Generated by All in One SEO v5.0.1.1, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site. # Elia Bizzarri - Hand Tool Woodworking Hand Made Windsor Chairs and Chairmaking Instruction in NC ## Sitemaps - [XML Sitemap](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website. ## Posts - [Make a Wheelbarrow with me and Peter Ross](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/make-a-wheelbarrow-with-me-and-peter-ross/) - My wife Morgan and I got back from our honeymoon in Italy a couple weeks ago. We focused on eating and walking, but I did see a 15th century riven-oak square thing (wardrobe?) in a museum, so I know they did have respectable trees once upon a time. Now I'm back into writing my book - [New Class, New Translation](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/new-class-new-translation/) - I've been having a field day. Last weekend I started researching a long-promised post about pole-late treadles. In the process, I discovered that the internet can translate just about any book. That set me off translating Latin, German, and French books on pole-lathes from the 16th- to 18th-centuries. It takes some effort, but it's much - [Pinstriping a Chair](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/pinstriping-a-chair/) - I've been working on a series of chair orders for the last month or two. It's always a good time in the shop, especially when I have sets of chairs to work on as I do now. I love getting into a rhythm, assembling a set of undercarriages, then the backs. What is often a - [Independence Day Sale: Online Classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/independence-day-sale-online-classes/) - https://vimeo.com/518250430?fl=pl&fe=sh I honor of the USA's big birthday, I'm offering all my online classes at a 50% discount. These are the classes that I made during the pandemic (one that I did with other people like Curtis Buchanan and Jane Mickelborough aren't on sale this time). The classes are: GREENWOOD CLASS with ELIA BIZZARRI WOOD - [Kiln Heaters](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/kiln-heaters/) - Part two of my three part kiln series. Kilns can be heated in two different ways. The heat source can run all the time, so that the temperature of the kiln is relative to the temperature of the air in your shop. Or the heat source can be controlled by a thermostat - either one - [The Firewood Pile](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/the-firewood-pile/) - Junior runs the log-yard where I buy my wood. He brokers logs, buying mixed loads from local loggers and tree services, then selling them by species and grade to mills and foreign shippers. It’s a family affair: Junior’s brother runs one of the huge knuckle-boom trucks, his cousin runs the scales, and his son runs - [The Chairmaker and the Boys](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/the-chairmaker-and-the-boys/) - The Chairmaker and the Boys, , provided by the National Film Board of Canada Since my last post I found this fictional video from 1959 of a couple boys playing at Ernest Hart's mill and chair shop. The shop seems to have been cleaned out somewhat for the film, compared to the film in my - [Travels to High Wycombe (and classes by Bill Anderson)](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/travels-to-high-wycombe-and-classes-by-bill-anderson/) - I've just returned from a two-week trip to England with my wife Morgan. Bath, London, the Lake District. Almost nothing had to do with my work....except a day in High Wycombe. I've heard about High Wycombe since I started chairmaking. When I was 16, working at Drew Langsner's shop in Marshall, NC, I first saw - [Old Bodger Videos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/old-bodger-videos/) - I've been on the pole lathe turning a pile of parts for upcoming 18th-Century Chairmaking classes. I've turned a few hundred parts on the pole lathe before, but this is the first time I've turned this many - 75 legs or so - on the pole lathe in one go. I'm really enjoying it. Batch - [A Favorite New Technique](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/a-favorite-new-technique/) - "Your book is next." These welcome words greeted me a few days ago as I opened my email. Megan Fitzpatrick is my editor, Lost Art Press is my publisher, and my book may see the light of day sometime soon. Sure, there's still lots of editing and formatting for Megan to do, but it's begun - [For Sale: My First Lathe, My First Drill Press, and a Grinder](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/for-sale-my-first-lathe-my-first-drill-press-and-a-grinder/) - January has been a busy month for me. Last weekend, I went to Colonial Williamsburg to give a talk on the Samuel Wing chair. At the end of two 90-minute sessions my friend Jerome Bias (who was also presenting at the conference) came up on stage to help me assemble the back. It was an especially recalcitrant - [2026 Chair and Wheelbarrow Classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/2026-chair-and-wheelbarrow-classes/) - I just finished teaching my last class of the year, on 18th Century Chairmaking. A highlight for me was a trip to our local auction house to view a turn-of-the-19th-Century bow back chair made by the McKim Brothers of Richmond, Virginia (photo from the Leland Little website): The auction-house folks were gracious enough to allow - [Chairs for Sale (At a Discount)](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chairs-for-sale-at-a-discount-2/) - I've accumulated another attic full of chairs since my previous chair sale four years ago. Many were built in classes - both online and in-person - while others came from changed orders. Most of these chairs are unfinished and can be painted to your specifications. I am offering a discount on them for the month - [Rake Tines that Stay (yet are easily replaced)](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/rake-tines-that-stay-yet-are-easily-replaced/) - I've been making wooden hay rakes today, which has given me the opportunity to try some new techniques. Here is a short video about making the rake tines using an old method that's new to me. (Is this is my first foray into vlogging?): You can watch the Romanian rake maker where I learned this - [Jennie Alexander's Tie](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/jennie-alexanders-tie/) - Twenty-three years ago I worked with green woodworking pioneer Jennie Alexander for three weeks. It was a major experience for me: I'd never spent time in a big city (Baltimore) before, never traveled alone (by train) before, never lived with someone so eccentric before. Here's a story - one of many - about my time - [SALE: Spoon, Bowl, and Fan-Bird Videos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/sale-spoon-bowl-and-fan-bird-videos/) - I don't carve many spoons, but spoon carving is in the air this week. Yesterday I went to the log yard to get a white oak. What looked like the best log had metal in it - a problem for sawmills, but not for riven chair parts - so Junior gave the log to me - [Monstrous Turning](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/monstrous-turning/) - I came down with a cold this morning, so I'm watching videos. This one is pretty astounding: hewing and turning a huge shaft for a mill's water-wheel (go here to watch the foresters fell the oak and the carters haul it to the mill with a pair of draft horses - also astounding). Back at - [New Classes and Old](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/new-classes-and-old/) - I'm starting to get back in the swing of things again. I've been working on a settee and a set of barstools, visiting my mom a lot, getting my book finalized, going through my father's papers. Recently, I found this: These directions guided my dad and me to Jonesborough, TN in April of 2002. My - [Bodgers](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/bodgers/) - "Not a lot of money in that is there?" "No, not a lot of money.... Still we've always done it... Money's not everything." Bodgers were wood turners who worked in the beech woods around the furniture-making town of High Wycombe in England. They would cut, split and turn the beech trees where they fell, then - [My Papa's Coffin](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/papas-pine-box/) - My kind, sweet, gentle papa passed on May 1st. It was both expected and unexpected, the best possible passing and the saddest day of my life. My wife Morgan, my mother, and I were all there, holding his hand. Driving down to my parent's house that morning, I decided I wanted to make the coffin. - [Turner's Gate/Class Cancellations](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/turners-gateclass-cancellations/) - I prefer to size stretcher tenons with a Turner's Gate (Sorby calls it a Sizing Tool). It's major advantage over dowel plates and tenon cutters is that the tenon shoulder can be easily removed using a skew, plus the tenons are always in line with each other. A turner's gate fits over a parting tool - [Two New Classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/two-new-classes/) - If this year has a theme, it's called Lost Art Press. Chris Schwartz was here a couple weeks ago taking photos for my new book (if we're lucky, it may be available by the end of the year). Then he's coming back in April to film a video of me teaching my mentor Curtis Buchanan - [Finding green wood](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/finding-green-wood/) - Green wood is everywhere. In fact, dry wood doesn't usually exist in nature: trees are veritable pipes full of water and once they die the rotting process is fed by water. Yet finding green wood can be a daunting task for many modern woodworkers. Where to look? What kind of wood do you need? Different - [Black Ash Pack-Basket Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/black-ash-pack-basket-class/) - "Penny Hewitt runs a great class," Curtis Buchanan told me after traveling to Vermont to make a pack basket with her. "She's personable and laid-back, and she knows her stuff. You should have her teach at your shop." A couple weeks ago, Penny emailed me, asking to do just that. I'm delighted to have her. - [Raw Tools](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/raw-tools/) - In light of the positive response to Elia's midsummer wild hair to sell reduced-price Reamers in the Raw — and because it's just an all-around good idea — we've decided to expand the concept. We are now pleased to offer both Travishers in the Raw and Tenon Cutters in the Raw. I'm coming up on - [Boiled Joints](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/boiled-joints/) - I have finished writing my book about Samuel Wing. Sure, there's still editing to be done, but that never ends. The Lost Art Press folks will be here in February to photograph the book and we'll go from there. Jeff Lefkowitz just sent me the proofs for a set of chair plans to go with - [December Loop Back Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/december-loop-back-class/) - The class was so much fun I've decided to add another class this year. It's on a topic I'm more familiar with: Curtis Buchanan's loop back side chair. I've been building this chair for over 20 years and have made hundreds of them, and have taught dozens of classes on making them. I know this - [Reamers in the Raw](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/reamers-in-the-raw/) - I sold my first reamer in 2004 or 2005 for about $40. Compared to the reamers we make now, it was a pretty rough affair; I ground the blade from a Stanley compass-saw blade and made the body from a maple blank for a Windsor chair leg. Since then, the price of our reamers has - [Tenon Cutter Giveaway](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tenon-cutter-giveaway/) - These tenon cutters were donated by a former student who has retired from his chairmaking hobby. We'd like them to go to someone who would have trouble affording them and would use them a lot. If you know someone like that, please nominate them (or yourself) in the comments section. I'll pick a winner and - [A Big