Good news: Alexander Brothers is now selling a new stick chair kit for the Curved Back Armchair in “The Stick Chair Book.” The kit supplies all the parts you need in red elm (my favorite chair wood) for $295. The kit will also build the similar Irish armchair featured in Fine Woodworking magazine last year.
Alexander Brothers does a fantastic job of selecting straight grain for the sticks and legs. I trust them to pick wood for me. So if finding the wood for a stick chair has been holding you back from building one, this kit can fix that problem.
Alexander Brothers carries kits for many chairs and even Megan’s Dutch tool chest. Here’s a link to see the other kits.
This year has been a good one – maybe our second or third best since we started in 2007. I won’t have all the numbers for a couple weeks, but to close out the year, here are our top 10 books in terms of unit sales. There are some surprises.
The Anarchist’s Tool Chest: This book topped the list because we printed the last press run of the current edition in an original tan cover. (If you want a copy, you better snatch it because we are almost out.) I’m working on the revised edition, which will be in color and will be released in 2025.
The American Peasant: We sold out the first press run and we are now into the second.
Principles of Design: We printed (and sold) 3,000 copies in three months. We weren’t planning on doing a second run, but y’all changed our minds. This book will be back in stock in January.
Set & File: Not a surprise. This book sold well right out of the gate and has long legs.
Dutch Tool Chests: A surprisingly strong showing for a book that was released so late in the year (October). The book sold more copies on the first day than any book in our history.
If access to wood (or lumberyard anxiety) is what’s holding you back from making a stick chair or Dutch tool chest, here’s an excellent solution: Alexander Brothers is now offering full kits for several types of stick chairs (in a selection of species), as well as blanks for legs, seat and more. Plus, there’s a new kit for the Dutch tool chest in pine, cherry or walnut (and the parts come ready .
We’ve ordered from Alexander Bros a number of times now, and are always impressed with how carefully Shea Alexander and his employees pick the chair stock for straightness of the grain and overall beauty. And I am impressed with how lovely the pine was for a recent Dutch tool chest class. In other words, you can trust that you’ll get good stuff.
NB: We do not receive any royalty or kickback on the sales of these kits – we’re just happy Shea is willing to do them. It’s a nice service for those who need help sourcing/choosing/milling wood. (Heck – I’m buying DTC kits from Shea for my February 2025 class, because I’m not going to have time to make them myself – one less worry for me. Thank you, Shea!)
The curators (one is standing in the rear of the photo) were pleasantly bemused by us.
I love books, photos and drawings, but if you want to quickly learn a lot about making and designing chairs, there is one path: Study the suckers in person every chance you get. Up close and slowly.
Last week, Welsh chairmaker Chris Williams arranged for me and some friends to study four old stick chairs in the collection at the Carmarthenshire Museum. Only one of these chairs was currently on display, so it was a chance to see some chairs that aren’t in the public eye. In addition to Chris and me, we had Megan Fitzpatrick, Kale Vogt, Ryan Saunders plus Tim and Betsan Bowen of Tim Bowen Antiques. Lots of eyes, both fresh and old.
This entry is a close look at these four chairs, and some of what I learned from them. There’s no way this blog entry can replicate my in-person experience. But it’s cheaper than a trip to Wales. Note, I didn’t take measurements of these chairs, so don’t bother asking for them. For me, the proportions and angles are far more important than eighths of an inch.
The short sticks were the first thing we investigated.
Brown Comb-back
This is a massive and well-proportioned chair that has a low stance and some curious details.
Let’s start with the obvious: it has only two short sticks holding up the armbow. That’s a rare configuration for a comb-back, so we immediately took a closer look. The thick brown-yellow paint (one of several colors) didn’t show any evidence of missing short sticks. But turning the chair over showed us the truth.
Though the underside of the arm was painted, raking light from a flashlight showed evidence of at least two more sticks that were missing under each arm. This was a relief in some ways, as the single stick under the hand was tempting me to try something stupid in a future chair.
Here you can see how the seat and arm curve inward toward the front of the seat. Also, note the two different hand shapes.
Next, we looked at the seat. Despite what I’ve seen in the past, I’m always surprised by how thick the seats on these chairs can be. I’ve seen them as thick as 3”. This one is a full 2” thick, with a generous bevel on the front of the chair that lightens the visual load (the “vertically striped shirt” of the chair world).
