If you, too, would like to get bunny ears from Chris while making a chair in our shop, log in to our ticketing site at noon (Eastern) today. Signups go live for:
Build an Irish Armchair with Christopher Schwarz (Aug. 12-16)
and
Build a Welsh-style Comb-back Chair with Christopher Schwarz (Sept. 30-Oct. 4)
– Fitz
The following is excerpted from “The Stick Chair Book,” by Christopher Schwarz.
“The Stick Chair Book” is divided into three sections. The first section, “Thinking About Chairs,” introduces you to the world of common stick chairs, plus the tools and wood to build them.
The second section – “Chairmaking Techniques” – covers every process involved in making a chair, from cutting stout legs, to making curved arms with straight wood, to carving the seat. Plus, you’ll get a taste for the wide variety of shapes you can use. The chapter on seats shows you how to lay out 14 different seat shapes. The chapter on legs has 16 common forms that can be made with only a couple handplanes. Add those to the 11 different arm shapes, six arm-joinery options, 14 shapes for hands, seven stretcher shapes and 11 combs, and you could make stick chairs your entire life without ever making the same one twice.
The final section offers detailed plans for five stick chairs, from a basic Irish armchair to a dramatic Scottish comb-back. These five chair designs are a great jumping-off point for making stick chairs of your own design.
The arms can be the simplest part of a chair. If you’re lucky, you might find a branch in the woods that grew into the shape of a perfect arm. Or the arms can be as basic as two straight boards: one for the right hand and one for the left.
If you like, you can make a C-shaped arm that wraps around the sitter by gluing three sticks together – one for the sitter’s right hand, one for the spine and one for the left hand.
On the other hand, a chair’s arms can have insanely involved joinery – mitered scarf joints or curved half-laps (for starters).
And if that’s not enough of a challenge, try steambending, where there’s a significant risk of chuck-it-in-the-trash-and-start-day-drinking failures.
With dozens of methods available, deciding how to make the arms of a chair can be daunting. So, let’s begin with some basic principles.
The Goal of the Arm
The mechanical goal of every arm on every good stick chair is simple: Avoid short grain as much as possible. If you plan to build your chair with two separate, disconnected arm pieces, then things are fairly simple. You can easily find two sticks to do the job and avoid weak short grain.
The troubles begin when you want your chair to have what’s called an “armbow” – a curved arm that wraps around the sitter from her right hand to the left. How in heaven’s name do you avoid short grain with a C-shaped arm? There are several strategies:
Typical Dimensions
Arms can vary quite a bit. A steambent arm might be 1″ thick and 1-1/2″ wide. A pieced armbow might be 1″ thick and 2-1/2″ wide. A curved branch or root can be a whopping 2″ thick and 4″ wide.
The arm has to be strong enough that it won’t crack during assembly or in service. And this challenge is made more difficult by all the holes you drill in the arms for sticks. Make the arm too bulky, however, and it might look ugly. It’s a balancing act.
In the world of stick chairs, a typical arm is about 1″ thick, give or take. In a strong material, such as oak, I’ll accept 7/8″ thick. For width, I like 1-3/8″ wide for arms that I’ve bent. And about 2-1/4″ wide for pieced armbows.
If the arm has a shoe, I usually shoot for 1″ thick for that component, though I have seen much thinner ones on historical chairs.
When assembled, the armbow is typically wider than the seat. If my seat is 20″ wide, then my armbow will be 23″ to 26″ wide overall. The depth of the armbow varies according to the design of the chair. If the back of the chair leans a lot, you might have to make the armbow deeper (or not, depending on where you want the hands to end up). Sometimes the hands hang over the front edge of the seat. Sometimes they are in line with the front edge of the seat. Sometimes they are a few inches back. Here’s a good starting point: My armbows are typically about 16″ deep, and that works for most of my chair designs.
All that said, the arms can vary a lot in a stick chair. Don’t be afraid to stray from these guidelines when copying an old chair.
Arms in the Hedge
Among stick chairs from Wales, it’s fairly common to find a chair where the arm’s shape was determined in part by the tree. A tree branch grew in a graceful curve, and it was harvested by a cunning chairmaker. I first learned about this bit of cleverness from chairmaker Chris Williams and Emyr Davies, a conservator at St Fagans. They planted the following idea into my brain: “Chairmaking begins with a walk in the woods.”
That is, you can find a chair’s arms in the branches, and the chair’s design begins there.