Long Trip (and a sale on online classes)](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/a-big-long-trip-and-a-sale-on-online-classes/) - I've been gone for what seems like forever. In the beginning of June, my wife and I went on vacation for a week with the ultimate goal of Eric Cannizzaro's shop in Vermont. There I taught a green woodworking class with Eric for a week. It's a pretty idyllic spot. We made spoons and fan - [A New Wheelbarrow Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/a-new-wheelbarrow-class/) - Peter and I are at it again. Last year's wheelbarrow class was so much fun we've decided to do it again. A local sawmill is at work sawing one of the last green ash logs in the Piedmont for barrow frames (no thanks to you Mr. Emerald Ash Borer) and we've got Roy Underhill's foot-powered - [Seat Blanks for Sale](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/seat-blanks-for-sale/) - I've been doing some spring cleaning. Yesterday and today I've been hauling pine seat blanks into the attic from where they've been air-drying outside. Before that, I was going through more seats upstairs, making room. The upshot is that I have found some surplus seats. They are surplus for various reasons. The white pine is - [Greenwood Week with Eric Cannizzaro & Elia Bizzarri](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/greenwood-week-with-eric-cannizzaro-elia-bizzarri/) - I'm excited to be teaching this class again. It's the kind of woodworking I love best, and I love getting to share it. And I'm especially excited to be teaching with Eric Cannizzaro again - he's an excellent chairmaker, a good teacher and a really nice guy. I've never been to his shop before, but - [Curtis's Cradle](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/curtiss-cradle/) - In June, Curtis became a grandfather. Since I've known him, he has wanted to build a version of one of the cradles in Santore's book. He finally got the chance and what a beauty it is: Here's a lovely video interview of Curtis Buchanan describing his conscious approach to his life and work. Filmed by - [The Gouge's Handle](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/the-gouges-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 half. Tom told - [Free Tool, Free Forum, Upcoming Classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/free-tool-free-forum-upcoming-classes/) - BEVEL BUDDY Several years ago a student sent me a .PDF file of a template for accurately setting a Sliding T-Bevel to any angle between 0-55 degrees. It was made by Wisconsin chair-maker Steven First, who has generously allowed me to post it on my links page. Similar commercial versions are available, but this one - [Of Chair Design and Chair Classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/of-chair-design-and-chair-classes/) - It's been a long time since I've posted on this blog. It seems that spending hours each day sitting in front of a computer writing a book, limits my motivation for sitting in front of a computer writing a blog post. Oh well. The book is coming along great - I have a few small - [Learning Wood](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/learning-wood/) - 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 have been reading Forest Products and Wood Science: An Introduction, - [Wheelbarrow Making Class Photos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/wheelbarrow-making-class-photos/) - Last week's wheelbarrow making class with Peter Ross was a great success. And a lot of fun. First everyone spent a day moving my firewood around, so they could learn the proper use of a wheelbarrow. (I'm mostly kidding.) My mentor Curtis Buchanan took the class, which was really wonderful. "I'd like to go home - [It's round!](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/its-round/) - I've been getting ready for the wheelbarrow class in a couple weeks, including building some test wheels. Here's a finished wheel: Oops! Wrong photo! Here's a finished wheel: Well, at least the wooden parts are done - now it's off to Peter Ross's to shrink the tire on. Making wheels is really fun! I've learned - [18th Century Loop Back Chairmaking Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/18th-century-loop-back-chairmaking-class/) - Boy, I've been busy! I taught a wonderful class with Eric Cannizzaro at Penland, NC in July, building Jennie Alexander ladderback chairs. Then my wife Morgan and I toured around for ten days, visiting family, friends and Lost Art Press in Cincinnati. Now I'm at home making reamers for Handworks where Seth is setting up - [For Sale: Continuous Arm Settee - Some Assembly Required](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/for-sale-continuous-arm-settee-some-assembly-required/) - I've been rooting around in my shop's attic and I found this partially finished chair, abandoned by a student in one of my classes long ago. I can't remember what happened - maybe he got sick or something. I've been tripping over it long enough, so I'm selling it for the cost of the parts. - [40 Chairs and a Barrel](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/40-chairs-and-a-barrel/) - I have just returned from a road trip to Michigan with my friend Bill Anderson. The trip had a dual focus: deliver 40 chairs and learn to make a barrel. ... and stared... ...at misspelled machines. Then with a grimace and a grunt, we assembled our barrels. With our barrels done, we headed north to - [Spinning Wheels](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/spinning-wheel-maker/) - One of my readers sent me this video. It's from 1964 Sweden, of an old fellow making a spinning wheel. The film is beautifully shot and silent, so you can can choose your own soundtrack. There's a lot of great parts, but my favorite is the boring and reaming jigs. One of Nancy Goyne Evans's - [Steam Boxes, Part 3: Heat Sources](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/steamers/) - The size of steam-generator you need is related to the size of your steam box, how well insulated it is and the temperature of the air around the box. It is probably cheaper and easier to insulate your box thoroughly rather than increase the size of your steam generator. Wall paper steamer: Curtis Buchanan uses - [Samuel Wing Chair Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/samuel-wing-chair-class/) - Last week I had four friends over for a trial run of a class set in the year 1803, building a copy of Samuel Wing's loop back chair. It was a great week. We all learned a lot, none more than me. Thanks to Damon O'Gan for the black-and-white photos below: We split, hewed, shaved - [Milk Paint Viscosity Measure/Studio Tour](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/milk-paint-viscosity-measurestudio-tour/) - The viscosity of milk paint directly affects the ease with which the paint can be applied and the smoothness of the painted surface. True milk paint only comes in powered form and must be mixed with water before use ("pre-mixed" milk paints are really acrylic paints). Thick paint doesn't flow off the brush easily and - [My First Chair Class in Three Years](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/my-first-chair-class-in-three-years/) - For the first time in three years, I am teaching a chair class. Or really a chair-and-table class. I'm co-teaching with my friend Eric Cannizzaro for two weeks at Penland in the NC mountains. Come spend your days building chairs and your evenings watching the glass-blowers, forgers, paper makers, potters and bookbinders. The food is - [Continuous Arm Rocker for Sale - Cheap](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/continuous-arm-rocker-for-sale-cheap/) - About eight years ago I taught a class at The Woodwright's School. That wasn't anything new - I've been teaching there twice a year for over a decade now. One of my students in that class built this chair - entirely with hand tools, of course. That's the only way it's done there. He split - [A Fancy Chair](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/a-fancy-chair/) - I got some photos back from my photographer of a reproduction chair I made for a collector in Kentucky, who owns the original of this chair. It is the only signed Windsor chair from KY known to exist, made near Lexington KY between about 1810 and 1830. The old chair has faded to dark brown, - [Greenwood Week, Women's Chair Class & More](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/greenwood-week-womens-chair-class-more/) - I have finally got my 2020 schedule finalized. I'll be co-teaching a class with Roy Underhill at his school in September, teaching for three weeks in Bogota, Columbia in July and teaching these classes in my shop: Continuous Arm Settee January 27th to February 1st, 2020 – $1700 Comb Back Rocker March 8th to 13th, - [Greenwood, Rocker and Wheelbarrow classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/greenwood-rocker-and-wheelbarrow-classes/) - I am feeling indecisive and I need your help. Are you interested in taking a Comb Back Rocker class? Or building a wheelbarrow with me and Peter Ross? Or taking my new Greenwood week class? Then take a minute and help me pick the dates. Thanks! - [Walnut Heaven](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/walnut-heaven/) - 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 chairs are not my thing (I feel like - [Chair Stories: Tall Tales](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chair-stories-tall-tales/) - Teresa bought a Comb Back Rocker, a chair I built with my friend Don a couple years ago. Here’s a story about her chair: I put the finishing touches on the Comb Back Rocker, and set down my brush. “Brush; Comb...” my mind set off, as my father’s does, on a caper of words: “Brush - [Comb Back Rocker Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/comb-back-rocker-class/) - I have added a Comb Back Rocker class to my schedule, May 14-19, 2018. It is open to returning students only, since the spindles and bends will have to be made at home. This is the first time I have taught this chair in a group setting and I think it will be a fun - [Storing Green Wood](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/storing-green-wood/) - You've got your hands on some green wood. How do you store it? If your winter stays below 40 or 50 degrees, take your time, it will probably keep fresh till spring. However, with several recent warm winters, rot seems to be becoming a year round event here in the Carolina Piedmont. If it’s summer, - [Craft Films: Umbrellas](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/craft-films-umbrellas/) - Rain: A Natural and Cultural History - I'm on chapter two about Charles Macintosh, windshield wipers and umbrellas. In Japan, the book says, umbrellas were status symbols in ancient times. In the 19th century they became a popular accessory for the masses and umbrella-making districts thrived. As many as sixteen craftsmen had their hand in - [Windsor Chair Classes & Lathe for Sale](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/windsor-chair-classes-lathe-for-sale/) - Classes in My Shop I have created a survey for you to help pick next year's classes in my North Carolina shop. There are four chair options (Fan Back, Loop Back, Continuous Arm and Comb Back) and seven different potential dates. In a couple weeks, I'll pick next years classes based on your feedback. Classes - [Kiln Temps/Class Openings](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/kiln-tempsclass-openings/) - A kiln dried tenon, an air-dried mortise, no glue and a sloppy fit: wait overnight and the tenon will swell so tight that you can't budge it. At least that is true where I live - I don't know what happens in the desert. Temperature How hot does your kiln need to be to dry - [Wheelwright Videos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/wheelwright-videos/) - 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 Williamsburg for over 20 years. Roy Underhill once said that a wheel - [German Wheelwright Videos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/german-wheelwright-videos/) - 