Chair Making

[Victor Stearns]

Greetings Creekers,:)
I am signed up to take a Windsor chair making class in June. This will be a first, making a chair, as I am used to making tables and such. We are asked to bring several tools to aid in the construction of said chair. Things like spokeshave and drawknife. As I know that I will use these in the future, I purchased them. The third item is a Barr Chairmakers Scoop. This tool kinda has me stumped. To buy or Not to buy? Normally I am the first to say BUY! But I am not sure if I would have a use for this in the future.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
Victor

[Dewey Torres]

If you have never made a chair before I would not recommend loading up on a bunch of tools just yet. Take the class and build (1) chair. If you decide you like it and want to build more, you will know better than you do now and (without having to ask) if you need additional tools. You may even save some $$$ and build some skills along the way.
Dewey

[Mike Henderson]

I agree with Dewey, but I will comment that if you decide to purchase the Barr tool, and later decide you won't use it, you can probably sell it on eBay for a small loss. Name tools keep their value if you take care of them.

Mike

[Johnny Kleso]

All of these tools I own with plans to make a chair some day, I have bought them used off eBay..

Drawknives I onw three, paid maybe $30 tops for each
Spokeshaves I own several boxwood and steel with $15-$20 the average

Scorp (Barr Shave) I own one, I paid $25 I thnk

So for less than $100 you have the tools you need... You cant buy them next week or next month if you want a deal or LN condition, if you use eBay start looking now in 3-8 months you should have some very nice tools, quicker if condition or price is not an issue..

[Mike Henderson]

A friend of mine took a Windsor chair class and bought a number of special tools for making those chairs. I was talking with her about the tools and asked her how much they cost. Her reply, "Every tool is $100. Doesn't matter what it is, they all cost $100."

Now, she was joking but I think there's some truth in what she said.

Mike

[Clint Jones]

I could have set you up with a scorp, old wood and brass spokeshave, and a drawknife for $100. All clean and sharp tools that I have used (well maybe not the scorp I havent found much use for it yet). Probably as good or better than most of the stuff you can purchase today.

[Dave Bozell]

She wasn't too far off. New tools with "chairmaker" in the name often sell for around $100 or more. I agree that you should be able to find used tools much more reasonably. Spoon bits turned out to be my biggest investment.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Instead of the scoop:
Jeff Trapp uses an Adze: http://tinyurl.com/48ekuk

Marshall Ford uses a draw knife a spoke shave and an inshave: http://tinyurl.com/4seq2m

Gary Weeks uses a mallet & Gouge and then a disk grinder:http://tinyurl.com/3etceo

Herb Saxon uses a drill press and a grinder/sander: http://tinyurl.com/4qsqvd

Most the maloof style rocker builders I know use a grinder

Maybe this particular teacher likes the Barr scoop? Get it and learn it What's the worst thing that can happen you'll end up using another method?

[Kevin Clements]

If you're taking a class with Mike Dunbar, he has duplicates of the tools you will need. He supplies you with a list of basic tools to bring. I have taken a few clases with Mike and have made many chairs since. Reserch the tools you want to purchase. Some are not very good quality. Even though they are sold by some of the big name catalog companies.

[Jim Nardi]

You can take a class and buy all the tools but make sure you pick up John's video. He has studied chairs and has alot to add in the knowledge end of things. Chairs are all about making joints that don't come apart for hundreds of years.

[Chuck Nickerson]

Last year I took the Windsor chair class with David Wright and ended up buying the scorp. Although I haven't made another Windsor chair (splittable oak being hard to find in Los Angeles), I have used the scorp to make bowls and carve seats for stools. It's a fun tool.