On Friday we wrapped up the class and assembled six new stick chairs. Also, thanks to the generosity of Lost Art Press readers, all the students took a complete kit of cherry parts home for their next stick chair – plus the jigs and patterns necessary to make that great leap at home.
Making stick chairs in cherry is a special challenge. It’s not as strong as oak, so repairing a split here and there is common. Also, a lot of this cherry was curly, so that made it fun to get the surfaces free of tear-out.
But in the end, the chairs look great. And each one reflects the personality of its maker.
I’d like to thank everyone who made this class possible. Aspen Golann at The Chairmaker’s Toolbox worked with a few other people to select the six students from more than 200 applications. Megan Fitxpatrick (misspelling intended) helped me keep everything on track during the week. Harper Haynes, our summer intern, shot and edited the videos you’ve been watching all week.
And y’all – the blog readers – put up the money that made the class special. Thank you.
If you’d like to see what sort of seed you’ve planted, definitely follow the students on Instagram. Here are their usernames:
The movie selection today does not adequately cover everything we did. It does not cover the empanadas. Or the pastries. Or the bourbon slushes.
It also doesn’t cover the fact that we made most of the sticks and tenoned them. Tomorrow we will shave all the sticks to shape, clean up the arms and assemble the chairs.
Then maybe some more bourbon slushes (and a well-deserved merit badge).
None of these chairs are the same. Not the rake and splay of the legs or undercarriage. Not the arms or hands. Not the position of the sticks. So yeah, stick chairs are on the menu.
This six-stick comb-back chair is inspired by two Welsh chairs – one that I inspected at Tim Bowen Antiques and a second chair that I have in my collection. The chair is built using 4,000-year-old bog oak that was harvested in Poland. All the parts of this chair came from one tree.
I am selling this chair for $1,500 via a random drawing. Details on purchasing the chair can be found near the bottom of this blog entry. Here are some more details about its design and construction.
This stick chair is a new design – a definite break from my previous chairs. It features new shapes for the seat, arm, hands and comb. The rake and splay of the legs are new numbers. But in the end, it is still just a stick chair, a humble and vernacular form found in many cultures.
This particular chair is set up for working or dining. The back is fairly upright at 11° off the seat. And the seat tilts at 4°, giving the chair an overall tilt of 15°. The seat is 16-1/2” off the floor to accommodate both short and tall sitters, and the chair is 40-1/2” high overall. So it has a nice presence in a room.
One of the goals with this chair was to make it a bit more roomy. There is 20” between the arms, and the arm shape is square-ish to accommodate stocky sitters.
The bog oak used in this chair is a gorgeous nutty brown, with hints of green and orange in it. All of the chair’s major joints are assembled using hide glue, so repairs in the (far) future will be easy. The chair is finished with a non-toxic soft wax, a blend of beeswax and raw linseed oil that my daughter cooks up here in our shop. The wax is an ideal chair finish. It is not terribly durable, but it is easily renewed or repaired.
Among the unusual design details of this chair are the through-tenons in the seat. The chair’s sticks were left long and protrude out the bottom of the seat. This feature is more common on Irish chairs, but I like the look, and it gives a sitter something to explore down there.
I consider this chair a prototype, and it is not perfect. On one of the arms there is a small bit of tear-out (3/16” square) that I filled with tinted epoxy. There are also tell-tale signs of handwork everywhere on this chair. You will find faint rasp marks on the arms. Scallops from the jack plane on the underside of the seat. Facets from a spokeshave on the comb.
I prefer these subtle marks to a homogenous sanded surface. Though some people would call them flaws.
How to Purchase This Chair
This chair is being sold via a random drawing. The chair is $1,500 plus domestic shipping. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.) If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Wednesday, July 13. In the email please use the subject line “Chair Sale” and include your:
First name and last name
U.S. shipping address
Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
After all the emails have arrived on July 13, we will pick a winner that evening via a random drawing.
If you are the “winner,” the chair can be picked up at our storefront for free. Or we can ship it to you via common carrier. The crate is included in the price of the chair. Shipping a chair usually costs about $250 to $300, depending on your location.
