Ladderback chairs for sale

the next bark seat

I’ve been pretty immersed in JA chairs lately, having just finished teaching it for 6 days. And talking about chairs most every moment of those 6 days. Above is a chair I just assembled back here at home. I had made part of it before the class, intending to use it for all the demos – but eventually I bailed on it – there was enough going on, I didn’t need to be making a chair too. But I had it all bored and tenoned – so just assembled it, then made slats yesterday. Today I began weaving the hickory bark seat.

I have two chairs for sale – both made leading up to the class. The white oak one I took with me, to serve as an example (I also brought one of JA’s last chairs for the same purpose.) Both of these chairs use a mixed bag of wood – oak, hickory & ash. Linseed oil finish. Over time all the different woods mute to a nearly single color – it happens pretty quickly.

If anyone wants to claim one of these chairs, leave a comment or send an email. I can send a paypal invoice (plus their fee) or you can mail a check – the old-fashioned way. Questions? – fire away. Peterfollansbee7@gmail.com

Ladderback chair
White oak posts & slats, hickory rungs, hickory bark seat.
$1,400 includes shipping in US

white oak chair, hickory rungs. hickory bark seat

it looks like red oak in the photo, but it’s white oak – a little browner than this reddish cast. The rungs are a mish-mash of hickory sapwood (the white ones) and heartwood (the cinnamon-colored ones) Here’s the bark seat on this one – my favorite, the inside half of a split strip of bark.

hickory bark seat

overall height: 33 1/2″ overall width (across front posts): 17 1/4″ seat height: 17 1/2″ seat depth: 12″

Ladderback chair –
Ash posts, red oak slats, hickory rungs, hickory bark seat
$1,400 includes shipping in US

ash ladderback

The bark on this chair is the top half of the split – a different look, still a great seat. the more you sit, the better it looks.

hickory bark seat

Another view of the ash chair – there will be more of these, I have an ash log I have to open up before it goes bad…one of my favorite woods.

ash chair

Meanwhile I’m writing up some notes about the boring method we used in the class – developed by Charlie Ryland. Those will show up here soon. I’m updating the chair-making video too – so people who signed on for that will get a notice when that’s posted. Then today I decided to re-shoot the seat weaving video section of that project. I made a few small tweaks to how I do that – one simple one being standing upright instead of hunched over. A world of difference. Below is today’s seat, now set to dry and shrink before I weave in the last bits.

wet hickory bark seat

recent JA chair class

great curves

I just recently came back from a 6-day class teaching the JA chair at Pete Galbert’s shop in Rollinsford, N.H. Assisted again by Charlie Ryland – it went swimmingly. And of course, the teacher learns as much as anyone, maybe more. So now I am itching to make some more chairs – but can’t get to them just yet.

Charlie (r) helping Brett assemble his chair.

There were 8 students whaling away at some red oak and a little bit of ash – splitting & shaving for a couple of days, then boring mortises & shaving tenons. All the chairs went together fine and were really well-done. The slats in particular went off without a hitch. Always a relief.

the brace & bit

I told “iron man” Russ he was my favorite student because he used the brace & bit – most others used a cordless electric drill. (actually used the brace & bit too – but I still called Russ Iron Man.)

Pete’s shop is in a huge mill in Rollinsford, right on the NH/Maine border. Upstairs is a semi-new tenant, but an old friend – Dan Faia. We took an early lunch break to go see Dan’s new setup there – he’ll be in the mill full-time starting later this spring, offering small classes and even one-on-one instruction.

Dan Faia

For decades, Dan has been teaching at Nort Bennet Street School in Boston – and running the furniture program there for a long time. Now he’s going to be closer to home and avoiding all that traffic that he endured so long. His shop in the mill is spectacular –

patterns galore

Everywhere you look is inspiration.

legs

We spent a bit of time learning about this chair he’s been building as a Fine Woodworking video – they’re just about done shooting it I think. It looks like Dan just waves his hand and there’s a walnut chair…

FWW video chair

So if you are looking for first-class instruction in fine furniture work, take a trip to Dan’s shop – here’s his website, etc

https://danielfaia.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/danfaiawoodcarver/

Ash

the only act of shaving I know

I’ve said it before, ‘ll say it again. I have great friends. Rick gave me an ash log last week – 8’ long. Straight & clear. One of my favorite woods, especially for chairmaking. I’ve spent parts of the last few days beginning to work up the sections into chair parts. Splitting and shaving, then more splitting and shaving. Here’s some sections waiting their turn. They don’t look it here, but the ash bolts are more than 5 feet long. (on the left side of this photo)

ash on the left, some red oak behind

I split and shaved and then bent three sets of rear posts for ladderback chairs (two in this photo). There’s more of that to come.

