These chairs Rock!

So yesterday we came to the end of the first of Peter Galbert's Windsor Chair classes in Australia. In fact I think it would be fair to say that this is the first time any renowned chair maker from the U.S. has come to Australia to teach classes purely in chair making.

This first class was the Continuous Arm Rocking Chair. 12 positions were advertised and booked out very quickly. By the time the class came around there were people pleading to be added to the class, but at 12 the workshop was stretched to it's limit.

As a whole the class was a great success and everyone completed a great example of the chair. This was in no small part due to the Peter's masterful approach to teaching and reading the progress of everyone during the week.

Here's Pete fine tuning the rockers of one of the chairs.

Another factor being an ingenious jig that Pete developed over the course of the week which allowed the bottoms of the legs to be routed in situ, after being glued to the seat and ensured perfect alignment and minimal fine tuning. Having used Pete's original method while making my rocker in Massachusetts, 

( even though that was a great technique in itself ) I can vouch for just how much time and effort this saved. Great work again Mr. Galbert.

Here's the back of one of the 12, dry fitted and being readied for glueing. They really are a beautifully proportioned and compact rocking chair.

The finished product. This one is Daryl's, who came across Bass Straight again for his second class with us. Another fine chair mate, well done........ I think the blue tape is a band aid, the chair might have nicked itself while shaving! We had another interstate addition this class too, in Wayne from N.S.W., who also turned out about as good a rocking chair as I've seen. Nice work Wayne and hopefully we'll see you down South again sometime to make another one.

So today I have one day of rest before embarking on our next class with Pete, his Bird Cage Arm Chair. This is one of Pete's most complex chairs and usually reserved for 7 days of hard work and as Pete would say, time "down the rabbit hole." Oh, and this time I'm not assisting this master chair maker with the class, I'm a student again and we're going to try and squeeze it into 5 days! Better get the coffee on and a fresh supply of Berocca..... wish me luck.