Build a comfortable stick armchair in the Welsh tradition using tools and materials that are familiar to the typical woodworker.

If chairmaking intimidates you, you aren’t alone. The tools, materials and processes seem to require a pledge of allegiance to an entirely different craft that uses green wood, shavehorses and steamboxes. It doesn’t have to be that way.

With a bit of cleverness and (mostly) standard woodworking tools, you can build an extremely comfortable stick armchair using woods from your local lumberyard (or even your scrap bin) and tools already in your shop.

For the last two decades, I have dedicated myself to learning all modes of chairmaking, from building them with green wood and traditional tools to making chairs with routers, high-tech compression wood and complex jigs. The chair for this class uses a mix of tools that you probably already own (plus a few new ones), wood that you have in your scrap bin and skills you have already honed.

If you can reliably sharpen your hand tools, saw to a line and hold a cordless drill then you can build this chair.

The form is inspired by historic examples of 18th- and 19th-century stick chairs from Wales that have been refined by John Brown and Christopher Williams – two of my favorite chairmakers. I designed my version starting with an 18th-century chair shown in a book by Richard Bebb. And I stripped it back to what you see here – a comfortable chair with clean lines.

Students will receive a tool list from the instructor.

For information on Covington, including where to stay and where to eat, click here.

Cost

This class requires long hours and will make you tired (but happy at the end of the day). Because of the nature of this class, we bring in lunch every day for students. Plus, all materials (wood, glue etc.) are included in the cost of the class. So the price is higher than a typical week-long class.

Cost: $1,800 (price includes all materials and lunch every day). Cancellations will be accepted up until four weeks before the class for a full refund. If a cancellation occurs within four weeks prior to the class date, a refund will be issued only if the spot can be filled.

For information on Covington, including where to stay and where to eat, click here.

A tool list will be sent to students from the instructor.

If the class sells out, we recommend signing up for the waitlist – we almost always have to fill at least one space.