by John BrownWelsh stick chairs - rough cousins to what we in the US call Windsor chairs - can be made (with some practice) expertly and easily with hand tools. They were often made by the end users or farmers looking to supplement their incomes during the winter. John Brown, author of this slim but well-loved book, himself made hundreds -- without electricity, a lathe or plans. He believed that almost the entire design could be determined as you are making the chair, with wide flexibility on what could be done.
We carried “Welsh Stick Chairs, originally published in 1990, for years - until it went out of print. The book was an intriguing mix of how-to, with step-by-step photos of the entire process of making the chair, from cutting the seat to final finishing; memoir - Brown was a proud Welsh craftsman; history of Welsh stick chairs; and a discussion of different designs. There was even information about how to make a steamer (for the parts of the chair that need to be bent).
Over the years the book gained in reputation but became inaccessible because of the exorbitant prices charged on the second hand book market. So we’re thrilled that - after much travail - Lost Arts Press has reissued “Welsh Stick Chairs” in a high-quality North American edition.
As Chris Schwarz of Lost Arts wrote, “I have read “Welsh Stick Chairs” more than 20 times, and it has had an incredible influence on my life...It is my sincere hope...that the works of John Brown will never be forgotten..I am not alone. Thousands of woodworkers all over the world discovered a different way to look at the craft through John Brown’s writings. Every time I encountered one of his die-hard fans, they would ask: Why haven’t you brought Welsh Stick Chairs back into print?”
This edition includes John Brown's original introduction to the book, plus the additional introduction he wrote for the third edition and an updated essay on John Brown by Nick Gibbs.
Always in softcover since its first edition, Welsh Stick Chairs continues the tradition with this edition of the book. Typically Lost Arts Press books are printed in hardcover, but here honored the wishes of Brown’s family. The Lost Arts version has a rough, heavy card stock cover like the original, with smooth and heavy interior pages. The signatures are sewn together to ensure the binding will last.
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Pages: 104
Binding: Trade Paper
Publisher: Lost ArtPress
