Ladderback Chair Class
Summer
Workshop: June 11-16
with
Drew Langsner
The ladderback is our best introduction to the skills needed for any type
of traditional chairmaking. The elegant ladderback has been described
by woodworking author and editor John Kelsey as a “"masterpiece
of economy and simplicity, of comfort, strength and beauty." The
same type of seating is also called a post-and-rung chair – there's
no real difference.
During
this course students make a bent-back, double-slat, post-and-rung chair.
The session begins with riving billets from a freshly felled, straight
grain red oak log. Cylindrical wet/dry mortise and tenon joinery is explained
in theory and then put to practical application. Students learn to shape
the chair parts using a drawknife and spokeshave while seated at a shaving
horse (or our “"shaving mule" ) and then steaming and
bending the back posts, using bending forms. Tenons are formed at the
ends of ‘"bone dry" rungs. Mortises (round for the rungs,
and rectangular for the slats) are bored or chiseled in the air-dried
posts.
After
the chair frame is assembled, fresh wood back slats are rived and shaved,
heated in boiling water, and then fit into slat mortises in the rear posts.
The chair is completed by weaving a seat with colorful Shaker tape.
Tuition for the 5-day winter tutorials (limited to 4 students) is $1075. Tuition for the 6-day summer workshop is $975. This includes the use of specialized chairmaking tools, all necessary materials(for the chair frame and Shaker tape seating,) accommodations and meals.
Country Workshops Home Page
E-mail:
Drew Langsner
Phone:
828-656-2280 (Daily, 9-6 Eastern time)