Author: Lost Art Press

I thought having sponsors would be easy – wear their T-shirts and cash their checks. Sadly, we’ve have had a bumpy relationship with both Hold Harmless clamps and Malodorous Mallet. (We, ahem, have a couple gross of Malodorous-brand mallets to give away at the next open day, FYI.)

Thanks goodness for CTS Co., makers of the Tenonitis (TM) Joinery Saws. To celebrate, we’ll be putting their new line of Joint Ripper saws through their paces in our shop in the coming weeks.

Several years ago, Kelly Mehler closed his much-beloved woodworking school in Berea, Ky., to tend to his health and family. A lot of us (former instructors and students) wondered if Kelly would ever open the school’s doors again. Or if it was gone for good.

This week I received a piece of good news. Berea College had acquired the school and is reopening it this summer with Kelly Mehler teaching its first class July 22-27. The school is holding its second class taught by Andy Glenn, who runs Berea College’s woodcraft program.

The school is called The Woodworking School at Pine Croft and is housed in the same building where Kelly ran his school for many years. You can read details about the school and the two new classes at the school’s website.

I’m thrilled that Kelly is returning to teaching and that his school – a warm and welcoming facility – will prosper under the wing of both Berea College and Andy Glenn.

I don’t have any more details. But I’ll report them when I hear them.

— Christopher Schwarz

When visitors to the workshop help us clean up, most of them are amazed at our brooms. Not just their workmanship, but how well they corral debris and dust. And so we’re regularly asked: Where can I buy this broom?

The answer: We get our brooms from two places, Berea College Crafts and the Pleasant Hill Shaker Village. These are handmade brooms. They last a long time and are a joy to use because they are so lightweight.

They are so nice that students don’t mind sweeping so much.

If you need a broom for your shop or kitchen, I cannot recommend these too highly.

— Christopher Schwarz

Last week, Welsh chairmaker Chris Williams returned to the United States to teach a couple classes and work on some supplemental photography for his forthcoming book “The Life & Work of John Brown.” (Due out next year, knock wood.)

Working with Chris is always a blast of chairmaking, stock prep, talking, planning, arguing, asking questions and generally giving each other the business about how the other makes chairs. Plus beer.

In fact, it’s so time-consuming that I’ve barely had time to do anything else (except prepare a couple hundred handles for lump hammers).

When Chris arrives, he always brings a big dose of Welsh culture to the shop – this year he brought along a Welsh flag to help set the mood for the class. He’s even tried to teach us a few more Welsh words, though the only one I can remember sounds like the words “bad TV” to my American ears.

And we are hoping to give him an equal dose of American craft culture. Last year we took him deep into Eastern Kentucky to explore the roots of chairmaker Chester Cornett. This year we plan to take him up to a huge Amish community in Ohio to revel in their sawmills, excellent fried chicken and cheesemaking. Oh, and maybe some old tools.

But before we can have any fun, we have to complete six chairs with some eager and talented students.

— Christopher Schwarz

Yesterday I dry-assembled this Irish Gibson chair and gave it a good squat. It sits very well, but there are some details that are a bit off. Mark Jenkinson, an Irish chair expert and owner of a cider mill, has been coaching me on the finer details of these chairs.

Here are some details I missed.

1. My back sticks aren’t notched into the arms. On most Gibson chairs there is a small birdsmouth-like notch cut into the arms to receive the sticks that form the outside of the “W.” Curiously, the photos of the chair I studied to make my chair don’t have these notches. I’ll have to change my arm pattern slightly to fix this. Easy.
2. My seat rakes backward. Mark noted that the Gibson chairs he has studied have seats that are parallel to the floor. Again, the example I studied had a raked seat. That could have been the result of the front legs being replaced. I like the backwards rake of this chair, so it will be interesting to sit in some historical examples to compare the opinions from my backside.
3. The “hands” on the arms are a bit off. Mine end in a lollipop shape. The originals are more of a half-lollipop. It’s an easy fix to the template.
4. All my sticks and legs likely need some more taper at the ends. This detail – called entasis – is something I apply lightly. Chairs can start to look real clownish real quick if you taper things too much (at least in my experience). I’ll sneak up on it with the next iteration.

Despite all these flaws, I’m pretty happy with the chair, especially for a first draft. Several people have asked me questions about the chair’s design. Here are some answers.

1. Does it feel like sitting in a dentist chair? The seat rakes back dramatically! Nope. The rake of the back is about what you get in a Morris chair (it’s 25° off 90°). It’s definitely not a dining chair, but it’s a nice lounger.
2. Why is it so low to the ground? Earlier chairs tend to be lower for a number of reasons. This one is 15”, which is only 3” lower than a modern chair. Again, I think this is for lounging. The seat height matches a lot of Morris chairs I’ve studied.
3. Why isn’t the seat saddled? Vernacular chairs don’t feature as much saddling as factory chairs or city chairs. Many vernacular chairs have zero saddling. This is fixed with a cushion or sheepskin. It’s my opinion that saddling is not the No. 1 factor in a chair’s comfort.
4. What’s with the chunky crest rail? It looks wrong. Actually, I got the crest rail pretty darn right (thanks again Mark!). It adds greatly to the comfort of the chair and suits the shoulders. It also gives a solid feel as you lean back. I think it looks chunky only until you get used to it. Then it looks right.

What’s next? Usually I dive in and rebuild a design a few more times to get things closer to a final design. But I’m going to stay my hand here. Lucy and I are headed to Ireland this fall to meet Mark, see chairs and do some romantic stuff. I’m going to let the real Gibson chairs dictate  my next move.

— Christopher Schwarz