Lost Art Press

Author: Lost Art Press

Publisher of woodworking books and videos specializing in hand tool techniques.

For Sale: Comb-back Stick Chair in Elm & Ash

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Elm and ash are my two favorite chairmaking woods.

I just completed this large comb-back chair in ash and elm and am selling it via a silent auction (details below). The chair is set up for dining and keyboarding, with its back tilted at 13° and the seat tilted at 2°. 

This chair is probably the tallest comb-back I’ve made in years (if not ever). The overall height is 41”. The seat height is 16-3/4”, making it comfortable for a wide variety of sitters (both tall and short). 

The seat and undercarriage are elm. I lucked into some dead-straight elm for the legs and stretchers. Plus some typically squirrelly grain elm for the seat, a sturdy combination. The top part of the chair is all black ash. Ash and elm both have a complementary iridescence. As these woods age, their color becomes quite similar.

This is one of the taller comb-backs I’ve made.

Like all my chairs, the joints are assembled with animal glue (so the chair can be easily repaired 200 years in the future if needed), plus straight-grain wedges. The chair is finished with soft wax, which is non-toxic and easy to repair (just add more soft wax).

This chair is a bit special because it’s the second chair that my daughter Katherine worked on with me. She did most of the arm shaping and helped with most of the other tasks. The chair is signed by both of us.

In time, the color difference between the ash and elm will disappear.

Purchasing the Chair

If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday, May 17. 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)

The highest bid wins. If you are the “winner,” the chair can be picked up at our storefront. Or we will happily crate it and ship it to your door. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.) The reserve price is $500. Shipping and crating is included in your winning bid (with no additional charges whatsoever).

— Christopher Schwarz

Editor’s note: The “bulk reply” plugin on Chrome has stopped working, and I cannot find a replacement on any of my browsers. So if you don’t hear from me (Fitz) by the end of the day on the deadline day, I’m afraid you are not the winner (this applies also to the recent Irish chair). I’m sorry I haven’t time to send individual responses to the many entrants who did not win. If I did, it would read: “Thank you for your interest, and stay tuned – Chris is making more chairs, and there will be other opportunities.” Which is true in perpetuity!

Open Wire: May 11, 2024

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My daughter Katherine assembling a chair we built together.

This may or may not work. For the last month, our blog has been sinking into madness. Subscribers weren’t receiving emails, our RSS feed was jacked up and this week we started receiving fatal errors whenever we tried to post.

We have lots of technical help, and I hope in the coming week things will be cleared up for good (we are migrating our blog to a self-hosted server with lots of in-person, on-the-phone support). Then I’ll be able to tell you about the final make-room-at-Anthe sale we are now running. And lots of other news.

But until then, our apologies for the weirdness. I hope we will be able to answer your questions today. Let’s give it a go. Write your question in the comment field below, and we will answer it.

Comments are now closed.

— Christopher Schwarz

Stuff You Might Have Missed During Our DNS Disaster

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For more than two weeks, our blog has been hobbled by problems with our Domain Name Servers (DNS). Basically, the majority of our email subscribers weren’t receiving updates when we posted something new.

Also, our RSS feed took a dump. So even fewer people knew we were posting anything.

If you missed us, here are the highlights:

Backwoods Chairmakers Event June 2 in Berea

We still have tickets available for this magical event on June 2 in Berea. Andy Glenn, the author of the book “Backwoods Chairmakers,” is bringing more than a dozen of the chairmakers featured in his book to Berea for a day of live demonstrations, displays of backwoods chairs and discussions about the craft. Tickets are only $33 for the entire day. This is a not-for-profit event we have put together with Berea Student Craft and Andy.

Chairmakers attending include:

Brian Boggs @brianboggschairmakers
Terry Ratliff
Michael Houston
Drew Langsner
Randy Ogle
Lyle Wheeler
Mike & Kelly Angel
Tom Lynch
Mark Newberry
James Cooper
Patrick Cecil

An event like this has never taken place, and considering the ages of some of the participants, it might never happen again. If you can make it to Berea on June 2, please do. We will be there with books to sell. Tickets here.

2 More Stick Chair Classes at LAP

I am teaching two additional stick chair classes here at our storefront. One in August and one in September. Registration for these classes opens on Wednesday. Details here.

Our DNS problems are not completely resolved (it can take a few days for things to sort themselves out). Thanks for your patience and know we are trying to get everything back to the way it was.

