Lost Art Press

LAP Open Wire, Oct. 25, 2025

Posted on by fitz
Chris is back from Australia, and already prepping for an upcoming class.

Comments are now closed (but Chris will be in the blog back end later to answer the chair questions and any I missed…either on purpose or by mistake.)

Got a woodworking question or a question about what’s cooking at Lost Art Press? It’s your lucky day –it’s time for Open Wire!

You have until 5 p.m. Eastern to pose your question in the comments section below, and we’ll respond – hopefully with a informed and useful answer…but no promises on that front. (And it’s possible your fellow readers will have answers, too – and perhaps you’ll have an answer for someone else!).

You’ll hear mostly from me during the day; Chris will chime in to answer the myriad chair questions, and comment on the tensile strength of wombat poop, after his class ends.

– Fitz

p.s. The final Open Wire date for 2025 is December 13.

128 thoughts on “LAP Open Wire, Oct. 25, 2025”

  1. How do you get such clean lines between spindle deck and excavated seat area? I’ve think that might be a good topic for a short instructional video…

    1. It just takes time with the tools. I get things close (less than 1/32″) with a scorp, then finish the job with a travisher. That hard line is not historically accurate. It’s my own personal hell.

  2. Thank you once again for doing Open Mic. It’s helped me avoid many an irreparable mistake. Two sanding questions. 1. Do you ever use a random orbital sander? 2. For the finishing sticks that Chris recently did a video on, would it be an improvement to add a strip of cork between the stick and the sandpaper?

    1. Chris uses an ROS for 3-5 minutes on every seat at the end, to blend the different tooling surfaces together and make it all look cohesive. And I use one on flat work all the time when the grain is misbehaving, and I can’t plane it smooth to my satisfaction.

      We use a cork block to keep the sandpaper flat and not create ripples. I can’t see a benefit to using a strip of cork while sanding sticks, because those are round.

  3. When “softening ” a chair seat by providing a sheepskin, do you trim the sheepskin to the size and shape of the seat, or do just take it as it comes and toss it on the chair?

  4. Good morning! I have one of the Lost Art Press planing stops and I feel like I haven’t figured out how to use it properly. It’s not grabbing the wood well. I know the website mentions filing things, which I have tried. Do you have any tips for how to file it to grab better? Perhaps a video?

    Thanks!

    1. I am laying it out right now. I hope to have that finished in the next week or so (but then there’s author approval, copy editing and printing, so probably first quarter of next year)

  6. What height do you recommend for a work bench. More around the user ie hip height , knuckles or something like that. Thanks in advance!

    1. For hand work, at about the height of your pinky knuckle, if you stand next to the bench with your arms straight down

  7. Thanks for doing this again, It’s always so helpful. Could you help me out of a mess? My holdfasts got rusty so I sanded off the rust and waxed them. Now they don’t hold. In addition to cleaning off the wax, what should I do to fix this?

  8. Thanks for another open wire opportunity.

    How did LAP do with the second print of the By Hammer and Hand poster? I finally got mine framed and love it. Curious if it remains a money making item.

    My tools chest is finished with soft wax over milk paint. If I want to touch up the paint do I just sand or scrape the wax off and reapply paint?

    1. Posters are a great way to lose money, or in the case of that one to break even… so I guess that’s a success?

      On the wax, just use mineral spirits to wipe it off and you should be good to go. But test it of course.

  9. Are there any visual indicators when picking lumber if a board will have tension in it? I have had quite a bit of difficulty on a couple of projects when I try to rip table legs out of a board. This has happened with a number of different species. Thanks for your time!

    1. If there is, I don’t know it. Maybe Chris does? But I would think he would’ve taught me by now…

      1. I don’t know of a visual indicator of tension/case hardening. It occurs more often with mills/kilns that rush things. So maybe switch lumberyards?

  10. Good morning and thanks for doing this! When using clout head nails, how far do you sink them? Until the head touches all around, or until it’s below the surface all around? When setting them at a slight angle, neither of those seems quite right – one leaves the possibility of snags, and the other can crush the surface of the wood.

    I have the same question about Tremont’s small rose head, which I guess are always going to be somewhat proud.

    1. I usually have the heads flush with the surface. If you try to hit them below a surface and you’re near an edge or an end, you can create an unsightly wound.

      1. Yes, the “unsightly wound” is exactly what I meant when describing sinking them at an angle. Ok, thanks, now I know what I’m subtly going for.

