Some quick administrative stuff. To try to meet demand for classes on building a stick chair, I’ve scheduled a class in building a Welsh-style comb-back chair at our Covington storefront for Nov. 18-22. Registration for the class will open at noon (Eastern) on June 24.
The classes are expensive, I know. The price includes all materials, plus continental breakfast and lunch every day. (We are serious about the food.) The class size is small – six students with one instructor and an assistant. We go to great lengths to make the week special and work hard so you go home with a finished (completely finished) chair.
The other bit of news here is that we have to scale back “Open Wire” a bit for the rest of the year. Megan and I are traveling a lot in the coming months, and it’s difficult to juggle our Open Wire when one of us is out of town.
Here are the Open Wire dates for the rest of 2024:
July 20 August 10 September 14 October 19 November 16 December 14
We will post reminders before each Open Wire date. Those are the Saturdays when both Megan and I will be in the office and ready to answer your woodworking questions. Megan and I enjoy Open Wire, but we hate to leave the other in the lurch when the other is traveling or teaching.
This chair is a close cousin to the chair offered here a couple weeks ago. Same great wood and same finish. The only difference is this chair has a stout H-stretcher, making it suitable for all sitters.
I am selling this chair for $2,600, and that price includes the crating and shipping to anywhere in the continental U.S. The chair is being sold via a random drawing – details below.
This chair is made of mahogany that is at least 70 years old. I bought it from Midwest Woodworking in Norwood when it was going out of business. The wood is gorgeous stuff, light and strong.
The chair is set up for dining. The seat tilts about 3°, with a back tilt of another 12°. The seat is 16” off the floor, which makes it comfortable for a wide range of sitters. The seat is a single wide plank of mahogany (that I had to amazingly rip down to make the seat). All the housed joints are assembled with hide glue and elm wedges so that the chair can be repaired long in the future.
The finish is super blonde shellac with a thin coat of black wax, which tones down the red and accentuates the wood’s pores.
Purchasing the Chair
We’re selling this chair via a random drawing. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 5 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday, June 7. Please use the subject line: “Hobbit Chair.” In the email please include your:
Name
U.S. shipping address
Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
On June 7, we will pick a name at random and contact that person. Note that if you don’t hear from us on Friday, you did not win (sorry – the mail program has made bulk replies impossible). We will happily crate up the chair and ship it to your door. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.) Shipping and crating is included in the price, with no additional charges whatsoever.
This is the last Hobbit chair for awhile (and last mahogany chair for awhile). I have a new design in my notebook that I am eager to bring into the world.
This chair is based off a couple chairs I built a few years ago, which were based off the chairs I built for my two kids, which were based off a chair that Bilbo Baggins briefly sits in during “The Fellowship of the Ring.”
I haven’t watched the movie in ages, but I remember the arms of Bilbo’s chair were different, the short sticks were turned spindles, and the legs were different – maybe a decorative groove. And I can’t recall what the undercarriage looked like.
But other than those tiny details, this is an exact replica.
This chair is made of mahogany that is at least 70 years old. I bought it from Midwest Woodworking in Norwood when it was going out of business. The wood is gorgeous stuff, light and strong.
The chair is set up for dining. The seat tilts about 3°, the back tilts another 12°. The seat is 16” off the floor, which makes it comfortable for a wide range of sitters. The seat is a single wide plank of mahogany (that I had to rip down to make the seat – amazing!). All the housed joints are assembled with hide glue and ash wedges so that the chair can be repaired long in the future.
The finish is super blonde shellac with a thin coat of black wax, which tones down the red and accentuates the wood’s pores.
As mentioned above, the mahogany is straight and strong. But because there are no stretchers, I recommend this chair for sitters less than 220 lbs. I’m being over-cautious. (Also, if a leg ever snaps on any of my chairs, I’ll repair it free of charge.)
Purchasing the Chair
We’re selling this chair via a silent auction. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Tuesday, May 28. Please use the subject line: “Hobbity Chair.” In the email please include your:
Bid
U.S. shipping address
Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
The highest bid wins. If you are the “winner,” the chair can be picked up at our storefront. Or we will happily crate it and ship it to your door. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.) The reserve price is $500. Shipping and crating is included in your winning bid (with no additional charges whatsoever).
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. Plans for this chair will be in the second issue of The Stick Chair Journal. Also, Kale and I are working together on a second Hobbit-y chair in the same gorgeous mahogany. It will be up for sale in a week or so.
Editor’s note: The “bulk reply” plugin on Chrome has stopped working, and I cannot find a replacement on any of my browsers. So if you don’t hear from me (Fitz) by the end of the day on the deadline day, I’m afraid you are not the winner (this applies also to the recent Irish chair, and Ash and Elm chair). I’m sorry I haven’t time to send individual responses to the many entrants who did not win. If I did, it would read: “Thank you for your interest, and stay tuned – Chris is making more chairs, and there will be other opportunities.” Which is true in perpetuity!
Megan is finishing Matt Cianci’s book “Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening,” and I’m polishing “The American Peasant.” Both books will go to the printer within the month, and then we will turn to our next publishing projects.
Here’s what is coming up.
Megan is (still) working on her Dutch tool chest book, and she’ll also take the reins on Jim Tolpin and George Walker’s next book, “Good Eye.” Their early drafts have convinced me this will be their best book. For this book, George and Jim are deconstructing pieces of furniture to show their underlying patterns and language.
Also in the works: Kale and I just began filming a long-form video on building and using a Roman workbench.
And I will dive into the next issue of “The Stick Chair Journal.” I have been working on the second issue off and on, and I promise it will be out before the end of 2024. The delay on “The Stick Chair Journal” has not been due to a lack of enthusiasm. Quite the opposite. My list of stories for the second (and third) issues grows every week.
Mostly, I have been stalled by our 11-month-long restoration of the Anthe building, our new fulfillment center. Finally, work on the Anthe building is winding down. This week we’re repairing the basement stairs and waterproofing the second-floor doors over the loading dock. These little projects are much easier to tackle than say: pay for a new roof, sunlight, gutter and reconstruction of the rear masonry wall.
Aside from the Anthe building, one of the obstacles to the next issue of “The Stick Chair Journal” is which chair plan we will publish in issue two. I have seven designs I’ve been working on:
Comb-back with a plywood arm and comb Settle/Settee The Shortback Irish writing chair Peasant chair The Stout Lad chair (a chair for larger body types) Hobbit chair
I want to build them all. And given enough time, I will. Since writing “The Stick Chair Book” (a free download), I have been moving chair-by-chair to a particular chair form in my mind. The two chairs on my bench right now (shown above) are a significant step forward to that chair – both in form and the natural dye I’m cooking up.
Or maybe I’m just fooling myself and “that chair” will always be on the horizon.
Every single vernacular stick chair I have studied uses cylindrical tenons. None have tapered tenons and mortises.
Yet, I teach many first-timers to use the tapered joint. What gives?
The tapered joint requires some special tooling, but you get a few chances to dial in the final angle. So it’s forgiving for beginners. A cylindrical mortise uses only a drill bit. But you get only one chance to get it right.
Personally, I prefer the cylindrical joint because it looks right to me. But both survive just fine in antique examples. You can make up all sorts of reasons that one is superior to the other, but the furniture record is clear: Both work.
Yesterday I legged up two Irish chairs I’m working on, and Kale Vogt (our new assistant editor), shot this short video that explains the steps I take to get my mortises just right.
This method is a little different than what I show in “The Stick Chair Book” (a free pdf download). I have added my cheap construction laser to the process. The laser makes the process so easy, that I’m considering using it in future classes.
