I think that some of the modern rules for making a comfortable chair are inflexible, misinterpret the human body and ignore the needs of people on the shorter half of the bell curve.
Most of my ideas on chair comfort come from making chairs since the 1990s, everything from frame chair, Morris chairs, Windsor chairs and vernacular chairs, which is where my interest is right now.
After years of making chairs based on historical examples, I encountered modern design rules for them. I gobbled them up. But I found them at odds with my own experiences. This column is my attempt to reconcile them.
We delivered a big load of finished lump hammers to the warehouse this week and they are now available for purchase in our online store. The cost is $85 plus shipping.
These are machined, assembled and polished here in Kentucky using domestic materials.
We also will have a batch of these hammers here at the storefront for the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event on Sept. 20-21 at our Covington, Ky., storefront (in case you miss them online).
After six hard months of pure casework, I am back on making chairs every day in the shop. As such, I have a couple tools I’ve been meaning to write about but have put off because of the all-consuming nature of casework.
First is the Blue Spruce 4” Sliding Bevel Gauge. I bought one of the early prototypes that Dave Jeske had made and was impressed. It’s a great alternative for the woodworker who cannot afford a Chris Vesper 4” bevel or who needs one immediately (Vesper is currently out of stock on this tool). The Blue Spruce locks like crazy and is the perfect small size for chairmaking. Bevels with long blades can’t get as close to your drill bit as those with short blades.
You can, of course, make a bevel out of wood or cut down the blade of an old Stanley bevel. I’ve done both myself.
One of the nice things about the Blue Spruce version is that you get to pick out all the materials, colors and finishes for the tool. The bevel shown above is the one Dave made for me. If I were making one for myself it would be much more plain Jane – silver body, satin blade, stainless hardware.
The bevels start at $125 and are excellent. Highly recommended.
Also on the bench is the Bevel Monkey from FirstLightWorks in the U.K. This simple laser-engraved piece of laminate makes setting your sliding bevel a breeze. The cost is 28 pounds, which includes shipping to North America.
Both of these tools have earned a place in the till in my tool chest that is devoted to chairmaking tools.
Photo by Heather Birnie, http://www.heatherbirnie.com/
It’s no secret that I adore Chris Williams’s chairs, which have a direct and honest lineage to John Brown’s work. Chris worked with JB for more than a decade and made countless chairs under his eye.
In fact, I have to actively stop myself from imitating Chris’s work. It’s a struggle because I have one of his chairs sitting in front of me as I write this. I sit in it every day. It is a part of my family.
If you’ve ever wanted a chair that is tied directly to JB, read on. MARCH, a San Francisco store that specializes in handmade goods, has one of Chris’s chairs and is selling it for $5,000. It is an outstanding specimen of Chris’s work. Every detail is perfect – even to a chairmaker’s eye.
I know $5,000 is a lot of money, but I would buy it if I didn’t already own one.
