Shaker Chair. Ash Bark Weaving.

[Steve Inniss]

Glad I finally tried this.

For all those chairs you may have around in need of repair, or for finishing a new one, I was surprised how: well this works, how good the stuff looks and how easy it was to do.

I am making three chairs for our cottage kitchen island. I turned the pieces for this Shaker style chair out of some white oak logs. Instead of using cloth tape I thought I would try a method using inner tree bark.
I know that hickory is a good choice if you have it available and I suspected Ash is as well – and I have a lot of that around, so these will be Ash. Once dry the lock-knots hold perfectly and there is not one tack in the whole process.

-Steve

[Jason Tuinstra]

Steve, thanks for the heads-up. I'm trying to figure out what kind of seating I want to use for the dining chairs I'm going to build. I kind of settled on this, but my wife thinks that this would be rather uncomfortable. What say you on the comfort side of things? I have a Shaker rocker with the Shaker tape. Any less comfort than that?

[Richard Wolf]

Steve, the chair looks great. I've built my share of Shaker chairs, I'm working on a set of four for my kitchen set now. I have used shaker tape on most and some rush on a few, but no bark. Maybe you can give us a rundown on how you processed the bark?

Richard

[Corey Hallagan]

Wow, that is great work! Very neat looking chairs. Can't imagine doing that that weaving!

Corey

[Steve Inniss]

Steve, thanks for the heads-up. I'm trying to figure out what kind of seating I want to use for the dining chairs I'm going to build. I kind of settled on this, but my wife thinks that this would be rather uncomfortable. What say you on the comfort side of things? I have a Shaker rocker with the Shaker tape. Any less comfort than that?

Jason,
I don’t think there’s much if any difference comfort-wise between this and cloth tape. These inner-bark strips are used outside of tree up(sounds weird to say, but woodworkers know what I mean – the bark should be bark side up), so the edges will be curled away from you as they dry and thus not dig into you - or yours. -Steve

[Steve Inniss]

Steve, the chair looks great. I've built my share of Shaker chairs, I'm working on a set of four for my kitchen set now. I have used shaker tape on most and some rush on a few, but no bark. Maybe you can give us a rundown on how you processed the bark?

Richard

Richard,

I have to say, I greatly enjoy your stair-posts. -Thanks

For processing the bark:

Cut reasonably straight, branchless sections of tree trunks between 5” and 12” in diameter, into 7foot lengths. Best done during growing season which ensures it’s nice and wet between the bark and wood.

Use a drawknife(bevel down) and remove the outer bark.

Use a utility knife and score the inner bark along the length into 1” strips.

Use a blunt knife or sharp finger to support and pop the strip off as you pull it away from the wood.

Use it right away, or hang them to dry – you just have to soak them when you’re ready to use.

If you (or anyone) wants more info, just PM me and I’ll send you a scan of the harvesting and the weaving instructions.

-Steve

[Steve Inniss]

Wow, that is great work! Very neat looking chairs. Can't imagine doing that that weaving!

Corey

Corey,

I am definitely not a weaver type. I found this much easier/faster than weaving cloth tape. The "lock-knots" which are essentiall a fold-tuck sort of thing are easy and really hold. -Steve

[Ray Bersch]

Steve,
Great job and thanks for you comments in my post.

You've given me the courage to repair a chair at my home in Maine - it has one broken "rung" (is that what it is called?) that is wrapped with rushing - how do you repair that without taking the whole seat apart? So, I will take the whole seat apart and put it back with a weave (of course, that is after I catch the eight pound bass!)

Ray