JA chairs-to-be

I also roughed out a set of turnings for a Windsor chair – 4 legs, 3 stretchers and 2 arm posts. Those I rived, shaved, then turned just in a general way to get them drying a bit. Then I picked through the remnants from those two jobs – to shave what’s left into ladderback rungs and Windsor spindles.

roughed out chair parts

These were all essentially leftovers – after I split out the other chair parts – so today I shaved them into 3/4″ square-sections. Random lengths. The longer stuff will be Windsor spindles. Any that already taper along their length – ditto. The stuff between 14 1/2″- 18″ will mostly be ladderback rungs. Some will be spindles. The shortest stuff there is 11″ – each Windsor arm chair has 4 short spindles. There’s more than a year’s worth for me! And the top of that heap are roughed-out stretchers for one of Curtis Buchanan’s democratic side chairs. I have the seat & legs made – but needed the stretchers. Now – big problem is where to put all this (& more right behind it). Today I committed a hideous sin – stuck them in a temporary place. On the lathe bed.

chairs & chairs

There was very little waste – a few handfuls of firewood so far. These two pieces (below) I rejected because they grew so slowly – there must be more like them, but I haven’t run into it yet. The green arrows show how the most recent growth was slower still. Weak as a kitten – if that’s really an expression.

slow growth & slower still

At the end of the afternoon, I went outside and found one more off-cut. Stupidly, I cut whatever I needed & left this piece at 14″ – 14 1/4″. If it was even 1/2″ longer it would have been perfect for ladderback rungs. As it is, some will make it, but half will be too short. But it split like a dream. I got 14 blanks from it – didn’t lose one. One piece of firewood.

perfect, but short by 1/4″

The picture below shows me splitting off the pointed inner bit. But I got one blank from that pointed side – the wood was so straight it split perfectly. (that’s how I ended up with 14, even though only 13 were marked out.)

2nd split

I’ll shave those next time. Some will make it for ladderbacks – others will be good for something.

next time

My next ladderback is going to have ash posts & hickory rungs. These posts were made long ago – the rungs are in the kiln. But I have to sort out the shop & clean it up before I can make this chair…

next ladderback

Ash – what a wonderful wood, but using it always makes me sad – millions of the trees have been killed off by the invasive Emerald ash borer – (this tree I’m working was dying from other causes if I remember correctly what Rick told me) – I don’t keep on top of that situation – but just now I found some encouraging efforts about identifying resistant ash trees – let’s hope they make it – https://www.monitoringash.org/lingering-ash-surveys/

white ash heartwood & sapwood

Chair video uploads are done

My upload allowance renewed today, so I posted the rest of the videos for Making the Jennie Alexander chair. It’s now at 8 hours & 41 minutes. That’s a lot to get through, but less than a 6-day class. And the comfort of your own home, as they say.

scoring the first strip of hickory bark

I put the hickory bark harvest as an appendix of sorts – well, it’s the last video anyway. Not everyone has access to harvesting their own bark – and I touch on alternative seating materials in the seat-weaving section. Drew Langsner reminded me of his short description of making and using inner bark of the tulip poplar tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) – it’s in his updated book Country Woodcraft: Then & Now. Tulip poplar is more readily available than hickory in some places.

