Popular Woodworking 2004-11 № 144, страница 45
Welsh Stick Chair David Fleming, a former English teacher turned chairmaker, teaches the craft of building chairs on the edge of the Canadian wilderness. fter eight hours of a complete physical and mental workout, the seat of my Welsh stick chair is finally taking shape. What had started as a rough plank of gnarly elm that morning now looks like a perfectly shaped cradle for my now-aching behind. I'd hacked out most of the depression in the seat using a primitive but powerful tool called an adze. Other traditional chairmaking devices - a scorp, travisher, scrapers and deltoids - smoothed out the furred and jagged elm seat into something that resembled a well-worn leather saddle. As I reach for my spokeshave with one hand, I turn the workbench's vise screw with the other to secure the seat. Time for the easy part: chamfering the edges. As the bench dogs tighten their grip, a sickening sound seeps from my seat. The whole thing - all eight hours of it - splits before my eyes. Before my blood pressure can even shoot up a few points, the instructor of the chairmaking class, David Fleming, steps to the bench when he sees me deflate. To my eye the seat is wrecked, and I begin uttering a long string of self-loathing curse words. Fleming, however, is completely unfazed. He removes a thin-kerf handsaw from the wall of the shop and shows me how he will fix the problem. by Christopher Schwarz Comments or questions? Contact Christopher at 513-531 -2690 ext. 1407 or chris.schwarz@fwpubs.com. He's going to rip the whole thing directly down the split, clean up the joint with a try plane and glue it back together. The tone of his voice is so calm, his manner so confident, that I almost believe what he suggests is possible. David Flem ing turns a few spindles on the pole lathe as John Hoffman, the other student in the class, gets comfortable with the shaving horse and drawknife. popwood.com 43 |
