An Introduction to: BW02

A heaping pile of mistakes and a really sexy chair.

Over the past two years I have been working on a new design for a chair. It is not wholly unique in that it’s heavily inspired by the work of Hans Wegner and his “Wishbone” chair. A chair that has been replicated at nauseum by production factories all over the world.

But what I do is different. Lol.

Seriously though.

I am not trained formally at all. Rather my education comes primarily through internet sources, be they blogs, YouTubes, or the occasional zoom lesson amongst other wonderful resources. The formal training I do have is from Eric Cannizzaro in his small workshop in the farm country of Vermont. He is a young master of the greenwood tradition. So that is what I learned. Greenwood working. As a starting point there are some key principles of greenwood chair making. Perhaps the most obvious is that the wood is green, in other words, wet.

For the casual reader greenwood may require explanation, I’ll be brief here.

Green wood simply means that the tree was recently cut down. Typically, greenwood working is a reference to starting the project from a log, rather than buying pre-dried planks that have been professionally milled.

I’m not sure why, but my whole life I have had authority issues. So, I find the notion of working with logs very gratifying. I don’t have to ask anyone for help, and If I am enterprising enough the logs are usually “free to a good home” otherwise left in the field to rot. So, if I play my cards right, I can acquire hundreds of pounds of raw materials for the cost of the time and labor it requires to get the log back to the shop. Which is usually hard to do. See the work of Pete Galbert for a reference here. He has some great videos on what this process looks like.

So, I source all my own material. What this means is that when it comes time to build the chair, I have the craftsmen’s choice of which sections of the log to use and can match grain and color easily. It is a rare luxury to own a chair that is made up from parts that all come from the same tree. (Look it up). Something that the Danish masters, like Wegner, would have prized.

Now, here comes the lesson of the week. If you have made it this far, you honor me. The hardest part of figuring out the design for this project is getting the big bends right. See Below

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This bend is dramatic: 11-inch radius with two tight 9-inch radiuses at the arm rest. I will show details below.

I have tried all sorts of methods to get this right and in the process, I think I may have discovered a new technique.

Initially I was taught to use steam to bend. The idea is that the water vapor, hot, transports through the vascular system of the wood causing the wood to heat up. The heat weakens the lignin in the tree, which is the glue that hold the fibers of the log together. When the lignin is weak the wood will bend and then hold its new shape as the wood cools back down. Fernweh Woodwork has been studying this recently for a new Windsor chair they are building, and I am keeping close tabs on their process.

I was not able to use steam in my process. I don’t have the muscle for it. To successfully perform a dramatic bend to such an extreme radius, requires a jig that can be cranked to the tune of hundreds of lbs. of force, and heavy rachet system that just can’t be replicated with clamps.

I broke 3 rails. Each rail represented about 3 hours of work and cost me the failed material, there is no coming back from a failed steam bend. Often, I can recycle mistakes but something like that just goes up on the wall as a reminder to future mistakes.

I abandoned steam.

I spent about a month calling around and asking for help from wood workers I admired. Eventually I learned that most folks in the professional production woodworking world don’t give two shits about “greenwood tradition”. They use thin cut strips of material and easily noodle them around a jig and then use wood glue or some form of epoxy to fuse the strips together.

I had to try it.

And here I believe I may be on to something new. I don’t know of anyone else who makes their own ply from greenwood like I do.

I have been playing with the idea of making plywood bends. However, in form that can only be achieved when working from log, I have perfectly quartersawn, homogenous stacks of ply, not only do they come from the same tree, but they come from the same section of the tree and have perfectly matching grain patterns. It creates a flawless final product.

It took me another 3 attempts before I figured out how to get the shape to bend without cracking or breaking (a lot). I have figured out how to manufacture strips from a log, using a combination of my shave horse, jointer and table saw. I have tuned up the thickness at about ¼ inch, 5 strips get me to about a 1 ½ inch final dimension and then I can shave it down to the desired 1 ¼.

Allow me to introduce you to my newest problem. Perhaps the most obvious problem. The wood is wet. When I work from a log, the wood is still green. Of course, I sometimes wait 24 hours between milling and glue up. The moisture in the log causes glue failure. The bend is flawless, but after 48 hours I remove the clamps, and in about 15 minutes the bend unfolds. Not all the way, but enough to ruin the piece.

What to do?

Allow the wood to dry. This slows down the process by about 5 days. Not that bad. I can work that into the schedule, no problem. This is probably the right answer. Thin strips will dry quickly, and the clamps will correct any resultant warping.

Use a non-water-based glue. Austin Hietzman recommends System 3 T88 epoxy, says it would glue an elephant to the ceiling. He also suggests gorilla glue.

That’s where I am at in the shop. Standing on a massive heap of mistakes and looking at the newest one. Asking myself how to solve it.

I spend a lot of time in the shop pondering these issues. Casting my mind off into the mystery. It becomes very frustrating. Ironically, I am impatient. I am always eager to work faster and go farther. It’s a characteristic of mine that has led me to some cool experiences but also some gripping mistakes, grief, and trouble.

I don’t have the answers. I only have old questions and new questions. A healthy dose of accountability and strong hands.

I wish I spent more time looking back at myself. I wish I spent less time with my jaws clenched, and my heart rate a little too high. I wish I spent more time outside. I wish I was in love.

And then I remember that’s exactly why I do this. Because it brings me joy. I am amazed at the wonder of my life. I hope you are amazed by the wonder of yours too.

I love the work. I love you. Have a great day

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