Make a Chair from a Tree: An Introduction to Working Green Wood

When a tree is felled, the wood is green and is easy to cut, split, shave and shape. As it dries, the wood shrinks and hardensQand it becomes vastly more difficult to work. In the old days, wood-workers relied on the ease with which green wood could be worked to make the parts they needed, and on the way wood shrinks to hold these parts together. These old ways have almost been lost, but are revived here for the modern woodworker. Make a Chair From a Tree is a lively and informative introduction to the old ways of splitting and shaping wood straight from the tree to make a light and beautiful, yet rugged, chair. Author John Alexander presents a complete guide to making this elegantly simple chair. He tells you how to fell a tree, split suitable pieces from it and shape those pieces into the parts of the chair, how to finish it, and how to weave a bark seat. Each step is carefully described and thoroughly illustrated with drawings and photographs.

John D. Alexander is a contributor for Taunton Press titles including Make a Chair from a Tree.