During my visits to the forests in Wales, these simple words became real. I looked up into the branches of these craggy Welsh trees and saw the arms of chairs waving back at me. Curved branches are quite common in trees that are part of the intertwined ecosystem of hedgerows and sunken lanes.
When I returned to the United States, I went to the forest to look for arms, but above me I found only legs, sticks and stretchers – straight stuff. The North American forest tends to produce arrow-straight tree trunks as the leaves stretch upward for sunlight.
Of course, naturally bent wood is out there in American forests and towns, but it’s not nearly as common as it is in Wales, where the landscape nurtures these curves.
If you do find curved material for arms, harvesting it, sawing it, drying it and shaping can be a challenge.
Naturally bent wood can possess significant internal stresses. The reward, however, is an armbow with no short grain.
There are two typical ways to use the curve of a branch in an arm.
While I have looked for arms during many walks in the woods, most of my success has come from “walks by the stream.” Trees that grow adjacent to a stream can have roots that bend from the bank then plunge down. Sometimes erosion can expose these bent roots. They are ideal for arms. (Thanks to chairmaker John Porritt for showing this trick to me.)
Steambent Arms
Steambending is challenging, time-consuming and there’s always the risk of failure. Despite this, I have loved it since I bent my first comb in 2003. You need a steambox, a way to make steam (I use a wallpaper steamer), a bending strap and a form. The biggest challenge, however, is getting the right wood. The grain has to be dead-straight along its length, or it is likely to split while being bent. Air-dried or green wood bends the easiest – it still has lots of moisture in it, which helps carry the heat into the stick. If the wood has been kiln-dried, it needs to be rehydrated before bending. Cut the stick to shape then soak it in water for a week or two.
But even when you do everything right, sometimes steambending goes wrong.
After steaming the stick for an hour or so, you bend the stick around the form, secure it with clamps and let the stick dry. You can let it air-dry for a couple weeks, or you can build a primitive kiln using some insulating board, duct tape and a light bulb. You want the bulb to heat the kiln to 115°-125° (F). After a few days in the kiln, the arm will be dry enough to keep its shape.
People have written entire books about steambending. The chapter on the comb-back with a bent arm goes into detail on this technique.
Bent Laminations
I’m not a fan of using bent laminations in stick chairs. Laminations usually look wrong to my eye. Basically, making a bent lamination involves sawing multiple thin strips of wood from a board in sequence. You apply glue to their faces, bend the wet mess over a form and let the glue dry. Then you machine the glue-encrusted part to shape.
I am happy to use bent laminations when making contemporary pieces, but in a vernacular stick chair, I’m going to opt for something else because it can look a bit like fancy plywood.
Cold-bend Hardwood
Surprisingly, the easiest way to bend an armbow or comb is using a high-tech material called “cold-bend hardwood” or “comp wood” (“comp” is short for compression). This material has been heated with steam and compressed along its length. When it arrives in your shop, it is wrapped in plastic and is pretty wet (about 25 percent moisture). It also is flexible. You cut it with a band saw and bend it around a form. It’s like steambending without the steam, strap or failure. I’ve had only one failure in 10 years of working with it.
What’s the downside? It’s expensive. A stick of comp wood that will get me three armbows might cost $150. When I sell a chair for $1,400, a $50 armbow isn’t all that big a deal. If fact, it might be cheaper than steambending because there is almost zero risk of failure when bending an arm. However, if you are a hobbyist, your time is your own and you can make these decisions without worrying about the clock.
After you bend the comp wood, you clamp it to the form. Then you can let it air-dry for a week or put it in the kiln overnight. When its moisture drops below 15 percent or so you can take it out of the form. I have found it quickly acclimates to your shop’s equilibrium moisture content.
The comp wood is indistinguishable from wood that has been steambent, so it looks fine in a stick chair. And I go into detail on using comp wood in the chapter on the comb-back with a bent arm.
Pieced Armbows
My favorite way to make an armbow is the easiest method overall.
A pieced armbow is made from two to four bits of wood that are sawn and glued to avoid short grain. A pieced armbow allows you to use flat boards from the lumberyard (or sticks from your backyard) and, with a bit of cleverness in selecting the grain, create a sturdy armbow.
The joinery can be as simple as butt joints and glue, or as showy as mitered lap joints or long scarf joints.
Making a pieced armbow begins with choosing the shape of the arm, choosing the joinery, then making patterns for the parts.
