Peter Galbert Substack Index
I started a new project and wanted to reference a couple of Peter’s articles, specifically Drawing Chairs and The Pudding. There is no way I could have found both of these on my own so I used AI to build the following index. Obviously because it’s AI and it’s hundreds of articles it may be imperfect, but I found it useful for myself. I hope it helps you too!
Rocking Chairs
The Good ol’ Days — announces upcoming Modern Rocker class and student helix chair builds
Meet Andy Jack And Finally Cutting the V Notch — profiles a master chairmaker known for ambitious rocking chair designs
The Whole Shebang — previews new Birdcage Rocker class merging two rocker designs
Put Me in Coach — reflects on teaching rocking chair class as the flat spindle design concluded
More Flat Spindles — demonstrates planing, steaming, and bending flat spindles for rocker backrests
Found Rockers — documents completing a rocking chair class and workshop collaboration
Bent Posts — tackles the geometry challenges of drilling and reaming bent rocker posts
Simple Shapes — explores design of curved rocking chair posts and their visual interplay
An Old Friend Comes Home — covers a Windsor bench with bent rails related to rocker-style construction
Medullary Rays and New Classes — includes announcements for upcoming rocking chair classes
Two Ways — describes evolving the bent-post rocker joint to a reliable combo tenon system
Class Excerpt — shows rocker class in progress from joinery through seat carving
New Classes and Thanks — announces contemporary rocking chair class opening for enrollment
Rocker Layout — explains marking rocker slots on legs that aren’t in the same plane
Nick of Time — describes prepping ash parts and returning to rocker-making after a long project
Rocker Talk 3 — covers technical challenges of cutting and fitting rockers onto chair legs
I Don’t Want to Make A Chair — explains developing a design language for analyzing and building original rockers
Rocker Talk — introduces a video lecture series on rocking chair design principles
Chair Seats
Dialing in The Helix Bend — covers steam-bending consistency techniques relevant to seat components
Seat Joining Fine Points — details gluing three-piece seat blanks with careful joinery prep
New Tool! — introduces an extension chuck for drilling seat holes cleanly
All’s Fair in Love and Layout — demonstrates sliding tenon joinery for joining wide bench seat slabs
Progress — documents building a custom bench seat with complex through-seat joinery
In the Meanwhile — shows iterative mockups refining how spindles penetrate a settee seat
It’s Cleanup Time — demonstrates steaming dents out of butternut chair seats during restoration
2 Practical Solutions — addresses carving seat depth and comfort in a collaborative bench build
When a Chair Seat is Like a Spindle — applies spindle grain-reading technique to carving seat surfaces cleanly
There’s Only One — teaches hand pressure technique for keeping seat surfaces flat while planing (hand plane series pt. 3)
Blame the Blade — identifies blade flatness as the key to clean glued seat edges (hand plane series pt. 2)
Handplanes Don’t Flatten Boards — explains why hand-planed seat joints rely entirely on glue strength (hand plane series pt. 1)
All Hands on Deck — stresses that seat glue joints demand perfect hand-planed surfaces
Old and New — demonstrates carving across coved seat transitions to prevent tearout
Sunday Morning Labor — shows planing seat blanks to thickness using a jointer/planer combo
Cross Grain Cutting — argues cross-grain carving reduces effort and tearout when hollowing seats
Cross Grain Cutting Pt. 2 — continues demonstrating safe aggressive cuts across seat fibers
Class Excerpt — shows scorp carving of seat surfaces during a rocker class
What’s the Problem? — introduces the T2 travisher prototype designed for hollowing hardwood seats
Sole Nitty Gritty — explains reshaping travisher and spokeshave soles with hardwood replacements
It’s All in the Sole — explains how curved tool soles control depth when carving seat surfaces
The Pudding — reveals how grain orientation in glued pine seats creates decorative carved texture
Class Is In — demonstrates the seat glue-up process used consistently across production chairs
Chairmaking Tools
More Drawknife Talk and Video — covers drawknife brands, geometry, handle bending, and tuning
The Good ol’ Days — sourcing and tuning affordable vintage drawknives
Scatter Shot and Lathe Cam — announces restocked extension chucks and Galbert Caliper
Original Recipe — introduces the extension chuck for faster drill press work
Giving Back — field-tests the extension chuck in a chair class setting
New Tool! — presents the machined extension chuck and how it works
It Just Does That Sometimes — explains skew chisel physics for consistent cutting results
Tackling Vibration with the Lathe On — addresses lathe vibration management during active turning
Vibration Unplugged — demonstrates the skew chisel as the key tool for conquering vibration
The Dart — introduces a jig for drilling accurate stretcher mortises without angle measurement
A Good End to the Year — announces Tim Manney’s production of the T2 travisher
My Favorite Tenon — covers bedan and tenon cutters for sizing round turned tenons
Turning Thin Parts — shows a homemade gauge for sizing delicate spindle sections at the lathe
A Bunch of Buying — reviews newly acquired shop tools including clamps and bandsaw
A Worthwhile Rabbit Hole — explores drill bit geometry and its effect on chairmaking (drill bit series)
Drill Bit Nitty Gritty — digs into the technical details of drill bit construction (drill bit series)
It’s Not (Just) the Sharp Part — examines how drill bit body design affects boring performance (drill bit series)
The Rig — covers the setup and fixtures used for grinding drill bits (drill bit series)
The Pointy Bit — focuses on point geometry and its role in drill bit accuracy (drill bit series)
Grinding the Cutters — demonstrates the grinding process for sharpening drill bit cutters (drill bit series)
Eureka — captures the breakthrough moment in achieving a well-ground drill bit (drill bit series)
The Last Little Bit — wraps up the drill bit grinding and tuning process (drill bit series)
Blind Mortises 2 — covers the drilling and fitting process for blind mortise joinery
Blind Mortises — introduces the layout and cutting approach for blind mortises
Make a Tool — shows how to build a curved scraper plane for shaping chair crests
I Only Need One — documents batch production of the travisher tool
A Sad Spot, Overcome — describes acquiring a large bandsaw to improve resawing capability
As I Was Saying — updates on T2 travisher availability and Chris Schwarz’s review
Changing My Mind — refines gouge sharpening technique based on lessons from Dave Fisher
A Favorite Tool (I Can’t Recommend) — discusses a tool Peter loves but hesitates to officially endorse
The Way I Grind Gouges — walks through Peter’s personal gouge grinding method
Honing Gouges — covers honing technique for maintaining sharp gouge edges
Sharpening for Free — points to free Foundation video tutorials covering all carving tool sharpening
Filing Tips — teaches draw-filing technique for sharpening scrapers with a mill file
Filing, A Complaint — argues for skilled, attentive file use over brute-force grinding
Patience is the Work — details the T2 travisher production process and component sourcing
Steady Rest and Video Discounts — introduces a prototype rollerblade-wheel steady rest for the lathe
Steady as She Goes — explains the gravity-fed steady rest design for stabilizing long turnings
Oh,1 — discusses grinding plane blades as the foundation of sharpening skill
The Work Starts Here — makes the case for mastering the grinder before all other sharpening
What’s the Problem? — examines the T2 travisher’s ergonomic redesign for arm-driven control
Sole Nitty Gritty — explains how to replace and shape soles in spokeshaves and travishers
It’s All in the Sole — explains how the travisher’s shaped sole enables precise depth control
A More Malleable World — previews early T2 travisher prototypes and the production plan
Grinding Wheels and Time — compares carborundum, aluminum oxide, and CBN grinding wheels
Scorp Honing — covers honing technique for the scorp’s curved edge
Tackling the Scorp — introduces the scorp and shows how to make one from O-1 tool steel
Requested Demonstration — demonstrates modifying the Lie-Nielsen Boggs spokeshave for personal fit
Just about 3, I Suppose — announces the Galbert Caliper returning to stock