        1. When I want the heads recessed, I drill a pilot hole plus a countersink. Then I smack the nail into the shallow countersink. Fussy, but effective.

  11. Thanks for this, I had 2 questions.

    What kind of considerations should be made choosing wood for furniture that will be left unfinished?
    I once saw a campaign chest with knobs carved/inset into the drawer faces. I wish I could find it again. It kind of looks like a shallow bowl was carved out of the face except with the knob in the centre sticking out. How is something like this done? What sort of tools would be needed?

    1. Unfinished wood will pick up soot, oils and other environmentals. I think this is a delightful thing (as do the Japanese, who will leave surfaces planed and unfinished). You just have to play the long game. The piece will look dirty for a while. Then it will look old and polished.

      On the knobs you describe, there were rotary cutters that would remove most of the waste. Then they were finished by hand. Back in the day, labor was less expensive than materials. (Today it is the opposite)

  13. Good morning. What is the diameter of the Crucible GoDrilla? (I’m guessing it works to drill 5/8″ holes through arms for long sticks?) Thanks.

    1. I don’t know the exact diameter off the top of my head, but yes, it fits through a 5/8 hole

  14. I’ve read in a few spots the hollow mortiser has been replaced by the domino in your shop.

    Are you replacing traditional mortise and tenons with floating tenons in your work these days?

    1. There are a lot of times we need to cut mortises for the work we do, which is why Chris got rid of that machine. It was taking up too much space for the amount it got used. If I have only a few to cut, I’ll do them by hand. Or I’ll do them by hand if the work is appropriate for it otherwise, I use the domino.

  15. Fixing the Oh $h!t moment. Chris, how do you deal with drilling a replacement arm (original split on assembly too bad to live with) after you’ve already done the initial drilling in the arm and seat? Trying to figure out the best way to get the angle and sightline in the replacement to align with the seat. Seems like drilling up from the seat would be best but getting the correct offset and positioning of the arm to the seat so the exit in the arm lands correctly has be puzzled. Do you sandwich or setup the drilling jig to hit it?

    1. Nothing fancy. I place the arm over the seat on the drilling jigs in the same position as the messed-up arm. Then I drill the arm mortises again. I might use a laser here to help guide the drilling.

      Sometimes this works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But I give it a try and am happy with throwing out both pieces if it doesn’t work. That’s chairmaking.

  16. Is there a standard range for the number of pages in the signatures of Lost Art Press books?

    1. Ideal is 16, eight is also good. (that’s why you’ll occasionally see blank pages at the back of a book, because it didn’t divide evenly by eight)

    2. Oops. This was supposed to be a reply to an earlier post. I failed at using this internet box.

  18. This reply is for HuwD,
    Take a center punch and go around the shaft of the holdfast punching barbs in it all the way around and down. That will make it hold.

  19. What height and style shop stool do you recommend? As to the height I know that will differ with different sized folks but in relation to bench height. I do a lot of carving and would like to build a stool for long sessions.

    1. I like a 20″ stool at my 31″ bench for chopping out dovetail waste (the only task for which I sit at my bench).

  20. Hi Megan and Chris,
    Do you guys have an ETA on the Milk Paint Book?
    Thanks in advance.

  21. Question: How does Chris secure the 3/8 inch dowel hinge to the lid of the Sheppard’s coffer described in the FWW article. If you put glue in the hole in the top, won’t glue carry into the chest and prevent the lid from opening? I ended up pinning the dowel in the lid with a bamboo skewer. Article does not say what he did.

  23. 1) What polyurethane material do you use to line carver’s vice jaws and where do you get it? I’ve found some at McMaster-Carr but there is a whole spectrum of hardness from soft to hard and I don’t know what to order.

    2) Do you have a maintenance routine for the Festool Dust extractors? For the life of me I can’t figure out the manual and what and when it wants me to clean things like the sensors, dirt trap, and filter. I bought it based on your recommendation and love how it works but the manual sucks.

    Thank you

    1. Abrasion-Resistant Polyurethane Rubber Sheet, Amber, 6″ x 6″, 1/8″ Thick 40A (Medium Soft). SKU 8789K22

      And I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for Chris for the DC answer…but as far as I can recall, we pretty much just try to make sure the bag doesn’t get overfull, an occasionally have to vacuum out all the orifices

    2. Some time ago Chris wrote about a book about punk rock business practices, maybe about one label in particular, but I can’t find that post. Maybe it was answering a question about good business books? Dunno.

      Anyway, any chance you could point me to that post, or even just the title of that particular book?