Making this video has brought up a lot of memories for me. I’ve been researching for a few years a piece that will be about the people who taught me green woodworking – and Alexander features prominently in that work. It’s a long term project, but I picked away at some of it recently. And found confirmation for what I have known for years – a note in which Alexander admits she loved hickory bark and hated hickory bark work! “TEDIOUS TEDIOUS TEDIOUS” was how she put it. Funny how some people take to one aspect of the work, and others are put off by it. I really like working with bark – both the harvest and weaving with it.

one of JA’s chairs – bark seat by Nathaniel Krause

I have some sorting & cleanup to do, but I’m going to make a couple more of those chairs while they’re on my mind.

assembly

Here’s the link again to the video series – https://vimeo.com/ondemand/jachairpf

Chair video available now

Here’s the story on the chairmaking video. I got almost all the clips sorted (I have yet to finish editing the Harvesting Hickory Bark section) and uploaded. Turns out that I can’t post it all in one week anyway – I have a 20gb limit. From what I can tell on the vimeo-on-demand gig, for me to upgrade the price jumps from $240 a year to $600 a year. That was an easy decision – I’ll post the last few sections next Monday January 23. 

So if you want to have at it, there’s about 18 “chapters” posted now. If I did it right…(so far, it seems like it went all right. I’ll iron out any kinks if you run into them…) It’s 5 1/2 hours now – and about 3 more to come. Or 3 1/2 – I had an idea for a conclusion this morning when I woke up.

A short trailer – that tells you almost nothing about what’s in the video series. I hope that its title will indicate what its contents are. The trailer, such as it is, is below. It’s more of an introduction to the introduction. (whoops – I hit “publish” too soon on this post, the trailer won’t be ready til 7am – fifteen minutes from now. Go have breakfast.)

The video series is on vimeo-on-demand, like the joined chest project. It’s $75 – you can stream it, download it and I don’t know what else. I’ve spent a lot of time clicking buttons lately, time to make some shavings. Here’s the link:

vimeo.com/ondemand/JAchairPF

Finishing up my chairmaking video

spokeshaved posts

I’ve been working full-time lately on finishing the videos for my series that I’ve now titled “Making a Jennie Alexander Chair”. And I’m finally ready to admit that I am, in fact, a windbag. When I used to make videos with Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, Thomas Lie-Nielsen came to me one day & asked if it was possible for me to make one shorter than Ben-Hur. I just looked it up, that movie was only 3 hours and 32 minutes. Paltry.

red oak growth rings and medullary rays

I used to talk for a living when I worked in a museum – and what I talked about was woodworking. So now, since Pete Galbert made his long-form video on chairmaking, I ran with his idea. My joined chest series was over 20 hours. But making that joined chest is about 80 hours of work.  

joined chest with drawer 2022

This one is maybe half of that and it’s still long. As I’ve been editing it, I see that all I did was turn on two cameras and babble incessantly as I worked. Some of it is what I’m doing, some of it is what Alexander did, how this part came about – changes and even things that I don’t know why they were this way or that way…but a class in making this chair is 6 days – so an 8-10-hour video is still a drop in the bucket.

weaving a hickory bark seat

If all goes well, it should be finished this week. It’ll be on vimeo, available for streaming or downloading – $75. I’ll shout when it’s ready.

rear posts in bending forms

First one for 2023

UPDATE – this chair sold. If you missed it & you want one, let me know. I have more in the works.

First chair done this year – but it’s from parts made last year. So I don’t know if it really counts. But this is the chair I’ve been making as I shoot the how-to video. That video is getting nearer to being done, it’s harder work than making the chair. The chair has white oak posts & slats, hickory rungs and hickory bark seat. That’s Jennie Alexander’s favorite mix of materials.

PF ladderback January 2023

I was shooting photos of it today to use in the video titles – and to file in my archive of made-stuff. I’ll never know how many chairs I made – so many got away before I started keeping close track. I don’t make a lot of chairs – but over the years, I’ve made lots of kinds of chairs – turned, joined, Windsors, brettstuhls, and these ladderbacks. After a long hiatus during which I made a slew of big heavy 17th century style chairs, I started making these again in 2018, the 40th anniversary of Jennie Alexander’s book. It’s been a lot of run revisiting this chair – this time I’m going to keep at them…

white oak slats & posts

And a hickory bark seat. This one’s from the bark I harvested with Brendan Gaffney – it took 2 strips of bark to weave the seat. No splicing! A couple of odd strips here & there to tuck into the side spaces, but those don’t count.

hickory bark seat

This one’s available if someone’s interested. $1,400 including shipping in US. Leave a comment or send me an email if you’re interested in purchasing the chair – Peterfollansbee7@gmail.com

side view

a new bird & a loft sale

raking light

I continue to get notices of new subscribers, maybe more lately than a short while ago. This is very encouraging – I had worried that maybe blogs were falling by the wayside. Glad to see continued interest in this one. I have an Instagram page or feed or whatever-you-call them – but I’ve run out of steam with it. I’ll keep it for a while at least, but won’t give it much of my attention. I much prefer the blog – so thanks to all who’ve stuck with it and welcome to any newcomers.