The seat looked like a typical D-shaped seat until we took a look from the rear of the chair. The sections of a D-shaped seat that are usually straight weren’t straight. They curved in toward the front edge of the seat.
When we looked at the shape of the armbow, this made sense. The armbow also curved inward toward the front of the chair. Many Welsh chairs begin with an arm shape, with the seat shape flowing from that. Perhaps the arm was made from a curved branch. Perhaps not. The paint wasn’t telling.
Other interesting details: The hands of the arm were not identical. This happens more than you might think. I don’t think the builder intentionally made two separate hands. I suspect that the hand shapes were determined by the wood itself, its defects or voids.
Note the repair on the arm – a common feature on these chairs and nothing to be ashamed of.
The legs were shaved round – you could still feel the facets.
A straight-on shot of the comb (you’re welcome).
My favorite part of this chair is the playful comb. Its basic shape is common: two Mickey Mouse-like ears on the ends with a raised area between them. But the chair’s builder went further. The ends have a delightful cove on the underside. And the top of the comb has a nice convex curve. The whole thing looks like a crown.
Despite the bark on the front seat, this is a well-considered chair.
Lowback
This tidy lowback has some secrets, some of which we were able to suss out.
First, look at the front edge of the seat. Yup, that’s bark. Wide boards have always been difficult to come by, so they didn’t waste any width on this one.
Evidence of a replaced stick.
The front posts were curious. They looked more English or West Country to my eye. They were joined to the chair with square mortise-and-tenon joints, while the rest of the joints in the chair were cylindrical. A close look under the arm showed us the shadow of a round mortise behind the square front posts. Likely the front posts are a replacement.
Also curious: None of the tenons for the short sticks poke through the armbow. They’re all blind. This feature is isn’t unique to this chair. It got me thinking how the mortises were drilled when the chair was built.
All the mortises through the seat were through-mortises – not blind. I think there’s a chance that some of the mortises were drilled from below the seat and then directly into the arm. The sticks all seem to lean back the same amount. So, it’s possible. Who knows?
Nice shoe. Some would call this a “swan’s neck.“
Finally, take a look at the beautiful shoe. The detail on its ends – an ogee and fillet – are nicely proportioned. And the hands are also tidy. I think this chair was made by a skilled hand.
This piece deserves its own investigation.
Unusual Child’s Chair
The third chair is one I didn’t spend much time with because of its odd construction. You see this in chairs in Ireland and Scandinavia more than Wales. I kinda wonder if it’s an import. The turned legs and insanely thick seat added to its curious stance.
I forgot to ask the curators about the provenance on this chair. Perhaps that will give us some answers.
The charmer of the group (both the chair and Chris Williams).
The Best of the Bunch
The final chair in this group was my favorite (I wasn’t alone). All the details point to the fact it was made by a trained woodworker. The provenance of the chair supported this idea.
A clever and attractive stretcher arrangement.
First, take a look at the undercarriage. The side stretchers are tapered octagons. What is (somewhat) unusual is that they are ovals in cross-section. The stretchers are thicker than they are wide. It’s a trick that allows you to use a thicker tenon for the medial stretcher without adding bulk. I’ve seen this detail before, but not this well executed.
I’ll be stealing that idea.
The hands.
The hands on this chair aren’t identical, but they are close and crisply executed.
Compared to the other chairs in this group, the rake and splay of the legs is dramatic, adding to the overall dynamic stance of the chair. Also, take a look at the long sticks and the comb. The long sticks splay out perfectly. When paired with the undercarriage, the chair has an attractive hourglass shape.
Note how the arm is attached (and another shot of the undercarriage).
The most unusual aspect of the chair is its front posts. They’re tenoned into the arm but then lapped onto the seat and reinforced with screws. It’s another of the joiner-like touches on this chair that points to a trained maker.
This chair is the one the museum has on display for the public. I agree with their choice. This is a special chair.
One Way to Level the Legs. The chair is sitting on a level worksurface, the front legs are raised on blocks to achieve the proper tilt to the seat. The seat is then leveled from left to right with shims (if necessary). Measure from the front of the seat to the worksurface – 17-3/16″ in this case. Decide on a final seat height – 15-11/16″ in the illustration. Subtract the seat height from the overall height to determine how much wood you need to cut off – 1-1/2″ in this case. Cut a block of wood to that length. Use the block to scribe the legs with the help of a Half Pencil™.
