Chair Stories

Chair stories: The flaky-bark oak

My student Christophe from Australia commissioned three Pete's Stools with white oak legs and butternut seats.  Here's the story about his chairs: I like the log yard when it is quiet, and the three-man crew is waiting for trucks to arrive. At those times, Junior...

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Chair Stories: The Hardwood Forest

I first heard it today, as I was turning legs for a set of four Loop Back side chairs. The lathe is all you hear when it’s running. Yet each time I turned it off, the sound was closer. Finally, I looked up from my lathe. There the beast was, along the back side of my...

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Chair Stories: Little Block Plane

On Friday I delivered a Continuous Arm Settee to Mark and Leslie in Chapel Hill, NC. They have a modern apartment downtown and wanted a more contemporary chair, so I put cigar-turnings on the settee (like those on Curtis Buchanan's Velda's Chair). My camera blew up,...

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The Gouge’s Handle

Today I turned 103 baby rattles. This may seem a long day, but it's less than a day's work at two and a half minutes each. I've been turning rattles since I was 16. Tom Donahey was the straw-boss at Drew Langsner's volunteer week. At 16 I was the youngest volunteer by...

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Chair Stories: The Bluesman

Marshall and Jeffrey picked up a pair of loop back side chairs today. Here's a story about their chairs: John Dee Holman says he can sing the blues to make you cry, and I believe him. His half-brother is my farming neighbor Mr. Dixon. Both were born in Hillsborough,...

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Chair Stories: The Little Walnut

With the delivery of each chair order, the customer gets a short story I wrote about their chairs. Today I delivered two Velda’s Barstools and a Velda’s Settee to Rick and Betsy in Hillsborough, NC. A story about their chairs... He was tall and strong and quiet, had a...

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