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 wonderful videos must be out there, if I only knew all the right language. To my - [New Online Classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/new-online-classes/) - I miss this scene. A group of excited students show up on Monday morning and experience green wood for the first time. Like everyone else, my teaching has completely dried up. I'm lucky that I have a diverse means of income; tools and chair parts are selling better than ever, and I've even had a - [Dowel Plates/New Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/dowel-platesnew-class/) - Over a decade ago, a customer told me he used a dowel plate to cut the tenons on his spindles. "That won't work," I replied, having never tried it myself. Last fall, I switched to using dowel plates to cut the upper tenon on the spindles. Why did I switch? Primarily, I find that the - [2018 Chairmaking Classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/2017-chairmaking-classes/) - Classes in My Shop I have added several classes to my 2018 schedule (more info on my teaching page): LOOP BACK SIDE CHAIR, January 22nd to 27th, 2018 – $1200 – FULL CONTINUOUS ARM SETTEE, February 19th to 24th, 2018 – $1400 – FULL (returning students only) CONTINUOUS ARM CHAIR, March 19th to 24th, 2018 - [Craft Films: Gravestones](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/craft-films-gravestones/) - A beautiful film about beautiful letters, Final Marks is an hour's visit with the craftsmen of the John Stevens Shop, a letter-cutting shop in Providence, RI. From humble family gravestones to The National Gallery in Washington, the film shows the process of designing letters with ink and brush, then cutting them into stone with mallet - [Mountain Shovel Maker](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/mountain-shovel-maker/) - I just stumbled upon this old Folkstreams video for the second time - it's well worth watching. A poplar or basswood log and five tools: scribe, ax, adz, drawknife and a knife. No work-holding devices, but a neat way to hold the shovel using his feet and legs. That old man could work. I spent - [Dave Sawyer](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/dave-sawyer/) - "I was talking with Dave Sawyer last week and I asked him if you could go work with him. He said 'yes.'" I was standing in Curtis Buchanan's garden, helping him pick vegetables. I had been apprenticing with Curtis for six years and he was worried that I was becoming his little clone. Maybe my - [Spoon Bit Tricks](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/spoon-bit-tricks/) - I got a bunch of questions about using spoon bits. Here's the answers to a few of them. How do you get the spoon bit to start where you want it? My favorite answer is to adjust your expectations. But there are some tips that will give you more control. I've never used the first - [Rare Treadle Lathes for Sale](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/rare-treadle-lathes-for-sale/) - My blacksmith friend Peter Ross called last week. "I bought a couple lathes in an auction. Could you help me move them this afternoon?" This can be a fearsome request, for Peter has a habit of buying machinist lathes weighing in the thousands of pounds. Fortunately, the lathes he bought were two old (probably 19th - [German Rakemaker](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/german-rakemaker/) - Morgan and I got back from a west-coast vacation a couple weeks ago and I've been carving seats and gluing up chairs ever since. I've got 18 undercarriages together and 22 to go. I might switch to putting backs on for variety. I've never had a opportunity to get in a rhythm carving seats, - [Choosing a Lathe](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/choosing-a-lathe/) - I've been turning a lot lately. Five weeks ago I got an order for 40 chairs (28 loop backs and 12 Continuous Arm chairs) for a Michigan hunting camp's dining hall. I've turned 250 legs, arm stumps and center stretchers on my 1800# pattermaker's lathe. Seth has turned 80 side stretchers on his 200 pound - [Space-Saving Shavehorses](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/space-saving-shavehorses/) - My first online class about drawknives was quite a success last weekend. Fifty-eight people registered for the class and Roy Underhill showed up with lots of equipment and proceeded to film the entire class for me. We had lots of good questions. One question that came up was working wood without a shave horse. Shave - [The Dominy Lathe is Done (almost)](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/the-dominy-lathe-is-done-almost/) - A few days ago I picked up the spikes for my new lathe from blacksmith Peter Ross. He seemed to enjoy making them: "People don't want work this rough very often, but I was trained to make reproductions like this." Peter thinks the hardware was make by the Dominys - it's too funky for commercial - [Building a Dominy Springpole Lathe](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/building-a-dominy-springpole-lathe/) - Last fall I had the joy of spending a couple hours in the Dominy shop at Winturtur to measure their Springpole Lathe. I've finally started building a copy of it, for use in the book on early 19th Century chairmaking that I'm writing. A local sawmill gave me a pine beam that was in their - [Quaker John](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/quaker-john/) - This is a story for John and his family. It's also for Scott, who's Comb Back Arm Chair and Windsor Table were delivered last month. I wrote the story in the middle of January, when it happened: John Braxton died a couple weeks ago. A Quaker gunsmith, he machined thousands of travisher blades and a - [Growing a Loop Back Arm Chair](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/growing-a-loop-back-arm-chair/) - As most of you know, I'm at Curtis Buchanan's designing a Loop Back Arm chair. First we bored for the bent stretcher. Curtis had to climb upstairs to find dry wood for the two short turned stretchers.... ..... which Eric cut to length so we could figure out where they would look best entering the - [Curtis, Eric and I](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/curtis-eric-and-i/) - I am spending the next few days visiting with Curtis and Marilyn Buchanan. Eric Cannizzaro is here too. During the day we're working an a new loop back arm chair design for which Curtis hopes to publish a set of plans. At night, we are eating Marilyn's good food and listen to Curtis's stories (Marilyn - [How many Hours to Build a Chair?](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/how-many-hours-to-build-a-chair/) - This is one of the most popular questions I get asked. I never know how to answer it. Usually I say, "About 30 hours for a Continuous Arm chair, including 8 coats of finish." But the truth is I haven't a clue. I have no interest in tracking my time, so I never have. It's - [I Spoke Too Soon](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/i-spoke-too-soon/) - In the months after I last posted about my book project, I read what remains of Samuel Wing's account books and spent some time comparing measurements. I compared my tracings and measurements of the red loop back labeled "WING" at Independence Hall with my measurements of the loop back parts that came from Samuel Wing's - [A Cold Sunday Night](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/a-cold-sunday-night/) - Yesterday, my father-in-law and I delivered a set of five chairs for Josh and his wife's new house. We met at a horse park and transferred the blanket-wrapped chairs into Josh's car. As I wrapped the chairs last week, I remembered this story: It was a cold, dark Sunday night. I was tired. My ‘84 - [Chairs for Sale (At a Discount)](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chairs-for-sale-at-a-discount/) - I've never offered chairs for sale at a discount, but I find myself drowning in chairs. Many were built in classes, both online and in-person, while others I made by accident. I am offering a discount on them for the month of November (except for the last chair, but I think you'll understand why when - [Kind Roy](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/kind-roy/) - 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 advice about a job I had bid $600 - [Bending Dents – What do they Mean?](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/bending-dents-what-do-they-mean/) - 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 from the bending process. This one (and it’s - [Chair Stories: A Tree Crew](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chair-stories-a-tree-crew/) - 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 my clients,” said the homeowner, who - [I’m Writing a Book](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/im-writing-a-book/) - 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 Sturbridge Village photographing the Samuel Wing - [British Pathe](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/british-pathe/) - For your entertainment and edification, here are some more British Pathe woodworking videos. If you watch one, watch the tennis rackets - it's a pretty neat look at a mechanized shop that was still using a froe and drawknife. Turners making chess pieces in Hungry in the 1960's. They are flying, using a pretty big - [Trugs and Hoops](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/trugs-and-hoops/) - 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 warp dreadfully. Lots - [Steam Boxes: Doors, Racks, Extensions and More](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/steam-boxes-doors-racks-extensions-and-more/) - 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 I bend is 63", - [Chair Stories: My Friend, The Bluesman](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chair-stories-my-friend-the-bluesman/) - 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 back to - [Reject Baseball Bats Turned Chair Legs](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/reject-baseball-bats-for-chair-legs/) - 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 hotel. "I haven't made Windsor chairs in over - [A Day in Curtis's Shop](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/a-day-in-curtiss-shop/) - 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. - [The Drawknife I Love](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/the-drawknife-i-love/) - 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 - [French Spoons with Jane Mickelborough](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/french-spoons-with-jane-mickelborough/) - "What did you do during the pandemic, " friends will soon be asking. Now you can have a good answer: "I made a set of French eating spoons for our dining table." Boy, will they be impressed. First we'll learn to carve a French eating spoon. Then we'll learn to decorate it with wax inlay. - [Clogs and Coracles](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/clogs-and-coracles/) - For being in the middle of a pandemic, my life is pretty full. Tools and chairs have been selling better than ever in my career. I have made over 200 reamers in the last 12 months and am about to run out again - whew! The online classes are doing well and have been a - [Velda's Chair Class with Curtis Buchanan](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/veldas-chair-class-with-curtis-buchanan/) - I first made one of Curtis Buchanan's Velda's Chairs about six or eight years ago when a neighbor came by my shop and ordered two bar stools and a settee in Velda's style. They wanted the chairs unpainted, so I drove three hours to find walnut seats big enough, only to discover they - [Chairmaker's Woodturning Class, plus Bowl Carving with Dave Fisher](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chairmakers-woodturning-class-plus-bowl-carving-with-dave-fisher/) - I remember the day I first heard of Dave Fisher. I was standing in front of my shop talking with one of my students about Instagram and he mentioned Dave Fisher. He seemed surprised that I'd never heard of him, so he