Sharpening Curves — applies flat-tool sharpening concepts to curved chairmaking tools
Back to the Grind — demonstrates a safe chisel grinding technique using bevel flats as guides
Back to the Grind Part 2 — covers hollow grinding with stones to refine chisel bevels
Drill Bits
New Tool! — Introduces an extension chuck for using any bit shank with drilling jigs
It Just Does That Sometimes — Previews a custom drill bit grinding fixture under development
The Dart — Jig that simplifies drilling accurate angled stretcher mortises
More Solutions for Problems You Don’t Have — Tackles drilling graduated holes in tapered, aligned spindles
Bent Posts — Addresses geometric complexity of drilling angled mortises in curved parts
A Worthwhile Rabbit Hole — Makes custom Bismarck-style bits that drill cleanly at chair angles
Drill Bit Nitty Gritty — Surveys brad point, Forstner, auger, and twist bits for chairmaking
It’s Not (Just) the Sharp Part — Explains how bit geometry, not just sharpness, governs drilling performance
The Rig — Describes the grinding fixture used to make custom drill bits
The Pointy Bit — Experiments with center spur length to enable clean angled entry
Grinding the Cutters — Demonstrates freehand grinding to establish cutting edges and relief angles
Eureka — Uses a $12 drill chuck as an adjustable depth stop for grinding bits
The Last Little Bit — Covers brad point geometry: spur size and relief angle for clean holes
Blind Mortises 2 — Video follow-up drilling and fitting blind mortise joints
Blind Mortises — Introduces the concept and geometry of drilling blind chair mortises
Good Logs Make Good Times — Covers drilling blind spindle holes in arm bows at extreme angles
How to Drill Spindle Mortises ‘By Eye’ — Freehand sighting techniques for aligning spindle mortises without jigs
Easy to Understand...Hard to Do — Compares angle-setting methods; advocates jigs that eliminate drilling errors
Curves, Catenary and Otherwise — Chair seat curve design informs the layout lines used when siting drill angles
Tackling the Scorp — Hollowing the seat with a scorp prepares the surface before drilling leg mortises
Milk Paint
Getting the Color — Tung oil soak from Real Milk Paint Co. deepens color before topcoating
Final Touches — Layered paint system on a bench designed to develop character through wear
Two Balusters — Clarifies how a thin wet coat smooths rough milk paint before burnishing
All Light and Unicorn Blood — Mixes and applies milk paint with new color recipes for a bench project
Make Pretty — Builds a multi-coat milk paint system with shellac barriers on a large bench
A Bunch of Buying — Tests soft wax and varnish as topcoats to preserve milk paint brightness
Fine, I’ll Do It — Commits to a milk paint series; demos how coat count controls opacity (milk paint series)
First Coats — Video instruction on applying the initial milk paint coat to a chair (milk paint series)
Yep, More Coats — Applies shellac over milk paint to create a matte-over-shiny depth effect (milk paint series)
Mixing it Up — Experiments with faster, lower-dust milk paint methods for difficult colors (milk paint series)
Milk Paint Revisited — Layers close-value colors inspired by bronze patinas on a continuous arm chair
It Worked...whew! — Restores a decade-worn Lie-Nielsen chair with peacock, navy, and deep sapphire
Milk Paint Part 2 — Shows how four oil coats build from blotchy to refined on a repainted chair
Milk Paint — Introduces milk paint’s history, variables, and why it suits chair finishing
It’s Cleanup Time — Water in milk paint raises pine grain, turning growth rings into a design feature
The Pudding — Proof-of-concept: shows finished results justify the multi-coat milk paint process
Chair Design
Full Swing — balancing creative redesign of the Birdcage chair against overall proportional harmony
Big Events — reflects on the Meeting Bench at MFA Boston and the philosophy of chairs as used furniture
Good Exposure — how photographing finished chairs in their actual setting reveals design relationships
The Meeting Bench — designing overlapping crest rails and spindles that shift composition by viewing angle
The Whole Shebang — announces classes including a new birdcage rocker blending modern and vintage aesthetics
Final Touches — finishing and durability decisions as the Meeting Bench enters museum permanent collection
A Helpful Framework — two-point perspective sketching with structure as the foundation of good chair drawings
Two Balusters — drawing baluster legs two ways: perspective for design versus flat for turning patterns
The Leg Stripped Bare — how suggestive minimal sketches communicate baluster leg design intent
Building a Drawing — using gestural drawings to quickly evaluate chair design concepts like bobbin legs
Vive le Différence — how divergent craft philosophies and “whatever it takes” thinking produce compelling chair design
Milk Paint Revisited — experimenting with layered milk paint and bronze patina on a Continuous Arm chair finish
Progress — documenting the build of a complex custom bench commission with intricate geometry
More Flat Spindles — varying spindle bend from center outward for ergonomic reclined rocker support
Flat Spindles — splitting and shaping flat spindles from logs for aesthetic and structural comfort
Simple Shapes — intuitive curve design in rocking chair posts balancing visual harmony and function
The Plan — embracing spontaneity and unexpected observations as drivers of lively chair design
The Push and Pull — refining the Helix chair arm’s twist and bend through iterative physical modeling (Helix Chair)
In the Meanwhile — four mockup iterations resolving settee proportions, spindle curves, and structural integration
The Temple Chair Video is Here! — announces video series, handbook, and plans for building the Temple Chair (Temple Chair)
New 2025 Classes and Drafting Sight Lines — converting orthographic drawings into sight line angles for chair layout
2 Practical Solutions — spindle tilt for comfort on long spans and exponential spindle spacing for visual drama
Drawing Chairs — orthographic projection as the key link between chair concept and buildable form
New Beginning, 2025 — 37-iteration corner settee design where embracing accidents strengthened the final piece
My Favorite Design Tool — Procreate for rapid digital iteration before committing to full-scale plywood prototypes
A Favorite Bench — contrasting utilitarian and refined artistic bench design philosophies
An Old Friend Comes Home — revisiting a 20-year-old Windsor bench and the evolution toward simplified “degenerate” form
The Armature — strong underlying structure gives freedom to explore surface texture and tool marks
Path Finding — hand-tool green-wood work allows material properties to guide design choices
Six Year Hard Labor — designing chairs whose wear and patina from public use become marks of character
Rough Cut — documenting the Temple Chair video production process (Temple Chair)
I Used to Know — geometric drafting technique to derive actual 3D post curves from orthographic views
What’s in a Bend — perfecting the helix bend through intuitive feel for wood’s bending properties (Helix Chair)
It’s Up to Jeff — designing and prototyping the restrained, precise Temple Chair form (Temple Chair)
Angles Matter.... But — precise stretcher lengths and angles as the key to box stretcher undercarriage alignment (Temple Chair)
The Talk — Temple Chair’s Japanese temple-architecture inspiration and embracing non-90-degree joinery (Temple Chair)
Looking Closely, Very Closely — balancing intentional handmade variation against visual consistency across a chair
Garage Sale Test Revisited — evaluating chair design quality independent of marketing context and presentation
Rocker Talk 3 — practical issues of cutting and fitting rockers onto a completed chair undercarriage
I Don’t Want to Make A Chair — developing a systematic design language for understanding and creating any chair form
Rocker Talk — how rockers function mechanically and the technical knowledge behind their construction
Pop Songs and Chair Design — every design element should quietly support a single focal “hook,” avoiding visual clutter
A New Beginning — inaugural post framing the workshop as a laboratory for exploring chair-making principles
Curves, Catenary and Otherwise — catenary and natural curves as the mathematical foundation of pleasing seat shapes
Sharpening
More Drawknife Talk and Video — Tuning and sharpening the drawknife with and without the Drawsharp tool.
