Editor’s note: Our Mind Upon Mind series is a nod to a 1937 Chips from the Chisel column (also featured in “Honest Labour: The Charles H. Hayward Years”), in which Hayward wrote, “The influence of mind upon mind is extraordinary.” The idea being there’s often room for improvement.To that end, we’ve asked you what else you have thought of, tried out and improved upon after building projects from our books.
Send us your own ideas! Email [email protected]. You can read more about the submission process here.
I often find it easier to mark my octagons on the ends of my leg blanks using this little guy instead of measuring and marking from the outside in.
He’s 1″ tall and makes a 1″-interior-diameter octagon. Tracing the outer diameter makes an octagon that’s roughly 1-3/8″.
The octagon marker allows me to scribe the interior finished octagon size and the outer octagon shape to use as a guide, all while holding it in place at the end of the blank.
Sometimes my blanks don’t have equal sides or are perfectly straight-grained from end to end, so this also allows me to fudge my octagon a little either way to get a perfect shape.
On this not-perfectly-straight-grained chair leg you could shift the octagon marker to one side on to avoid runout.
I had it printed using an online service called JawsTec. They used nylon (the cheapest option they offered). As I understand it, most 3D printers can use a .stl file to print stuff (and save money).
NOTE: This video is being offered at the introductory price of $30 for the first 30 days of its release. After that, it will be sold for the full price of $60.
In this nearly two-hour video, professional chairmaker Chris Williams shows you how he builds a beautiful Welsh lobsterpot chair using simple tools and bent branches from the forest.
Lobsterpot stick chairs are one of the most desirable and tricky-to-build forms. The tightly bent back sticks converge on the comb and give the chair its visual energy. But how were these chairs made? Were the sticks steambent? Bent while green?
Chris has spent a lifetime studying and building traditional stick chairs in the shop in the Welsh countryside. And he’s studied many lobsterpot chairs that have survived for more than 100 years, and those that have broken.
The difference between them, he says, is in the arm. By using a naturally-crooked branch, the arm has no short grain, so it can withstand the immense pressure exerted on the chair by the bent sticks. Chairs with short grain – either in the arms or the sticks – tend to break easily and are difficult or impossible to repair.
In this video, Chris visits antique dealer Tim Bowen (of Tim Bown Antiques) to examine an antique lobsterpot chair to understand how they work and survive. From there, Chris heads to the hedgerows to show you the bent timber that grows there that he harvests for his work.
In addition to the bent sections, Chris harvests some straight ash and splits it in the forest for the legs and sticks. And then he goes to work in the shop.
Dealing with naturally curved material is tricky to dry and cut, and Chris shows you how he manages the process using hand tools and his band saw.
During this process, Chris explains how the shape of the arm dictates the rest of the design of the chair. He works with the existing curves, joins the arm parts with traditional keyed scarf joints and then builds the rest of the chair based on the arm.
Chris learned to make stick chairs directly from John Brown and worked for him for about a decade. Many of Chris’s techniques, such as shaving the sticks, come from JB. Other techniques, such as making the armbow, are the results of Chris’s long research.
In the end, the lobsterpot comes together in the video without plans or patterns. Chris uses the shape of the wood at hand to determine the overall look of the comb and the pattern of the sticks.
The resulting chair is a gorgeous piece of sculptural work that is quite comfortable (we got to sit in it before it went to a customer).
For chairmakers, this video is a rare glimpse into the shop of someone who works at the top of their profession. And it’s encouraging to see how it’s not fancy tools that make the maker, it’s their skill and cunning.
Even if you have no intention of building a lobsterpot chair, it’s a fascinating project. And it is a delight to watch all the parts come together.
Today we offer two comfortable stick chairs for sale that Kale and I recently finished. As always, the price includes crating and shipping anywhere in the lower 48 states. Here are the details.
The Bebb Chair, a Welsh Comb-back in Olive Ash
This chair is my interpretation of one of my favorite Welsh stick chairs. I first saw the chair in Richard Bebb’s booklet “Welsh Country Furniture,” and the chair kicked off a personal design cycle that has yet to subside.
My version is as close to the original as possible in form, except for the seat. The original was unsaddled. My version has a saddle that looks good and adds some comfort.
The chair is compact and comfortable, with arms that are 10-1/4” above the seat and a low comb that supports the sitter’s shoulders. The seat height is 15-5/8”, with the chair’s overall height at 37-1/2”.
The entire chair is made from one board of extraordinary quartersawn olive ash. All the joints are assembled with animal glue, so the chair can be repaired in the far future. And the chair is finished in soft wax, a non-toxic finish that can easily be repaired by simply applying more soft wax. It is a low-lustre finish that allows the texture of the ash to radiate.
All the surfaces are finished with edge tools. The legs and sticks are shaved with planes and shaves, leaving a faceted surface that looks and feels nice.
This chair is ideal for lounging by the fire. The back isn’t tilted much, as per the original, but the seat’s tilt encourages the sitter to relax against the comb.
I’m selling this chair for $1,900, and that price includes crating and trucking. For details on purchasing the chair, see the end of the entry.
