Irish American Stick Chair

Irish American Stick Chair

The Chair

I avoided chairs for a long time with the opening scene from The Patriot (2000) always coming to mind. If you haven't seen it, he has just finished making a chair and he goes to sit in it and it breaks.

I decided to face my fear of the chair and build one. I got my hands on The Stick Chair Book by Christopher Schwarz and the full size drawings. No this isn't sponsored, in fact, he has the PDF version of the book for free on his website, no email or gimmick required. I opted for the print version (something about that tactile feel and a high quality print).

I liked his design on what he called the Irish American. At first glance it might look a bit odd with its 20 degree slope on the back and the seat being only 14 inches off the ground. Looks can be deceiving as it is quite comfortable to sit in. 

The Wood

For the wood, I received some high quality walnut from my uncle at Simply Slabs. It came as rough sawn 8/4 walnut slabs that he was generous enough to gift me for the project. For the sticks and legs, I made sure to find the straight grain for those pieces. That's a big part of making sure I didn't recreate that Patriot scene. 

The Joinery

The beefy octagonal legs are attached to the seat using a tapered tenon as opposed to a straight tenon. Tapered tenons are stronger than straight tenons and have the added benefit of being forced tighter as you sit in it (if it were loose). 

The arms and back sticks I turned on the lathe and they utilize straight tenons. The front two arm sticks on each side are wedged on top as well as the leg tenons. The outside back sticks that pass through the arm rests are not attached to the arm rest but simply pass through.

The tops of the outside back sticks are pinned to the curved back with a 1/8" brass rod to give it a subtle hint of character.

Holding it all together is not normal wood glue, but hide glue. Hide glue removes most of the panic from a complex glue up. It has a long working time, and if you mess up, its reversable with heat.

The Finish

When it comes to pieces you interact with, such as a chair, I like to avoid film finishes like lacquer etc. Instead I opted for walnut oil and then following it up with a microcrystalline wax. Back to the tactile idea, you feel the wood, not the film over the wood. It is also easy to touch up if I ever need to. 

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