of the armbow and like it but any time I’ve tried to round them over like above I end up dinging the surrounding armbow (card scraper) or making a small shallow on it (random orbit sander) and just cut them flush. Love the wider back spindles, really nice profile.
I cut them off with a thin piece of plastic as a spacer (I had a plastic file organizer that was begging to be cut up). That gets them about 1/16″ proud. Then I round them off with sandpaper stuck to a stick (basically an emery board). Then I polished them by rubbing them with a hard wood. It sounds time-consuming, but it’s quick.
That’s beautiful chair, beautiful detail work with the light wedges.
Thank you, Thayer!
Gorgeous! Dark, single-species parts really compliment the chair’s form. Much like what a nice coat of paint accomplices on a visually ‘louder’ multi-species mix of paler parts, but you still get to admire the natural wood too.
Are the battens glued in place or just friction fit into the slots and then pinned down by the legs going through?
When I knocked them in they were so tight that I didn’t bother to glue them.
Beautiful chair, Mr. Schwarz! How does the mahogany compare to the common ring porous woods you use for strength in the undercarriage parts?
I could look it up (and I will). But the hammer test approves. You do have to watch the grain. Some mahogany is swirly as all get out.
Beautiful!
It looks like there are felt pads on the bottom of the legs? If they are there I don’t recall seeing them mentioned in any of the many chair videos or book chapters I’ve read.
I have written about them before. Here you go: https://blog.lostartpress.com/2020/11/24/2020-anarchists-gift-guide-day-7-wool-blend-furniture-pads/
Two years ago, I think, I had purchased about twice as much Honduran Mahogany to make that classic 3 sided Limbert bookcase (I’m backed up on projects but likely I there in 2025). I had spent a lot of time internally debating if I liked cherry or this mahogany more as a wood. After you mentioned most of it is greenwashed and harvested illegally, I am much more likely to use cherry for other furniture. Doesn’t mean I won’t ever use mahogany but more likely to do like you state above. Plus, cherry costs significantly less.
I don’t know why, but I really like the thin seat with the sliding dovetail battens! I guess it’s probably because I’m European 🙂 Beautiful chair!
I really like that detail too. It really lightens up the chair and just seems “right” to me.
Chris,
I think this is my favorite chair of the ones you’ve built and posted. Please consider putting it or another just like it in an upcoming issue of “The Stick Chair Journal”. If I had the money I’d place a bid high enough to ensure I won the auction. I like it that much.
Thanks! Hammer test rules over all, I suppose!