Cutting Tapers and Curves — Sharp skew essential; 45-second touch-up keeps it safe and effective. (skew series)
Vibration Unplugged — Sharp tools are a primary lever for reducing lathe vibration.
Skew Part 2 — Shaping and Honing — Sharpening and honing the skew; dull edges cause dangerous catches. (skew series)
A Bunch of Buying — First chainsaw grinder purchase ends 25 years of hand-file sharpening.
A Worthwhile Rabbit Hole — Grinding and customizing your own drill bits instead of buying commercial ones. (drill bit series)
It’s Not (Just) the Sharp Part — Bit geometry and overall design matter as much as edge sharpness. (drill bit series)
The Rig — Building a workshop fixture for consistent drill bit grinding. (drill bit series)
The Pointy Bit — Center spur length and geometry effects on bit performance. (drill bit series)
Grinding the Cutters — Establishing cutting edges and relief angles when grinding bits. (drill bit series)
Eureka — Drill chuck as precision stop transforms freehand grinding into guided work. (drill bit series)
The Last Little Bit — Brad point lead spur size and relief angle for smooth, controlled holes. (drill bit series)
Blame the Blade — A flat-edged plane blade was the hidden culprit behind poor edge joints.
Make a Tool — Filing and grinding steel to make a curved scraper plane from scratch.
Changing My Mind — Dave Fisher’s method: subtle curvature across the full bevel changes gouge sharpening.
My Evil Plan — Hosting a sharpening curved tools class as part of a new workshop model.
The Way I Grind Gouges — Freehand gouge grinding at the wheel; light touch and body feel over jigs.
Honing Gouges — Feeling the bevel on the stone is key; tension is the main obstacle.
Grinding Wheels and Time — Comparing carborundum, aluminum oxide, and CBN wheels for tool sharpening.
Scorp Honing — Honing the curved scorp edge; a slightly rounded tip helps carving performance.
Tackling the Scorp — Grinding and honing scorp geometry for clean chair-seat carving cuts.
Sharpening Curves — Applying flat-tool sharpening principles to curved tools with key variations.
Back to the Grind — Slow, safe chisel grinding technique using bevel flats as visual guides.
Back to the Grind Part 2 — Hollow grinding with stones to create flats that guide consistent edge angles.
Sharpening for Free — Free YouTube videos demonstrating drawknife and travisher sharpening techniques.
Filing Tips — Draw-filing technique, burr creation, and burnishing for scraper edges.
Filing, A Complaint — Dull, misused files ruin results; using the sharp end and proper stroke matters.
Oh,1 — O-1 steel sharpens quickly, enabling frequent touch-ups over hard-to-sharpen alloys.
The Work Starts Here — Grinder proficiency is foundational; metal work must precede woodwork.
Lathe / Turning
Scatter Shot and Lathe Cam — Stair-step shaping method and hand feedback for reading the turning surface.
Full Swing — Upcoming spring pole lathe class hints at traditional turning instruction.
Big Events — Teaching a turning intensive; student carves a spinning blank for the first time.
Meet Andy Jack — Profile of a skilled chairmaker whose craft is rooted in lathe work.
It Just Does That Sometimes — Turning is physics; understanding tool position eliminates unpredictable behavior.
The V Notch — The V-notch as entry point to off-axis plunging cuts on the lathe.
A Different Carving — Learning turning like skiing: fundamentals and practice over technical fixation.
Cutting Tapers and Curves — Applying skew technique to taper and curve cuts at the lathe. (skew series)
Tackling Vibration with the Lathe On — Video demonstrations of vibration-reduction techniques during active turning.
Vibration Unplugged — Tool sharpness, bevel angle, and technique together control workpiece vibration.
Skew Part 3 — Body movement and consistent angle prevent skew catches on the lathe. (skew series)
Skew Part 2 — A razor-sharp skew is safe and nimble; sharpened every three legs. (skew series)
The Skew Part 1 — Weight-shifting footwork as the foundation for controlled skew cuts. (skew series)
More Walnut and Chair Work — Turning green walnut; oversizing and end-grain sealing for drying without checks.
Breaking the Skin of the Stone — Aligning medullary rays with the lathe axis to prevent oak tearout.
The Whole Shebang — Full year of turning classes announced, including a new pole lathe course.
Two Balusters — Drawing baluster profiles flat versus angled when creating lathe turning patterns.
Board Working — Growth-ring alignment in stock preparation produces cleaner lathe cuts.
Turning Thin Parts — Turning 60 short bench spindles; lathe is the fastest production method.
It Worked...whew! — Turned bench posts bent successfully after drilling tenons pre-bend on the lathe.
Simple Shapes — Turning a slender rocker post; curves must accommodate bending and visual flow.
Every Damn Wedge — Turning interlocked hickory into splitting clubs and tool handles on the lathe.