      (Also, Idles is a really fucking good band, and really make you want to smash the state, but in a good way. And Wet Leg, in a very different way, is a really good band too. It seems like the youngsters in England are a lot more interested in electric guitars these days than the Kids in America are.)

  24. Are there any affordable compasses that you know work with the engraving tool? $245 for a Starrett 92 is a bit of a stretch.

    1. There was recently a Never Sponsored post that suggested The C.S. Osborne #104-6 Extension Divider.

  25. This is perhaps more appropriate for a future Never Sponsored article: could you expound on panel gauges? There don’t seem to be many people making them, and I’m struggling to understand why some might be worth ~2x another. The Lee Valley one looks pretty good to me, and is much less expensive than the alternatives I can find on the web…

    1. The one we have is made by hand by one guy (Hamilton) – that’s always going to cost more than a manufactured tool (and should).

      1. Thanks. I also just found the LAP blog review that Chris did of that one…

  26. I am going to make my first attempt at a chair, the BS chair seems like an accessible place to start, especially with the video series you all put out. My question is, could the BS chair be made without the armrest, more akin to the staked chair in the Anarchist Design Book? I’d like to use home center materials for their accessibility and my wife wants non-armrest chairs for the kitchen table

    1. Hi Bill, I just made 3 of those ADB staked chairs in 3 days (3/4 dining set because I’m missing half a seat’s worth of wood), I can confirm it works great, even with just hand tools. Everything off the shelf basic lumber.

      8/4 Spruce seats (split risk but easy to get here) glued up from a 12′ long 10″ wide “baudielen”
      3/4 Beech dowel (slightest bit of spring, would go 7/8 if you can).
      6/4 ash shovel handle legs (8€! for perfect grain ash).

      Don’t forget to milk paint as that mismatched lumber.

  27. Making my first stick chair. Entirely out of hickory. Whoops! Wily grain through and through. Saddling the seat to the finish it just feels hairy no matter what I do. I’m sure I should finish with a scraper but it seems I’m left with hairy grain… Any suggestions?

  28. Chris thank you for the writeup on HNT Gordon- this is a very special outfit. A few yrs ago I built an 8′ ruobo style workbench, based on your drawings in your workbench book, and modified it to use Terry’s face vise on the left, and 100mm tailvise on the right end. Additionally I ran a row of exactly parallel 1/2inch dog holes full length front and back along the 8 ft top, as Terry has described, and centered four large 1″ dog holes for crucible holdfasts. This has entirely changed the way I work. You can see how Terry Gordon lays out his bench and workflow in several of his videos (Youtube).

    With this setup you can use his tailvise and long jointer plane (with the through-rod) horizontally to efficiently joint long stock, and the facevise( with dogholes in the moveable face) to scorp and travish seat blanks comfortably. The stock does not budge even under high stress from the tools. The patternmakers vise is better than an Emmert, and the nonracking features of both vises have no imitators. This has entirely changed the way I work. The trying plane makes an awesome shooting plane.
    All the molding planes have a unique triangular brass backup to the wedge in front of the blade, allowing easy adjustment of the blade depth with a light tap of the hammer. The joinery planes allow you to make things faster(after some practice) than it would take to setup and sacrifice test pieces with a router.Ive been buying his tools for thirty years, use most of them quite a bit, not one has failed.
    You have light years more skill and experience than I, but if you need any resources or ideas with putting together a bench this way, let me know. Also there is a southwest craftsman Ramon Valdez, who has an Instagram account, who made some innovations to incorporate the HNT Gordon tailvise into the benchtop. Very classy.
    m weiss

  29. Also I have a discernible seam, barely catches a fingernail but it’s there, where the two seat boards are joined. Is that a place to use Durham’s water putty? Might that be a solution for the hairy grain around the pommel?

    1. Well, hopefully, you can smooth the grain with sanding, so no filler required. But if you have a gap, yes, Durham’s (if you’re painting).

  30. I’ve cut the stick blanks on the bandsaw using the V-groove jig- but my octagons don’t emerge “equilateral”, they’re a tad uneven. I think that’s why, after I cut the tenons, on one end the tenon might be centered perfectly enough, but the other end is not. Why are my centers off? How do I correct that?

    1. Several things could be going wrong. Usually, it’s because you are feeding the stock too fast. But it could be that the fence you are working against has not been set to account for the drift of your blade (or put another way, your band saw table is not square to the blade.)

