This comb-back chair is based on the chair on the cover of “The Stick Chair Book,” with some modifications detailed below. The finish is fresh milk paint (a recipe from a forthcoming book) tinted with a French mineral pigment called “saffron.”
This particular chair is set up for lounging. This summer, I have been tweaking this design to make it more suitable for reading by the fire. The back is pitched at 20°, and the seat (about 16-3/4″ high) has some additional pitch. The chair is quite comfortable, and I wasn’t keen on selling it (which is rare for me).
The seat, legs and stretchers are in red elm, which is tenacious and lightweight. The arm and comb are white oak, which bends well. And the sticks are fast-growth hickory, which is flexible and strong. All the joints are assembled with hide glue, which we make from scratch here.
In addition to changing the seating geometry, I made some small design changes to this chair that I’m happy with. The stretchers are now oval/rectangular octagons, which makes them a little lighter (visually) but just as strong as equilateral octagons. Above the seat, I omitted two of the short sticks to create some negative space between the back sticks and the short sticks. This gives the chair a bit more of a Welsh feel and breaks up the solid wall of sticks presented in the original design.
The arm has the most changes. It’s steambent, like the original design, but is now fully shaped with spokeshaves. The original design had chamfers. The hands taper to a bit of a point (an old shape that I love), and the tapers lean toward the outside of the chair, giving it a welcoming look. All these design changes will be discussed and explained in the forthcoming revised edition of “The Stick Chair Book.”
The finish is a durable milk paint we make here at the shop. It has a low sheen, unlike the chalky look of commercial milk paint. No topcoat is necessary. The paint, applied by Megan Fitzpatrick, shows some subtle variations of color in places — it’s not an automotive finish. The chair as a whole was shaped entirely by hand, so there are subtle tool marks evident. These are the by-products of handwork.
How to Buy the Chair
The chair is $2,300. That price includes shipping and crating to anywhere in the lower 48. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Wednesday, August 27. Please use the subject line: “Saffron chair.” In the email please include your:
- U.S. shipping address
- Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
If you are the “winner,” the chair will be shipped to your door. The price includes the crate and all shipping charges. 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
Fascinating. In many pictures it looks almost clear-coated. Only the top-down seems to show the milk-paint. Feels like a chair that will look very different in different light. Cool!
very nice looking chair. For the new stretchers, did you turn them or just plane them in your typical manner?
Planed up as per usual.
I’d love to buy one of your chairs, but my wife would kill me for dropping over a thousand bucks one a single chair. I’ve watched your chair development from the beginning and really appreciate the work you’ve put into it. Your chairs are awesome.
She’s a beauty.
A strikingly beautiful chair. I’m particularly drawn to the arms. I’ll have to take a closer look at steam bending wood, but right now it’s beyond my ability.
Beautiful chair, I’m impressed. I would love to see the process of steam bending the arm. A lot more extreme than anything I have done.
What’s the verdict on the fresh milk paint after painting this chair?
I love the stuff.
i like it … But I’m reserving final judgment until I’ve tried a couple different colors, because I know from experience that different pigments behave differently. That said, the first coat of this paint provide provided more coverage than the commercial milk paints I’ve used, and I appreciate that.
Lovely chair, it looks good from all angles, there are sometimes items be it cars furniture or anything really that have an odd look at different angles, this chair however looks great from all the different angles you show it, great work.
On another point I do have an issue with the items you have for sale, ie, the tool chest mugs for instance, only for sale in the US, I live in the UK and find it irritating that we cannot have all the items you manufacture available to us here, I do understand the issue for you in this and this is caused by a decision taken at a level you have no influence in within your country, all red tape and regulations which we seem to be tied into everywhere we go and in everything we do, damn those politicians and rule makers.
On yet another point, do you have any requirements for a retired mechanical engineer? I have good CAD skills (30+ years) and varying engineering skills namely automotive and avionics, oh, and I have woodwork skills/passion going back decades, just a throw out comment there, not really exoecting anything to come out of it.
Hi,
Regarding steam bending….I’ve not tried this myself (not yet…at age 74) but I will get around to doing so. John Brown in his excellent book, “Welsh Stick Chairs”** describes in great detail his perfected art of steam bending. On pg 80 of his book in this chapter, ‘Bending Wood for Chair Parts’ is almost a master class in the art.
From his book, pp82-84”
“I have steamed six (chair arms) and had one good arm,I have steamed six and had six good arms.”
And John was a master!:)
I suggest…try it! It’s wood, often forgiving, at times it’s not.
**Lost Art Press