Kale Vogt,
Jan. 12, 2024
A couple days have passed since the arm split incident. I received a text from Chris yesterday of a picture of my dried arm sans clamp; turns out he was also eager to see how the mending turned out. The break is hardly recognizable now, a hairline crack at best. I’m instantly relieved.
While Chris mentioned the glue would be plenty strong to hold the arm, we screwed a mending plate under the break for extra support, just in case. This process involved an introduction to my favorite tool to date, the fantastical eggbeater drill. Chris explained how the eggbeater is more commonly used in furniture making as opposed to a battery-powered drill/driver. I used the eggbeater to drill the screw holes for the bracket then a battery-powered drill to widen them.
After sanding for about 20 minutes, I turned my attention to the comb. A piece I’ve admittedly gotten way ahead of myself on, since week one it’s the design choice that’s been in the back of my mind. Chris has mentioned the comb “can easily make or break a chair,” and I agree.
During my newfound nightly ritual of scrolling through chairs online before bed, I came across an original Don Weber chair that has since invaded my brain. It’s inviting proportions and sleek steam-bent arms pulled me in, though it’s comb is what really caught my attention.
“Oh you like the hat.” Chris said to me when I showed him and Megan.
A historically traditional look I learned, I’d never seen such a nuanced style on all the vernacular stick chairs I’d come across online. I knew I wanted the same for my chair.
I cut out a basic comb shape then with some simple circle templates traced the “mouse ears” and married the two with an arc. After cutting out the rough shape on the bandsaw, I held the comb up to my chair. Holding out my arm as far as possible using the wide angle on my camera, I tried for a full picture of the comb on my chair.
I stepped back to examine the comb sitting atop my back sticks. Hmm, not as I’d pictured in my head…
The day flew by, after questioning my comb shape, I decided to sleep on it overnight instead of moving forward with rasping the edges.
Christopher Schwarz,
Jan. 12, 2024
My head is a mess this day. It’s the second anniversary of the death of my sister Ashley, and I still haven’t quite gotten right after it. It probably will be that way for a while. I also woke with a tremendous headache from hand-sanding a chair the day before. So, I decided to do something about it – I bought an electrostatic air scrubber. It’s a huge expense (and it was stupid to buy it in 2024, tax-wise), but I hope it will make the shop a more pleasant place for all of us.
Kale came in after her shift at the bakery and began working on the comb for her chair. She spent about an hour shaping it, and then decided to start over on a new comb.
It was the damn right decision in my mind. But I try not to be too opinionated when talking about design. Nor do I want to be the devil’s advocate – simply the opposite is simply irritating.
So we look at her new comb at different positions on her back sticks.
Megan shouts out: “You could make six combs and just swap them out when you feel like it.”
Kale: “I’d end up with a closet full of combs!”
Kale put her rough comb on her sticks and then headed home. My head is still throbbing from the day before. I tidy up my bench a bit before Lucy, Megan, Katy and I head to the bar for a drink. I notice that Kale has returned some tools that she borrowed from me and arranged them as precisely as an alien makes a crop circle in the corn.
All the rasps were clean. The scraper was back in its envelope with its tie secured.
You can’t teach that – a respect for tools. It’s the first thing that makes me smile all day.
I actually like the first one best, but only if the end of the arms were also rounded to carry the theme through. The rest also look good. Not sure you can mess it up too much. Just my opinion.
I’m grooving on comb #2. Kale’s doing great!