Students from our first scholarship class with The Chairmaker’s Toolbox.
This fall, Megan and I are each teaching scholarship classes for The Chairmaker’s Toolbox, which offers free training for people who have been historically excluded from the trade.
I’m teaching a stick chair class Sept. 16-20. And Megan is teaching a Dutch tool chest class Oct. 11-13. Megan and I both volunteer our time and the workshop here for the classes. We also cover the students’ materials, plus breakfast and lunch during the class.
For that last few years, readers have asked to donate to help cover the materials and the food for these scholarship classes. If you would like to help out, you can send a donation via this link. Any amount helps. (Please note a donation is not tax deductible. We are not a charity or nonprofit.)
If we collect more money than we need, every penny gets donated to The Chairmaker’s Toolbox to help fund its expenses. We do not make any money off these classes.
Thanks to everyone who has donated in the past. Many of our students from these classes have gone on to teach chairmaking to others or have launched their own businesses. (In other words, it’s working!)
Here’s the link again (because they tell me we are supposed to do that).
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. Don’t bother leaving a comment that craps on the program or us. No one will ever see it. At Lost Art Press, we help anyone who wants to enter the craft. We teach scholarship classes (and donate money) for need-based students, students who have been historically excluded and those who serve (such as our military). Don’t get ugly about something beautiful.
Earlier this month a John Brown chair surfaced at auction that was a highly unusual form: a comb-back rocking chair.
Commissioned in 1988, the chair was made for a family with a newborn and served as a nursing chair. From the seat up to the comb, the chair resembles JB’s cardigan chair, the chair he built for his book “Welsh Stick Chairs.” (FYI, many people don’t consider the cardigan chair to be a Welsh form, but that’s not part of this tale.)
Below the seat, things become unusual. Instead of an H-stretcher, the chair has a box stretcher and beefy rockers. The seat of the chair is elm, and it looks like the remainder of the chair is oak, though I can’t tell what species the rockers are.
The chair sold for the remarkable price of 550 GBP, according to Chris Williams, who tipped me off to the chair and the auction. Chris is the author of the excellent book “Good Work: The Chairmaking Life of John Brown.”
JB built the chair before Chris worked with him, so Chris was shocked to see the chair. “Can’t quite believe my eyes!!!” he wrote.
I’ve seen only one other stick chair that was a rocker, and it looked like that chair had the rockers added later.
Driving on the comb during a chair class in Bavaria.
I just returned from two weeks (and then some) in Bavaria. For the most part I was teaching classes put on by Dictum GmbH. It’s been more than five years since I’ve taught there, so it was great to catch up with old friends and make some new ones.
Here’s a typical scene at dinner one night with the students. We got our menus and the students were explaining what a “divorce salad” was.
“Is this what you eat when you want a divorce?” I asked.
“Yes, of course,” they said.
“No,” I replied. “You are pulling my chain.”
Eventually we realized they were saying “die wurst,” which means “the sausage.” Not “divorce.”
And yes, they put hot sausages on a green salad here. Don’t knock it until you try it.
I’m returning to Dictum next year for two more weeks of teaching. The plan is to teach two chairmaking classes: A big ole comb-back at the workshop in Niederalteich. And an Irish armchair in the workshop in Munich. When registration opens for these classes, I’ll post the links here.
I made a short video of the Dutch tool chest class. Students came from all over the globe.
In between a few too many beers and Bavarian food, I managed to finish editing Megan’s Dutch tool chest book. It was worth waiting for. Soon we’ll begin designing the book, so it’s definitely coming out this year.
After teaching, I traveled to Nuremberg with Lucy to explore the city and see a lot of folk furniture at the Fränkisches Freilandmuseum. I could have spent three or four days there, but we had only one. I made a video of some of my favorite pieces and interiors. Take a look.
And now I’m back in the States. Happy to be home, but falling asleep at odd times until my body adjusts.
Choosing the wood for your first stick chair can feel paralyzing. You might think that the wrong species will doom the chair. Or the boards’ grain orientation will make things split. Or that you need wood that is green or air-dried.
I know you won’t believe this, but Rule No. 1 with stick chairs is this: Use what you have. And use it to the fullest.
If you have only construction lumber, you can make that work. If you have purpleheart, ditto.
This blog entry is about the species readily available to woodworkers in North America. We have lots of woods that work well for stick chairs. If you have a choice of species when you shop, here are my thoughts on what woods will make the job easier and perhaps less expensive.
You can make a stick chair using only one species. I do this all the time. But you can make the job easier if you separate the project into two parts:
Use woods that don’t readily split for the seat, arms and comb/backrest.
Use ring-porous woods that split easily for the legs, stretchers and sticks.
Mixing species might horrify you. And it can look horrifying if you don’t take care. But if you take the long view, most darker woods get lighter in time, and most light woods get darker in time. In other words: Everything turns brown. But if you don’t want to wait 20 years for this to happen, paint can also do the job of unifying things.
Woods that Don’t Split Easily
Here are some woods that are readily available in North America that are ideal for seats, arms and combs.
Tulip poplar: Inexpensive but a bit unattractive. Great for paint. Carves beautifully, so it’s a great wood with which to learn to saddle a seat.
Sycamore: If you can find it in your area, this is a great choice, especially when quartersawn. It carves easily, looks nice and can be some of the cheapest commercial wood out there. It’s also available in wide widths.
