First Class

First Class

After 15 years of designing and building chairs I thought it would be fun to take a class on the subject to get a feel for where I needed improvement and where I was with the whole thing. I took a three day class in Portland at the Northwest Woodworking School with legendary Gary Rogowski.

The class was very fun and it gave me a chance to work on a design I had been saving for a while.

I got to sit in many different styles of chairs, Wegner, Boggs and Gary's own cafe chair, so I was all smiles. Mr. Rogowski is a great teacher and I recommend a class to anyone who would like to learn about woodworking. 

Among his devises to aid in chair construction there was this contraption that used dowels to mimic a backrest and proved very useful, while the data was difficult to transfer to my design. Once I figured out how to use the numbers I got from the jig it went well.

For my design I chose to work on a dining chair design I had drawn up about two years ago.

The second day of class we built a prototype of the design using pine sub-flooring from an old bowling alley. 

 The last day in class I used some sapele or khaya(I couldn't tell) to make a miniature.

All in all I thought it was a fun class. I look forward to completing the finished chair and I will post pictures of it when I do.

If you are interested in woodworking and want to learn from one of the greats, then I suggest taking a class with Mr. Rogowski, well worth it!