Back to School
chairmaking on the road
I’m recently back from a stretch of greenwood chairmaking instruction in Boston. We broke this class into two visits - one in March, to split the log and make all the parts from it. We also bent the back posts and set them aside to dry. We’ll gather again in April, once the parts are ready, to make the chair.
It is a fun experience to work alongside students within the furniture program. They see things differently since many of them are considering a livelihood within the field. They ask different questions. They’re learning the work, but also deciding if green woodworking interests them…if it’s something to pursue again in the future.
It’s also a different approach to working than they’re being taught. The furniture that comes out of the school is precise, crisp, and made to tight tolerances. I ask, just for a few days, for the students to “turn down that side of their brain.” At least while they’re learning the fundamentals of greenwood chairmaking and we’re knocking apart the log.. I ask them to leave their machinist combination squares at their bench, and as we draw knife rung blanks, to hold those rungs up and decide whether the rung blank is “square.”
Hold up the shaved blank. Does it look square? Does it feel square? Then it’s good and it’s time to move on.
I enjoy seeing the group progress. As we made parts, the first rung took 1-2 hours (on average). And some of them didn’t turn out (maybe that’s on the instructor….)
I notice that the first one is always a struggle. Holding the drawknife is awkward. Getting a smooth cut is a challenge. The physical motion of slicing through the wood takes practice. And the shave horse, while a simple tool, takes a few moments to become familiar. Similar to riding a bicycle, it’s clumsy and there’s too much conscious thought involved during the learning stage.