Medullary Rays and New Classes — Reading medullary rays to identify grain direction before turning for smooth results.
A Day in the Life (Helix Chair) — Riving leg blanks from board to turning blank for a Helix chairmaking class.
4 Hours of a Broken Record — Body position and stance are the most critical foundations for learning turning.
Looking Closely, Very Closely — Subtle variation in handmade turnings creates visual life in chair legs.
Steady Rest and Video Discounts — Detailed drawings and dimensions for a shop-built lathe steady rest.
Steady as She Goes — Gravity-fed steady rest use depends on lathe stability, sharp tools, and setup.
Just about 3, I Suppose — Three-minute bobbin leg turning video; short spaced sessions build consistent skill.
Steam Bending & Bent Parts
Scatter Shot and Lathe Cam — Documents eight test bends varying thickness and steam time for the Helix bend
Dialing in The Helix Bend — Identifies nine variables affecting the Helix bend and uses shrink wrap to extend working time
The Meeting Bench — Design process for a bench whose overlapping crest rails required precise bent joinery
Sticking the Landing — Explains why bent parts like the Continuous Arm demand higher precision than other chair components
All Soaked Up — Troubleshoots crest rail bending failures by soaking kiln-dried wood before steaming
Board Working — Selecting flatsawn boards with aligned growth rings to prevent grain failures during bending
Turning Thin Parts — Turns short spindles to precise tenon dimensions before steam bending them to shape
It Worked...whew! — Successfully bends bench posts with half-tapered tenons, drilling mortises before the bend
Bending Forms — Bends long curved parts incrementally, one end at a time, in rectangular cross-section
Progress — Bench commission update noting bent components already completed for assembly
More Flat Spindles — Steam bends flat rocking chair spindles with graduated curvature for full-body ergonomic contact
Flat Spindles — Introduces the steam-bending process for flat, grain-split spindles using a two-sided form
Bent Posts — Covers using kiln-dried wood and bending forms with built-in mortises for consistent post curves
Simple Shapes — Designs a bent rocker post whose curvature accounts for how bending widens and reshapes sections
The Push and Pull — Refines the Helix Chair arm bend after design iterations demanded new bending approaches
Two Kinds of Memory — Uses overbending to implant a “false memory” that coaxes spindles into the correct final curve
My Other Favorite Wood — Compares white oak and hickory for bending, including cold-bending properties
I Used to Know — Develops a drafting method to derive accurate curves for three-dimensional bending forms
Two Ways — Compares adapting to variable bends versus using forms and dried wood for repeatable results
What’s in a Bend — Describes creating the Helix bending form itself as a sculptural, iterative challenge (Helix Chair)
It Could Work — Tests red oak in the Helix bend and weighs green wood bending against bent lamination (Helix Chair)
My Second Favorite Ax — Splits a red oak log for Helix Chair blanks, selecting tight grain for the twist-and-bend (Helix Chair)
Spindles
The V Notch — Teaches off-axis lathe cuts for the shadow-line V notch detail on turned spindles
More Solutions for Problems You Don’t Have — Solves the varying-diameter drilling challenge when tapered spindles pass through two rails
Make Pretty — Covers the labor-intensive surface preparation and painting of 120 bench spindles
Sticking the Landing — Frames spindles as low-stakes practice compared to bent parts requiring exact execution
Potholes for Chelsea Pt. 2 — Explains grain-following shaving technique for confidently shaping spindle blanks
All Soaked Up — Finds that soaked kiln-dried ash outperforms green ash for shaving spindle blanks
Turning Thin Parts — Lathe-turns approximately 60 short spindles using a custom sizing gauge for accuracy
All’s Fair in Love and Layout — Uses a drilling fixture adapted from the Temple Chair to lay out and drill spindle mortises
Bending Forms — Prepares spindles as rectangular blanks for bending before rounding to final shape
Progress — Bench commission update with spindles still in process during assembly staging
More Flat Spindles — Refines graduated bend amounts across rocking chair spindles for full-body ergonomic comfort
Flat Spindles — Details splitting, shaving, and bending flat spindles from grain-aligned white oak
Two Kinds of Memory — Overbends spindles in a form first to achieve consistent final curves across a batch of 60
Every Damn Wedge — Splits two hickory logs to produce blanks, noting grain quality’s direct effect on spindle workability
In the Meanwhile — Works out spindle curves and spacing through successive bench mock-ups before production
2 Practical Solutions — Develops a compound-growth algorithm for progressively wider spindle spacing across the bench corner
How to Drill Spindle Mortises ‘By Eye’ — Introduces freehand mortise drilling technique alongside jig-based alternatives
When a Chair Seat is Like a Spindle — Applies the spindle’s thick-to-thin grain-following logic to seat carving
An Old Friend Comes Home — Appreciates how spindle shadows create interlocking visual patterns on a 20-year-old Windsor bench
Spindle Rounding and Pause — Shares rough video footage of the spindle rounding process for the Temple Chair (Temple Chair)
Spindle Finishing — Demonstrates the refinement and finishing steps for Temple Chair spindles by reader request (Temple Chair)
Kay, This One’s For You — Continues the full spindle-making video tutorial for the Temple Chair (Temple Chair)
Ear Worm Phrases and Spindle Video — Reflects on teaching spindle-making and shares an instructional video excerpt for feedback
Curves, Catenary and Otherwise — Argues that consistent design logic, including spindle curves, should echo throughout the whole chair
Finishing & Finishes
Original Recipe — decision-making behind choosing materials and techniques for different pieces
Good Exposure — shellac seal coats paired with hard wax oil for a natural, protected surface
Getting the Color — tung oil and citrus solvent mix to deepen color in white oak
More Walnut and Chair Work — ammonia fuming and raw tung oil to harmonize walnut and white oak tones
Final Touches — punched leather pads epoxied to feet as a protective final surface
Two Balusters — thin paint coats over rough milk paint to ease burnishing
All Light and Unicorn Blood — layered milk paint recipes for a large bench project
Make Pretty — sanding, scraping, and multi-coat milk paint strategy for a bench
A Bunch of Buying — comparing varnish and soft wax topcoats over milk paint
Fine, I’ll Do It — milk paint layering for translucent and solid color effects
First Coats — applying the first milk paint coat with instructional video
Yep, More Coats — building depth with milk paint and shellac interlayers
Mixing it Up — experimenting toward a fast, dustless milk paint and shellac process
Milk Paint Revisited — layering milk paint colors to replicate oxidized bronze patina
It Worked...whew! — milk paint applied to a completed bent-post bench
Milk Paint Part 2 — milk paint application followed by oil coats and light sanding