pulled out his phone and started looking for Dave's Instagram account. This is - [Joe's Backyard](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/joes-backyard/) - Last week I shipped a Continuous Arm Rocker to a customer in AZ. This is a story about his chair: Seth and I stood in the yard and stared. Sheds and and lean-tos filled to overflowing with machines surrounded us; rusty mammoths from a bygone age. Machines that didn’t fit inside were scattered between the - [Fan Birds with Jane Mickelborough/Chairmaking Videos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/fan-birds-with-jane-mickelborough-chairmaking-videos/) - I first met Jane Mickelborough when she spent three days with me and taught a class on spooncarving in my shop. They spent a day carving the spoon, a day chip carving and a day doing wax inlay. Her work is beautiful, with lovely lines and extraordinarily detail. She's a kind and generous teacher. Teaching - [Old Spoon Videos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/old-spoon-videos/) - I have a ball last weekend carving spoons with Peter Follanbee and am looking forward to this weekend's class. Peter has everything - the deep voice, the big personality, mad skills and a flowing beard. What more could you want? went back and watched a couple of my favorite spoon videos. I like the juxtaposition - [Spoons with Follansbee & Reamer-Making Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/spoons-with-follansbee-reamer-making-class/) - I've been looking forward to doing this class for a few months - I first learned to carve a spoon properly in one of Peter's classes and he is such a laid-back, entertaining fellow that the idea of teaching with him sounds like great fun. We'll carve a spoon similar to the one in the - [Green Wood Source List: By You for You](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/green-wood-source-list-by-you-for-you/) - Where do you get green wood? I get this question regularly and it's a hard one to answer. Seth and I sell oak splits for chairs, but it's not exactly cheap if you need a bunch of parts. My blog has general suggestions for where to look, but wouldn't it be nice if there was - [Democratic Videos and Upcoming Online Classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/democratic-videos-and-upcoming-online-classes/) - Peter Follansbee and I are planning on a few spoon carving classes in the new year, plus I'm hoping to do a series on making a chairmaking reamer. In the mean time, Curtis and I are doing the last two classes of the Democratic Chair series on October 5th and 12th (we might possibly add - [My First Chair](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/my-first-chair/) - [GreenBook: A Book List for Green Woodworkers](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/greenbook-a-book-list-for-green-woodworkers/) - Bob Simmons put together this spreadsheet of Green Woodworking books. Feel free to add your favorite books and edit however you see fit - this is truly a communal book list, by you for you. Happy reading! GreenBook - [A Urn and Democratic Class Schedule](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/a-urn-and-democratic-class-schedule/) - It's been a busy month for us. My wife's brother Gabe, who has been fighting cancer for nearly two years, took a turn in mid-September. So we've been driving to Berea, KY every couple weeks to visit and help take care of him. He died nine days ago. Here's a photo of him last summer - [Spoon Carving Videos with Curtis Buchanan](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/spoon-carving-videos-with-curtis-buchanan/) - Last weekend's spoon carving class with Curtis was a blast. It was great to be able to teach with him and I learned a new way to carve a spoon. We're busy figuring out how to get Curtis's camera into his shop and buying lights for my shop before our Democratic Chair class series starts - [Democratic Chair (and Spoons) with Curtis Buchanan](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/democratic-chair-and-spoons-with-curtis-buchanan/) - I'm super excited! I started an apprenticeship with Curtis Buchanan 18 years ago and I've been teaching chairmaking myself for 15 years, but we have never taught together - until now. We're going to teach a series of 10-15 online classes on building Curtis's Democratic chair and to start things off we're going to do - [Knock-Down Shavehorse](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/knock-down-shavehorse/) - After seeing Bob Simmons space-saving shaving horse ideas, Jason Gallagher send me photos of this modified Tim Manney horse that Jason made with his buddy Tommy. With a few wedged joints, it knocks down nicely into a small bundle of parts. In his words: Its Tim's shave horse with a couple mods. The front leg - [Drill Bits online class/Greenwood Videos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/drill-bits-online-class-greenwood-videos/) - DRILL BITS: POSITIVE TOOLS FOR MAKING NEGATIVE SPACES Buying (what to look for in old drill bits and new ones) Choosing the right bit for the job Sharpening Augers, Spoon Bits, Center Bits, etc. Making Bradpoints from Twist Bits Q&A Session Saturday, August 29th, 1-3pm Eastern Time You can make a donation to register on - [All about Green Wood: Online Class #2](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/all-about-green-wood-online-class-2/) - Since my drawknife class last weekend, I have been running around buying new cameras, stand, cables and a wireless mic. I feel like it's Christmas every time the mail lady comes. I found a new videographer (Roy Underhill is a little busy), and am working on ways to speed up my internet. I'm excited to - [Drawknives: My first Online Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/drawknives-my-first-online-class/) - In the last three weeks, I have learned more about USB ports, bitrates and internet hotpsots than any chairmaker should ever know. Having tested everything to the best of my abilities, I am now ready to run my first class, this Saturday, August 1st, 1-3pm, with a follow-up Q&A session Sunday August 2nd, 3:30-5pm. Hopefully - [Update and Free Spindles](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/update-and-free-spindles/) - P.S. If you are getting this via a e-mail account that doesn't show photos, the first image contains the post text - you can view it on my blog - [Reamer Giveaway](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/reamer-giveaway/) - The last few months have been a time of innovation for me. I've been working on a new tool to produce - a handled scraper for cleaning up chair seats. Right now I'm trying to bend the handles out of walnut, which isn't real easy. I've also been working on new chair designs. And I - [Drying Green Chair Seats](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/drying-green-chair-seats/) - 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: - [Turning Chess Pieces](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/turning-chess-pieces/) - With the holidays, a new girlfriend and huge quantities of tool orders, I have been delinquent in my blog posts lately. This year saw a huge growth in my business, with Seth Elliott starting to help me make tools, refurbish drawknives and sell rivings. I wasn't looking to hire anyone, but Seth does such good - [Rewards of Repetition](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/rewards-of-repetition/) - Elia recently invited me to contribute to his blog. By way of introduction, I’ve been working with Elia since 2017—primarily as resident toolmaker. Prior to that I had a career as a baker and pastry chef, but my shift to woodworking had earlier inklings. After college I apprenticed some with my father, a woodworker of - [Gramercy Spoon Bits - a review](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/gramercy-spoon-bits-a-review/) - Last summer Gramercy sent me some of their new spoon bits to review here on the blog. I've never gotten free stuff from a company before, but I guess there's a first for everything. Don't worry, I'm still as opinionated as ever. Anyway, the next thing I knew I was using them to build a - [The Lore of the Spoon Bit](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/the-lore-of-the-spoon-bit/) - How do you get a spoon bit to keep from wandering? What's the best way to prevent tear-out with a spoon bit? We are all victims of a post-industrial mindset and we all ask these questions. But these questions miss the point. Lets look at some photos of holes that were drilled by spoon bits - [Fire, Water and Steel](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/fire-water-and-steel/) - Last Friday I delivered a Velda's Rocking Chair to Patricia. It's the first time I'd left the house in two weeks and it seemed like quite the adventure, even though it was no more than twenty minutes away. I started building the chair at Curtis Buchanan's in February, where I spent a week building chairs - [Trugs, Hoops and Poles](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/trugs-hoops-and-poles/) - For your education and enjoyment, here are three short films of woodland crafts from British Pathe, a huge library of vintage films: This short English video shows the making of trugs. I love the shot of the steam box. What on earth is the thing made out of? More steaming, this time ash walking sticks - [Hewing a behemoth bowl/Comb Back class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/hewing-a-behemoth-bowl-comb-back-class/) - My greenwood week students are making small bowls this week and I promised them I would post this video of a German dude making a small bowl. I just watched it again for fun: The tools in the windowsill are very similar to what a chairmaker would use for carving seats - the inshave is - [Steamboxes: Part 1](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/steamboxes-part-1/) - Do you really need a steam box? Boiling parts in water serves the same purpose as steaming and requires a simpler set-up with fewer heat-loss issues. ‘Chairmaking in High Wycombe’ references boiling of chair bows and I have bent table legs, shaker boxes and hay forks in pots or pans of boiling water. Boiling require - [Dave Sawyer's House](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/dave-sawyers-house/) - Painting a Comb Back Rocker for Sandra and Joseph, my mind wandered over the distant past, and I started daydreaming about Dave Sawyer. Dave Sawyer is my chairmaking grandfather. I learned from Curtis Buchanan, and Curtis learned from Dave. When I first visited Dave, I was 24 years old and had been building chairs for - [The Giant Maple](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/the-giant-maple/) - I visited with Curtis Buchanan last week, building Velda's chairs and going over his new plans for the Velda's chair. On the way to his TN home, I dropped off Tomi's Birdcage Side Chair. Here's a story about her chair: Last week, I was at the lathe turning crests for a Birdcage Side Chair from - [A Day in Dave's Shop](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/a-day-in-daves-shop/) - On my way home from a holiday visit to my future in-laws in KY, I delivered Michelle her new arm chair. Here's a story about her chair: As I whittled spindles for a Birdcage Arm Chair, I thought back on the day I first made spindles for the man who taught my mentor, Curtis Buchanan, - [More Fancy Arm](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/more-fancy-arm/) - This post continues my adventures as I figure out how to attach the arm to my copy of a 1800's writing arm chair for Williamsburg's Working Wood in the 18th Century conference. My first post is here if you missed it. The old chair had the post notched to receive the arm. I probably - [A Fancy Arm](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/a-fancy-arm/) - I am copying this 1810-1820's KY writing arm chair for the Colonial Williamsburg symposium in January. Seth and I spent two days measuring and photographing it at Williamsburg's furniture conservation lab, and now two months later I'm trying to piece it all back together. Today was