Category: Make a Joint Stool from a Tree

Not all the period stools we studied had this chamfer on the interior corner of the stiles, but many did (some tables, too). Never did we find one in which some stiles had chamfers and others did not. It was either all or nothing. This led us to think it was intentional. Then we began to wonder what its use might be. We might be wrong, but it works for orientating your parts during construction – even if that was not its original purpose.

— Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee from their forthcoming book on joint stools

Some will ask, “why oak?” Besides its great strength and durability, oak has features that make it ideally suited to working this way. It is a ring-porous hardwood, a term referring to the way oak trees grow. In the first part of the growing season, oak trees put on a band of nearly hollow, thin-walled pores. The second phase of growth features a layer of very tough, fibrous material, denser than the previous growth. This separation between “early wood” and “late wood” is one of the key identifying factors in these hardwoods, as opposed to timbers such as cherry and maple, in which the pores and fibers are evenly distributed. Another feature of oaks, and most other ring-porous hardwoods, is the prominence of the tree’s medullary rays. These are cells that radiate out from the pith, or center of the tree, toward the bark. Almost all the ring-porous hardwoods split or cleave cleanly and accurately along the medullary rays. This is the principal feature of the oaks that makes them well-suited for riving.

— from the forthcoming “Make a Joined Stool from a Tree,” by Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee

P.S. You can follow along all the posts about this book by clicking on the “Make a Joined Stool from a Tree” in the “Categories” section at right.

One of the most pivotal woodworking books of the last 50 years is “Make a Chair from a Tree” by John Alexander.

Despite being long out of print, this book has had an immense influence on several generations of woodworkers. It sparked a revolution in green woodworking, launched many love affairs with wood and was one of the first sparks that ignited the recent revival in hand joinery.

So it is with great pleasure we announce that Lost Art Press will be publishing the long-awaited follow up to this book, “Make a Joined Stool from a Tree: An Introduction to 17th-century Joinery” by Alexander (now Jennie) and Peter Follansbee, the joiner at Plimoth Plantation.

This book is a decade-long effort by these two woodworkers to research the tools, materials and processes used by 17th-century joiners to construct the gorgeous work of the time.

To piece the puzzle together, Alexander and Follansbee have studied the limited texts of the period, the tools and – perhaps most important – the surviving furniture record. These pieces gave up many of their secrets through close examination of the toolmarks left by the makers.

But “Make a Joined Stool from a Tree” is far from a dry historical text. In it, the authors take you into the forest and the workshop to find an oak, split it into bolts and turn those into a joined stool – an excellent first project for the new student of 17th-century methods.

While many of the tools from the 17th century look familiar to the 21st-century woodworker, the way in which they were used in the 17th century to make furniture is surprisingly different. How the fresh oak is processed, cut and joined to make the stool featured in the book will both stretch your skills and expand your understanding of the craft.

And with the help of Alexander and Follansbee, you will be able to build your own joined stool with just a few simple woodworking tools, a little determination and a strong back.

“Make a Joined Stool from a Tree” will be Lost Art Press’s first book in color and in a larger page format. We are planning on releasing this book late in 2011 – or early 2012 at the latest. Like all Lost Art Press books, this will be hardbound, Smyth sewn, printed on acid-free paper and produced entirely in the United States.

More details on the book, pricing, alternate editions and a release date will be released here on the blog in the coming months.

In the meantime, I highly recommend you spend some time at the authors’ web sites:

Jennie Alexander’s “Green Woodworking” site: http://www.greenwoodworking.com/

Peter Follansbee’s “Joiner’s Notes” blog: http://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/

— Christopher Schwarz