Milk Paint — introduction to milk paint’s variables, challenges, and appeal for chairs
It’s Cleanup Time — stripping and re-oiling showroom chairs with Barkeepers Friend and steam
Spindle Finishing — refining and finishing chair spindles as part of the Temple chair build
Six Year Hard Labor — how well-made chairs develop patina through years of real use
A Clear Winner — varnish undercoat plus hard wax oil topcoat for a clear durable finish
3 Finishes — raw tung oil followed by Waterlox for color depth and water resistance
How You Do Anything — sealing a white oak floor with raw tung oil in low-ventilation conditions
The Pudding — scraping pine to exploit growth rings before applying milk paint
Hand Tools
More Drawknife Talk and Video — drawknife brands, geometry, and bending the handles for better control
Seat Joining Fine Points — hand-planing and jointing edges for a clean three-piece seat glue-up
Cutting Tapers and Curves — short deliberate practice sessions for building skew and turning skill
Skew Part 3 — consistent body movement as the key to controlling the skew chisel (series)
Skew Part 2 — maintaining a razor-sharp skew edge for safe, effective turning (series)
The Skew Part 1 — body position and weight transfer as the foundation for skew chisel use (series)
Well, That Was Different — splitting walnut with wedges and a bandsaw to read semi-ring-porous grain
Potholes for Chelsea Pt. 2 — distinguishing shaving along fibers from carving across them with a drawknife
All Soaked Up — hatchet-splitting kiln-dried wood and shaving spindles to shape
It’s Not (Just) the Sharp Part — tool geometry and cutting mechanics matter beyond sharpness alone
The Throughline — why splitting is more practical and effort-amplifying than hand-sawing
Every Damn Wedge — reading bark grain to predict splitting difficulty when riving hickory
A Day in the Life — splitting frozen logs with hatchets, wedges, and scored guide lines
When a Chair Seat is Like a Spindle — cutting thick-to-thin with fiber direction on seats and spindles alike
There’s Only One — maintaining flat hand plane pressure to avoid crowning surfaces
Blame the Blade — flat blade edge as the key to jointing true with a hand plane
Handplanes Don’t Flatten Boards — hand-planing seat edges to the flatness required for a glue-only joint
All Hands on Deck — why Peter hand-planes seat joints despite owning a jointer machine
Make a Tool — building a curved scraper plane from a card scraper as an entry to toolmaking
I Only Need One — jig design to efficiently modify 125 travisher parts in production
A Sad Spot, Overcome — choosing a larger bandsaw to handle resawing tasks in the shop
Changing My Mind — honing gouges with “dubbing” across the full bevel for a proper edge
A Peek at Fisher’s Class — Dave Fisher’s approach to purposeful tool selection and precise carving
Log Hunting — splitting logs with wedges and gluts to yield chairmaking blanks
Path Finding — riving wood by hand to follow its natural properties rather than machine paths
Sunday Morning Labor — flattening chair seats to consistent thickness with a hand plane
The Way I Grind Gouges — freehand gouge grinding sideways at the wheel to preserve the bevel
Honing Gouges — developing feel for bevel contact while freehand-honing gouges on a stone
Choosing Boards — finding radial grain in flat-sawn boards using a drawknife or splitting
On to Shaving — drawknife shaving at the shavehorse demonstrated in silent video
Splitting Parts — methodical log-splitting to allow wood time to yield to steady pressure
Cross Grain Cutting — why cutting across the grain reduces tearout and physical effort (series)
Cross Grain Cutting Pt. 2 — cutting more aggressively and safely when traveling across fibers (series)
Sharpening for Free — free videos covering sharpening everything from drawknives to travishers
Filing Tips — draw-filing technique to sharpen scrapers with a mill file
Filing, A Complaint — light controlled strokes as the key to effective file use
Oh,1 — grinding wheel selection and technique to achieve reliable sharp edges
Big Hand Planing — plaster troweling as an analogy for how successive plane passes flatten wood
The Work Starts Here — metal work and grinding as the true starting point of any hand tool craft
What’s the Problem? — travisher handle placement and ergonomics for directing force when hollowing
Sole Nitty Gritty — replacing worn spokeshave and travisher soles with fitted hardwood inserts
It’s All in the Sole — how a curved sole lets the travisher vary depth of cut by rolling slightly
Grinding Wheels and Time — comparing carborundum, aluminum oxide, and CBN wheels for tool sharpening
Scorp Honing — honing the scorp’s curved edge, where slight rounding improves cutting
Tackling the Scorp — grinding and honing the scorp’s geometry for effective seat hollowing
Requested Demonstration — setting up and adjusting a Boggs spokeshave for chairmaking work
Sharpening Curves — sharpening curved tools through consistent practice before building speed
Back to the Grind — safe chisel grinding by blunting the edge first to avoid overheating (series)
Back to the Grind Part 2 — hollow-grind method using flats on the bevel to guide consistent sharpening (series)
Joinery, Mortises & Tenons
Seat Joining Fine Points — Meticulous edge jointing for gluing up three-piece chair seats.
The Dart — A notched drilling guide for accurate stretcher mortise angles.
Final Touches — Fitting a bench piece into the MFA Boston’s permanent collection.
My Favorite Tenon — Testing mortises directly to size round tenons accurately.
More Solutions for Problems You Don’t Have — Solving tapered-spindle mortise sizing across parallel rails.
Turning Thin Parts — Turning spindles to precise dimensions for proper joinery fit.
All’s Fair in Love and Layout — Hybrid mortise-and-tenon solutions for wood movement across an 18” joint.
It Worked...whew! — Floating tenon and half-tapered joint in steam-bent bench posts.
Bent Posts — Drilling consistent mortise angles into curved chair posts.
Blind Mortises 2 — Drilling and fitting blind mortises, a follow-up with video. (series)
Blind Mortises — Introduction to stopped mortise joinery as chairmaking’s connective logic. (series)
Good Logs Make Good Times — Drilling angled blind spindle holes in white oak for C-arm chairs.
How to Drill Spindle Mortises ‘By Eye’ — Aligning armbow-to-seat mortises freehand using the finished position.
There’s Only One — Gluing up seats for joints that are both strong and shape-harmonious.
Handplanes Don’t Flatten Boards — Preparing seat edges for glue-only joinery that demands perfect surface contact.
Angles Matter.... But — Mortise placement and stretcher length in unforgiving box stretcher assemblies.
Two Ways — A combo tapered-and-straight tenon standardizes bent-post joinery for teaching.
Class Excerpt — Rocker class moves from complex joinery through to seat carving.
Easy to Understand...Hard to Do — Drilling jigs that replace bevel-square angle transfer for leg mortises.
Rocker Layout — Laying out and routing rocker slots in legs with non-coplanar geometry.
Class Is In — Gluing up seats with joints integrated into the chair’s curved design.
What is Left — Round mortise-and-tenon as the efficient connector for shaped chair parts.