      Squaring the table to the blade is a must. There are lots of videos out there that will help, including one from Michael Fortune.

    1. Not diluted. Three coats, followed by soft wax. We use the waterproof India ink from Blick.

  33. Thanks! But that’s not it! The post specifically mentions a book about DIY punk rock business practices. (Unless I’m imagining the whole thing.) Hmmm…

    Also, a friend invited me to see Superchunk play here in San Francisco a few days ago but I declined. That was probably a mistake.

    Also also, sorry about posting my question as a reply to someone else’s unrelated question. That was fast-typing-with-thumbs-user-error and there doesn’t seem to be an elegant way to correct such silliness. D’oh!

  34. There is a bow in the board ( arcs up or down when laid flat ).

    I could plane that out if I have enough thickness to spare.
    Or, I could clamp it flat when it comes time to glue up.

    Could one expect the same satisfactory end result in a build flattening either way, in principle? What is la technique? Assume any tenons have been marked and cut accurately.

    Obvious answer, I think, but I no longer wish to assume. Thanks

    1. Like everything, it depends…how flat does the finished thing need to be? And will your joinery retain the flat after assembly? E.g. I regularly clamp large panels flat in a Moxon vise when dovetailing the carcases for an ATC. If my joints are tight, it will stay flat after the glue dries. If they’re not snug enough, some of the cup might return…but not enough to matter.

  35. Jefferson’s Monticello Bookcase construction is all dovetails except for the backs. Do you have any opinion of when vertical boards that go all the way up or independent horizontal boards inside each box? Many different reasoning for either. Maybe there are some I have not considered.

    Using rabbeted horizontal backs and then using pegs to lock the boxes or even screwing two vertical boards to the backs seems good too. Using vertical boards alone is fine because I do not plan on moving it. I am building them, hell or high water. Thank you.

    1. The original was a series of boxes – so that’s how Chris typically builds those (each a self-contained unit w/horizontal backboards). But long, vertical boards would work, too, and have the benefit of locking the units together. As long as you don’t plan to move it, I don’t see why not use long boards. Except, ya know, history.

  36. Went back to “Sharpen This” this morning after a frustrating experience with my Tormek. I just have never gotten the hang of that machine and it’s sloppy, to boot. I do fine with stones but now I am at the point where grinding needs to happen more often. Is there a high speed grinder that you folks like?

    1. We usually buy/recommend used grinders that have been made in the USA. They are everywhere. We have a 55-year-old Craftsman that refuses to die. It doesn’t take much to make us happy.

      If you want to go fancy, we love the Lee Valley turntable-like grinder/sharpener, too. Cn’t go wrong with this, and we’d MUCH rather have it than a Tormek (sorry Sweden, we do love you).

      https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/sharpening/power-systems/48435-veritas-mk-ii-power-sharpening-system

  37. I see that Lee Valley has a new saw set.
    It would be great to see a Never Sponsored review of this.
    Since you have said that you send your saws out for sharpening, how about a guest reviewer?
    Maybe Matt Cianci, or one of your other saw wizard friends.

  38. I’m in the midst of building an Anarchist Workbench. My chosen material is 18mm Baltic Birch Plywood, selected because I don’t have access to a power planer or thickness planer to flattten SYP boards. Before I started I glued up some blocks and then whanged away o them with mallets, hammers and chisels. The plywood seemed to hold up about as well as SYP, and it was a lot easier to glue up.

    Before I finish the project, I want to run by you an idea that has been percolating in my mind. Some years ago you and Megan made a bench from gluelams, and it seemed to work out well except the wood dulled your plane edges.

    My thinking is to do something sort of the same by coating the top surface of my bench with an epoxy product specifically designed to fill pores in wood. It’s called Abatron LiquidWood. Its primary use is to restore rotted window sashes, etc, a job at which it is great. LiquidWood is engineered/designed to have the same shrink rate as wood, and slightly harder than wood but still workable with hand tools.

    A “test block” of glued up BBP coated with LiquidWood suggests to me that this will work. The edge-on surfaces of the block (e.g. the bench top) are harder and seem more resistant to blunt force injury; the corners are less prone to chipping than the unprotected corners of the test block. The edge-on surface of the test block is smoother than the raw finish test face. The finish was slightly glossy at first, but quite natural looking once sanded.

    Are there any good reasons not to continue down this path? I don’t want to ruin my bench if it’s a bad idea.

