I don’t like making up names for furniture components. Not because I want to be pedantic. But because I want to avoid confusion. If something has a name (fiddleback maple) I would rather use that name than make one up (maple on a lot of acid). One name that has escaped me for years is…
Read moreAs Nancy Hiller famously said, “It’s all problems.” We will move the remainder of our inventory into the Anthe building during the first week in October. The three semis have been scheduled. We have a plan. But until that moment the first truck arrives on Oct. 2, we have to move a few mountains. It…
Read moreWe just finished up the chair class with students selected by Chairmakers Toolbox, and we are both inspired and exhausted. Building eight stick chairs in five days with limited tools is no joke. But working with a group of chair-crazy enthusiastic young woodworkers gives me hope for the future of our craft. So today I…
Read moreEarlier this week, I put up a chair for sale that I was proud of. Not my thing, pride. But the chair represents a small milestone in my work. I didn’t expect many people to bid on the green Irish chair I’d built. It’s a painted chair. It’s not a comb-back chair. And it’s painted….
Read moreRecently I finished up this green Irish armchair, and I’ve concluded it’s my best work yet. More than any other chair I’ve made, this chair gets closest to the intuitive style of chairmaking that I admire in Wales, Ireland and Scotland. How did this happen? It was 20 years of practice plus two frantic days…
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