Alexander Bros. in Timberville, Virginia, is now selling chair kits for stick chairs (and Brian Boggs chairs) in a fair number of species and at very good prices.
Shea Alexander has been picking chair wood for me for the last eight months or so, and I have been impressed with what he sends. The stock for the legs, sticks and stretchers is dead straight. And the rest of the pieces (which don’t have to be straight) are nicely dried and clear.
With these kits, you get just what you need to build a basic comb-back stick chair. The kits currently on their website is for the Six-stick Comb-back in “The Stick Chair Book.” But that same kit can be used to build almost any comb-back chair, including the four-stick comb-back from “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” Both books are a free pdf download.
You can get the kits in red oak, cherry, American elm or walnut. And the prices for the kits range from $235 to $410. That is an incredible bargain.
I receive no kickback, compensation or money from these kits. All the money goes to supporting a great family business. So if a lack of wood has been holding you back from building a stick chair, click here.
One of the difficulties students have when making Irish stick chairs is drilling the mortises for the two back sticks that also pass through each arm (we call these particular back sticks “posts”).
For a recent class, I made a jig that makes it easier to drill accurate mortises. While no jig is foolproof, this one is close.
If you know me, you know that I avoid jigs. For my work – especially with stick chairs – I would rather rely on skills than gizmos. This jig is simple (two pieces of wood screwed together) and actually removes the need for another simple jig I use when drilling mortises in the arms and seats. So it’s a bit of a wash when it comes to counting the jigs I use.
If you’re lost (“Martha, what the heck are ‘stick chairs!’”), then take a look at this book: “The Stick Chair Book.” It’s a free download.
About the Jig
Essentially, it’s an oversized doweling jig that lets you drill 3/4”-diameter mortises at exactly 20° off 90°. You simply clamp the jig over the mortise location, place a 3/4” bit in the jig and drill. The only thing that can go wrong is that you lean sideways as you drill and waller out the hole in the jig.
The jig is made from two pieces of wood: a 1/2” x 6” x 6” base and a 2” x 2” x 6” drilling block. You can use any old thing for the base, but I recommend a stout wood for the drilling block.
To make the jig, bore a 3/4” hole through the block. The hole should be centered on one edge. Cut off the bottom of the drilling block so it’s a wedge with a 20° included angle. (It will look like a doorstop with a hole bored through it.) Then glue and screw the drilling block to the base.
Next drill out the 3/4” hole that passes through the base. You are almost done.
I added some lines to the base that indicated the centerpoint of the hole through the jig. These allow you to place the jig accurately on your layout lines.
The jig on the seat. The sightlines are in red.
Using the Jig
All the sightlines for the five back sticks of this chair are at 0° – or straight ahead. Draw them on the seat, plus the locations for the mortises for the back sticks. Put your drill bit through the hole in the jig and position the bit’s point on the location of a mortise. Allow the jig’s base to rest on the seat. Rotate it until the jig’s centerlines match up with the sightlines. Clamp the jig down.
Now run the spinning bit through the seat, guided by the jig. Repeat this process for the other four mortises for the back sticks.
Drilling the mortise through the arm for the post is a bit of a trick. I had to figure out where the sightline was on the arm so that the arm would end up in the right place in space. This was done with a drawing (see below).
Once I marked this sightline on my arms, it was easy to place the jig on an arm in the right place. To drill the mortise, I clamped the jig and arm together in a vise (this was easier than adding clamps).
Placing the tip of the bit on the mortise’s location.
Clamp the jig and arm in a vise.
With the holes for the posts drilled in the arms and seat, I put the posts in the seat, threaded the arms over the posts and held them 8” above the seat with the drilling rig I use for almost all my chairs (which is shown in “The Stick Chair Book” about 100 times).
The posts, arms and one drilling jig. I am ready to drill the mortises in the arms.
Of the nine chairs we built in class with this jig, a couple students had mortises that weren’t aligned. After some investigation I realized it was human error. The student had driven the bit sideways and cut into the jig with the bit’s side flutes.
This problem can be minimized by sanding the sharp flutes of the bit that allow this side-cutting. I used #220-grit paper and only sanded the flutes – not the cutting edges of the bit at its tip.
This type of jig also works great for making a Gibson chair – you’ll just have to make a separate jig for the 30° lean of its posts.
The jig, the pattern with the sightline on it and the finished arm.
I recently finished this Irish stick chair in red oak during a chair class and am offering it for sale to readers of the blog. This chair will be sold via a random drawing for $1,600 (that price includes both crating and shipping to your door anywhere in the lower 48).
Details on how to buy the chair are below.
About the Chair This chair is adapted from “The Stick Chair Book” (a free download). It is almost identical to the chair I built for my recent article in Fine Woodworking. It is a low chair (the seat is 16” from the floor), with a back that leans 20°. It is designed for one task: Sitting around with friends and family and talking, reading or sharing a drink.
Like all my chairs, this Irish chair is assembled with hide glue so it can be repaired easily in the future. The finish was a bit of an experiment. The oak was first colored with lye, which gives it a warm chestnut color. Then painted with General Finishes “Milk” Paint in Emerald (sadly, a discontinued color). Finally, I applied a thin coat of Black Bison Wax from Liberon (dark oak). Then I rubbed out the black wax, carefully burnishing through the paint in areas to give the chair a bit of an aged appearance.
I don’t do this finish often, but it seemed right for this chair.
The through-tenons on the arms are left slightly proud and are burnished, again to add some years to the piece. All the sticks and legs are left faceted straight from the tools, which adds texture and character to this folk form.
How to Buy the Chair The chair is being sold via a random drawing. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Thursday, Aug 29. Please use the subject line: “Irish Chair.” In the email please include your:
Name
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 $1,600 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.)
This comb-back looks appropriate in vintage or modern settings.
This chair is built using Honduran mahogany that is at least 50 years old that I purchased from a millwork and furniture shop in Norwood that was going out of business. I bought every scrap I could afford, and I used most of my stash to build the projects in “Campaign Furniture.”
The rest, I have decided, I will use to make stick chairs. I probably have enough wood for four or five more chairs. (Note that most true mahogany today is illegally harvested. If you are interested in working with it, I recommend you seek out old stock or recycle it from broken or discarded antiques.)
About the Chair
Because I don’t have a lot of thick mahogany, the seat is thin (about 1”) and the leg tenons are reinforced with battens below the seat that are attached with sliding dovetails. This makes the chair lighter in weight and in appearance. The seat is a single board of 16”-wide mahogany.
The seat is 16” off the floor, and the chair is set up for dining or office work. The seat is tilted 4°, and the back is tilted 14° off the seat. The overall height of the chair is 39-1/2”, with an overall width of 22-1/2” and depth of 22”. The splayed-out back sticks provide plenty of shoulder support. This is a quite comfortable chair.
All the joints are assembled with hide glue (that we make here). This means the chair will be easy to repair in the far-off future as the glue is reversible. The finish is blonde shellac with a coat of black wax.
All the through-tenons in the undercarriage and arms are left slightly proud. They add texture (and a little strength) but they won’t snag your hands. I polished them and slightly rounded them over so they feel like a river pebble. All the short sticks are wedged into the arm above and below in the seat.
It might seem odd to make a folk chair from mahogany, but it is historically appropriate. Many seaside villages would build their furniture from cargo that washed up after shipwrecks (even though that was illegal to do).
How to Buy the Chair
I’m selling the chair via a silent auction. Crating and shipping are included in your price. As this is a private auction, there is no dealer fee. Your bid is what you pay to acquire the chair and have it shipped to you.
Bids start at $500. My chairs typically sell at auction for anywhere from $1,200 to $5,000, with most of them ending up in the $2,500 range.
If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday, Aug 23. Please use the subject line: “Comb Back” In the email please include your:
Bid
U.S. shipping address
Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
If you have the highest bid, we will notify you. Alternatively, the chair can be picked up at our storefront. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.)
When I was finishing up the writing of “The Stick Chair Book,” one of my friends suggested we should make a flip book that had four different “layers.” There would be a layer for the undercarriage, one for the seat plus the arm, one for the sticks and one for the comb.
Readers could flip the pages to try different combinations of undercarriages, seats, sticks and combs. It was a cool idea, if limited in its usefulness.
Then Nick, a reader, made a cool and free tool that you can use to visualize different sorts of chairs. Once you create a design with the sliders, then click “Layout” at the top of the screen, and you get all the dimensions and angles you need to build the chair. It’s really quite clever and amazing.
And don’t forget to rotate the chair around. It really does help you visualize different designs.
The program works in both metric and American Customary Units, and currently works with designing a lowback chair. A comb back is in the works, according to the site.