— Christopher Schwarz
Chapel Lane Irish Chair in Elm, Sycamore and Pigmented Oil
This chair was built alongside Rex Krueger, James Wright and Eoin Reardon a number of weeks ago when Lost Art Press hosted a chairmaking extravaganza. “Chapel Hill” refers to the name of the antique dealer who owned the original chair this form is inspired from.
With a significant tilt, this chair is destined for lounging. The seat sits 15-1/2″ above the ground, and the arms rest 10″ above the seat. At a 31-1/2″ total height and a seat width of just under 20″, this chair cradles your back just below the shoulder blade and can fit just about anywhere.
Made mostly from elm, except for its sycamore seat, this chair holds true to its vernacular roots. Through-tenons on the comb and arms are left proud and textured. The occasional plane, or scraper mark may be found due to this chair being finished with hand tools. And just like Chris’s, this chair was also assembled with animal glue – making future repairs easy peasy.
Most exciting, this chair was my first go at using the “dirt, soot, and oil” finish, featured in the latest “The Stick Chair Journal.” Made from two parts linseed oil, one part black pigment and one part red pigment, this finish provides a depth and well-worn look that allows the grain to sing.
The legs, seat and sticks are left faceted, while the arms and comb are slightly rounded for comfort. Grab a footstool and let yourself sink in to this form.
I’m selling this chair for $1,300, which includes both crating and shipping. For more information about how to purchase, keep reading.
— Kale Vogt
How to Purchase a Chair
If you wish to buy one of these chairs, simply send an email before 3 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, March 12, to [email protected]. If you want to buy the Welsh Bebb chair, please use the subject line “Bebb Chair.” If you wish to buy the Irish chair, please use the subject line “Chapel Lane Chair.” In your email, please include your:
Name
Street address, city, state and ZIP
Your daytime phone number (for quoting shipping charges only)
If your name is randomly selected, we’ll send you an email. Sorry, but we cannot ship chairs overseas.
Don’t worry – we won’t ship you tarnished/scratched/marked tools – these well-used ones are from our own tool chests.
Our machinist has been backed up on work for a while, so we’re delighted he found time to get done for us a run of Brass Bevel Monkeys and 1:4 Dovetail Templates. Get ’em while they’re (metaphorically) hot!
– Fitz
p.s. The combo 1:6/1:8 Dovetail Template is in the tumbling hopper, and scrapers are currently in production – so both of those should also be back in stock soon. You can sign up at their links to be notified when they are.
The bead on the top skirt of my 8-year-old Anarchist’s tool chest. It’s seen some things, but it is still intact! Not only does the bead protect what would otherwise be a fragile edge, it helps me locate where the top meets the case just by feel, which makes it easy to open.
Many of my classes include the instruction to “just put a bead on it.” A bead on the edge of a board protects fragile corners from breaking off, because by rounding it over into a bead, said fragile edge is gone. A bead also creates a shadowline, which helps to make a gap (say, between backboards) look intentional. I love a bead!
But the intrinsic problem with beads is that they can get you into trouble. A beading plane is just so darn fun to use that you will quickly find yourself in want of other sizes and other moulding planes…not to mention a half-set of hollows and rounds. (There are worse vices.)
So where do you find good moulding planes these days? Maybe it’s just my bad luck, but I’ve never found vintage ones worth buying. A moulding plane must be dead straight down its length from heel to toe, and the fences and boxing must be intact. If any of these things is not true, that ex-plane is best used as Cracker Barrel decor. Then there’s the iron. Does its profile perfectly match the plane’s sole? If not, you need to know how to fix it so it does (which is not easy without ninja-level filing/grinding skills and a good set of slipstones). And does the wedge hold the blade firmly in place? Is it even the original wedge? All this is to say that if you know what you are doing plus have a modicum of good luck, you might be able to find a good deal on some old wooden moulding planes. But I never have.
And you can, of course, make your own. There are good articles available online, and Larry Williams’ video “Making Traditional Side Escapement Planes” is hard to beat.
But I recommend buying new – especially if you’re buying just one plane…say a 3/16″ beading plane like the one you might have used in my classes.
From left, beading planes by Clark & Williams (no longer taking orders), Matt Bickford, Phil Edwards (Philly Planes) and Stephen Slocum (New Heritage Woodworks).
I’m sure I’m missing a few good modern makers (feel free to comment below…as I know you will), but the modern commercial makers I recommend and from whom you can still buy (all will likely have a waitlist) are:
M.S. Bickford J. Wilding Red Rose Reproductions New Heritage Woodworks Philly Planes (caveat – Phil Edwards is in the U.K. Some might argue his planes are better suited to staying in their native environment, but I’ve been happy with my Philly beader for years and have had no trouble – but I live in a damp river valley with similar weather, different accent)
Such fun!
Yes, you could also use a Stanley No. 45 or 55, or the Veritas Combination Plane – but I’m a sucker for a good wooden moulder.
– Fitz
p.s. If You want to know how I sharpen a moulding plane blade, check out Christopher Schwarz’s “Sharpen This” – the pdf is a free download – see the first paragraph here for the link.
