by Elia Bizzarri | Oct 31, 2021 | Chair Stories | 3 Comments
I still remember the excitement I felt. I was 16 years old, returning home from a week’s camping trip. My mother's first words were, “Roy Underhill called!” We couldn’t believe it. Weeks before, my mother had found his number on the internet and left a message seeking...
by Elia Bizzarri | Sep 11, 2021 | Built for Speed Book Project | 14 Comments
I’ve started getting my act together for my book project and I have a couple puzzles to figure out. As a reminder, I’m building two-dozen copies of this chair in Independence Hall’s collection, hopefully in about 140 hours: The chair has four dents in the bow...
by Elia Bizzarri | Sep 9, 2021 | Built for Speed Book Project | 1 Comment
I just got back from a three week trip, equal parts vacation, research trip and photography experiment. Last winter I signed a book contract about early 19th. Century chairmaking with Lost Art Press. This trip was the first step on the book – I spent a week at Old...
by Elia Bizzarri | Sep 2, 2021 | Chair Stories | 0 Comments
This afternoon Edward picked up a set of four custom walnut and oak swivel bar stools that his wife Phyllis had helped design. Here’s a story about their chairs: Note: Nobody was hurt in this story. Other than a plastic compost bin. “I recommend this tree crew to all...
by Elia Bizzarri | Aug 7, 2021 | Craft Films | 2 Comments
Here's a few more shorts from the British Pathe: Bentwood trug baskets being made in 1929. They have some sort of a square steam box. What was this made out of? I assume there was no CDX plywood at this time, and my experience with solid wood steam boxes is that they...
by Elia Bizzarri | Jul 27, 2021 | Steam Box | 1 Comment
The first part of this series talked about heat, what to make you box out of and whether you really need a box at all. On to other details: Box size: The box should be as small as possible to minimize the amount of steam you need. The longest standard part...
by Elia Bizzarri | Jul 18, 2021 | Chair Stories | 2 Comments
The phone rings. I put down my red chair-order book, lean forward in my chair, lift the receiver. “John Dee died last night.” What do you say when a 92 year old man dies? I mumble that I am sorry. But what am I sorry about? We hang up and I go...
by Elia Bizzarri | Jun 22, 2021 | Chairmaking Tools and Supplies | 0 Comments
Brian Boggs called one afternoon a couple months ago. "There are two 18-wheeler loads of green hard maple baseball bat blanks and scraps at this mill in Pennsylvania I just left," he said. Alexa spouted directions in the background as he made his way back to the...
by Elia Bizzarri | Jun 13, 2021 | Chair Stories | 2 Comments
I spent two days with Curtis Buchanan, Marilyn and Summer last week, visiting and hanging out in the shop. This was my first trip playing with my new fancy-pants camera - here's some photos I took. ...
by Elia Bizzarri | Apr 30, 2021 | Chair Stories | 1 Comment
Troy and his wife picked up a set of four loop backs and one continuous arm last week. Troy took a class from me a couple years ago - my chairs will join his chair to form a complete set of six. His a story of his chairs: Drawknives are the tool I’d collect if I ever...
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