Soft maple: Another great wood for the seat, arms and comb. Soft maple is a little more expensive than the above woods, but is fairly cheap overall. Its cousin, hard maple, is more expensive but is also fine.
Black cherry: These days, cherry is out of favor and is cheap (and beautiful). It carves great and – if treated with care – can work for the arms and combs. It splits more easily than the above species, but it is totally do-able.
Basswood/linden: Don’t overlook this species, especially for the seat. It is strong enough, carves incredibly well and doesn’t look horrible. And it’s available in wide widths.
Ideal Woods for Legs, Stretchers & Sticks
I prefer ring-porous woods such as oak and ash because it’s easy to read the grain direction, the species are easy to split and generally easy to find.
Red oak: Though this wood gets a bad rap, I love the stuff. It’s plentiful, strong and cheap. And on a chair you don’t have to deal with the cathedrals on wide panels (which can be overwhelming). I prefer fast-grown oak because it is stronger than slow-growth oak. And, in general, I like Southern red oak more than Northern. (Learn more here.)
Ash: If you can get ash, it’s a great chair wood. Be sure to look for evidence of rot these days. Some lumberyards carry ash that has been on the ground too long and has gotten punky.
Hickory: The ultimate wood for legs and sticks. It is dense and requires effort to work. But it is one of the strongest domestic hardwoods around.
White oak: I love white oak for case pieces. In a chair, the surfaces are generally narrow, so you don’t get scads of the gorgeous ray flake from the quartersawn stuff. I can buy twice as much red oak for the price of white. So I usually get red.
How to Combine the Species
If you are making a painted chair, it’s difficult to beat the combination of tulip poplar and red oak. They’re both cheap, easy to get and take paint well. If you want to use a transparent finish, it’s best to do some mixing and matching.
If you use sycamore, basswood or soft maple for the seat/arms/comb, then I recommend ash or hickory for the sticks, legs and stretchers. These species play well together.
If you use cherry for the seat/arms/comb, I’d use red oak for the sticks/legs/stretchers. You’ll be surprised how well these woods work together after a few years in the sun.
What about other species such as elm, black and honey locust, butternut, coffeewood, sassafras and walnut? If you can find these in your area for a good price, you can absolutely use them for stick chairs. A little research on the tree and playing with a board or two (hello, hammer test) will quickly give you some useful data.
But mostly, don’t hold off on building a chair because you cannot find “perfect wood.” It doesn’t exist in my world. And historically, chairmakers used what they had – Whateverous foundus. And that’s one of the best lessons we can take from the past.
My latest book, “American Peasant,” is now shipping from our Covington warehouse. The price is $37 plus shipping. All copies purchased from us are autographed.
If you can’t afford the book, or aren’t sure it’s for you, the pdf of the complete book is free. You can download it by clicking this link. This is not a trap. You don’t have to register or give up your email. Just click this, and the pdf will download to your device. No strings attached.
The pdf is free now and for always. Tell your friends.
A quick note for those who bought merchandise to support our renovation of the Anthe Warehouse, your book is on the way. Check the bottom of this entry for details.
What’s the Book About?
“American Peasant” is an introduction to a style of peasant furniture and decoration that is almost unheard of in the Americas. Built primarily with tongues, grooves and pegs, the furniture is frequently engraved with geometric symbols that beautify the piece and protect its owner.
With this book, you will learn to build 10 simple pieces using common tools and whatever lumber is on hand. And you’ll learn to engrave the pieces using nothing more than a cheap craft knife and a vinyl flooring cutter. (We were so thrilled with this tool that we now make a commercial version of it.)
In addition to furniture making, “American Peasant” delves into other areas of the craft that will make you a more independent woodworker. Learn to make your own commercial-grade glue using only three ingredients (food-grade gelatin, salt and water), all of which you can find at the grocery store. The glue is strong, reversible and non-toxic (it’s edible, though we don’t recommend eating it).
You can make your own finish using beeswax, linseed oil and citrus solvent. This non-toxic finish is easy to apply and to repair. Plus, it looks better with age and use.
Finally, you’ll learn the language of the engravings, which come from Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and the U.K. These geometric engravings can protect a loved one from sickness, guard your valuables and grant good fortune to others (there are no negative engravings or spells in this book).
It’s the most beautiful book I have written, designed and printed. The cover is our first two-color diestamp, and the plant did a beautiful job of stamping it extra-deep so the cloth has a fantastic texture (“…with the look and feel of hand-tooled leather.”).I hope you enjoy it.
Anthe Supporters – Read This!
If you were one of the 445 people who purchased a special class, a spell panel, lump hammer or book that supported our effort to fix up our Covington warehouse, this section is for you.
Last month I sent out a couple emails to all of you. If you didn’t get one, check your junk folder. I have signed all your books, personalized them to you and they are shipping now (I labeled a bunch of them this morning). If you think or know you are entitled to a book but you haven’t received an email, don’t leave a comment here. Instead, reach out to help@lostartpress.com. They will help sort it out.
Customer service stuff aside, thank you – all of you. Your purchases raised about $120,000 that was beyond helpful.
And Hats! We also have a batch of new hats in the store. These are navy blue with our dividers embroidered in white. These are unstructured, soft and have a metal clasp to adjust them. We got a special deal on them and were able to lower the price by $5.
