Category: Uncategorized

NOTE: This video is being offered at the introductory price of $30 for the first 30 days of its release. After that, it will be sold for the full price of $60.

In this nearly two-hour video, professional chairmaker Chris Williams shows you how he builds a beautiful Welsh lobsterpot chair using simple tools and bent branches from the forest.

Lobsterpot stick chairs are one of the most desirable and tricky-to-build forms. The tightly bent back sticks converge on the comb and give the chair its visual energy. But how were these chairs made? Were the sticks steambent? Bent while green?

Chris has spent a lifetime studying and building traditional stick chairs in the shop in the Welsh countryside. And he’s studied many lobsterpot chairs that have survived for more than 100 years, and those that have broken.

The difference between them, he says, is in the arm. By using a naturally-crooked branch, the arm has no short grain, so it can withstand the immense pressure exerted on the chair by the bent sticks. Chairs with short grain – either in the arms or the sticks – tend to break easily and are difficult or impossible to repair.

In this video, Chris visits antique dealer Tim Bowen (of Tim Bown Antiques) to examine an antique lobsterpot chair to understand how they work and survive. From there, Chris heads to the hedgerows to show you the bent timber that grows there that he harvests for his work.

In addition to the bent sections, Chris harvests some straight ash and splits it in the forest for the legs and sticks. And then he goes to work in the shop.

Dealing with naturally curved material is tricky to dry and cut, and Chris shows you how he manages the process using hand tools and his band saw. 

During this process, Chris explains how the shape of the arm dictates the rest of the design of the chair. He works with the existing curves, joins the arm parts with traditional keyed scarf joints and then builds the rest of the chair based on the arm.

Chris learned to make stick chairs directly from John Brown and worked for him for about a decade. Many of Chris’s techniques, such as shaving the sticks, come from JB. Other techniques, such as making the armbow, are the results of Chris’s long research.

In the end, the lobsterpot comes together in the video without plans or patterns. Chris uses the shape of the wood at hand to determine the overall look of the comb and the pattern of the sticks.

The resulting chair is a gorgeous piece of sculptural work that is quite comfortable (we got to sit in it before it went to a customer). 

For chairmakers, this video is a rare glimpse into the shop of someone who works at the top of their profession. And it’s encouraging to see how it’s not fancy tools that make the maker, it’s their skill and cunning. 

Even if you have no intention of building a lobsterpot chair, it’s a fascinating project. And it is a delight to watch all the parts come together.

Our machinist has been backed up on work for a while, so we’re delighted he found time to get done for us a run of Brass Bevel Monkeys and 1:4 Dovetail Templates. Get ’em while they’re (metaphorically) hot!

– Fitz

p.s. The combo 1:6/1:8 Dovetail Template is in the tumbling hopper, and scrapers are currently in production – so both of those should also be back in stock soon. You can sign up at their links to be notified when they are.

My name is Lewis Laskin, and I’m excited to announce a Jimmy Possum chair class in my hometown of Annapolis, Maryland. The class is from June 22 to June 26, 2026, and registration opens February 20 at https://marylandhall.org/studioarts-ws.

Background

Three years ago, I wandered into the Jimmy Possum exhibit at Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania, and I was captivated. Shortly thereafter, I wrote about the chairs and my experience in Tassie (“Tasmania”), which you can read here.

Building my first two JP chairs scratched the itch, but it didn’t cure it. So I’ve resolved to make JP chairs, too. Some 150 years after the first Jimmy Possum chair was built in Tasmania, students will learn to make their own, unique JPs in Annapolis – about as far away from Tassie as physically possible!

Curriculum

JP chairs are easily identifiable by their unique legs, which pass through the seat and into the arms. Not only are they surprisingly comfortable, but their folk origins allow for broad design flexibility. Students will be encouraged to personalize their chairs, and I will bring a variety of modern and antique stick chairs for inspiration.

We will be using green wood (high moisture content) and a minimal toolset, authentic to the JP folk tradition. Much of the week will be spent sitting on Lefkowitz shavehorses with locally-forged drawknives in hand. Every student will go home with a completed chair, the skills to build another and a good understanding of wood behavior. Historically, JP chairs are not saddled, but you will have the opportunity to carve your seat if you’d like.

• Schedule: June 22 – 26, 2026, Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Capacity: Six students
• Tuition: $1,400
• Materials Fee: $100 for oak and poplar; +$100 to upgrade to oak and quartersawn walnut
• Ages: 16+
• Prerequisites: All experience levels welcome
• Tools: Provided
• Tuition Assistance:
  • Through the School: Maryland Hall offers need-based assistance for students under 18 and for students 55+. (The amount of assistance is based upon availability of funds.)
  • Through the Instructor: Financial need-based scholarship can reduce tuition by 60 percent (from $1,400 to $560). Application form accessible through enrollment page.

Location

The class will be hosted by Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, a non-profit performing arts and education center in Annapolis. This will be the first chairmaking course in Maryland Hall’s history, and it might even be the first public Jimmy Possum chair class in the United States!

The school is less than a mile from Annapolis’s historic downtown, best known for its charming brick buildings, the Naval Academy, Maryland blue crab and its proximity to the Chesapeake Bay. June is a great time to visit; we’ll be in crab season, and– don’t sweat – the school will have just completed installing their brand-new HVAC system.

Please email [email protected] with any questions.

— Lewis Laskin