Cutting down the legs of a chair so they rest flat on the floor is another one of the “great mysteries” faced by most beginning chairmakers. If you’ve never done it, it seems impossible. But if you’ve done it even once, it seems completely obvious.
If you’ve never done it, know this: Leveling the legs requires no special talents in geometry or math. The only skill required is being able to saw to a pencil line.
There are about five or six ways I know of to level the legs of a chair. I have tried them all. The following method is the one that is the easiest to teach. Most students grasp this method with ease, in my experience. If, however, you read through this technique and say: But why don’t you do …? My answer is simple: Try your theoretical method and see how it goes. There are lots of ways to do this operation.
Set the Stage
To trim the legs of your chair you need a flat worksurface that is level. This can be a piece of plywood that you have shimmed with wedges, the top of a table saw, your workbench or that one patch of floor in your shop that is inexplicably level.
To level the worksurface, I use a spirit (aka bubble) level and construction shims. I test the surface in the X axis and Y axis and add wedges until the surface reads level according to the spirit level. Then I gather the tools necessary for laying out the cuts on the legs: a handful of small wedges, the spirit level, a modified carpenter’s pencil, a tape measure, a 6″ rule and some scrap wood.
The Modified Carpenter’s Pencil
One of my favorite layout tools is a carpenter’s pencil that has been planed to half its thickness. I call it the Half Pencil™, and it is a useful thing to have around. It allows you to make pencil marks in the same way a spear-point marking knife works.
A marking knife works well for joinery because you can run the flat back of its blade against one surface (such as a try square) to accurately mark another surface below. The same principle applies to a half pencil. You don’t have to tip the pencil to make a perfectly accurate mark.
If you are skeptical, plane a carpenter’s pencil in half. This is easily done by placing the pencil against a planing stop. If you don’t have a planing stop, stick it to a scrap board with carpet tape and plane it in half with a jack plane. Once you own one, I suspect that you will find uses for it outside of chairmaking.
The Half Pencil™. Plane a carpenter’s pencil in half with a jack plane until you get to its lead. This pencil (turned upside down in this photo) can scribe your legs without accounting for the pencil’s thickness.
The Two Big Ideas
Put the chair on your level surface. I’m sure that (like my chairs) it will wobble on the flat surface and look a bit awkward. This is how all that gets fixed.
The goal is to prop up the legs so the seat is:
1. Level from left to right.
2. Sloped from front to back so that the chair is ideal for either dining/ keyboarding or lounging.
Getting the chair level from left to right is straightforward. Place your bubble level on the seat and shim the legs so none of the legs wobble and the seat is level to the floor left to right.
Level, Left to Right. Use shims to level the chair’s legs from left to right. Make sure the legs don’t wobble.
Now you need to set the “tilt” of the seat. How much does the seat slope downward from front to back? A seat that is level from front to back isn’t ideal. The sitter will feel like she is being pushed forward a tad. The seat needs to slope backward.
But how much?
The system I use is based somewhat on the way chairmaker John Brown worked. The seat should slope backward by “one finger” for dining chairs. And “two fingers” for lounging chairs.
Place the level on the pommel and the back of the spindle deck. Place one finger under the level at the back of the chair. Does the bubble level read level? If yes, then your chair is pitched correctly for a dining chair.
Usually, most chairs need to have their front legs propped up on scrap blocks to be sloped two fingers or three fingers back. If your chair (as built) is pitched at “one finger” and you want it to be “two fingers,” then you need to prop up the front legs by “one finger.” My fingers are about 3/4″ wide. So, I’ll cut scrap blocks about 3/4″ wide and place them under the front legs and any wedges.
Two Fingers. I have put blocks under the front legs of the chair until the bubble level reads level from front to back with two fingers under the rear of the level. This pitch is ideal for lounging.
Then I check the slope from front to back. If I can put two fingers under the bubble level at the back of the chair and the bubble level reads level, then I’m where I need to be. If I want more pitch, I’ll add taller blocks at the front legs. If I want less pitch, I’ll use shorter blocks.
Mess with the blocks and wedges until the seat is level from left to right and pitched like you want it in real life. And make sure it doesn’t wobble on the block and wedges.
