One of my woodworking heroes is coming to my shop next July 13th to teach the legendary ladderback by Jennie Alexander. My earliest inspiration and exposition on green woodworking was Make a Chair from a Tree, so you can imagine how excited I am about having Peter in the shop to teach this class. You can find details on the schedule page of my site and register starting at 8 am on this Friday Oct 18th. It’s first come first serve, go get ready for this rare opportunity!
In this 6 day class, students will work through the entire process of making what Follansbee calls the “JA chair” - for Jennie Alexander, whose book Make a Chair from a Tree introduced thousands to chairmaking. Featuring steam-bent rear posts and 2 bent slats, this chair is both attractive and comfortable. Students will learn all the steps involved in making this post-and-rung chair - splitting, riving with the froe, drawknife and spokeshave work - as well as the joinery; mortises bored with a brace and bit, tenons formed with a spokeshave, all will be covered in detail. Interlocking mortise and tenon joinery gives the chair its strength. The critical mechanics of wet/dry joinery are covered in detail. The kiln-dried rungs fit tightly into mortises in the posts, which still contain some moisture. The joint both shrinks and swells together, never to come undone.
Peter Follansbee has made these chairs from green wood since 1978, learning the craft from John (Jennie) Alexander and Drew Langsner.
Students will receive a tool list of some basic required tools, as well as optional tools. The instructor(s) will many tools available for students’ use. We’ll provide a list of seating materials/options and will have some finished examples on hand. There should be time for some seat weaving; a demonstration of weaving hickory bark and/or Shaker tape often fits into the final day of class. Tuition is $1600