Building and weaving a side chair or arm chair at The Quiet Workshop
Description
Our full length chair-making course. You get to do some steam bending, learn how to build a traditional post and rung chair and weave a seat from a range of patterns. The side chair class lasts five days and if you want to build an arm chair book the extension day from our listings and you’ll come back for an extra day at the end to shape and fit the arms rests. Day 1: Arrive in good time. Our first job is to get the back leg posts, spindle rails and slats into the steam box so that you can bend them before lunch. They need to sit in their formers for as long as possible. With all of the steamed parts bent you will then start shaping the front legs. You start with square section stock and plane the timber eight sided and then shave and scrape it round. This means that you’ll learn techniques that don’t require you to buy thousands of pounds of lathe and turning tools when you go home and want to build another chair! Day 2: A busy day of rounding all the remaining legs, rungs and rails. For the rungs and rails you’ll use a dowel maker and scrapers and then put the tenons on with a tenon former. Day 3: Spindle back. We'll get the curved spindle back rails out of the former, drill them for the spindles and shape them with spokeshaves. Then we'll cut and shape the spindles and dry fit the spindle back. Day 4: The back posts come out of the formers and we drill the mortises for the rungs and rails. By lunchtime we should have the back panel together and before the end of the day we’ll have the whole chair assembled and glued together. Day 5: Seat weaving. You’ll weave a seat from either paper rush, Danish cord or sea grass. You choose the pattern from a range of square weave designs. Day 6 (optional extra day). Drill the arm rest mortises, shape the arms and finish the chair! We aim to finish at about 17:00 each day but if you finish the day's tasks earlier you're welcome to leave and if you need a bit more time you're welcome to stay.
What's included in the price?
Tuition, use of tools, materials and light refreshments including lunch.
Duration
5 days
Cancellation policy
Medium - Cancellation and a full refund can be obtained up to 4 weeks before the course starts
Maker
I've been teaching for over 20 years and building things out of wood for a lot longer! I started running stool-making and woodworking classes about 5 years on a rather ad hoc basis. I was asked to run small ‘masterclasses’ in a local school and then ran classes in other people’s workshops. We moved to dedicated workshops of our own in 2023 to run courses full time. Lunch and snacks on the course are made by Bryony who trained at Le Cordon Bleu as a patisserie chef!
Suitable for
- Adults
- Seniors
- Father's Day
- Mother's Day
- UK Holiday
- Christmas
- Easter
- Suitable for beginners
FAQs
Sorry, we don’t have the facilities for this! Bounds campsite is two miles down the road.
Camping: Bounds in Fulbourn is two miles away.
Closest: The Carpenter’s Arms is just along the High Street from our workshop. It has some rooms available. It has a lovely restaurant and makes for a very easy commute to your course.
Budget hotels: The Fourwentways Travelodge is the cheapest we can find in the area and The Orchard Park Travelodge is just along the A14. But they’re both next to busy roads.
Posh hotel: The Quy Mill Hotel and Spa is close and apparently very nice.
18. We are looking into accompanied children and are checking with our insurers.
You will struggle to finish your chair. If you miss a day during the course you’ll be out of synch with the rest of the class.
I’ve been teaching for over 20 years! I started running stool-making and woodworking classes about 5 years on a rather ad hoc basis. I was asked to run small ‘masterclasses’ in a school I worked in and then ran classes in other people’s workshops. We moved to dedicated workshops of our own in 2023 and are testing all of our courses with small groups and will start full-time in 2024.
We start at 9.30 prompt. Please arrive early and have a cup of coffee so that we’re all ready for the first demonstration. The day usually finishes around 5pm but this depends on individual progress. Some people finish different stages at different times and can then either go home or set up for the next day.
The dimensions and jigs are all provided for you. You have a lot of choice over slats, spindles and arms which all give a distinctive and personal feel to the chair.
You can apply a finish when you get home. We use and recommend Osmo Polyx Raw and a coat of wax.
Air dried ash. We buy it from a small number of English timber yards that we know well.
Any. But if you need a gentle introduction the Simple Stool Class is ideal.
No. All our courses are designed for beginners though experienced woodworkers are likely to learn something because chairmaking is different from a lot of woodwork.
If you are strong enough and dextrous enough to cook a roast dinner from scratch then you should be able to build a chair! You’re not expected to have any special skills and instruction on all tools is provided.
You must wear strong, closed-toe shoes. I always wear safety shoes in the workshop. No sandals or light footwear. Imagine dropping something on your foot. We recommend trousers rather than shorts (you’ll get shavings in your socks) but the rest is up to you. Don’t wear anything precious.
We provide tea and coffee all day, a mid-morning snack, a light lunch and tea and cake in the afternoon.
There is plenty of space for at least four cars on our driveway and more on the street if you prefer.
Great Wilbraham – 15 minutes from Cambridge, an hour from North London, Norwich and Northampton.