For those newcomers, you wouldn’t know it lately, but often there’s birds on this blog – and finally today I got one I’ve been waiting 22 years for. This female evening grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) appeared yesterday – first time ever in our yard. But I couldn’t get a photo. It came back today & I managed to sneak a few shots. When I was first learning about birds in the 1970s these birds were common around here in winter, showing up in flocks of 20 or more. This is only the 2nd time I’ve seen one since the early 1980s. Now if only the male would show up – https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Evening_Grosbeak/overview

female evening grosbeak

Another thing that sometimes happens here is I pull things out of the loft and offer than at a reduced price. Some are there because they’re not quite “right”, others just didn’t sell & went up there. Or I never offered them for sale. There’s one of each from those categories now. From the “just didn’t sell” category – two – a box and a chair.

If you’d like to purchase any of these, send me an email or leave a comment here. You can pay with a check or paypal – I’ll tack $35 on for paypal – my email is peterfollansbee7@gmail.com

CARVED OAK BOX
H: 8″ W: 24″ D: 13 1/2″

white pine lid & bottom
$1,400 includes shipping in US. Now $1,200 SOLD

I KEEP WHITTLING THE PRICE DOWN ON THIS – HERE’S THE LAST SHOT AT IT – $1,000 – SAME GIG, SHIPPING IN U.S. INCLUDED.

oak box spring 2022

end view oak box spring 2022

The inside features a lidded till. The sides and bottoms of tills are made from what I find around the shop. In this case, a black walnut till side.

till

—————————

The other from this category is a ladderback chair with Shaker tape seat.

LADDERBACK CHAIR – SOLD 11/29
red oak posts & slats, hickory rungs. Shaker tape seat
H: 33 1/4″ W: (across front posts): 17 1/4″ D: (from rear post-tops to front posts): 16″ Seat height 17 1/4″
$1,200  NOW $1,000 including shipping in U.S.

This is one of my chairs patterned after Jennie Alexander’s chair. Mine’s a bit heavier in its parts (& overall) than JA’s. But hers were the lightest of all.

red oak & hickory chair

front view

front view ladderback chair

——————–

From the “not quite right” category – another ladderback chair. This one is asymmetrical – the only damage is to my pride, the chair is sound. Just a little off-kilter. One rear post is angled out more than its neighbor. Or less, depending on how you look at it. Tight, strong – everything about it is OK except that. Sits fine. Will outlast us all. A hickory chair with white oak slats, hickory bark seat. (In the photo below you can see the post on our left angled out more than that on the right.)

Dimensions about the same at the chair above.

LADDERBACK CHAIR – SOLD 11/30

Hickory posts & rungs, white oak slats. Hickory bark seat.
dimensions approx. H: 33 1/4″ W: (across front posts): 17 1/4″ D: (from rear post-tops to front posts): 16″ Seat height 17 1/4″
$1,000 includes shipping in U.S.

hickory & white oak chair

Another view.

hickory & white oak chair

Ah! the “never-offered” category didn’t get photographed. It’s one of the brettstuhls/board chairs. I’ll shoot it tomorrow or Friday – I’ll post it here later in the week.

chest with drawer

This chest is also available, but no discount, not an impulse buy. Contact me if you’re interested. You can always make your own, from the video series – https://vimeo.com/ondemand/follansbeejoinedchest or the plans – both of which are on sale now as well. https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/carving-drawings-plans/

chest plans by Jeff Lefkowitz & PF

My wife tells me she’ll have an update to her etsy shop soon. I saw her dyeing stuff just now, busy busy. https://www.etsy.com/shop/MaureensFiberArts

That’s enough commerce for now. I hope the make evening grosbeak shows up tomorrow.

