I make my chairs starting with freshly cut (or green) oak and maple logs as well as a two inch thick slab of eastern white pine. Each chair part is split out of the log by hand using wedges and a sledge hammer. These parts are then shaped with hand tools (some of which are over a hundred and fifty years old) or turned into round parts such as legs and stretchers on my lathe.
Some parts are placed in a steam box for up to an hour and then bent on a form and placed in my kiln to dry.
Special care is taken in regards to the joinery of each chair that I make. Parts are fitted and assembled only after spending a period of time in the kiln to become "bone dry". This ensures that the parts will swell slightly as they respond to the ambient air moisture resulting in a very tight joint. Hide glue is also used in every joint and wedges are driven into the ends of all through tenons.
Finally your chair is finished with Milk Paint, buffed to a low rich sheen and oiled several times with raw tongue oil.
My goal is to build a chair that will provide you with comfort and add beauty to your home until the day that you pass it down to the next generation.
Delivery to the New England area is available. Please contact me for actual shipping costs.
Thank you for looking,
Dan