The most gratifying class I teach has got to be the one on Roorkee chairs.
To be certain, there is the normal amount of “explaining how to make things out of wood” in the class. But in addition to that, we get to explore:
• Cutting and riveting leather.
• Stripping and installing steel hardware.
• Mixing shellac without a digital scale or math degree.
• HVLP spraying.
• Applying wax finishes.
• Make a three-legged stool.
• Dirty Irish songs.
Thanks to the simplicity – and genius – of these chairs, the pace of this class allows for crazy stuff. Sing a shanty. Demonstrate how to hand-stitch leather. Argue about wood species. Drink 3 liters of beer and talk about the state of woodworking.
Today we wrapped up a four-day class on building Roorkee chairs, and the students were able to complete building all of their chairs, including finishing them with shellac and wax. They completed all of the leatherwork. And they all built three-legged stools that were not on the lesson plan. (Thank you William Ng for allowing us to do all this crazy stuff and supplying us with tools, parts and awesome doughnuts.)
But the best moment (for me) came when one of the students sat in the chair he had just completed minutes ago and said the following words:
“This,” he said, “is going to get me some strange with the wife.”
Yup, I know that’s a little rude, but until someone says it about the class you just ran, shut up.
One of the nice things about teaching different places is you get to see how each school has its own personality or vibe, if you will.
I can say this: If you like taking classes at Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking, you’ll feel right at home at William Ng’s school in Anaheim, Calif. Like Kelly, William has a laid-back, almost soothing personality. And (also like Kelly), William takes his equipment very seriously.
(Teaching here made me realize how much I’ll miss teaching at Kelly’s this year – he’s taking a sabbatical for a year to travel and do other stuff.)
On Monday we began turning legs for Roorkee chairs on sweet Oneway lathes and began boring the leg mortises on a monstrous General drill press. We also started all the leatherwork for the chairs by making what seemed like a mile of belting material from vegetable-tanned leather.
Teaching the class made me realize I have a slight dimensional error in “Campaign Furniture.” I’ll publish an errata tonight after class.
Today we crack into the chromium-tanned hides that will make the seats and start the tricky process of making the socketed mortises and tenons that create the chair’s frame.
So next time your family wants to go to Disneyland, simply agree. Send them there and book a class down the street with William Ng. Win-win.
Charleston, S.C., is my favorite city in the world because of the food, architecture, history, weather, furniture and people.
I was first sent there in 1990 to write about the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo and fell in love with the Holy City. I’ve returned there every year since. Lucky for me, I have a built-in excuse – my father now lives there downtown.
If you’ve never been to Charleston, here is a chance to do it, woodworking-style.
This month, March 28-29, Lie-Nielsen Toolworks is holding a Hand Tool Event at Charleston’s American College of the Building Arts, which is currently located in the city’s old jail (an incredible structure). While that is reason enough to come to Charleston, Deneb Puchalski at Lie-Nielsen and I created a special program for the day before the event – March 27 – to introduce you to the city, the food and the furniture on the peninsula.
There is limited space; we can take only 20 woodworkers, so sign up using the instructions at the end of this blog entry. Note: All the following events are on the lower peninsula. No car is necessary to get from place to place.
Here is what we’ve planned for March 27.
Noon – 1 p.m. Curatorial Tour of the Nathaniel Russell House Museum https://www.historiccharleston.org/Russell.aspx 51 Meeting Street, Charleston
Cost: $35 per person
In this specially curated tour of the Nathaniel Russell house, we’ll take a look at the furniture of this impressive home, much of which was made in Charleston. Charleston pieces can be difficult to identify and find. This house has one of the best (if not the best) collections of Charleston pieces. We will all meet at the front gate of the house about noon and go in as a group.
1 p.m. – 2 p.m. Lunch on your own. We’ll recommend several good places in walking distance that will fit any budget.
2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Campaign Furniture, Its Surprising Origins
American College of the Building Arts http://buildingartscollege.us/ 21 Magazine St., Charleston
Cost: free
Christopher Schwarz leads a presentation on campaign furniture that shows its surprising 18th-century origins and traces its evolution – plus its connection to Danish modern. Chris is bringing original campaign pieces, plus pieces he built for his book “Campaign Furniture.” The lecture and multimedia presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session.
3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Antique Shops of Lower King Street
Cost: free
If you would like to explore some of the best shops for English and American furniture in the South, we’ll give you a map of the stores that have museum-quality antiques that you can examine and study. Many of these shops are filled with amazing pieces you can actually touch – open the drawers (ask first and be gentle) and look at how real furniture is made. We think that even an hour looking at real antiques will improve your own designs.
5 p.m. – whenever Drinks and dinner at the Craftsmen Kitchen and Tap House http://www.craftsmentaphouse.com/ 12 Cumberland St., Charleston
Cost: Up to you….
