I get asked (a lot) why there are so few stick chairs in the furniture record of the United States. To that question, I reply, “Just you wait.” Ever since I built my first stick chair in 2003, my aim has not been to reproduce the chairs I adore from Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Sweden….
Read moreBecause we make tools, I hesitate to criticize other toolmakers. Today I am making an exception because the manufacturer is Irwin Industrial Tools, which is owned by Stanley Black & Decker, a company that is worth $28.4 billion (that’s with a “b”). So no toolmaker is going to go hungry because of this blog entry….
Read moreThis stick chair is one of a series of “scrapple” chairs I’ve been making during the last month, using up beautiful extra chair parts that have been sitting around for as long as five years. Because I was constrained by the parts on hand, I had to devise a new chair design that made all…
Read moreDon’t let an unfamiliarity with chairmaking keep you building a chair. This Irish-y armchair, with a curved back rest and lightly saddled seat, is a gateway chair into building a full-on Kentucky stick chair (or Welsh stick chair, or Scottish stick chair, or Insertplacenamehere stick chair). And the plan for this chair is free. Click…
Read moreBecause I have written books on workbenches and chairs, I am regularly asked what sort of workbench is best for making chairs. Here’s my answer: the same bench you use to make cabinets, boxes and snake toys. Unless you are a professional chairmaker who makes chairs and only chairs in a tiny space, there is…
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