I’m teaching a JA Chair class in March at Pete Galbert’s

Just what it says – I’m going back to Chair-Central – Pete Galbert’s shop in Rollinsford, NH in March 2023 to teach a 6-day class in making the Jennie Alexander chair. Registration for the class opens Nov 15 at 8AM. Details on Pete’s website – https://www.petergalbert.com/schedule/2020/7/13/make-a-chair-from-a-tree-with-peter-follansbee-8brcj-7b62n

JA’s chair on the left, mine on the right

I’ve taught it there a few times now – and it’s insane fun. Riving, shaving, bending & more – the whole works. I’ll demo hickory bark seating, but I don’t have enough for students. (sometimes these folks have it in stock – https://www.basketmakerscatalog.com/ps/57-hickory-bark I don’t know them, I think I used their bark once and had no problems with it at all. Otherwise you can hunt around on the web. Some use Shaker tape like in the chair on the right above.)

In addition to learning to make this particular chair, every other thought during the week is about chairs, chairs, chairs. Who knows – maybe you’ll be the next student to surprise us & cut your chair in half as soon as you’re done. That way it fits on the airplane.

fits in luggage this way, but pretty useless as a chair afterwards

Chairs & chairmaking consume most of the week’s thoughts, but some thoughts are about the dog Georgia.

Georgia

I’ll bring one of the last chairs JA made as well as some of my own. And lots of stories about Alexander and her chairmaking career…

PF chair, red oak, hickory & hickory bark

UPDATE: After I posted this, I got a note from Drew Langsner – who developed the class as I teach it with Jennie Alexander all those years ago.

“Hi Peter-
  I tried to put a short comment to your post, but have no idea about my password, and don’t want to dig further. My comment, which you can post…
  Them’s the chairs we sit on…Every day.
  I’ll be 80 tomorrow. Having a few friends over for a seafood bordetto. (Soup)
  It will also be cold, for the first time this fall.
dl”

Well, two comments from me follow that – when he says those are the chairs they use every day – he’s talking about using them for the past few decades! And – he’s turning 80 today! There – I’ve just used up my quota of exclamation points for quite some time. HB Drew – have a great time today. PF

In the shop daily

And it feels very good. Here’s what I’ve been working on. Finally have the chest lid underway for the video series on making this chest. The past few days I’ve been gluing up these 3 oak boards to make this lid, shooting the videos to go with it. Today I planed the top & bottom surfaces of the full lid. Even though this stock is long-air-dried, I temporarily clamped boards to the underside so I get no surprises overnight. I think I’ll chop the lid-video in 2. The first part’s nearly done, working the boards, gluing up the lid & planing it. Next will be making & fitting the cleats then installing the hinges. That video series doesn’t expire – it’ll remain available for sale on vimeo, and the plans here on the blog. Then if anyone needs a chest, get a hold of me.

the joined chest almost with a lid

I’ve been prepping the oak for the next cupboard and some of it was ready for joinery. Here’s the 2 end frames of the lower case. Beside them on the left are the 6 rails to the upper case.

end frames with panels, upper case rails on the left

Here’s the lower case of last year’s cupboard showing how those end frames work:

Meanwhile more oak for that project is planed and stickered to let it air-dry some before cutting the joinery in those parts. This is one pile in the shop, there’s two others as well.

maybe 1/4 of a cupboard

I have been planning on shooting another video after the chest one is done – making the Jennie Alexander chair. Started it in fact, before the Lyme disease got me. Lots of people are making JA chairs now, which would please her to no end. And many have made changes, adjustments, etc. I remember Alexander saying of one chairmaker “he has passed me by…” and was perfectly happy with that. Well, I haven’t passed anybody by. The way I make them is mostly the way JA made them, one or two tweaks here & there. I’ll show the whole process, including harvesting and weaving the hickory bark for the seat. It will include details of JA’s chair that I have in the shop, along side me making one. This time I’ll make the whole video before it goes up – not dribble it out like the chest. I’ll keep you posted.

JA chair posts

Other news is that I’m planning on actually leaving home at some point to teach a class or two. Not till late winter/early spring. I’ll post information about that when I get them finalized. The only one so far that’s certain is making the JA chair at Pete Galbert’s in March. No details yet – so sit tight. I’ll let you know.

The vimeo series, now 18 hours & counting vimeo.com/ondemand/follansbeejoinedchest

The chest plans are here https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/carving-drawings-plans/