If you have a woodworking question, now is your chance to ask it! Post it in the comments below between now and 5 p.m. Eastern and will do out best to answer everyone (in between working on chairs and a dovetailed blanket chest).
– Fitz
p.s. We’ll announce 2025 Open Wire dates soon…if you think we should keep doing it? NB: We’re thinking about charging for every question that has a word count of more than 50 😉
Good Morning.
I need to ream a hole on the underside of the armbow on a 7 stick chair. Does Chris apply any “English” to move the hole or just enlarge it. I was thinking of leaving the arm in place and mounting the reamer in a right angle short brace or ratchet handle to keep an eye on the upper hole and not making it into an oval. Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Les
If you shortened the workbench from the AWB to say 7’, would you shorten the distance between the legs to compensate or shorten the distance from the legs to the bench edge?
Hi, Chris. I’m making a version of your Irish stick chair featured in Fine Woodworking and am looking for tips for positioning the arm over the seat for drilling. How far forward of the front of the seat should the arm be to establish the 25 degree back angle, and is the arm tangent to the front corner of the seat? Once the front is set, should the rear arm mortise just align vertically with the corresponding seat mortise as viewed from the front? Thanks.
I am currently building a dining table of my own design. I am building the base in a timber frame design with large dovetails on each of the end assemblies out of southern yellow pine. There will be a stretcher out of walnut and the tabletop is walnut as well. I am going to paint pine part of the base black. I used 4×4’s for the legs and 2×8’s for the dovetailed boards in the base. I have seen this joint used in timber framed structures as well as a half dovetailed version in old log homes. How prevalent was this joint used in the past and was it ever used much in furniture?
Can armless stick chairs be made just by omitting the arms off a regular stick chair or am I just over simplifying it?
Bibbings & Hensby have a couple. The comb is a bit unique, but I have built a few with a standard Windsor comb and omitted the larger diameter outside sticks as they did and they seem comfortable and strong. I have made them with a D shaped seat and a simplified shield seat. Both look nice.
In response to your question, please do keep doing Open Wire in 2025. The information is priceless. Maybe AI could help put together an index for it, even.
Terrific idea about autobuilding an index.
I’ve been slowly stocking up on southern yellow pine to build a workbench. Unfortunately my last trip to the local Home Depot (Cold Spring, KY) all the construction lumber was now fir. Are you seeing the same thing in other parts of greater Cincinnati?
Chris had the same experience (same Depot). Try Lowe’s in Highland Heights; they still have it.
Which sharpening tasks do you use you grinder for? Preferred grinding wheel? Thank you.
Chris/Fitz I am wondering your preferred method of creating raised panels. These were very common on furniture up until recently. I fear the machine shaper and router bit configurations that require easing into the wood and using a table. That’s how everyone in the magazines will make these. I purposely bought a beautiful Leon Robbins panel raiser plane for a cabinet project- excellent, as-new sharp blade, barely used. I could not tune the thing . Too thick a cut, or no cut at all. The plane just didnt seem to have mass enough to cut through the figured maple I was using. Really frustrated, I returned the plane, sadly, it was a work of art. I used a series of jack, shoulder and block planes to make the panels. Schwank will occasionally make a 750$ 10 inch 18th C style panel raiser, but it’s years of waiting for that. Philly Planes makes one to order (6 mos to a year). Im sure Matthew Bickford will make one one asks.Theres almost nothing in your Hayward reproduction books, maybe 1/2 a page showing one or two steps in Vol three.
How do you all do it? Or not at all? Maybe I was doing something incorrect with the Robbins plane, but they all look the same.
Thanks
M. weiss
The few times I’ve done it by hand, I’ve used a jack plane/block plane and smoother. In the Nov 2013 PopWood, there was a Bill Anderson article on making your own panel raiser, if that’s of interest. But I usually use the table saw (run the panel on edge/end with an angled blade) then a smooth pane to erase the table saw evidence.
Good morning – I used your wax recipe for my Gibson chair about year ago and now almost done with a stick chair. The wax is not like peanut butter but very hard. Do you think that I should reheat it and add some more citrus – maybe another two tablespoons?
