When a Chair Seat is Like a Spindle

There are lots of reasons to work with wood that follows the fibers. Strength and ability to bend are the most obvious amongst them. But in recent years, the one I appreciate the most is the ability to always know which direction to cut. This is critical to using handtools efficiently. One thing machines do a lot better than handtools is going the wrong direction and getting away with it. Handtools tear things up when used the wrong direction.

Once the surface of a piece of wood follows the fibers, the direction of cut is always the same, no matter what side of the part, it’s thick to thin. You’ve probably experience this with spindles. The process starts with establishing the largest dimension and following the fibers along the entire length of the spindle, then, marking the portion that will stay that dimension, and shaping the rest of the part by pulling away from that widest area. You might not have even noticed how easy it is when you always know which way to pull the drawknive. The speed and confidence is taken for granted while you focus on the shape.

I take advantage of the same process when carving a seat. First, I go to the widest point of the seat and find the fibers by chipping away the wood until it breaks away cleanly. Then, just like a spindle, I shave away parallel to that surface until I meet my lines. Once I have the fiber line established and am down to my line, I shave thick to thin with total confidence I will get clean cuts. Here’s an image showing how I use the widest points as my cues for direction of cut.

It’s important to note, I don’t just start cutting away material in the direction of the arrows, first, I establish the fiber line and then I know exactly how to cut.

Here is a short video from the upcoming Temple chair video showing what I am talking about. I hope you find it helpful

Most of this month has been spent wrapping up a fantastic visit from Bern Chandley and getting the barn project far enough along that cold weather won’t stall it completely. Here is Bern enjoying his first sausage gravy.

Bernie is obsessed with American Diners. I’ve come to learn that so much of our culture was exported to Australia in the 70’s and 80’s that Bern and I have lots of shared experiences, but most of them have been through media. To Bern, a diner is a magical place of childhood lore. His trip was largely a cuilinary exploration of America. He had his first Thankgiving (spoiler alery, he ate too much) and his joy at our food made every meal seem like a special eventful. Here is he is enjoying his first snowfall. He’d seen snow, but not falling from the sky!

Bern will return in two years. I always enjoy seeing the different approaches to building a chair and our hijinx around the house are already missed. Get your planning done early, you don’t want to miss his return.

For those following the workshop build, we will finally pour the concrete subfloor tomorrow. There is a warm spell and all the prep work it done. I did have to double back and dig up the drain line that was heaved up during a cold spell. When I was a kid, my brother came home from a day of digging drain trenches and told me he had asked his boss “why do we have to dig so deep?”. “Because s#*t don’t flow uphill” was the answer. I guess it took about 45 years for this lesson to actually come into play in my life, but when I saw the height of the cleanout pipe, I knew something was terribly wrong.

It’s all good now. I can’t wait to get past this part of the project, it means I can stop putting all my time into it, although, it’s fun working out there, the light encourages me everyday.

And now, I head into the holiday vortex. “December doesn’t exist” Aspen Golann said to me while we were trying to align our schedules for an upcoming project. These were my own words, come back to haunt me. I don’t know if it’s a self employed thing, but between year end tasks and the holidays, I’ve always found it nearly impossible to schedule anything to actually happen in December. December happens to you, let it go.

I will be announcing new classes for 2025 in the next post. Thank you for supporting me here, it makes a huge difference in my ability to keep going. Next year will be an exciting one, lots of great classes in a wonderful environment, I hope you can join us.