Description
George Nakashima was one of the most influential studio woodworkers of the twentieth century. And no piece of furniture is more associated with George than the Conoid chair.
Conoid Chair
Chairs can be some of the trickiest projects to build. The construction of this Conoid chair is fairly straight forward, but there’s plenty to test the skills of any level woodworker. You’ll spend the first part of the week working out the design and joining the chair parts together. The week wraps up with sculpting the seat, legs and crest.
Some of the skills learned in the Conoid Chair class are:
- How to make and fit mortise-and-tenon joints
- Fitting sculpted furniture parts
- Working with hand and power tools for accurate fit
Materials are not included in the class fee. Lumber for this project may be purchased through us or on your own and shipped to our shop at least four weeks prior to the class.
Each student should supply his, or her, own:
- Safety glasses and hearing protection
- Combination or machinist square
- Bevel gauge
- Bench chisels
- Carvers mallet
- Dovetail saw
- Marking gauge
- Smooth plane or jack plane
- Block plane
- Tape measure or folding rule
If you do not have the tools on the list, don’t panic, there are plenty of tools for your use in class.
Course Dates:
- May 24 – 28, 2021
The shop opens at 8:30 am. Class begins at 9:00 am. A delicious lunch, snacks, and soft drinks are provided. Class ends at 4:30 pm – the shop remains open until 5:30 pm.
The class is limited to a maximum of 3 students.
Call or email to be placed on the waiting list if this class sells out.
Edward Kowal (verified owner) –
The Conoid chair was my second course with Chuck. I came back because I really like the atmosphere in Chuck’s shop. A class limit of 3 students kept everything relaxed during the week with the free flow of ideas, suggestions, and light-hearted banter. I looked forward to going to “work” every morning. Besides being clean and well-maintained I also picked up a lot of great ideas for storage and shop organization.
This class was a little different than I expected although I don’t know if all of Chuck’s classes are conducted this way. Instead of a ready-made plan, cut list and instructions to “do this” and “do that”, the first day was spent going through the design process. We calculated dimensions, made a full size drawing, and decided if we wanted to modify the design in any way. This was very enlightening.
During the week of actually making the chair we figured out jigs, discussed methods of work, and learned fixes for the inevitable mistakes that were made.
All in all a very enjoyable experience.
Chuck –
Ed,
All my project classes are similar in that we begin with the design and a full-size drawing (regardless of how many times I may have made the piece). As you saw in class, working through the design helps each person understand exactly what we’re doing and in what order we need to do it. If the classes functioned with you inserting materials into pre-made jigs and pushing them across a machine, I may as well sell kits. Figuring out exactly what the piece is going to look like, the joinery, and how (and why) to make the necessary jigs ensures that you can repeat the process down the road should you desire to make another. And I’m always available (via email) if you can quite recall how we did something in class.
I’m extremely happy you enjoyed the class, glad you learned a few things, and thankful you decided to spend your time with me in the shop. I sincerely hope it happens again.
Bob Emmons (verified owner) –
Always a pleasure to attend a class with Chuck. Sure, we can all stay home and pick through projects on our own, but in a group setting, we all have to think design parameters and operations through, and learn by interaction with others. There are many ways to build a piece of furniture and have appreciated the way Chuck engages all students to think the design and construction process through, guided by his high woodworking IQ, and no nonsense approach to any project. But most important of all is that we get together and have fun each and every day in the shop all while working on a fine piece of furniture.