In their efforts to make chairmaking more accessible, Alexander Brothers in Virginia now offers steambent arms and armbows that will work with all the armchairs in “The Stick Chair Book” (a free download) and the Hobbit chair in The Stick Chair Journal No. 2.
You can get the bent components in red oak or cherry. And you can buy them individually or as a set. I recently purchased a couple armbows from them (at full retail, natch), and their work is as good as I could do. Read more and purchase the parts here.
Note: We do not get any royalty or compensation or consideration from Alexander Brothers. Like them, we are just trying to remove the barriers to chairmaking.
So if you have a big old comb-back chair on your wish list, but you don’t have a steambox, your work just got a lot easier.
Thanks here to Shea and all the people at Alexander Brothers. Good people.
— Christopher Schwarz
One of the chair designs that uses this armbow and comb.
To make room for a revised edition, we’re selling the last 500 copies of this book at a significant discount.
If you’ve ever wanted to make your own chairs, “The Stick Chair Book” shows you how to do it with bench tools you probably already own. You don’t need to be an expert woodworker – anyone can make a chair. And the book has complete plans for five comfortable chairs.
Like all our books, “The Stick Chair Book” is made in the USA with a library-grade binding. And at $27, these are selling fast.
I built this lowback for the third edition of “The Stick Chair Book” (coming out this year). This chair reflects all the design changes I’ve made to the form during the last five years. But the one thing I didn’t change is its seating geometry.
The lowback chair (and my two Irish chairs) are the most comfortable chairs I make. This one is ideal for keyboarding or dining, with a wide sweeping back that supports your lower back without intruding on it.
The chair is made out of red elm, assembled with animal glue (that we make) and finished with soft wax (which we also make).
If you’re curious how this chair is different than the one in “The Stick Chair Book,” here are the major changes. The seat is thinner with a steeper (45°) underbevel. The arm is narrower (1-7/8″) without sacrificing any back support. The hands are an old shape that I now prefer and a bit longer. The undercarriage uses octagonal components, which are lighter and just as strong.
One new detail to this particular chair is that I have left the leg tenons and their wedges just a wee bit proud. This makes them a bit stronger and looks nice. I have been trying to get this effect for several months now, and I finally nailed it.
Details: The chair has a seat height of 17″ at the front and drops about 3/4″ to the rear (I am happy to lower this chair for shorter customers). The chair is 27″ high overall. The soft wax finish is non toxic (so your toddlers can suck on the stretchers). It has a mellow sheen and lasts for many years if treated kindly. But if you ever damage the finish, it can be easily repaired by applying more soft wax.
How to Buy the Chair
I’m selling this chair via a silent auction. The final hammer price includes shipping and crating to anywhere in the lower 48. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Monday, September 8. Please use the subject line: “elm chair.” In the email please include your:
Your bid (opening bid is $600)
U.S. shipping address
Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
If you are the highest bidder the chair will be shipped to your door. The price includes the crate and all shipping charges. There are no auction fees or additional charges. Alternatively, the chair can be picked up at our storefront. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.)
Megan and I are teaching two scholarship classes for The Chairmaker’s Toolbox this fall. I’m teaching a chair class (surprise) Sept. 15-19. Megan is teaching a Dutch toolchest class (double surprise) on Oct. 17-19.
For these classes, we supply all the materials, plus lunches, morning pastries and a yay-you-did-it dinner for the students. If you would like to contribute a little something to offset those expenses, we have created a link that allows you to do that.
Note that these contributions are not tax-deductible. If by some chance we collect more money than we need, we donate the excess to The Chairmaker’s Toolbox.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to help these classes in the past. The Chairmaker’s Toolbox is absolutely creating the next generation of woodworkers. We’ve had some amazing students who are now professional woodworkers and are teaching others. So it’s working.
This comb-back chair is based on the chair on the cover of “The Stick Chair Book,” with some modifications detailed below. The finish is fresh milk paint (a recipe from a forthcoming book) tinted with a French mineral pigment called “saffron.”
This particular chair is set up for lounging. This summer, I have been tweaking this design to make it more suitable for reading by the fire. The back is pitched at 20°, and the seat (about 16-3/4″ high) has some additional pitch. The chair is quite comfortable, and I wasn’t keen on selling it (which is rare for me).
The seat, legs and stretchers are in red elm, which is tenacious and lightweight. The arm and comb are white oak, which bends well. And the sticks are fast-growth hickory, which is flexible and strong. All the joints are assembled with hide glue, which we make from scratch here.
In addition to changing the seating geometry, I made some small design changes to this chair that I’m happy with. The stretchers are now oval/rectangular octagons, which makes them a little lighter (visually) but just as strong as equilateral octagons. Above the seat, I omitted two of the short sticks to create some negative space between the back sticks and the short sticks. This gives the chair a bit more of a Welsh feel and breaks up the solid wall of sticks presented in the original design.
The arm has the most changes. It’s steambent, like the original design, but is now fully shaped with spokeshaves. The original design had chamfers. The hands taper to a bit of a point (an old shape that I love), and the tapers lean toward the outside of the chair, giving it a welcoming look. All these design changes will be discussed and explained in the forthcoming revised edition of “The Stick Chair Book.”
The finish is a durable milk paint we make here at the shop. It has a low sheen, unlike the chalky look of commercial milk paint. No topcoat is necessary. The paint, applied by Megan Fitzpatrick, shows some subtle variations of color in places — it’s not an automotive finish. The chair as a whole was shaped entirely by hand, so there are subtle tool marks evident. These are the by-products of handwork.
How to Buy the Chair
The chair is $2,300. That price includes shipping and crating to anywhere in the lower 48. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Wednesday, August 27. Please use the subject line: “Saffron 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.)