Carving & Sculpting
A Different Carving — Understanding the conceptual goal before building muscle memory at the lathe.
Make Pretty — Sanding, scraping, and shaving a large bench surface before painting.
All’s Fair in Love and Layout — Consulting a carving specialist for techniques suited to hard maple seats.
When a Chair Seat is Like a Spindle — Applying thick-to-thin grain-direction principles to seat shaping.
Make a Tool — Building a curved scraper plane for shaping crest backs on the Temple Chair.
The Armature — Sound underlying geometry must precede expressive surface tool marks.
Changing My Mind — Gouge bevel geometry for consistent, controlled marks across the full grind.
A Peek at Fisher’s Class — Observing Dave Fisher’s precision and joy as a master carver teaching.
Old and New — Cutting away from the deepest cove to prevent tear-out during seat carving.
The Way I Grind Gouges — Freehand grinding technique for the gouges used in seat carving.
Cross Grain Cutting — Why cutting perpendicular to grain reduces effort and subsurface tear-out. (series)
Cross Grain Cutting Pt. 2 — Demonstrating aggressive, safe cutting across fibers in seat work. (series)
Class Excerpt — Video excerpt of scorp technique after mastering the chair’s joinery framework.
What’s the Problem? — Ergonomic travisher handle design for removing material from hard maple seats.
It’s All in the Sole — How the curved sole of travishers and spokeshaves controls carving depth.
Scorp Honing — A slightly rounded edge outperforms a geometrically perfect one on scorps.
Tackling the Scorp — Making and sharpening a first homemade scorp for hollowing seat blanks.
Curves, Catenary and Otherwise — Catenary geometry as the underlying logic for sculpted seat edges.
The News I’ve Been Waiting For — Dave Fisher bringing master-carver sculptural principles to a shop class.
What is Left — Shaping wood as the heart of chairmaking, joinery merely the connector.
Drawknife
More Drawknife Talk and Video — Brand comparisons, handle geometry, and blade tuning for the drawknife.
The Good ol’ Days — Finding and restoring vintage drawknives for chairmaking use.
Potholes for Chelsea Pt. 2 — Treating the drawknife as a fiber-following shaving tool, not a carving tool.
My Other Favorite Wood — Hickory shaves like “creamy hard cheese” and rewards the drawknife.
When a Chair Seat is Like a Spindle — Thick-to-thin grain direction gives drawknife work speed and consistency.
A Sad Spot, Overcome — A collector of 100+ drawknives reflects on owning the right tools.
Choosing Boards — Using the drawknife to find the radial plane in boards for riving.
On to Shaving — Wordless video of drawknife shaving splits into finished chair parts.
Axes & Hatchets
All Soaked Up — Hatchet-splitting short spindle blanks instead of sawing them.
A Day in the Life — Using a hatchet to score and direct precise splits in a frozen maple log.
My Second Favorite Ax — A narrow-profile ax reaches into cracks to sever webbing fibers after splitting.
New Year, New Log, Old Axe — Splitting an ash log into leg blanks with finesse over brute force.
Wood Splitting & Riving
More Walnut and Chair Work — splitting fresh green walnut on the lathe for chair parts
Well, That Was Different — walnut’s unpredictable semi-ring-porous grain resists clean riving
Potholes for Chelsea Pt. 2 — drawknife shaving follows fibers the same way splitting cleaves grain
All Soaked Up — soaked kiln-dried ash outperforms green wood for post-split shaving
Board Working — splitting boards down the center to expose and align radial grain
Flat Spindles — radially split spindles cleave more easily and reveal medullary rays
The Throughline — riving amplifies hand-tool potential by following the wood’s fiber structure
Every Damn Wedge — hickory’s interlocking grain demands every wedge you own to rive
Good Logs Make Good Times — selecting white oak logs whose fiber webbing signals quality bending wood
A Day in the Life — splitting a frozen hard maple log with hatchets, wedges, and patience
Log Hunting — sourcing white oak and ash logs, sealing ends, and splitting with gluts
Path Finding — riving opens different creative paths than machine milling allows
A Day in the Life (Helix Chair) — riving boards into turning blanks for Helix chair legs
My Second Favorite Ax — a wedge-shaped ax excels at cutting webbing when a log crack stalls
Choosing Boards — selecting ring-porous lumber and splitting it to achieve rived grain alignment
On to Shaving — video showing the shaving step that follows splitting parts from the log
Splitting Parts — real-time video of splitting red oak, explaining grain behavior under pressure
A Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma — an ash log’s unusual growth rings puzzle multiple craftspeople riving it
New Year, New Log, Old Axe — carefully splitting a gifted ash log into seven chairs’ worth of legs
Or Not — bark furrows reveal twisted grain before you make a single wedge blow
Wood Selection
Dialing in The Helix Bend — wood species and specimen quality are key variables in steam-bending success
Getting the Color — tung oil finishing reveals the natural character of white oak and butternut
More Walnut and Chair Work — butternut and white oak chosen for complementary color when fumed
Well, That Was Different — walnut’s semi-ring-porous structure makes it a tricky species to split and select
Breaking the Skin of the Stone — reading medullary rays on quarter-sawn white oak blanks to identify grain twist
Sticking the Landing — bent parts demand the best log sections; grain selection determines success
All Soaked Up — soaked kiln-dried ash proves superior to green ash for shaving quality
Board Working — choosing ash boards sawn away from the pith for strength and workability
Flat Spindles — selecting straight white oak logs and splitting on the radial plane for spindles
The Push and Pull — premium white oak reserved for the Helix chair’s demanding compound bends
Every Damn Wedge — bark patterns can reveal whether hickory’s grain will split cleanly
My Other Favorite Wood — comparing white oak, red oak, and hickory for chairmaking suitability
Good Logs Make Good Times — fiber webbing in white oak splits signals ideal bending material
A Day in the Life — evaluating and selecting a hard maple log for a turning class
When a Chair Seat is Like a Spindle — reading wood grain direction guides efficient seat carving
All Hands on Deck — comparing American ash and poplar with Australian blackwood for chair parts
It’s in the Air — barn renovation planned to house future classes requiring quality wood stock
Log Hunting — evaluating log quality and knowing when a log is better left for firewood
Medullary Rays and New Classes — reading medullary ray shape to determine grain orientation in a board
It Could Work — testing slow-growth red oak for suitability in the Helix bend
My Second Favorite Ax — selecting fast-growth red oak and assessing it before splitting
A Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma — an ash log’s unusual growth-ring story prompts reflection on reading wood
Choosing Boards — techniques for selecting and splitting boards to obtain rived grain
3 Finishes — choosing tung oil vs. Waterlox to enhance white oak’s natural figure
New Year, New Log, Old Axe — a high-quality ash log’s growth pattern reveals its history and splitting character
The Pudding — selecting and orienting pine boards for glued-up chair seats
Or Not — reading bark furrows to identify twisted grain before committing to a log
Layout & Measuring
The V Notch — V-notch turning detail as an entry point for understanding tool geometry
