The Third Bi-Annual Danish Chair Building Extravaganza

Woohoo!

It's that time of every couple of years again.

Me 'n' Jonas

I'll be heading up to Denmark in two weeks to participate in the DCBE III. I'm really excited.

We've tried to make a tradition of getting together at Jonas' place every couple of years for a week or so of chairbuilding. Last time we built a bunch of Roorkee chairs, and it was a blast. The time before that was all about Welsh Stick Chairs.

This time is weird, in the fact that we haven't settled on what we want to build yet. Not really.

The idea of rocking chairs has come up, along with more Roorkees.

It could be that I'll have to wait until I see the wood we'll use and see what it tells me it wants to be.

However, I am leaning toward some kind of Welsh stick chair again. Perhaps something with a higher back than last time.

The only thing that Jonas and I have decided on for sure, is that we will make a run of tapered reamers.

My tapered reamer made by Elia Bizzarri.

My tapered reamer has been great. This one is set at six degrees, and I find it a very precise tool. Much more accurate than the twelve degree reamer sold by Lee Valley. That one is pretty good, but if you really want to dial in a leg to the nth degree, you should use this style of reamer.

I'm the only one I know who has one, so we thought it might be fun to build some for ourselves.

But that's just a side project.

I think the Welsh stick chair I built at the first DCBE was the first project I made with this tapered reamer, and I have been hooked on staked furniture with tapered mortises ever since (much to The Frau's chagrin).

Maybe a Welsh rocking chair.

This time I'm not driving up there, so I'll be able to take a lot less luggage. In the past, I've brought along lumber, a toolbox, lots of chairmaking books, German beer, and who knows what else.

This time I'll be limited to a checked bag and a carry on.

I'll probably bring the chairmaking tools I have here, including my reamer, my spokeshaves, a travisher and scorp, and perhaps a few other little goodies.

Unfortunately, I'll not be stopping in Munich first where I have the rest of my chairmaking tools and jigs, a hardboard template for a seat, chairmaking books like Peter Galbert's and Drew Langsner's (both of them have been invaluable in past DCBEs). Maybe someone else will have some of that stuff there, or perhaps it's time for us to jump off the deep end and build a chair the way it was meant: with whatever tools and knowledge you happen to have with you at the time.

Stay tuned, as Both Jonas and I will be posting about the DCBE III like mad. You can also follow the fun on Instagram. I'll be posting with the hashtag, #dcbeiii

In the meantime, you can review what we've done in past DCBEs by clicking on the tab at the top of my blog, where I've tried to collect links to everything that's happened before.