arm day. Looking at the original chair I found - [Settee class and other Excitement](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/settee-class-and-other-excitement/) - I am finally getting around to posting my first class of next year - a Continuous Arm Settee class from January 27th to February 1st, 2020. I taught this a couple years ago and the waitlist was a mile long, so here it is again. Plus I need a settee for my living room (someone bought - ["Growth, Mentorship and Joyfulness"](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/growth-mentorship-and-joyfulness/) - Sangjie Zhaxi is a documentary studies student at Duke University who spent a semester in my shop, taking photos and talking about his life in Tibet. His grandparents in the countryside of Tibet were woodworkers and lived a simple life making many things by hand. Sometimes I feel that I have a rather selfish job, - [Glen and Eli](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/glen/) - 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 yesterday in preparation - [Pitch Forks](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/pitch-forks/) - 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 bought the book and am now on the third chapter about haymaking. Seems we - [No-Glue Stools](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/no-glue-stools/) - 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 and rung chair and I've - [Traditional Wheelbarrow with Peter Ross & Elia Bizzarri](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/traditional-wheelbarrow-with-peter-ross-elia-bizzarri/) - 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 plenty of metal parts for Peter - [Jane Mickelborough Spoon Carving Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/jane-mickelborough-spoon-carving-class/) - 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; I'm excited to meet her and learn from her. I still have - [Soup-to-Nuts Chair Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/soup-to-nuts-chair-class/) - Seth (resident toolmaker, rivings splitter, cook and nice guy) suggested I run a two week class, from log to paint. Since my new Greeenwood Week is filling up, I figured I might as well try this too. I've been building a spring-pole lathe and intend to park it in my girlfrind's backyard while I re-learn - [Birch Bark Canoe](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/birch-bark-canoe/) - César's Bark Canoe, Bernard Gosselin, provided by the National Film Board of Canada A follower of this blog sent me the link to this video about a Native American making a canoe with a dozen tools and four materials: birch bark he strips from a large birch tree, cedar splints he rives with a knife, - [Old Guy's Mistakes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/old-guys-mistakes/) - My girlfriend and I went up to Brandywine, PA over July 4th to visit friends. One day we walked to a 19th C. three story milk barn that had been converted to an enormous used book store. I spent more time looking at chairs than I did books - they had over a dozen early - [New class: Greenwood Week](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/new-class-greenwood-week/) - I've been wanting to try this class for a while now and this year I finally decided to take the plunge. Roy Underhill used to teach a class like this at his school and I always enjoyed the day when I'd go and 'help', which mostly involved watching students work and eating Roy's lunches. When - [Chair Stories: The Sheriff and the Trailer](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chair-stories-the-sheriff-and-the-trailer/) - Last week my sweetheart Morgan delivered the last four loop backs in a set of six loop backs and two sack backs. Who knew four chairs would fit in a Prius! Here's the story I wrote about the chairs: I was off recently to buy a white oak log for a set of loop back - [Review of Chairmaking Drill Bits](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/review-of-chairmaking-drill-bits/) - The following are my thoughts on drill bits for Windsor chairmaking. Bear in mind that I have used some of these bits (augers, bradpoints, etc.) daily for 15 years and other bits I have used infrequently. In these reviews, I am comparing well tuned examples of each bit. Poorly tuned bits will make an awful - [Cape Breton's Contented Chairmaker](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/cape-bretons-contented-chairmaker/) - This well shot, if rather hokey video shows a post-and-rung chairmaker at work in his water powered shop. It looks like he also cards wool, weaves baskets, does some wagon wheel work, smiths... His lathe looks to be a pattermaker's lathe similar to mine, with a carriage for doing precise work. He has the ubiquitous - [Winter/Spring 2019 Classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/winterspring-2019-classes/) - I must apologize; I've been dilatory with my blog posts the last couple months. I've been busy building two sheds off my shop, one off the front for outdoor shaving-horse work and one off the back for Seth to set up for tool manufacturing. We've also put down about 1000 square feet of brick pavers - [Testing Wood Owl bits/class opening](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/testing-drill-bitsclass-opening/) - I recently posted about drill bit varieties for chairmaking and got a number of comments about Wood Owl bits. I had never used them, but someone kindly sent me a couple to try. Here's what I found: There is no such thing as a perfect bit. Designing a drill bit is a series of compromises. - [Matruska Dolls - A green woodworking project?](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/matruska-dolls-a-green-woodworking-project/) - Starting in the the linden forests of Russia, this video follows the making of nesting dolls from tree to paint. From what I could find on the internet this is still a localized craft industry in Russia, like so many trades were in England and elsewhere a few hundred years ago. Then you bought Sheffield - [A week in a chairmaking class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/a-week-in-a-chairmaking-class/) - One of my students filmed this short video during his week in my shop building a Continuous Arm Windsor chair. It's fun for me to hear some of the random things I say during a week in the shop. Maybe you'll enjoy it too... I just had a cancellation in my August 13-18th Loop-Back chairmaking - [Growing Chairs](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/growing-chairs/) - If I was a farmer I would grow chairs. A couple years ago, Curtis Buchanan sent me photos of chairs by the company Full Grown. I think they are brilliant: Apparently it takes seven years to grow a chair, exponentially less than it takes to grow the trees I use to make chairs. For more - [Early 19th C. Settee](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/early-19th-c-settee/) - My girlfriend Morgan and I went to an estate sale last weekend that had several early 19th C. Windsors, including this settee. I love looking at old chairs - there's so much to learn. It's pretty big, 60 or 70" wide. The seat is too deep for comfort in my opinion, though the lady at - [New Tables (some on sale)](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/new-tables-some-on-sale/) - My photographer recently sent me a bunch of photos, including picture of some new tables I've been working on. I've never put any of my work up for sale on this blog, but I have a number of tables floating around the house, so here goes: A walnut-topped table with bent octagonal legs. This is - [Chair stories: Bending Day (plus a Class Opening)](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chair-stories-bending-day-plus-a-class-opening/) - Last month Leo bought a Velda's Arm chair, a chair I made at Anderson Ranch with the class I was teaching there. Here's a story about his chair: Imagine spending a hard day's work shaping a single piece of walnut, then putting it in a piping hot steam chamber. You spend an hour waiting for - [American Seat Woods](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/american-seat-woods/) - Nearly any wood will work for a Windsor chair seat. It depends on how much work you are willing to do and how heavy a chair you want to move every time you finish dinner. I refuse to use anything but the highest quality and most easily worked materials available. In my experience, this is - [Chair stories: The flaky-bark oak](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/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 might come down from the knuckleboom truck to talk. He’s - [Ring turning video](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ring-turning-video/) - I had forgotten about this video till one of my students mentioned a similar idea in my class last week. This is a pretty cool greenwood cottage industry and an amusing video: - [32" Bandsaw for Sale](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/32-bandsaw-for-sale/) - I have traded for a newer bandsaw and am selling my old one. It's a Crescent 32" Bandsaw built in 1919, babbit bearings, wooden table (old, but probably not original), new carter roller guides, new rip fence. The motor mounts on the floor/wall so you can easily put whatever motor you want on it. I - [Milk Paint DVD](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/milk-paint-dvd/) - My Popular Woodworking Milk Paint DVD has just come out. While many paints hide the wood's subtle surface quality or create a plastic looking finish, milk paint is an incredibly thin, natural-looking paint that allows every pore of the wood and every tool mark to shine. The heart of this video is what I learned - [Chair Stories: The Hardwood Forest](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/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 - [Octagonal Tables/Continuous Arm Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/octagonal-tablescontinuous-arm-class/) - My new DVD is out! I love building these little tables - they have many of the fun aspects of building a chair, but they can be made in a weekend. Well, maybe two weekends, a month apart. Here's a tour of my shop that the crew filmed while they were here: Due do the - [Casting Bells](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/casting-bells/) - This video has nothing to do with woodworking and it is in German, yet it is one of the most memorable craft videos I have ever watched. Casting giant church bells. It starts with hand building 8' tall molds made of brick and layers of mortar, fiber and metal. Really there's two molds for each - [Octagonal Legs](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/octagonal-legs/) - A couple months ago I filmed an Octagonal Side Table DVD and a Milk Painting DVD with Popular Woodworking. They should be out sometime this summer. Here's a photo of the table: To film a DVD you need lots of parts at various stages, so I made a pile of bent octagonal legs one - [Making Shellac](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/making-shellac/) - This video was made by the fellow I buy my shellac flakes from. Who knew it took so much effort by insect and man to make a pound of shellac? Or that different trees make different kinds of shellac? Now I feel bad for spilling the stuff. - [Curtis Carving Spoons/Settee Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/curtis-carving-spoonssettee-class/) - Curtis Buchanan and I spent some time carving spoons last January. I photographed his process, which he describes as "the way a chairmaker with bad elbows carves a spoon." Or something like that. He carves the bowl first. This is steam bent cherry. Saws it out (hatchets hurt his tendonitis). Drawknifes it to shape... Cleans - [Thanks Curtis](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/thanks-curtis/) - I first met Curtis Buchanan 15 years ago this month. My father drove the five hours to Jonesborough, TN and dropped me, a 17-year-old homesick boy, off for a week. Curtis had a student that week. I split logs and listened in on the class. I couldn't imagine I