Afterward, we’ll all gather at the Craftsmen, which has one of the best draft beer selections in the city, not to mention very good, reasonably priced food. We have a section of the restaurant reserved. Come for a drink, then you can get dinner elsewhere if you like, or stay with us and close the place down.
As I mentioned above, we have room for only 20 woodworkers. The only cost is paying for your food and your admission to the Nathaniel Russell House (I arranged for a discount). I hope to bring my father along on the tour because he used to be a docent for Preservation Society.
The Hand Tool Event itself will also be great. I will bring my Dutch tool chest and will teach and demonstrate handplanes all weekend. Not just bench planes, but also joinery planes, complex moulders and hollows and rounds. Also, carver Mary May and chairmaker Caleb James will be there. Mary is a fantastic carver, and I have been eager to meet Caleb (he is helping us edit Peter Galbert’s chair book).
These Hand Tool Events are free and are a true public service for the woodworking community. These events are always casual. There is no hard sell. Heck, there is no soft sell. Just tools, benches and people who will answer all of your questions.
To register for the March 27 pre-show events, please read the following with care.
1. Send an e-mail to me at chris@lostartpress.com with the subject line as “Charleston event.” Do NOT just reply in the comments that you’ll be there.
2. In the email, please include your name, mailing address and best phone number to reach you in case the schedule changes. This is not to spam you or register you for some stupid mailing list. You know me better than that.
3. That’s it. I’ll reply when I get your e-mail. Later in the month you’ll receive full instructions for the event.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. As we get closer to the event, I’ll post information here about other things to do in Charleston, both for you and your family, even if you cannot come to the March 27 pre-show kidney killer. Charleston has excellent shopping, world-class cuisine, art, nearby beaches and is lousy with historical sites.
I’m teaching woodworkers how to make the Dutch tool chest all over the hemisphere this year. I have Dutch chest classes going in California in March, Alaska in April, North Carolina in June, and in Maine and England in July.
The Dutch chest is a great project for beginners or for those woodworkers who travel with their tools. It protects your tools, makes them easy to get to while you’re working and is easy to build with dimensional pine.
If you are taking one of the Dutch chest classes this year or seek to make one one your own, here is the list of tools I think are necessary to get the job done.
Birdcage or Brad awl
If you can’t find a used one, Czeck Edge, Blue Spruce Tools and Lee Valley all make good examples.
Panel saws (rip and crosscut)
These are the tools needed to dimension the stock. A 7- or 8- point crosscut is handy. For the rip, a saw that is 7 point or coarser is ideal.
Backsaws (carcase saw)
This saw is ideal for trimming the pieces to final length and some joinery cuts. And sharp carcase saw will do.
Router plane (large)
A vintage tool such as the Stanley 71 will do. Also check out modern closed-throat examples from Veritas and Lie-Nielsen Toolworks. This tool finishes all the dado cuts.
Rabbet plane (or a tongue-and-groove plane if you prefer that)
I use a moving fillister for all the rabbet cuts in this project, but a straight rabbet will handle all the shiplap joints.
Jack plane
A Stanley No. 5 or the wooden equivalent is necessary for almost any project. Once you get the iron sharpened to an 8” or 10” radius, you can conquer the world.
Block plane or Smoothing plane
Either tool can handle the final surfacing of the pine boards.
Hand drill. Bits. Countersink
If you have an electric drill, good for you. A good hand drill is about $10 and never will go in the trash.
Hammer, nail set, nail pullers
A 16 oz. hammer with a wooden handle (I like octagonal handles) will serve you for the next 120 years.
Screwdrivers (slotted)
Good screwdrivers from Grace USA are the cat’s meow. But you can buy old ones and grind them to perfection if you prefer.
Framing square
It seems like a carpenter’s tool, but hand tool woodworkers are lost without it.
Optional tools
• Moving fillister plane (for making the thumbnail moulding on the lid and drop front)
• 1/8” or 3/16” beading plane for detailing the backs (a No. 66 beading tool would also work)
• Shooting plane and shooting board
• Router plane (small) to make the recesses for the sliding lock.
Next month, I head to sunny/warm/tasty Anaheim, Calif., to teach two classes – a four-day class on building Roorkee chairs and a two-day class on building a Dutch tool chest.
The classes will be held at the William Ng School of Fine Woodworking. This is my first teaching assignment in Southern California, though I have been there many times for woodworking shows, vacations and tacos.
The Roorkee chair class is March 17-20. This is one of my favorite classes to teach because it involves so many new skills for woodworkers, such as learning to make tapered conical mortises, spindle turning and leatherwork. These chairs are great fun to build, plus they travel extraordinarily well.
I’ll also be teaching a two-day class in building a Dutch Tool Chest (March 22-23). This is a somewhat brutal but effective introduction to hand-tool casework. You’ll learn dovetails, dados, rabbets, cut-nail joinery and all of the rules for carcase construction in just two days.
When I teach this class, some of the students end up napping on the bench. But they all end up taking home a tool chest that is portable, tough and useful.
