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Registration is open for Fine Woodworking LIVE, which will be April 26-29 at the Southbridge Hotel & Conference Center in Massachusetts. Along with a long list of top-shelf woodworkers, I’ll be there to explain the geometry that governs my chairs in a way that non-math people can embrace.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m already losing sleep over this event. For my class, I’ll be bringing a completed Welsh stick chair, lots of props and bags of Xanax and Ambien for all the lovely people who attend my lecture – you’ll barely remember it!

If you read this blog, you already know what you’ll be getting from me (squirrel jokes and clam dancing). So do check out the classes from the other instructors. I’ll be attending those as well, trying to get Mike Pekovich to autograph his new book, pestering Beth Ireland about turning offsets and trying to buy a bowl off Danielle Rose Byrd.

After years of helping organize Woodworking in America, I know how difficult it is to put together a good program such as this. So if you can, do take advantage of the magazine’s hard work and the instructors’ hard-won knowledge.

— Christopher Schwarz

You don’t have to specialize in green woodworking to get some lessons in design from our good friends/mortal-est enemies – the trees.

Today I broke down some ash slabs for the upcoming class I’m teaching on stick chairs, and I was pleasantly reminded of some things I learned back in 2003 when I took my first chair class.

Curved Arms
Welsh chairmaker Christopher Williams first pointed out to me how chair arms can be efficiently harvested from curved branches or branches that had been “trained” by the woodworkers using some rope and a couple years of patience.

That idea was a revelation to me. I have yet to “train a tree,” but it’s on my list of things to do this summer in the forest behind our town’s cemetery.

Instead, I was taught to look for curved components at the butt end of the tree – the part where the tree widens its stance as it plunges below the earth. The curves here can be dramatic, and it’s a great place to find curved arms or curved crest rails. And that’s exactly where I found most of the arms for the chairs for the class.

All of the slabs I bought had the butt of the tree in place. The butt looks like junk (sounds like a bad song). It’s usually split to pieces as it dries. But there are segments of grain that are perfect for arms. Just avoid the punky places.

Why Bevel Your Seat?
Almost all chairs that are of staked, stick or Windsor construction have seats that are beveled on the underside. This wide bevel makes the seat appear lighter. And the bevel reduces the physical weight of the chairs, too.

It’s a great idea, but it’s probably the tree’s idea.

If you cut your seats out and try like heck to be efficient, you end up cutting the seats close to the exterior bark and the round shape of the tree’s trunk. And as your seats stack up, you might notice that the circumference of the tree has already started that bevel on the underside of the seat for you.

It’s not beveled all the way around the seat. But it’s a good start. You just need to finish the bevel to make it consistent.

Thanks trees!

— Christopher Schwarz

The new Covington Mechanicals classes posted last Monday are now open for registration (and linked just below). We also still have openings in some of our other 2019 classes, and those are linked below the four new ones.

Intro to Spoon Carving with JoJo Wood, June 17
Eating Spoon Master Class with JoJo Wood, June 18-19
Build the “Anarchist’s Tool Chest” with Megan Fitzpatrick, August 19-23
Build the Cabinetmaker’s Sector with Brendan Gaffney, November 23-24
Greenwood Post-and-rung Stool with Andy Glenn, March 23-24
Hoj Footstool with Brendan Gaffney, March 30-31
French Polishing with Derek Jones, July 11-12
Make a Carved Oak Box with Peter Follansbee, July 29-August 2
Build a Packing Box & School Box with Kieran Binnie, September 23-27
Build a Wall Cabinet with Anne Briggs (Anne of All Trades), October 7-11
Chip Carving with Daniel Clay, October 19-20
Build a Jennie Alexander Chair with Ray Schwanenberger, November 4-8
Make a Carved Oak Box with Peter Follansbee, December 9-13

As always, if you have questions about the classes in the Lost Art Press storefront, please send an email to me at covingtonmechanicals@gmail.com.

— Fitz

p.s. You can also take a class with me on either coast. On the West Coast, June 24-28, build a fancy Dutch tool chest build at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking in Washington State (it’s a gorgeous place!). On the East Coast, July 20-21, learn to cut four key corner joints with hand tools at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks in Warren, Maine (OK…it’s a 1/2-hour inland, but you can stay on the coast!).

My stickers arrived from my daughter last night. They look great! If you would like a set you can order them from her etsy store – she ships worldwide.

— Christopher Schwarz