The Dart — a shop-made tool eliminates angle-transfer errors when drilling stretcher mortises
Breaking the Skin of the Stone — identifying and correcting grain twist in blanks before turning
A Helpful Framework — two-point perspective as a layout framework for sketching chair proportions
All’s Fair in Love and Layout — fixtures and stepped tenons solve the layout challenges of a public bench
Bent Posts — managing curve, rotation, and angle simultaneously when laying out bent post joints
In the Meanwhile — iterative full-scale mockups establish spindle spacing and angle layout
New 2025 Classes and Drafting Sight Lines — video tool for transferring orthographic drawing angles into sight lines
2 Practical Solutions — exponential spindle-spacing algorithm solves a complex bench layout problem
Drawing Chairs — orthographic projection as the bridge between sketch and buildable chair
My Favorite Design Tool — Procreate on iPad enables rapid iterative layout before full-scale mockups
I Used to Know — rediscovering a drafting technique for deriving three-dimensional bending curves
Angles Matter.... But — stretcher length errors cascade through box-stretcher layout just as angles do
Easy to Understand...Hard to Do — choosing layout methods that are reliable under pressure, not just conceptually simple
Rocker Layout — using string and straightedge to mark rocker slot positions accurately on legs
Legs & Posts
The V Notch — the V-notch detail is a foundational element of turned chair leg profiles
The Dart — ensures accurate stretcher-to-leg drilling angles for the box undercarriage
More Walnut and Chair Work — turning freshly split green walnut for Helix chair legs
Breaking the Skin of the Stone — trimming twisted quarter-sawn blanks to align grain for smoother leg turning
Two Balusters — two drawing methods for depicting and designing turned baluster legs
The Leg Stripped Bare — crude gestural drawings convey leg rake and proportion with minimal detail
Building a Drawing — sketching baluster legs as a foundation for chair design exploration
All’s Fair in Love and Layout — step-down tenon design preserves leg strength in hard maple joinery
It Worked...whew! — successfully bending and drilling posts for a bench’s compound joinery
Bending Forms — bending long rectangular post blanks one half at a time for bench legs
Bent Posts — the compound challenges of curved, rotated, and angled bent posts for rod backs
Simple Shapes — rocking chair post curves emerge from structural necessity and aesthetic principle
A Day in the Life (Helix Chair) — converting boards to rived turning blanks for Helix chair legs
Looking Closely, Very Closely — subtle variation in handturned legs creates visual life without losing proportion
New Year, New Log, Old Axe — splitting an ash log into enough leg blanks for seven chairs
Two Ways — evolving from adaptive to teachable consistent bent rear post methods
Rocker Layout — offsetting rocker slot positions to account for legs not sharing a plane
Curves, Catenary and Otherwise — catenary and related curves govern seat edges and chair leg profiles alike
Just about 3, I Suppose — bobbin leg turning speed demonstration with caliper availability announcement
Filing & Scrapers
Filing Tips — draw-filing technique and proper stroke direction for sharpening scrapers
Filing, A Complaint — files cut with precision when properly stored and used; attention unlocks their potential
Philosophy & Craft Mindset
Scatter Shot and Lathe Cam — momentum over rigid priorities; the value of continuous motion in the shop
Full Swing — creativity as a learnable practice fed by the subconscious during pauses
Giving Back — planting trees reflects a long-view philosophy toward materials and craft legacy
New Tool! — new tools reshape craft identity; staying relevant in an evolving field
Big Events — balancing museum-level craft with the humbling simplicity of teaching beginners
Good Exposure — honest photography lets wood speak without romantic embellishment
Meet Andy Jack — celebrating exceptional makers who carry the greenwood tradition forward
A Different Carving — mastery develops from understanding principles, not from chasing specifications
Cutting Tapers and Curves — short deliberate practice sessions build the body memory turning demands
The Meeting Bench — constraints and happy accidents drive design toward its own internal logic
Skew Part 3 — forward motion and foot position prevent skew catches more than grip does
The Skew Part 1 — the lathe demands athletic stance; wrong foot position is the root of most problems
Breaking the Skin of the Stone — identifying and correcting problems before they compound is a core maker discipline
A Good End to the Year — completing work start-to-finish restores perspective after intensive teaching
Staying Warm — ancient temple craftsmanship reframes the ego of contemporary making
A Helpful Framework — structured visual frameworks free the maker to work fluidly within a system
The Leg Stripped Bare — a good design sketch reveals essential structure without overworking details
Building a Drawing — drawing is seeing; gestural sketches develop a maker’s design eye
Sticking the Landing — selecting and bending premium wood reflects the maker’s commitment to quality
Kelly Mehler — a mentor’s school set the gold standard for how craft education should feel
Potholes for Chelsea Pt. 2 — shaving and carving are philosophically distinct acts even when results look similar
Potholes for Chelsea — anticipating student failure points is itself a deep craft skill
All Soaked Up — systematic variable testing embodies rigorous problem-solving as craft practice
Board Working — understanding wood’s internal geometry transforms how you select and process it
Vive le Différence — deep craft training can become dogma; excellence takes many forms
Put Me in Coach — a creative coach reveals how mistakes in making mirror our inner lives
Found Rockers — post-class reflection and the collaborative energy a shared shop space creates
Simple Shapes — structural forces and aesthetic principles together determine a post’s final form
The Rig — jigs and fixtures are philosophy made physical; naming matters for mindset
It’s Not (Just) the Sharp Part — tool geometry and wood mechanics matter more than sharpness alone
The Plan — happy accidents beat rigid plans; staying open is its own creative discipline
The Throughline — riving and hand tools connect the maker to wood’s inherent fibrous nature
The Push and Pull — refining a design through iteration reveals what a chair truly wants to be
Two Kinds of Memory — the maker’s mental presence and wood’s physical memory are both craft materials
In the Meanwhile — iterative mockups embody the philosophy of hands-on problem solving
Milk Paint — finish is never neutral; mastering milk paint is a craft unto itself
2 Practical Solutions — marrying hand intuition with mathematical precision to solve design problems
Drawing Chairs — orthographic drawing as active thinking, not passive documentation
New Beginning, 2025 — keeping ideas fluid as long as possible is a creative discipline, not indecision
My Favorite Design Tool — digital tools serve design thinking when used to accelerate iteration, not replace making
A Favorite Bench — minimalist craftsmanship focused purely on function demonstrates its own mastery
It’s in the Air — building a dedicated workshop space embodies commitment to the craft community
Make a Tool — making your own tools demystifies craft and deepens material understanding
Kinda Stumped — questioning whether past career advice still applies to today’s craft landscape
An Old Friend Comes Home — a returned early bench reflects a lifelong preference for clean, later-period Windsor forms