    1. I think you are over-thinking here. Just glue the plywood together and use the bench. We’ve made many plywood benches with no complaints. And epoxy is expensive, toxic and unnecessary for this application in my opinion. Keep it simple.

  39. Question about the crucible card scraper. I seem to keep cutting my index fingers near the knuckle while in use. When pushing it, it somehow ends up rubbing against my fingers on the upper edge where I grip it. Aside from wearing gloves, am I holding it incorrectly? Can’t seem it keep my fingers off that burr.
    Love the way it cuts though!

    1. I hold the the ends of the scraper with my middle fingers. Then press my thumbs against the cutting edge. I’ve never cut myself and can’t visualize how one could (though I’m sure it’s possible). Send a photo to help@lostartpress.com of how you hold the scraper and we’ll send you some feedback.

  42. Question about Lost Art Press: I’m curious of the reasoning behind some of the limited printings like Chairmakers Workshop and the Varnum industrial design book. They seem to sell out quickly and would be fairly popular titles if they were available permanently. I’ve no doubt you know your business and there’s good reason why some titles are permanent and some aren’t, I’m just curious to why some titles stay in the permanent rotation and some and limited runs.

    Thanks for still doing this.

    1. We have limited space, and there is a limited market for some of the more specialty books. Regarding those that you mention, the Varnum is available free online, and there are lots of copies out there of Drew’s already…so we can sell only so many expensive versions!

  43. I haven’t seen a lot of tips from yall on half blind dovetails. How do you guys go about removing the pin board waste? Do you guys saw to the line or chisel to them?

  44. I’m making a Moxon Vise with Benchcrafted’s hardware (recently reduced price!) and plans. The vises I’ve seen on the blog or in your various Instagram posts don’t seem to have that front chamfer for blind dovetails. Obviously I can’t see them all from here, but do you have any with that chamfer, and do you find it useful?

    1. We have two w/the chamfer – Chris’s personal vise and my personal vise…because they actually get used for half-blinds from time to time. And yes, it does keep one from cutting into the chop.

  45. Megan! When I got to meet all you lovely folks last Friday, I left with many questions but two are:

    I noticed that Katherine gently corrected me when I referred to the “soft wax” as “paste wax.” Wondering about the difference ever since haha
    What nails did you use for the smalls you had at the shop and the storefront? Headless Fremont cut nails? Lovely and oh so tiny

    And not a question, but a fact you might appreciate: my wife and I, being the English nerds we are, named our cat “Jay Catsby.”

    Thanks for all you do 🙂

    1. Pate wax is more solid (I think). And she ight simply have been referring to what we call ours: Soft wax 2.0?

      Tremont headless brads…except when we (gulp…confession time) used a nail gun or pinner in a few cases

      1. Thank you! I make your soft wax recipe and shall call it that henceforth.

        Making great progress on my DTC since I creeped on your class making theirs! Thanks again

  46. Back from making French toast for the kids!

    …A brief moment of searching shows that there certainly is a a book about Merge Records, so you’re on point about that, even if there may be another LAP post specifically describing it.

    Thanks, and for everything!

  47. I don’t know jack about picking the right lumber for a chair, but I’m sure I picked the exact opposite of beginner friendly when I picked two boards of hickory. Next time I’ll grab tulip poplar and red oak, for a painted finish. Anything to look for or avoid, quarter sawn lingo etc?

  48. I have an opportunity at some elm with 20 inch trunk size to use for chair seats. The problem is the trunk is at about 60 degree angle. I have looked and not been able to find info: is there any way to cut the wood so that reaction wood doesn’t destroy the plank. I was thinking that cutting at parallel to the angle would put the reaction wood all in the same plane on each slice and it would tend to curl along the length. Should I even try this?

  50. Perfect! I wondered if she was just referring to the specific product rather than generic. Love it.

  53. I’d be curious if anyone could answer this: When using an antique (early 1900’s, say) hand-crank grinding wheel with a small tool rest shelf (about, say, 2″ wide), how would people prevent grinding multiple bevels on the tool? I use my ring finger under the rest and pinch the tool (chisel, plane blade, etc.) against the grinding wheel with my index and middle finger against the back and my thumb on top (I dress the wheel before grinding, of course, so it has a slightly convex shape, with the high point in the middle) but moving it back and forth with one hand is tricky and naturally, even though I keep my ring finger at the same spot on the tool, after I check my progress, upon reseting the blade on the tool rest, my hand can still shift slightly (or the tool rest can), such that I have a bevel that is not exactly in the same spot as the original one. Yes, I also do draw a line with a Sharpie across the top of the blade where I want to grind to. And, fortunately, I grind slowly enough so that I don’t damage the temper. (I have a friable cool 80 grit grinding wheel.) Any advice would be greatly appreciated. (I guess I could use a Veritas grinder tool rest but I’d rather not have to.) Thank you for your consideration of this! Sorry for the lengthy detail.