— Christopher Schwarz

For Sale: Irish Armchair in Oak

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This stick-back armchair is designed for reading and relaxing. It is based on Irish examples I’ve studied during my travels, and I have gradually tweaked this design to get it right where I want it.

I’m offering it for sale for $1,700 via a random drawing. The price includes crating and shipping to your door anywhere in the lower 48 states of the U.S. Details on the sale are at the bottom of this entry. First, some details about the chair.

While the chair has a spartan appearance, it is remarkably stout. That’s thanks to the fact that the legs and sticks are rived out of tenacious Southern red oak. All the joints are assembled with animal glue, which is reversible, and wedged with black ash wedges selected for arrow-straight grain.

Design-wise, this chair is different from Irish armchairs I’ve made before. The legs are double-tapered with a jack plane. The sticks are also double-tapered and faceted with planes. The arms are rasped and scraped to shape to resemble those of Gibson chairs. And the backrest is curved and positioned to support your shoulders.

The seat is tilted 3°, with the chair’s back tilted 33° off the seat, making this a great chair for sitting by the fire or on the porch. The seat is 16″ off the floor, making it comfortable for almost all sitters.

It is finished in General Finishes Milk Paint in Twilight (which is an acrylic). Like all my chairs, I make them as best I can, but most of the work is by hand. So you will find an occasional stray tool mark or tiny imperfection. These are not left intentionally, but they are the result of hand work.

How to Buy the Chair

The chair is being sold via a random drawing. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Tuesday, May 7. Please use the subject line: “Irish 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

P.S. Soon we will offer full-size plans for this chair. 

The Parts in a Chair Kit

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The parts for a comb-back stick chair.

Several people have asked my permission to teach classes in making stick chairs using my designs.

My answer is always: Please do. All my designs I give freely to the public for any purpose, including commercial uses. My book on the topic, “The Stick Chair Book,” is a free download for everyone (you don’t even have to register or give away your email).

So here is what students find on their bench when they start a five-day class in making a stick chair. After years of teaching these classes, we’ve struck a balance between “too much Donkey work” and “not enough Donkey work.” We call that balance: Donkey work.

If you want to teach a class of students (or just your neighbor), I hope this is useful.

A red oak seat glued up from two boards.

1 Seat: 1-3/4“ x 16″ x 20″
The seat is glued up and cut to shape on the band saw.

Legs: Still lots of work to do on these.

4 Legs: 1-3/4″ x 1-3/4″ x 20″
All four legs are octagonalized. Three of them have been tapered. Students will taper the fourth leg using a jack plane. All four legs need tenons, so there is lots of work there.

Stretchers: Over-long for practice.

3 Stretchers: 1-1/8″ x 1-1/8″ x 27″
These have been octagonalized. They are overlong (way overlong) because the stretchers are the students’ first encounter with a power tenon cutter. So they practice on one end of the stretchers until they get the hang of it.

Long sticks: Sized for a variety of chair designs.

7 Long sticks: 3/4″ x 3/4″ x 27″
These have been octagonalized. Seven sticks allow for a wide variety of comb-back designs. And their lengths permit students to make anything from a Shortback chair to a too-tall comb-back.

Short sticks.

6 Short sticks: 3/4″ x 3/4″ x 12-1/2″
Our tenon cutters make a 2-1/4″-long tenon, so these lengths create a short stick with two tenons that can be trimmed (or not) to do lots of things. They can go through the seat if the students wants. They can be proud of the arm. They can also be used in a lowback chair (which requires a long tenon for strength.

Arms: I trace my recommendations on the pieces. But students don’t have to take them.

3 Arm pieces: 1″ x 8″ x 20″
These three hunks of wood allow for a four-piece arm that can be wide or narrow. And they accommodate a variety of hand shapes.

The comb and the scraps for measuring for stretchers.

1 Comb: 2″ x 8″ x 24″
This chunk of 8/4 is enough for a student to make two combs to experiment with.

4 Triangular scraps (off-fall from octagonalizing the legs)
These scraps help us measure the length of our side and medial stretchers (this is covered in the book in detail). 

Power Poultry: Don’t build chairs without it.

Oh, one more thing for the bench: Usually my daughter Katherine leaves each student a squishy power animal to help them through the week. Never forget your power animal when chairmaking.

— Christopher Schwarz