As I Was Saying — returning to the shop after a break resets a maker’s creative priorities
The Armature — strong underlying structure liberates surface expression rather than constraining it
A Peek at Fisher’s Class — Dave Fisher embodies “how you do anything is how you do everything”
Finished? — embracing chaos and uncertainty is essential to meaningful creative work
My Evil Plan — fair pay for instructors sustains the integrity of craft transmission
Path Finding — the choice of tools determines which creative paths remain open to a maker
Ear Worm Phrases and Spindle Video — the curse of knowledge; giving beginners just enough to understand why each step matters
Old and New — revisiting a first blog post reveals how core shop philosophy endures over decades
Six Year Hard Labor — well-designed chairs should age gracefully and wear as a badge of honor
Sunday Morning Labor — choosing hand tools over machines is a philosophical act, not just a practical one
Rough Cut — mastering knowledge before letting tools enhance rather than hinder the work
I Used to Know — enjoying a drafting process for its own sake, not just for efficiency
4 Hours of a Broken Record — body position is the repeated lesson that unlocks all turning progress
Jay is no Expert — true expertise means seeing how all layers of a process fit together from the start
Nailed It — intimate maker expression matters more than technical perfection in finished work
Letter to a Woodworker Pt. 1 — honest self-assessment about motivation is the first craft skill an entrepreneur needs
Letter to a Woodworker Pt. 2 — establishing the value of handmade work in a customer’s mind is its own craft
Letter to a Woodworker Pt. 3 — introversion shapes the craft life; peer connection is essential to sustaining it
Filing, A Complaint — attention, imagination, and expectation are the real cutting edges of any tool
Patience is the Work — sourcing components for tool production demands the same patience as craft itself
Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn — iteration requires discarding imperfect drafts rather than letting them persist
The Talk — releasing perfectionism in chairmaking allows minor deviations to become beauty
Garage Sale Test Revisited — work must hold intrinsic value stripped of gallery context and marketing
How You Do Anything — integrity in small unseen details reveals a maker’s overall character
Easy to Understand...Hard to Do — choose methods that are reliable under pressure, not just theoretically elegant
Nick of Time — returning to the shop after a stressful project reaffirms why the work matters
Big Hand Planing — iterative planing passes, like plastering, cultivate a meditative pursuit of perfection
I Don’t Want to Make A Chair — understanding chair principles frees the maker to go beyond any single design
Pop Songs and Chair Design — every strong design needs a single focal hook; restraint is a creative virtue
I Can’t Unsee It — once you develop a trained eye for proportion, you can never unknow it
What’s Your Compulsion? — understanding which drive motivates your making sustains momentum in the shop
A Key Lesson (for me) — crossing the line and risking failure is the only way to find where the line is
A More Malleable World — crafting from raw materials builds self-reliance and reduces dependence on supply chains
A New Beginning — fifteen years of chairmaking explored through the philosophy that failure delivers knowledge
My Other Job(s) — deep focus on single tasks, whether chairs or renovation, produces the best work
The Real Reason — the greatest reward of craft is the human community it creates around shared practice
What is Left — shaping wood interests Galbert more than joining it; simplicity is a philosophy
Business & Entrepreneurship
Letter to a Woodworker Pt. 1 — know your motivation before building a woodworking business; types of makers differ
Letter to a Woodworker Pt. 2 — value is established in the customer’s mind through community, not just quality
Letter to a Woodworker Pt. 3 — introversion is common among makers; build peer networks to survive a solo career
Classes, Events & Announcements
(Most articles include some announcement; this list focuses on those where it’s a primary subject.)
Giving Back — Temple chair class completed; new chuck extension tool available for students
Big Events — Museum of Fine Arts anniversary and a beginner turning class back-to-back
The Whole Shebang — full year of classes announced with Fisher, Follansbee, Schwarz, and more
My Favorite Tenon — upcoming classes and T2 travisher batches announced alongside tenon technique
Staying Warm — teaching Japanese students; Vietnam trip reframes perspective on craft and class
Kelly Mehler — tribute to mentor whose school set the model for how classes should be run
Potholes for Chelsea — preparing teaching notes for a fellow instructor’s continuous arm class
Winter 2025 and Spring 2026 Class Schedule — seven courses announced with enrollment opening August 1, 2025
Found Rockers — rocking chair class just completed; next session coming in a few weeks
The Plan — inaugural C-Arm class announced for May 5th at the new workshop
Help! — volunteers sought to move equipment into the newly renovated workshop space
Last Day! — final day of introductory pricing on the Temple Chair video course
The Temple Chair Video is Here! — Temple Chair video series launched with plans, handbook, and video instruction
New 2025 Classes and Drafting Sight Lines — 2025 class schedule opens January 23rd; drafting sight-line tool released
New Beginning, 2025 — 2025 classes forthcoming; new facility nearly ready for February opening
All Hands on Deck — hosting Australian maker Bern Chandley for a chairmaking class
It’s in the Air — barn renovation nearing completion; first classes planned for February
Kinda Stumped — space available in Bern Chandley’s Lowbow chair class in December
A Peek at Fisher’s Class — report from inside Dave Fisher’s carving class at the new workshop
Input Please! — seeking subscriber feedback on Temple Chair video delivery format
Medullary Rays and New Classes — turning, rocking chair, and Dave Fisher bowl carving classes announced
Class Wrap Up and Excerpt — C-Arm class concluded with Follansbee as a student; reflections shared
New Classes! — November 2024 classes in rocker, Temple, and arm chair styles announced
Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn — Temple Chair class completed; iterating on design between teaching sessions
Steady Rest and Video Discounts — steady rest plans shared; 40% discount on Foundations video through January 8th
New Classes and Thanks — 2024 continuous arm, rocker, and Temple chair classes announced for enrollment
Nick of Time — prepping rocker class parts after returning from a year-long house project
I Don’t Want to Make A Chair — design class with Aspen Golann applies rocker dynamics to an unconventional prototype
I Can’t Unsee It — Fine Woodworking photo shoot and Yale Furniture Study talk announced
A Key Lesson (for me) — class philosophy: risk and experimentation are built into how students are taught
A New Beginning — inaugural Substack post introduces the blog and its teaching-focused mission
Coming Soon — placeholder post marking the launch of Chair Notes on Substack
The Good ol’ Days — Modern Rocker class announced; Foundations video series released free on YouTube
Fisher, Follansbee, Glenn and More — enrollment opens May 8th for Fisher, Follansbee, Chandley, and Glenn classes
The News I’ve Been Waiting For — Dave Fisher finally agrees to teach a six-day carving class at the shop