During the Lost Art Press Open Wire, a reader asked if I would post a video on how I turn tenons. I’m not a fancy turner, but I can make a respectable tenon. When I make a bunch of chair parts, this is how I prefer to do it.
Here are the tools shown in the video (because someone will ask. We are Never Sponsored.)
Crucible Engraved Center Square
Conover Lathe (now out of production)
— Christopher Schwarz
Today I put together the above trailer for our new video “Build a Gibson Chair.” Plus, Megan and I started filming a bonus video that will go out to everyone who has bought the video.
The bonus video will cover some refinements to the chair, plus offer some strategies for ensuring the arm doesn’t crack. We should have the video done by the end of the week, edited and uploaded to everyone who has placed an order.
After we released the video last week, we got a lot of questions about it. Here are a few answers.
If you would like to see the tools I used in the video and a cutting list for the chair, you can download that here.
If I missed any questions, you can leave them in the comments, and I will do my best to answer.
One last thing: The video is $50 until June 19. After that, it will be $75.
— Christopher Schwarz
It’s time for the LAP Open Wire, where we endeavor to answer your questions about woodworking – plus our tools, books and apparel.
Here’s how it works: Type your question in the comment field. I will do my best to answer it. It is that easy.
Before you ask a question, please read this.
So here we go…. Note that comments for this entry will close about 5 p.m. Eastern.
Note: Comments are closed. See you next week!
— Christopher Schwarz
The Irish Gibson chair is a feat of ingenuity, simplicity and geometry. Its radical angles and spare construction suggest it is an odd place to sit. But everyone who has sat in one will tell you this: It is remarkably comfortable.
I first encountered Gibson chairs through my research on vernacular furniture. And I wondered the same thing. How could this chair be sittable? So I spent a year recreating a Gibson chair with the help of hundreds of photographs and a few books.
My cheap copy sat remarkably well, and it altered the gears in my head when it comes to chair geometry. Intrigued, I went to Ireland in 2019 and studied a lot of Gibson chairs, including some beautiful ones in the collection of Mark Jenkinson. Then I came home and started building lots of Gibsons, fueled by my hands-on experience with the chairs.
I made some changes to suit the way I work and the way I look at chairs. I make no claims that my chairs are “authentic” (stupid word, that). But I understand the chair and have made quite a few to earn that understanding.
This year I decided to make a video on how I build these chairs. Gibsons are quite unlike the other stick chairs I make. And I have devised novel ways to use cheap lasers to make your life easier when building them (meaning you don’t have to build a lot of complicated jigs).
Megan and I spent a lot of May 2023 filming the process, condensing it into a video that:
This chair is a good first chair. Yes, it’s a bit angular. But you can do it. You just have to commit.
We are releasing this 3-hour video today with the introductory price of $50. That includes all the videos and all the drawings and patterns. All free of DRM (Digital Rights Management) so you can put the video on your laptop, iPad, phone and desktop with no restrictions.
You can read more about it here and order it if you like. After June 18, the price will be $75 forever.
— Christopher Schwarz
Work at the Anthe Building is plowing forward with a few necessary diversions and delays. As of now, we hope to begin fulfillment operations on June 15. Our new fulfillment employees start on June 1, so they likely will join our efforts to get the building ready and help install the packing tables and shelving.
There are things to celebrate: We have a paved driveway. The concrete is curing, so we can’t drive on it. But it rises gently and exactly to the shop floor. Also, the HVAC system is completely installed and awaiting electricity.
There are setbacks: The “walls” at the front of the building were not stable enough to keep as-is. The walls were only beadboard that was nailed to other pieces of beadboard until the whole shebang was somewhat sturdy. No studs or plates or headers. In fact, it was the frames for the doors and windows that kept everything steady.
So we took down these partitions. We are going to build stud walls and cover them with painted beadboard. So the end result will look much the same, but will be up to code.
Some revelations: Almost all of the architectural features inside the building are salvaged material. (This makes me happy.) None of the interior transom windows match. And some of the partitions on the second floor are clearly from another building.
We are keeping all of the salvaged items. We are cleaning them up and will reuse them throughout the building, keeping in the spirit of the building’s history.
Finally, the contractors dealt with “the trench.” The trench is an enclosed empty space between our building and the pawn shop next door. (These two buildings were both part of the original Anthe business.) The trench allows light and air into the south wall of the building. It also was filled with decades of trash and debris.
The contractors cleared the trench and unclogged the drain at the bottom, which was filled with decades of silt.
Coming soon: A new accessible (ADA) bathroom, which will be built to look like it belongs in the building. And replacement steel doors for the back entrance.
— Christopher Schwarz
