Wally and I are busy today helping students turn the sticks shown above into sawbenches. But Chris is back this week, eagerly awaiting your Open Wire questions.
So, please post your (succinct) woodworking questions in the comments below, and Chris will answer. You can also ask him about the massive wave of relief you might have felt emanating from Northern Kentucky and Central Indiana (where John lives) late yesterday. That was engendered by our finally having all the LAP/Crucible books, tools, clothing and sundries under one (now non-leaking) roof in our warehouse!
Randy Ogle weaving in a seagrass seat on a walnut dining chair, from “Backwoods Chairmakers,” by Andy Glenn.
Tickets are on sale now for the June 2 “Backwoods Chairmakers” Event in beautiful Berea, Ky.
The all-day event (9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. EDT) will feature 13 Appalachian chairmakers from Andy Glenn’s book. We’ve asked each demonstrator to bring some of their chairs so you can see the work in person. All the chairs will be assembled in a gallery for you to enjoy. We’ll also have four other “stages” going all day for you to visit:
• The Storytime Stage: Where chairmakers will share their tales of how they got into the craft and manage to keep their business afloat in a world filled with mass-manufactured goods. • The Turning Stage: Several of the turners use lathes in their work and will demonstrate how they make parts using this machine • The Shaping & Assembly Stage: Chairmakers will demonstrate the techniques they use to shape posts & rungs and assemble the chairs. • The Greenwood Stage: Splitting, hewing and hickory bark demonstrations will take place in this outdoor area. • Plus Andy will be there to sign books (we’ll have some books available, but if you already own a copy, bring it along!).
Please note that this is not a money-making venture. Berea College has donated the space for the event, and the organizers are donating their time and effort. Your ticket price covers only the honorariums for the chairmakers. If you would like to add a small amount to help cover incidental costs, we’d appreciate it!
Chair by Terry Ratliff, featured on the cover of Andy Glenn’s “Backwoods Chairmakers.”
At 2 p.m. (Eastern time) on Friday we will open up ticket sales for our Backwoods Chairmakers event that will take place on June 2 at Berea College.
Tickets will be $33 for the event. This fee covers only the honorariums for the 13 chairmakers who have agreed to attend. Berea College Student Craft and Lost Art Press have both volunteered time, people and space to make this event affordable for everyone.
However, if you would like to add a little extra to help cover lunches for the attending speakers, credit card fees and gasoline, you can – only if you want, of course.
The event will begin at 9 a.m. on Sunday, June 2, and will end at 5:30 p.m. There will be demonstrations, lectures, a gallery of chairs by the chairmakers and opportunity to meet the makers and Andy Glenn, the author of “Backwood Chairmakers.”
We have space for only 200 attendees. And each ticket buyer will be limited to four tickets (to prevent scalping).
The tickets will be sold through our Ticket Tailor website (the same site that handles our class registration).
I have been invited back to Germany this summer to teach a four-day introduction to chairmaking course at Dictum’s classroom in Niederalteich, a gorgeous monastery in Bavaria.
The class is in English (my German is terrible), and the location is a fantastic place to stay and learn. You can rent a room at the monastery. And we all eat meals together in the monastery’s gasthaus.
The class runs from July 9-12. Beginning chairmakers are most welcome. In the class we will each build a simple backstool and focus on the fundamentals – the angles, the joinery and training your hands to be a chairmaker.
While the chair shown is unsaddled, we will also cover basic saddling.
You can read more about the area and the class here.
I hope to teach a Dutch tool chest class the following week in Munich. More details on that class soon.
A ladderback by Terry Ratliff, one of the speakers at the upcoming event.
Andy Glenn’s new book “Backwoods Chairmakers” has been a runaway hit – we’ve about blown through the first press run after only 3-1/2 months.
Recently, Andy had the great idea to gather the chairmakers from his book at Berea College so readers can meet these chairmakers, hear their stories, see their chairs and watch demonstrations of how they work.
We think it’s a great idea, so we are working with Berea College Student Craft to hold the event on Sunday, June 2, at the college’s campus in Berea, Kentucky. Tickets will be $33, and attendance is capped at 200 people.
The all-day event will feature 13 Appalachian chairmakers from Andy’s book. We’ve asked each demonstrator to bring some of their chairs so you can see the work in person. All the chairs will be assembled in a gallery for you to enjoy. We’ll also have four other “stages” going all day for you to visit.
The Storytime Stage: Where chairmakers will share their tales of how they got into the craft and manage to keep their business afloat in a world filled with mass-manufactured goods.
The Turning Stage: Several of the turners use lathes in their work and will demonstrate how they make parts using this machine.
The Shaping & Assembly Stage: Chairmakers will demonstrate the techniques they use to shape posts & rungs and assemble the chairs.
The Greenwood Stage: Splitting, hewing and hickory bark demonstrations will take place in this outdoor area.
Plus Andy will be there to sign books.
Ladderback chairs are finally getting their moment in the sun, and I hope you’ll make the drive to Berea this June to attend this remarkable event. There is lots to do and see in Central Kentucky, so it would be easy to make this part of a quick weekend vacation.
More details on the event and registration will come later this week.
Please note that this is not a money-making venture. Berea College Student Craft has donated the space for the event. The tickets cover the honorariums for the chairmakers.
— Christopher Schwarz
Places nearby Berea (or on the way) that woodworkers and their families would love:
