$575 (total cost including instruction and materials)
Description:
In this three-day class, students will make a greenwood one-slat chair with twelve rungs and four posts. This chair is a great first chair for any aspiring chair makers, and an introduction to post-and-rung chair construction. Each student will start with rough parts, then mortise, shave and join them into simple straight-back chairs that will last a lifetime. We’ll also cover simple seat weaving at the end of the last day, with the goal of sending every student home with a chair ready for “settin’.”
This chair represents nearly every step in the more complicated ladderback chair designs but leaves out the steam bending in the interest of abbreviating and condensing the project to a three-day class. The design can be made at the workbench or on a shave horse with kiln-dried, air-dried or freshly-rived wood. Students will be provided with green wood for the class.
Topics covered in this class will range from beginning green woodworking, working at a shave horse with a drawknife and spokeshave, traditional handwork, chair geometry, simplified shaker tape seat weaving and chair finishing. The simple tools in this class will leave every student prepared to move forward with post-and-rung chairmaking and an understanding of the techniques and tricks that go into making a durable, comfortable place to sit.
A fully catered lunch is included and served every day and drinks and snacks are provided all day. Please let us know in advance of any special dietary needs. It is a good idea to make your lodging reservations well in advance.
