I just finished a six day class at Kelly Mehler's School of Woodworking making a continuous arm Windsor chair with Curtis Buchanan. It was a fabulous experience. Besides being a master chair-maker, Curtis is a great instructor and a talented storyteller. These qualities led to a really interesting, although very tireing, week. Curtis supplied the leg, stretcher and arm stump turnings. All other shaping and drilling was done entirely with hand tools, primarily the drawknife, spokeshave, scorp, travisher and brace. I learned a lot, left with an assembled chair and was well entertained in the lighter moments. Curtis's assistant, Greg Pennington, who's work is featured in the current issue of Fine Woodworking provided very knowledgeable help when Curtis was occupied. Kelly, a fine instructor in his own right, assumed the role of schoolmaster and host during this class and as always, he did it well. I could blither on about how much I liked the class, but let's just say I give it five stars out of five stars!
My chair as it left Kelly's at 8 pm Saturday evening.
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