would ever build a Windsor chair - [Kiln Construction](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/kiln-construction/) - We have talked about kiln temperatures and kiln heaters, now onto kiln construction. Size The primary use of a chairmaking kiln is to super-dry tenons. It's nice to be able to set bends in a kiln too. This requires the kiln to be large enough to fit the bend while it's in the bending form. - [Pitchforks with Curtis](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/pitchforks-with-curtis/) - I've made a few pitchforks for historical museums over the years, though I can hardly say I'm an expert. Curtis Buchanan called me a few months ago and said he wanted to make a pitchfork. Here's some photos from my weekend in Jonesborough, eating the Buchanan's good food and making pitchforks with Curtis and a - [A Cool Old Joint](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/a-cool-old-joint/) - The last time I saw Jennie Alexander was 15 years and two months ago. She was John then and I was a 17 year old kid. I spend three weeks living in Baltimore learning to build a 17th century joint stool and learning to think like a lawyer. I visited Jennie on my way to - [Barstool Reproduction](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/barstool-reproduction/) - I just started a fun job. A customer wants two copies of this early 19th C. barstool. I love getting to spend time with old chairs like this - there is so much to learn. Last week I turned the turned parts and bent those that get bent. The new and old chairs will live - [Chair Stories: Grandma's Linseed Oil](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chair-stories-grandmas-linseed-oil/) - This week I shipped a Fan Back and a Birdcage Side Chair to Rene in California. Here's the story that went along with her chairs (I'll get back to some how-to articles soon): My Grandmother was a hands-on sort of woman. She was an artist and drew medical drawings professionally before marriage. Being the holiday - [Black-over-Red/Oak for Sale](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/black-over-redoak-for-sale/) - We've painted the red coats on our rocker in a few previous posts, so it's time for the black: Make sure you spoon the foam off the top of the paint. I do this every time I mix up paint. Some brands of paint have more foam than others. I'm trying to keep the black - [Bending Fun](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/bending-fun/) - I thought you all might like to see a fun, short video Roy Underhill and I did after we filmed a TV show last week: Bentwood Firewood Carrier FailHappy Woodwright Wednesday! Who's ready for some fresh video? It's blazing hot out there, so why not get a jump on winter by learning the secret to - [New Rocker Beveling Tool/Your Feedback](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/new-rocker-beveling-toolyour-feedback/) - A year ago, teaching at Roy Underhill's school, a student was struggling to get his rocker bottoms beveled so they would touch the floor evenly. I said half-joking, "We need to add a outrigger onto the plane to ride on the other rocker." I was teaching in Portland last month, lazily sitting and watching a - [Clogs](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/clogs/) - Sunday in Portland, biking back from the farmer's market with a backpack full of berries, I stumbled upon an Estate Sale. A turn-of-the-century house in a nice neighborhood, full of nice things. Dozens of copper pots, hundreds of beautiful drawings, closets of wool and mink coats. Books in Hungarian on every shelf. In one of - [Further coats of Milk Paint/Instagram](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/further-coats-of-milk-paintinstagram/) - Those following my series of posts on milk paint may remember that back in January we painted the first coat of paint on the Continuous Arm Rocker. Paint makes surface defects much more apparent, so let's look and see what we can find: A couple drops of paint on the seat need to be sanded - [Chair Stories: Little Block Plane](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chair-stories-the-workbench-plus-new-classes-chest-update-2/) - 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, so I have no photos, but here's a story - [Guinness Cooperage Video](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/guinness-cooperage-video/) - Filmed in 1954, this video shows a large cooperage in full swing. At this time the cooper's trade had been going uninterrupted for hundreds of years and we are watching the result. These guys move! I suspect chairmaking was once this efficient, but our trade died out in the 20th century and we are having - [Red oak for Chests](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/red-oak-for-chests/) - Last week a local tree guy offered me a beautiful Northern Red Oak log, straight, clear, and no twist. He said it was 18" in diameter, which is the first time I can remember anyone underestimating the size of a tree: the butt log was 24" in diameter at the small end. It died standing - [Brush Technique & First Coat of Paint](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/brush-technique-first-coat-of-paint/) - I've spent the last two weeks traveling. First, I spent a week up in Jonesborough, TN with my mentor Curtis Buchanan, working on a birdcage barstool and refining our techniques for reaming bent posts. Or more importantly, eating Marilyn's good food and getting a gardening lesson from Curtis. This week I've been in Asheville helping - [Craft Films: Greenwood Chests in 1955 Hungary](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/craft-films-greenwood-chests-in-1955-hungary/) - My friend Bill Anderson just found this incredible film. A fellow and his wife are working outdoors making a chest using an axe, drawkife, hook knife and a few nifty brakes. They split a log into planks and work them down on the shaving horse - I wonder what's the advantage of driving the axe - [Chair Stories: The Workbench (plus new classes & chest update)](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chair-stories-the-workbench-plus-new-classes-chest-update/) - Last week I delivered a set of two Birdcage Side Chairs and two Birdcage Arm Chairs to Cara in Chapel Hill, NC. Here's a story about her chairs: I wiped a spot of spilled hide glue off the workbench as I glued up the last in a set of four birdcage chairs. Reveling in the - [Mixing Milk Paint](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/mixing-milk-paint/) - This is the second installment on finishing the Continuous Arm Rocker from my DVD: Mix 2 parts water to 1 part paint. This is a good starting place for black and red, but some colors require less water. You can always add more water later. 8 Tbs of red paint will cover a Continuous Arm - [Chairmaking DVD](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chairmaking-dvd/) - I am excited to announce my first how-to video, an 8 hour long DVD on building Curtis Buchanan's Continuous Arm Rocker. Published by Popular Woodworking, this two-disc set was filmed in beautiful high definition film by Joshua Farnsworth. I have them for sale on my website, along with Curtis Buchanan's plans for the rocking chair. - [Dents, Gaps and Tears](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/dents-gaps-and-tears/) - Joshua Farnsworth recently filmed a video of me building a Continuous Arm Rocker. It should be published by Popular Woodworking in the next month or so. Today I started cleaning up the chair in preparation for painting and plenty of minor things needed fixing. I thought it might make a useful photo essay on finishing. - [Chair Stories: The Bluesman](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/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, North Carolina nearly a century ago. - [17th Century Joinery Anyone?](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/17th-century-joinery-anyone/) - I have a beautiful White Oak log, straight, clear, tight grain and no twist. It is probably ideal for Peter Follansbee-type joinery. I should be able to get some 8" panels out of it and maybe even wider. Contact me for more info or to place an order. - [Chair Stories: The Little Walnut](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/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 long salt-and-pepper beard and faded blue ## Pages - [Home](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/) - Elia Bizzarri - Windsor Chairmaker - [Loop Back Windsor](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/loop-back-classes/) - Elegant and comfortable, the loop back side chair is a classic. This is one of my most relaxed classes, second only to the 18th Century loop back class which uses a pre-industrial mindset to build a similar chair. Emphasis will be placed on learning skills and techniques that you can take home with you (of - [Classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/teaching/) - Classes on building Windsor chairs in North Carolina and around the country. - [Travishers](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/travishers/) - Chairmaking Travishers (curved spokeshaves) for shaping Windsor chair seats, cricket bats and other concave surfaces. Plus travisher and spokeshave blades. - [Tenon Cutters](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tenon-cutters/) - Chairmaking tenon cutters (rounders) for making round tenons. Cylindrical and tapered options available. - [Chairmaking Tool List](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tool-list/) - List of tools for Windsor chairmaking students - [Velda's Tool List](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/velda-tool-list/) - List of tools for Windsor chairmaking students - [Tools & Toolmaking](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/videos-about-chairmaking-hand-tools/) - In depth two-hour videos about choosing, sharpening and using various chairmaking tools, available on a donation basis. After making a donation, you will receive an e-mailed password to view and download the video If you don't get the e-mail within a half-hour, please e-mail me (but first check your e-mail spam folder). MAKE A REAMER - [Woodturning](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/woodturning-for-chairmakers/) - WOOD TURNING FOR CHAIRMAKERS with ELIA BIZZARRI We talk about turning green and dry wood, and look at how different wood species work in the lathe. Setting up the lathe is discussed and we look at a few different homemade tool rests. Techniques for sharpening and using the roughing gouge, spindle gouge, parting tool and - [Milk Paint Videos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/milk-paint-videos/) - MILK PAINT with CURTIS BUCHANAN & ELIA BIZZARRI In depth video about finishing with milk paint, available on a donation basis. Curtis and I talk about painting spoons and chairs with milk paint. We cover preparing the surface for paint, mixing and applying milk paint, brush choices, crackle finishes, rubbing the paint out to create - [Green Woodworking Videos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/green-woodworking-videos/) - In depth two-hour videos about Green Woodworking tools and techniques, available on a donation basis. After making a donation, you will receive an e-mailed password to view and download the video. If you don't get the e-mail within a half-hour, please e-mail me (but first check your e-mail spam folder). DRAWKNIFE CLASS In this information - [Chairmaking Videos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chairmaking-videos/) -  DEMOCRATIC CHAIR SERIES with CURTIS BUCHANAN & ELIA BIZZARRI Elia is joined by Curtis Buchanan in this class series on building the Democratic Chair--a chair of Buchanan's design that blends modern design and simplistic technology. The series includes seven 2-hour recordings of the live-streamed online classes. Purchase on the Democratic Chair page. VELDA'S - [Reamers](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/reamers/) - A chairmaker's reamer for cutting tapered Windsor chair mortices. - [Spoon, Bowl, and Bird Carving