I’ve had the same experience. I was going to double up on the next run.
We’ve recently started adding more of the solvent. In the video from this week (https://blog.lostartpress.com/2024/12/11/how-we-make-our-soft-wax/), it appears 3 TBSP to a quart
What’s the final word on using linseed oil paint? Thin, don’t thin. Sun light or not. Oil first, ??
We don’t have a final word…still working with it. Sorry.
I built the Nicholson bench (Naked Woodworker) a few years ago. It works great, so do your holdfasts, and I am thinking of adding a leg vise (Benchcrafted). I’ve started looking at the dimensions of the legs and top of the Nicholson and trying to figure out how to satisfy the leg vise requirements (Thickness, length, etc.) Has anyone done this and is there a path to success and/or is this trickier than it looks ?
Advice appreciated
Thanks
Southern yellow pine in a regional wood for availability. I’m just a few states away in MN, and it is not found anywhere other than in the pressure treated preservative form. And I wouldn’t want a bench made from chemically treated lumber. SPF (mixed species spruce/pine/fir) is our prevailing lumber, followed by hem fir (hemlock), and if the lumber gods are kind, every once in a sporatic blue moon some douglas fir shows up. I built a bench in early covid-times (2×4 top, boards standing on edge) from a bundle of douglas fir that showed up, a lucky find. They’ll all work just fine.
Forget Minnesota. I can’t find it even in central and northwestern Indiana. I do not know whether it’s a ‘not enough supply’ issue or it just starts getting more expensive to transport it beyond the deep south.
For you hole-poking chair builders in the room, I came across this drill mfr. a few weeks ago. I’ve been waiting for this Open Wire session to pass it on. I have no affiliation. Maybe LAP staff or other readers have experience with them to share? WL Fuller, in Rhode Island, a 3rd and 4th gen. family business. Augers, forstners, spades, twists, brads, etc.
https://www.wlfuller.com/
I vote to keep Open Wire, but I respect the time suck it causes you. Thank you for your efforts.
For the 1/2″ woodslicers, do you find that you need to adjust the angle of the fence when they’re brand new to get straight rip cuts, or they will cut without drifting with the fence set perpendicular to the blade? And as they dull do you periodically have to change the fence angle, or you leave it set up how it was when you first installed the blade?
As far as I know, we put them on, they cut, and that’s that. There is a little drift if I move to quickly – but I wouldn’t expect a finish cut off a band saw. I saw just proud of the line and plane it straight/flat.
I hope you can keep doing this.
On a more direct topic, recommendation(2) for a specific chamfering cutter? There are way too many on Amazon. Prefer to buy locally but the nearest woodworking tool stores are at least 50 miles from me here in Northern New Mexico. Thanks.
P.S. I’m not above open bribery to get into the stool build class next year…;^)
We both (most often) use a block plane to cut chamfers, freehand. Years ago, I used this fence: https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/planes/maintenance-and-accessories/46296-veritas-chamfer-guide?item=05P2210
But it really doesn’t take long to get good at eyeballing a good 45° bevel.
I came across an old video on the YouTubes where Mr. Schwarz describes reference faces and show faces and classes of cuts.
Can you recommend one of your books that explains or teaches woodworking at this (pseudo-beginner?) level?
Robert Wearing’s “The Essential Woodworker.”
https://lostartpress.com/products/the-essential-woodworker?srsltid=AfmBOoq0FTTQ8kiS4fqT8vXPZypi1t7PCpfbHabqVK5q6UASpTlD5Awa
Yes that is a side chair
Keep this up as long as it pleases you.
The right edge of your blog page used to include your Instagram pics. What happened?
Hi,
I am embarking on my first stick chair with the help of the book and video to help me along. It turns out I have enough wood for 2 chairs. I plan on making one chair just like the video and one chair with 4 long sticks instead of 6. I have 2 questions:
I don’t have a tapered reamer or tenon maker. I have the straight 1in tenon cutter for the leg tenons. Should I cut my tenons on the legs before or after tapering?
For the 4 long stick chair, is there anything wrong with using the same stick positions on the 6 stick chair form, just omitting the 2 outer long sticks or should I space the 4 out wider?