What follows is a broad overview of historic styles, by Henry R. Birks, who was an instructor in cabinet work t Regent Street Polytechnic in London. He earned City and Guilds first-class honors in cabinet work. This article is from Vol. IV (which covers Furniture and the Workshop) of our compilation of “The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years.” It was first printed in The Woodworker in 1938.
Modern furniture fashions and current production methods have obscured from the young cabinet-maker much, if not all, of the wide traditional background of his craft.
At various periods during the history of this country, circumstances, and the skill of the craftsman, have combined to produce furniture and interior woodwork of distinctive styles, surviving examples of which are to be seen in museums and elsewhere. The artistic merit of much of this old work appeals to the taste of many people, who appreciate the use of its features in furniture and interiors, even in these days of novel design and ample choice.
Reference to the City and Guilds syllabus for cabinet-making shows that the student is required to have a good knowledge of these period styles and their characteristics, as well as an acquaintance with the related influential French designs.
It should be remembered that the City and Guilds examination questions are variously framed. For example, the characteristics of a period may be outlined and the sudent asked to supply the approximate dates thereof—or perhaps the name of the reigning monarch. Another type of question requires a description of the style or styles in vogue at a given date. The subject should, therefore, be studied from all possible angles, particular attention being given to the following:
Period dates: Period Characteristics.
Timbers and materials used: Reigning Monarchs.
Prominent personalities (Architects, Craftsmen, and Designers): Related French Styles.
The following list gives the approximate dates of the various periods. By memorising these the student will have at his disposal a convenient and logical framework for his enquiries.
ENGLISH PERIODS
1500-1603 Tudor.
1603-1649 Jacobean.
1649-1660 Cromwellian.
1702-1714 Queen Anne.
1714-1727 Early Georgian.
1660-1685 Charles II.
1689-1702 William and Mary
1745-1780 Chippendale.
1760-1792 Adam.
1760-1790 Hepplewhite.
1790-1810 Sheraton.
FRENCH STYLES
1589-1610 Henry IV.
1610-1643 Louis XIII.
1643-1715 Louis XIV.
1715-1774 Louis XV.
1774-1793 Louis XVI.
1799-1814 Empire.
It should perhaps be explained that the importance of the French styles lies in their influence upon the English craftsmen and designers, many of whom were obviously thus inspired.
GOTHIC
Prior to the fifteenth century furniture, such as there was, seems to have been very primitive. It had little of independent style, but borrowed its characteristics from the ecclesiastical architecture of the time. Surviving examples are recognisable by these Gothic features.
It is in the work that was produced at the end of that century that evidences of changing style are noticeable: nevertheless, it is difficult to differentiate decisively between furniture of the later Gothic, and the work of early Tudor dates. English oak provided the timber for this early woodwork.
TUDOR
The Tudor period was largely an expression of the Renaissance spirit. Beginning in Italy this “new birth” of the Arts spread across the European continent and finally became an inspiration for our own craftsmen. With the reign of Henry VIII partly advanced there was a noticeable development of style. Gothic characteristics persisted, but were enlivened with what was essentially Tudor treatment. Oak was still the exclusive material and embellishment took the form of freely used chip carving, and a limited use of rather primitive inlay.
The furniture itself consisted mainly of chests, coffers, stools, trestle tables, etc., all of which, in the early stages of the period, were simply and rudely made. With the advance of the times there was improved craftsmanship and elaboration of design. The carpenter was now able to produce such articles as the court cupboard and draw-leaf table—both of which were in evidence during the Elizabethan age. Heavy turned legs—of bulbous shape—with strongly carved designs, are a feature of this later period, and it was at this time that the huge four-poster bed became a prominent item of furniture in the wealthier houses. Haddon Hall and Hampton Court may be instanced as providing examples of Tudor craftsmanship.
JACOBEAN
Jacobean furniture—product of the years which were spanned by the reigns of James I, Charles I, and the Cromwellian Commonwealth—is differentiated from the Tudor by its minor details rather than by any fundamental changes. In fact, individual pieces are very similar to those of Elizabethan design. Oak continued to be the wood from which the bulk of the work of this period was fashioned. Ornament, in addition to already familiar curved forms, consisted of split turnings, diamond shaped tablets, and simple frets. Mouldings were applied to outline geometric shapes on panels and elsewhere. This feature was commonly used in the embellishment of drawer fronts—drawers having now become a recognised addition to furniture construction. Thus the simple chest of earlier times became a chest of drawers. Turnings for legs, balusters and similar purposes were used liberally, but were of slighter design and more varied in detail than Tudor turnings.
