The American Peasant

This week I have two nice comb-back chairs that I am selling for $1,900 each via a random drawing (that price includes all shipping charges and purchasing information is at the bottom of the entry). One of them is an experimental chair that is based on an old form that antique dealers call a “wedding cake chair.” The other is a seven-stick cherry comb-back with carved details on the shoe and hands. Let’s talk about the experimental chair first.

For whatever reason, there are times when a woodworking class won’t fill. Maybe it’s scheduled at an odd time. Or a planet is in retrograde. Either way, it can wreak havoc on the instructor’s income and self-esteem. Example: I can’t believe there are still spots in Peter Follansbee’s October class at Peter Galbert’s school in Maine. First off, it’s Peter “I thought you were supposed to be good at this” Follansbee – one of the best and funniest instructors working today.

The chest is 42-1/2" x 24" x 25-1/4" tall. Sometimes, book projects begin like this. Last week I was mining my laptop for an old image and stumbled on a folder from 2015 filled with photos of a clever Swedish tool chest (circa 1900) that I intended to study one day. The tool chest is a puzzle. Its builder constructed it using 1x4 tongue-and-groove stock, which you can still purchase today. Plus some pine “scantling” – narrow boards you can find at any lumberyard.

My latest experimental chair. Here I’m working on the engine while the car is flying down the interstate. A test of nerves. In 2007, I sat for more than eight hours of tests with a doctor. At the end, she shrugged and threw the results away. Then she told me what she thought was really going on inside my head. Since that moment, my relationship with the word “test” looks like the double-mirrored stairwell at Elvis’ Graceland mansion. Is my work today at the bench being tested? Is this column a test?

Publisher’s note: It’s once again time for Earlywood, a weekly excerpt from the thousands of pieces I’ve worked on since 1996. Sometimes, it’s from a magazine article. Or a book post. Or (in this case) several blog posts I wrote more than a decade ago. Many of these entries have been updated with modern context or a new perspective. Enjoy! This photo is kind of difficult to interpret. The big chest is 1:4 scale (about 9” long). The small one is 1:10. Both were made by Marco Terenzi.

Sorry for four posts in three days. I don’t ever want to wear out the carpet in the American Peasant’s rec room. But as a proud father, I can’t help myself. My daughter Katherine is selling her latest chair via auction (here’s the link), and I just love this thing. It’s a Jennie ladderback, dyed purple and painted with squirrels and nuts in her folk art style. Every time I see the chair I smile. It’s comfortable as heck and can be yours. OK, back to delivering workbenches.

I first met Mike Pekovich of Fine Woodworking while we were both working a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Philadelphia. Mike was stationed in one corner of the bread factory; I was in the other. At one point the traffic through the show got slow, and we got to talk, though I had been observing him all day long as he taught dovetails. I was taken by Mike’s calm and friendly demeanor, plus he had endless patience for the perpetual questions from woodworkers.

James I. of Bloomington, Indiana, is the winner of Swag Week No. 6. Sorry for the delay in picking a winner. We have been up to our follicles in classes these last few weeks. Next month’s swag: a very special Shaker box plus a combination square we tested recently.

Clears throat. Shuffles paper at the podium. Ahem. One thing that is clear about the peasant or farmer woodworkers is that they did not rely on patterns or jigs when making furniture. You might be wondering: How did they make the fair curves that adorn their chairs, stools and the skirts around their six-board chests? Or their beautiful elliptical tabletops....? Oh, I see we have a question. Yes, you in the waistcoat, what is your question? Did they use trammel points?

Publisher’s note: Good morning and welcome to Earlywood, a weekly excerpt from the thousands of pieces I’ve worked on since 1996. Sometimes, it’s from a magazine article. Or a blog post. Or (in this case) “The Anarchist’s Design Book,” which you can download for free here. Many of these entries have been updated with modern context or a new perspective.