Videos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/spoon-carving-videos/) - In-depth videos about spoon, bowl, and bird carving. After making a payment, you will receive an e-mailed password to view and download the video. If you don't get the e-mail within a half-hour, please e-mail me (but first check your e-mail spam folder). FRENCH SPOON CARVING with JANE MICKELBOROUGH & ELIA BIZZARRI Two Parts, Totaling - [Spoons with Curtis Buchanan](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/spoon-video-curtis-buchanan/) - SPOON CARVING with CURTIS BUCHANAN & ELIA BIZZARRI I started a 5-year apprenticeship with Curtis in 2002, but we had never taught together before this class. He's one of my favorite humans. First we whittle a blank, then boil it in a pot, bend it, then carve a serving spoon. We talk about materials and - [Bowl Carving w/ Dave Fisher](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/bowl-carving-w-dave-fisher/) - "If you have watched Dave’s videos on YouTube or Fine Woodworking, you have seen a only little bit of what’s in these three classes. Here we get much more complete explanations of every aspect. THANKS Dave! Thanks too to Elia for mimicking the carving activities, and John, Ian and Seth for making the technology blend - [Spoon Carving with Peter Follansbee](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/spoon-carving-with-peter-follansbee/) - SPOON CARVING with PETER FOLLANSBEE & ELIA BIZZARRI, Pt. 1: HEWING THE BLANK Part one of this 2-part class looks at axe work in hewing the general shape of a cooking/serving spoon. We talk about wood selection and look at axe shapes. Follansbee quickly demonstrates the techniques he uses to create the general shape of - [Shopping Cart](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/shopping-cart/) - Your shopping cart. - [Raw Travisher Instructions](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/raw-travisher-info/) - STEPS FOR FINISHING YOUR TRAVISHER (Steps necessary for a working tool are in bold, the others are for aesthetics. Please note: the brass-alloy sole contains lead, so wear dust protection when cutting) 1. File, rasp, spokeshave, and/or sand all surfaces. A belt sander works well for the back of the tool. For the other surfaces, - [Tools and Supplies](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tools-and-supplies/) - Custom chairmaking tools and chair parts, how-to videos and chair plans. - [Using a Chairmaking Reamer](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/using-a-chairmaking-reamer/) - Instructions for using a chairmaking reamer to cut tapered mortices in a Windsor chair seat. - [Historic Laundry Tools](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/laundry-tools/) - Historic wooden laundry tools for historic sites and re-enactors, made using period tools and techniques. Elia Bizzarri specializes in traditional Windsor chairs. - [18th Century Chairmaking Tool List](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/samuel-wing-tool-list/) - List of tools for Windsor chairmaking students - [Lodging in Hillsborough, NC](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/lodging-list/) - Places to stay in Hillsborough, NC. A resource for visiting chairmakers. - [Handmade Baby Rattles](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/handmade-baby-rattles/) - From the well-used workbench of Windsor chairmaker Elia Bizzarri, Hand-Turned Baby Rattles are finished with organic linseed oil. One piece of wood makes the rattle, each ring being magically cut loose from the rest of the rattle. - [Side Chairs](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/side-chairs/) - The finest Windsor side chairs, hand-made in a one-person North Carolina chair-shop. - [Arm Chairs](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/armchairs/) - The finest Windsor armchairs, hand-made in Elia Bizzarri's one-person North Carolina chair-shop. - [Reproduction Windsor Chairs](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/reproduction-windsor-chairs/) - Reproduction Windsor chairs made with historic tools, materials and techniques. Elia Bizzarri, Windsor Chairmaker - [Stools & Bar Stools](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/stools/) - The finest Windsor stools and tables, hand-made in a one-person North Carolina chair-shop. - [Traditional Wheelbarrow with Peter Ross & Elia Bizzarri](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/traditional-wheelbarrow/) - Learn to make a traditional wheelbarrow! Elia will first help you mortise the wheel's hub, shave its spokes, and fit its fellies. With the wheel under way, you'll begin learning basic blacksmithing techniques as Peter helps you forge the brackets and braces for your wheelbarrow. Peter will make the tires for the wheels, then we'll - [18th Century Loop Back Windsor](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/18th-century-loop-back-classes/) - Immerse yourself in the tools, techniques, and mindset of 18th Century chairmakers. Working from period designs (including one by Cape Cod's Samuel Wing) we'll build a loop back entirely with handtools. In the process we'll become immersed in a pre-industrial mindset emphasizing strength and speed over precision. We'll use a method of assembling chairs unknown - [Chairmaking Blog](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chairmaking-blog/) - Elia's Blog - [Hay Forks & Wooden Rakes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/rakes/) - Wooden pitch (hay) forks and rakes, made using 18th century tools and techniques. Bow-head and split-head rakes available. - [Oak and Maple Blanks](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/oak-rivings/) - Riven (split) oak blanks for making Windsor and Post-and-Rung chairs. Turning blanks split from a hard maple log. Legs, stretchers & posts; spindles, bows. - [Online Classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/online-classes/) - RECORDED VIDEOS Full 2-hour recordings of the live-streamed online classes. Velda's Chair Series with Curtis Buchanan Democratic Chair Series with Curtis Buchanan Chairmaking … - [Velda's Chair Class with Curtis Buchanan](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/veldas-chair-class/) - VELDA'S CHAIR & ROCKER CLASS with CURTIS BUCHANAN & ELIA BIZZARRI One of Curtis' most popular chairs, Velda's Chair has rarely been offered as a class--until now! Curtis and I team up for a 10-episode series to build both the arm chair and rocker versions of Velda's Chair. We show every aspect of building the - [Democratic Chair Series with Curtis Buchanan](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/democratic-chair-online-classes/) - DEMOCRATIC CHAIR SERIES with CURTIS BUCHANAN & ELIA BIZZARRI Elia is joined by Curtis Buchanan in this class series on building the Democratic Chair--a chair of Buchanan's design that blends modern design and simplistic technology. These are each full 2-hour recordings of the live-streamed online classes. Make a donation with the button below each video - [Bent Chair Backs](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/bent-backs/) - Steam Bent oak blanks for making Windsor chairs. Elia Bizzarri is a professional chairmaker and chairmaking instructor. - [Bending Forms](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/bendingform/) - Continuous arm bending forms are made to precise tolerances by my friend John Parkinson. Elia Bizzarri is a professional chairmaker and chairmaking instructor. - [Resources](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/links/) - Links to websites of interest to Windsor Chairmakers and other hand tool woodworkers. - [Fan Birds with Jane Mickelborough](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/fan-birds-with-jane-mickelborough/) - FAN BIRDS with JANE MICKELBOROUGH and ELIA BIZZARRI Jane Mickelborough joins us from France as she teaches us to make traditional Scandinavian and Russian fan birds. These magical birds can be carved and bent from a single piece of wood in a matter of minutes. Jane usually makes them in the style of hummingbirds with - [FRENCH SPOON CARVING with JANE MICKELBOROUGH & ELIA BIZZARRI](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/french-spoon-carving-with-jane-mickelborough-elia-bizzarri/) - FRENCH SPOON CARVING with JANE MICKELBOROUGH & ELIA BIZZARRI Part 1 We split the blank from a maple log and carve it with drawknife and shave horse, knife and gouge. Jane has developed a carving process that allows the blank to be easily held in a conventional shaving horse. She also demonstrates using a paroir - [Press](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/press/) - Elia Bizzarri contact information. - [Turnings](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/turnings/) - Hand-turned Windsor chair parts made of riven (split) hard maple. Legs, stretchers, arm stumps and posts. - [Continuous Arm Windsor](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/chairmaking-classes/) - It's the classic American continuous arm Windsor chair! First made in New York City in the late 18th century, the continuous arm's one-piece back with its compound bend is an American design innovation. Emphasis will be placed on learning skills and techniques that you can take home with you (of course you get your chair - [Raw Tenon Cutter Instructions](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/raw-tenon-cutter-info/) - STEPS FOR FINISHING YOUR TENON CUTTER (Steps necessary for a working tool are in bold, the others are for aesthetics.) 1. Note blade location and orientation (bevel-down) and then remove it. Sand the handles of the tool. This can be done freehand, or on a lathe (just watch your knuckles). My sequence is 80 grit - [Using Chairmaking Tenon Cutters](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/using-tenon-cutters/) - Instructions for using chairmaking tenon cutters to cut tapered and cylindrical tenons. - [Wheelbarrow Tool List](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/wheelbarrow-tool-list/) - List of tools for wheelbarrow-making. - [Greenwood Week with Eric Cannizzaro & Elia Bizzarri](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/greenwood-week/) - Spend a week working wood as nature intended. We’ll begin with a walk in the woods and learn how to identify several useful tree species and how to pick a good tree for green woodworking projects. Then we will return to the shop to split and rive parts from an ash log to start our - [Windsors](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/about-windsor-chairs/) - Information on the Windsor style, ordering information and a description of the chair stories that accompany each order. - [Democratic Chair Tool List](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/democratic-tool-list/) - List of tools for Windsor chairmaking students - [Tools - Sp Rounders](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tools-sp-rounders/) - [Tables](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tables/) - For Additional Views and Enlargements, click the image. All tables can be customized to a variety of sizes and shapes. About Windsors has ordering information. Woods & Finishes has color and ... - [Rockers](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/rockers/) - The finest Windsor rocking chairs, hand-made in Elia Bizzarri's North Carolina chair-shop. - [Children's Chairs](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/childrens-chairs/) - The finest Windsor high chairs and children's chairs, hand-made in Elia Bizzarri's North Carolina chair-shop. - [Settees](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/settees/) - The finest Windsor love seats and settees, hand-made in a one-person North Carolina chair-shop. - [Breton Spoon Carving with Jane Mickelborough](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/breton-spoon-carving-with-jane-mickelborough/) - Carve a simple and elegant one-piece breton-style spoon! Go into the woods and fell a tree, split it, rough it out using an axe and drawknife, then carve the spoon using straight and curved knives. On the final day you will be able to decorate