    1. Hi Garret, jumping on this because I run a similar rig. My pre-war Austrian hand-cranked-grinder is great, but it’s right-hand crank. So I’m forced to hold the tool in my left hand and rely on a basic aftermarket rest.

      This results is questionable/compound bevels, but it doesn’t matter. The point of a primary bevel is mainly to remove steel so that you don’t have to flat-stone grind as much.

      My little wooden scrub plane zips through wood faster than a powered jointer, yet it has a fully rounded bevel that looks like the back of a spoon.

      As long as it’s not the first few molecules of steel touching the wood, it shouldn’t matter. All you need a rough wedge shape that guides fibers further out of the plane.

      1. Hi, Nick, Yes, I’m happily aware that so long as the edge is straight (or, with a scrub plane edge, a good curve) and the primary bevel is lower than the secondary bevel, having a little “wiggle” across the primary bevel (meaning, a little uneveness (multiple bevels of slightly different angles across the width of the blade)) is not really a problem. I just wondered if there were any tricks to getting the bevel even and singular. Thanks so much for the feedback! (My scrub plane also removes wood faster (and much more safely, and without the need for vacuums and such) than a jointer. And I like not having to worry about grinding the skin of my fingers off with my hand cranked grinder. Motors just won’t feel my pain; I will.)

  54. What glue do you use to bond the polyurethane to wood for the carvers vice?

    Thanks!

    1. Not really. We saw off the polyurethane with a thin sliver of wood attached to the poly. Then I glue that onto the new wooden jaws with PVA. Epoxy doesn’t always stick on the poly jaws.

  56. Thanks for putting the milk paint recipe out there. I tried it on a shop cabinet and it worked great. I learned a few things along the way.
    It took 2 qts of skim milk to yield 250g of quark.
    A whisk has trouble breaking up the quark. I strained out the lumps and that left a lot in the filter but it didn’t seem to affect the paint.
    It gels overnight in the refrigerator. A visit to the microwave and a bit of water fixed that. I did end up with a few tiny solids but was happy to see that they disappear when worked a bit with the brush when painting.
    It doesn’t stick to drywall compound. It was close by and dries fast so I filled some nail holes with it. There are some white dots on the carcase now but that’s a problem for the next person who paints it to solve. I’m not that fussy for this project.
    Looking forward to the book.

    1. Thanks for the feedback David!

      A few points:
      1. Letting it sit for about 10 minutes in the lime water can help the quark break down. Sometimes helps. Also I like a fine mesh strainer instead of a paper filter.
      2.if you’re going to refrigerate, it helps to water it down quite a bit (make the thinnest paint you feel comfortable using). This can help prevent the the gelling tipping point. Zap it in a blender with a little water to reliquidize if you have gel. No need to heat it.
      3. Drywall compound is an interesting topic, thanks for experimenting! I reckon shellac would help as a binding primer if you ever want to touch it up.

      Good luck out there, hope you’re already thinking of about your next project to paint.

  57. Never mind, I got some info from Rex Krueger videos. All good. So I will just thank you for al the great products, books and inspiration. I have had so much fun making chairs the last year or two. One has ended up being used all the time as it sits next to the back door and small wood stove. Right now, about 70% done with a Low Back Stick Chair in walnut. I have only worked on this one when I feel completely focused and it’s really paying off. Have a great rest of October…

  58. FYI, my wife is the one who calls stick chairs “Jail Chairs”. I built a bullshit chair, and it’s her new favorite chair. She’s sitting in it now. So far, no panicky thoughts about being confined against her will.

  59. I have restored four old homes in four different cities, and purchased quite an array of hinges, pulls, knobs and lock sets from a variety of vendors. There are quite a few that are good, and readily identifiable online. One that has always been reliable in quality is Van Dyies. https://www.vandykes.com/

  61. I think I read somewhere that Chris doesn’t recommend poplar for chair sticks. If I’m building a chair with bigger sticks like a Gibson or Irish-y armchair, is it just not worth the risk, or could I just size up 1/8″ per the usual recommendation? Or should I just follow the instruction to “disobey me,” try it, and see how it goes?

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