RESTORATION
The influence of Jacobean and Cromwellian design persisted through the reign of Charles II, as did also the use of oak. There were, however, certain changes. One of these was the appearance of the gate-leg table; a lighter alternative to the heavy tables of Tudor inspiration. Chairs became less severe in form, and often were carved and pierced. They had taller backs than the chairs of earlier date, to which caning was sometimes applied.
Another feature of the period was a free use of spiral or twist turnings. They were used for chair legs.
It was during the Restoration times that the use of walnut, as an alternative to the hitherto exclusively used oak, took place; and its employment became so general in the William and Mary era that this period is known as the “Age of Walnut.”
WILLIAM AND MARY
Furniture styles now underwent considerable change. Dutch influence is a marked feature of the period. Such items of design as the smooth surfaced cabriole leg, carved cabriole knee, club foot, ball and claw foot, etc., characterise the period. Twisted legs and scrolled Flemish legs were used, and marquetery was introduced and applied to the decoration of table tops, doors and drawer fronts. Dutch inspiration was apparent in the Dutch chair; while the typical chair of the age was high backed and elaborately carved, or in some cases inlaid with designs of vases of flowers and birds, etc.
It was during this period that the renovation and alteration of Hampton Court Palace was undertaken. Sir Christopher Wren and Grinling Gibbons were intimately associated with this work, the latter being responsible for some of the fine carving which survives.
QUEEN ANNE
The William and Mary tradition was carried forward into the reign of Queen Anne. Walnut displaced oak more or less completely. Marquetry at this period was freely and effectively used. Cabriole legs became a general feature and found a place in the designs of all kinds of furniture—the shell pattern carved upon the knee is typical, but later work displays more elaborate treatment. Chairs gained considerably in shapeliness and comfort, the latter being due to the development of upholstery as an established furniture craft.
Easy chairs, sofas, stools, and the Windsor chair are to be found among examples of the period.
EARLY GEORGIAN
The early Georgian period is notable to the student of furniture first because it was the beginning of the mahogany tradition (about 1730), and secondly because of the fine carving, with which the craftsmen of the time richly embellished both furniture and interior woodwork. The new wood was used not only for furniture but for the various interior needs also.
CHIPPENDALE
Carved treatments of furniture and the use of mahogany continued with Chippendale, who, besides being a master of the carver’s art was also a skilful designer and draughtsman. The furniture which he produced was intended to have a wide appeal; it varied from pieces of comparative simplicity to the elaborately carved designs which are most often regarded as being representative of his style. His ideas were freely copied and adapted by his contemporaries in the furniture trade, and, no doubt, his book The Director was to some extent intended to serve this end.
Among Chippendale features were the ribbon designs for chair backs; the cabriole, ball and claw foot, the use of frets and fretted overlays and various carved mouldings. Chinese Chippendale furniture is of distinctive design and readily recognised. In much of the more elaborate work French influence is apparent.
ADAM
Robert Adam, creator of the interior and furniture style that bears his name, was an architect who, through the medium of travel, had acquired a rich classical background for the inspiration of his work. A strong leaning towards unity in design and treatment caused him to undertake the planning of interiors and furniture for his buildings, thus the Adam style demonstrates a pronounced departure from Georgian tradition. An innovation which is attributed to Adam is the use of composition ornament, applied as a substitute for carving in the solid wood. He also designed furniture and interiors in which a painted finish and decoration was used. Among his artistic collaborators were Angelica Kauffman, Pergolisi, and Antonio Zucchi.
Typical ornamental details of the Adam style were festoons, swags, vases, drapery, and rams’ heads, etc., all of which were used with distinctive delicacy of treatment. Other features were cupids, caryatides, wreaths, and honeysuckle designs. Marquetry also was used.
HEPPLEWHITE
Furniture of the Hepplewhite style is notable for its restrained ornamentation. By comparison with the typical Chippendale product Hepplewhite designs are inclined to severity, but lightness and elegance were obviously intended and ornament was subordinated to this end. Chair work of the period displays considerable merit, the clever use of novel designs in the backs—including the shield shape and the oval shape—being found in association with unusually satisfying lines in the individual chair as a whole. Practically every type of furniture was made in this style. Various bandings were inlaid into the Mahogany. Carving was used sparingly.