your spoon using the traditional techniques of chip - [Soup-to-Nuts Chair Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/soup-to-nuts/) - Log to paint: make a chair from start to finish, including the turnings! Want to build a chair entirely with handtools, no exceptions, no short-cuts? Or would you rather use a few power-tools to ease your day? The choice is yours in this two-week Loop Back Windsor class. On Monday morning we will drive - [Continuous Arm Settee](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/settee/) - Emphasis will be placed on learning skills and techniques that you can take home with you (of course you get your chair too). All aspects of the chair building process will be covered in detail, except for turning and finishing. I have no secrets and am happy to answer all questions as time permits. The - [Comb Back Rocker](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/comb-back-rocker/) - If you prefer a chair with plenty of room and a project with lots of pizazz, this class is for you! Emphasis will be placed on learning skills and techniques that you can take home with you (of course you get your chair too). You'll learn to carve knuckles and volutes, attach rockers, make a - [Drills Video](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/drills-video/) - You can also download this video. - [Bar Stools](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/bar-stools/) - The finest Windsor bar stools, hand-made in Elia Bizzarri's one-person North Carolina chair-shop. - [6 vs 11 degree tapers](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/6-vs-11-degree-tapers/) - A discussion of 6 and 11 degree tapered reamers for making Windsor Chair mortice-and-tenon joints. - [Woods & Finishes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/woods-and-finishes/) - Elegant painted chairs or contemporary Walnut chairs? Various options are described, with photos. - [Contact](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/contact/) - Contact info and directions to the Windsor chair shop. Elia Bizzarri - Hand Tool Woodworking 2815 Moorefields Rd Hillsborough NC 27278 919-732-3321 elia@handtoolwoodworking.com - [Milk Paint with Curtis Buchanan](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/milk-paint-with-curtis-buchanan/) - MILK PAINT FINISH with CURTIS BUCHANAN Curtis and I talk about painting spoons and Democratic chairs with milk paint. We cover preparing the surface for paint, mixing and applying milk paint, brush choices, crackle finishes, rubbing the paint out to create a sheen, and top coat options. This is recording is called Democratic Chair pt. - [Toolmaking Videos](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tool-making-videos/) - In depth two-hour videos about the tools we make at Hand Tool Woodworking: MAKE A REAMER Pt. 1 with ELIA BIZZARRI Starting with the blade, we look at various types of steel, making a blade from a scrap handsaw blade, grinding the blade, sharpening, honing and turning a burr. Then we look at wood options - [Women's Chair Class](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/womens-chair-class/) - Women are encouraged to attend all my classes, but this one is especially for women. Identical to my normal loop back class, you'll start with a log and rive out the backs and spindles. The the seats will be carved from a single piece of white pine and the chair assembled using wet/dry joinery. Emphasis - [About Elia & The Shop](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/about/) - Elia's bio and a visual tour of his beautiful chairmaking workshop. - [Using a Travisher](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/using-a-travisher/) - Instructions for using a chairmaker's travisher to shape a Windsor chair seat. - [Store Action](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/estore-action/) - This page has been created by WP eStore plugin. Please do not delete it. You can hide this page from your navigation menu. ## Categories - [Chairmaking Tools and Supplies](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/chairmaking-tools-and-supplies/) - [Chair Stories](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/chair-stories/) - With the delivery of each chair order, the customer gets a short story I wrote about their chairs. The stories are a personal memento of the chairmaking process, a moment in the chairs’ birth preserved in words. - [How-To](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/how-to/) - [Craft Films](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/craft-films/) - [Finishing](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/how-to/finishing/) - [Chairs For Sale](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/chairs-for-sale/) - [Classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/classes/) - [Kiln](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/chairmaking-tools-and-supplies/kiln/) - [Antique Chairs](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/how-to/antique-chairs/) - [No-Glue joints](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/how-to/no-glue-joints/) - [Steam Box](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/chairmaking-tools-and-supplies/steam-box/) - [Drill Bits](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/how-to/drill-bits/) - [Spoon Bits](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/how-to/drill-bits/spoon-bits/) - [Samuel Wing Book Project](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/built-for-speed-book-project/) - [Sprinpole Lathe](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/sprinpole-lathe/) - [Rakes and Hay Forks](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/category/rakes-and-hay-forks/) ## Tags - [shaveing horse](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/shaveing-horse/) - [greenwoodworking](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/greenwoodworking/) - [shave horse](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/shave-horse/) - [small](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/small/) - [space-saving](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/space-saving/) - [knock-down](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/knock-down/) - [idea](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/idea/) - [apartment](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/apartment/) - [removable](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/removable/) - [hanging](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/hanging/) - [bench](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/bench/) - [spoon carving](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/spoon-carving/) - [curtis buchanan](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/curtis-buchanan/) - [sloyd](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/sloyd/) - [knife](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/knife/) - [hollw grinding](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/hollw-grinding/) - [drawknife](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/drawknife/) - [steam bending](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/steam-bending/) - [jane mickelborough](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/jane-mickelborough/) - [french spoons](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/french-spoons/) - [eating spoons](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/eating-spoons/) - [online classes](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/online-classes/) - [chip carving](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/chip-carving/) - [wax](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/wax/) - [inlay](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/inlay/) - [green woodworking](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/green-woodworking/) - [hand tool woodworking](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tag/hand-tool-woodworking/) ## Picture tag - [alec](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/alec/) - [loop](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/loop/) - [curtis](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/curtis/) - [democratic side chair](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/democratic-side-chair/) - [milk paint](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/milk-paint/) - [paint](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/paint/) - [painting](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/painting/) - [slate](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/slate/) - [Elia Bizzarri](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/elia-bizzarri/) - [KY](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/ky/) - [Reproduction Windsor Side Chair](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/reproduction-windsor-side-chair/) - [fancy paint](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/fancy-paint/) - [gaunt](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/gaunt/) - [gold leaf](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/gold-leaf/) - [hand tool woodworking](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/hand-tool-woodworking/) - [mack cox](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/mack-cox/) - [oil paints](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/oil-paints/) - [vermillion](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/vermillion/) - [raw](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/raw/) - [tenon cutter](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/tenon-cutter/) - [travisher](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/travisher/) - [Russell's Stool](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/russells-stool/) - [bar stool](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/bar-stool/) - [barstool](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/barstool/) - [green](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/green/) - [in a pickle](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/in-a-pickle/) - [stool](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/stool/) - [hay forks](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/hay-forks/) - [leland little](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/leland-little/) - [loop back](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/loop-back/) - [mckim](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/mckim/) - [mckim chair](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/mckim-chair/) - [richmond](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/richmond/) - [Product photography](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/product-photography/) - [chairs](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/chairs/) - [reproduction](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/reproduction/) - [samuel wing](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/samuel-wing/) - [verdigris](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/verdigris/) - [Eiia Bizzarri](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/eiia-bizzarri/) - [black](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/black/) - [black and gold](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/black-and-gold/) - [gold](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/gold/) - [loop back chair](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/loop-back-chair/) - [wing chair](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/wing-chair/) - [blue and gold](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/blue-and-gold/) - [bobbin](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/bobbin/) - [john parkinson](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/john-parkinson/) - [settee](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/settee/) - [student chairs](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/student-chairs/) - [black over soldier blue](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/black-over-soldier-blue/) - [pete's stool](https://handtoolwoodworking.com/ngg_tag/petes-stool/)