80 hours, 2 chairs, and Too Many Stories to Count

About two years ago Heather bought me a week long chair making course with Curtis Buchanan who is a renowned Windsor chair maker in downtown historic Jonesborough. Because of the house project, it took a while to finally get around to the much anticipated week long experience.

Little did I know that my younger brother was taking an interest in furniture making himself. After coming to this realization near Christmas I had an epiphany - the two of us could do the course together. Curtis was amenable and Brad was able to get time off from work so we were set to go.

The course involves beginning with a freshly split oak log and turning it into a windsor chair. The spindles and back were split and shaved from white oak. The chair was carved from a hunk of yellow pine. And the rockers are cut from rock maple. The whole process took us about 80 hours from Monday until Saturday night. Brad and I finished at 10:30 Saturday night - only 6 and a half hours before his flight left the next morning.

One of the most interesting parts of the week was the seemingly endless supply of stories that Curtis has to draw from. Most of the stories come from his youth when he hitchhiked all over the US and Central America for 7 years of his life. Oh, to live on the road.

Lance

Pictures included are 1. Brad on the shaving horse, 2. Curtis on the horse (notice Heather in the background who stopped by to entertain), and the final chairs.