There were numerous small pieces intended for the use of the ladies of the day in parlour and boudoir. French influence is apparent, and is attributable to designs of Louis XV and XVI origin.
SHERATON
Last of the eighteenth century designers — a contemporary of Hepplewhite — was Sheraton. There is much of similarity between the work of these two men. It is in chair work that Sheraton is perhaps most distinctive, his designs being characterised by a lowering of the height of the backs and a novelty of detail. The bulk of Sheraton style furniture was made of mahogany and inlays of satinwood, amboyna, box, and stained woods were used for decoration.
For this latter, such designs as festoons, fans, scrolls, and flowers were used, but such was the variety of this embellishment that it is difficult to particularise. Typical pieces are to be found in such categories as bureau bookcases, writing tables, sideboards, and china and other cabinets.
Both Sheraton and Hepplewhite, as well as Robert Adam, abandoned the use of the cabriole leg in favour of various tapered, turned, square, and shaped legs, usually of light design.
We’ve gotten many requests for more stick chair classes this year, so we added two more to the calendar. Both classes will be held at our Covington, Kentucky, storefront and the cost includes all materials and hearty lunches – plus pastries, coffee and tea each day.
Some students have remarked that my classes are equal parts food tour and chair class. You will not leave hungry.
Registration for these classes opens at noon (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 8, through our page at TicketTailor. If you fail to get into a class, I encourage you to get on the waiting list. A couple spots usually open up.
Here are the details:
Irish Armchair: Aug. 12-16, 2024
This chair is one of the two most comfortable forms that I build. Based on Irish examples I’ve studied on my travels, this chair is great fun to build and very strong. Though Irish chairs are not traditionally saddled, we will saddle these chairs for extra comfort. You’ll make every component of the chair, cut all the joints and even have time to apply finish to the chair.
Welsh-style Comb-back Chair: Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 2024
This is the most popular chair I make for customers. It is comfortable and versatile, and it can be configured as a dining chair, an office chair or for relaxing. This comb-back design is based on historical examples I’ve measured and studied on my trips to Wales. Students will be encouraged to customize their chairs with different designs for the hands, shoe and comb. Plus you’ll be able to fit the chair for sitters who are short or tall.
— Christopher Schwarz
Editor’s note: The Ticket Tailor page reads “Register Now”…But you can’t do that. As noted above, the ticket link will be live at noon, Eastern, on May 8.
As Megan and I mentioned yesterday, we are having serious problems with our WordPress site. We have a technical expert working on it. WordPress has mostly ignored our pleas.
In some ways, we are still trying to find out what is wrong with our Domain Name Servers (DNS). Some readers are not receiving email updates when we post new blog entries. Some are. Some are receiving an e-mail update, but it is only the digest form of the entry. Some people can see our posts in their RSS feed. Others are denied access to it.
So, if you are so inclined, could you leave a comment below telling us how you saw this entry.
To ensure this post is long enough to kick the old WP into digest mode, I’ve elongated this entry with an old entry below.
Thank you. And apologies for the trouble.
— Christopher Schwarz
Be Fox Mulder, Not Cotton Mather
The best thing I can say about graduate school is that it taught me to think.
When someone presents an idea to you that is the opposite of everything you’ve read before and everything you believe is true, how do you react? Most people reject the new information like a kidney grafted to the place where the liver should be.
I used to be like that until I started reading Noam Chomsky’s criticisms of how mass media works.
Here’s the dime-store paperback version: Look for information that doesn’t match the conventional wisdom. This new information may not be correct either, but you should examine it closely because it will teach you something.
Here’s how this plays out in the workshop.
In 2007, we re-published Joseph Moxon’s “The Art of Joinery” – the first English language book on woodworking – with some commentary from me. In the book, Moxon discusses “traversing” a board with a fore plane to clean it up and remove twist. I demonstrated this operation in the book and readers on the discussion forums howled.
Sadly, posts on the forums expire, so digging up the discussion is difficult. But here’s the gist:
Ten years later, it seems funny that this conversation ever happened. That’s because enough people (the Fox Mulders of the world) tried Moxon’s techniques and were able to discredit the Cotton Mathers.
After 20 years in this business, I’ve seen this happen time and again.
I could go on and on. And it would soon sound like I’m giving you a list of things to believe, or not to believe. All I really want to say is my favorite Russian paradox: “Disobey me.” And I’d like add one more bit of information to that: There is a way out of the paradox, but you have to find it for yourself.
— Christopher Schwarz