I got a load of green white pine seats a few months ago and Seth and I stacked them for drying. Here's what we did:
Drying Green Chair Seats
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Elia Bizzarri
Walnut Heaven
by Elia Bizzarri | Jul 3, 2019 | Chair Stories | 4 Comments
Cara had been looking for a rocker her size for ten years. I made her a Comb Back Rocker one thickness of Nancy Evans' 'American Windsor Chairs' shorter than it's usual height, put simpler hand-holds on it and made the seat of walnut. Walnut seats on traditional...
German Wheelwright Videos
by Elia Bizzarri | Jun 8, 2019 | Craft Films | 0 Comments
As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been searching for old wheelwright videos. I only found a couple of interest, until I started searching for "Radmacher" and other applicable German words. Score! It makes me wonder how many...
Wheelwright Videos
by Elia Bizzarri | May 14, 2019 | Craft Films | 1 Comment
I'll be teaching a weelbarrow-making class with Peter Ross the blacksmith next month (there's still a couple spots left) and we'll be making the wheels too. I know little about making wheels, but luckily Peter knows quite a bit, having worked at Colonial...
Glen and Eli
by Elia Bizzarri | May 2, 2019 | Chair Stories | 0 Comments
Life's been busy here. Two classes in April (one here and one at Roy Underhill's) and a two week class at Penland the end of May means I've turned about 200 chair parts in the last month. Morgan and I have put in a garden here. I made my first wheelbarrow wheel...
Learning Wood
by Elia Bizzarri | Mar 6, 2019 | How-To | 0 Comments
I love learning about trees and wood. Wood is both one of human's simplest and most complex raw materials; anyone with an ax can 'mine' wood, yet wood's chemical structure is so complex that there are many mysteries that still defy science. I...
Pitch Forks
by Elia Bizzarri | Feb 16, 2019 | Craft Films | 3 Comments
Curtis Buchanan called last week. We talked of our class schedules, springpole lathes (we are both building one) and the book Curtis is reading Craeft: An Inquiry into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts. Curtis is persuasive; I have...
Traditional Wheelbarrow with Peter Ross & Elia Bizzarri
by Elia Bizzarri | Feb 1, 2019 | Classes | 2 Comments
Peter Ross and I have been wanting to teach together for years, but what to teach? Peter's a blacksmith, but my chairs don't need any metal bits. A couple months ago we realized that a wheelbarrow would be perfect; it can be partially made with green wood, it has...
No-Glue Stools
by Elia Bizzarri | Jan 20, 2019 | How-To, No-Glue joints | 0 Comments
I've talked about this "good-no-good" joint a couple times before. Basically you turn it green, dry it for a couple days in a kiln and drive it into a green mortise. I first saw this joint in Jennie Alexander's collection of old busted chair parts on an 18th C. post...
Jane Mickelborough Spoon Carving Class
by Elia Bizzarri | Jan 15, 2019 | Classes | 0 Comments
I'm excited to announce my first-ever guest instructor! Jane Mickelborough will teach a small spoon carving class in my shop while she's in the states visiting Curtis Buchanan. She's taught at Spoon Fest and hosts a spoon-carving festival in France where she lives;...
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