Thanks!
Corey
Any chance of an ATC video one day? I know there have been various tweaks in the design since the book came out, and I’d love to see them demonstrated. The dream is to come down for a class one day, but a video would be the next best thing.
Thanks!
FWIW, I have a “traveling ATC” video – on it w/the Wood Whisperer. On it, I use the same methods we now teach for the full-size version. https://thewoodwhispererguild.com/product/traveling-anarchists-tool-chest/
If I could ask a couple of questions:
For many ADB projects, is it ok to switch from cylindrical to tapered tenons? I do not have a lathe, but do have the 5/8″ tapered reamer and tenon cutter set from Veritas.
Do you have instructions in one of your books for building a cradle for shaving leg octagons?
The Stick Chair book (revised edition at least) has instructions for a jig to cut octagons at the bandsaw. If you’re looking for hand tool-only, Ingenious Mechanicks has some clever work holding solutions.
Might be too deep a topic, but do you carry liability insurance on the chairs you sell?
In a sue happy world, I’m scared to sell my work because of it.
I think it’s called the Lump Hammer policy. $137 for lifetime coverage 😜
Is red Oak a bad idea for any kind of tool storage?
At $ 3.50 a board foot hard to resist.
Have you used the Real Milk Paint Co. milk paint? Any tips on application and would you recommend it?
Yep. It’s the one I use most often. But I don’t apply it “right” – I like to mix it thick, let it slake for at least a few hours…then I don’t strain it, ’cause I like the streaky bits that are left by the tiny powder clumps. I apply it with a chip brush, usually three coats. But I’d recommend Peter Galbert’s Vimeo video on using milk paint if you want to know a “good” method. https://www.petergalbert.com/blog/2020/4/9/new-milk-paint-video
😄 excellent, thanks.
The Stick Chair book (revised edition at least) has instructions for a jig to cut octagons at the bandsaw. If you’re looking for hand tool-only, Ingenious Mechanicks has some clever work holding solutions.
How does one go about flattening a large panel glue up (as in a table top) that is larger than your workbench surface?
I’ve done this recently building a Dutch pull-out. Scooted the bench away from the wall, put the whole top on the bench, secured with holdfasts, then worked in sections a la the benchtop flattening instructions in AWB (free download). Used a jack, smoother, and scraper. Move the top and holdfasts as needed. Sharp solves everything.
Any idea when you will announce dates for summer classes?
I’m trying to arrange my summer teaching schedule around a potential LAP class.
The ones through June are already announced: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/covingtonmechanicals
July through Dec will be announced in early Feb.
Hi. Have you used a Kanaban to lap the backs of chisels and plane irons? Does it work? Does it take a lot of time to get a mirror polish?
Thanks Tom
In setting up my smoothing plane I have the chip breaker just ever so far back from the cutting edge (Maybe 1/32″?)
It seem doing this makes it very hard to push. It’s as sharp as I can get it.
Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong with the setup? How do you set the chipbreaker on your no 3?
Short Question: Can I plan to use a hand plane to clean up the hardened squeeze-out from urea-formaldehyde glue? I know that the airborne dust from sanding would be unhealthy.
Background: I’m planning my first steam-bent, laminated top cap for what is essentially a curved pony wall. It’s oak; finished to five inches wide by 3/4 thick by twelve feet long (around circumference). Yes, I’m bending it in the hard (impossible) dimension. The final shape is the long half of an ellipse. The tightest inside radius of curvature is about eight inches (at both ends). The middle is barely curved. I am about to start experimenting with shorter, 1/4 wide strips bent around the tightest radius of the form. It’ll take twenty, 1/4 inch strips to make the cap five inches wide. My finishing steps are to blacken with India Ink, seal with clear shellac, then topcoat with clear matte poly. Do I need UF glue for this lamination, or should I use Titebond III? Is it easier (or required) that I tint either glue? Can I tint either glue with universal black dye (Mixol or TransTint)?
Thanks so much for any advice!
You can, but I’d try scraping it off first. Hardened glue can do a number on a plane blade. (FWIW, my weapon of choice for this would be https://benchcrafted.com/products/skraper)