Wild and Woody

(Page 5 of 5)

January/February 1987
By Daniel Mack 
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"Then come back."

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Well, adult chairs are a world apart from children's chairs. You can't just scale them up. Dynamics, proportions, structural tension—all are entirely different, as I quickly discovered. I didn't make it back until many months later, after I had begun to master the technique of working on a larger scale. Meanwhile, I had become thoroughly hooked on making rustic furniture of all kinds. The shopkeeper bought the adult chairs and also learned their true origin. Since then, I've given up my career as a television producer and college journalism teacher, and I now earn my living making rustic furniture full-time. My chairs sell for more than $600 each, couches and settees for twice that, and beds for as much as $2,200 each. I still love maple and search for it and other interesting trees in the woods two or three times a month. Occasionally I take my daughter with me on these treks, but she deplores my single-mindedness. "Dad," she asked me not long ago, "why can't you just walk in the woods like other people do?"

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  • Kari Lonning 5/14/2009 5:50:12 PM

    Where is Dan Mack now???? Is he still in NY making furniture??? Kari

  • Wayne 1/24/2009 1:50:13 PM

    Nice article
    I have made several of these rustic chairs and tables in the past and would only add that I find through tenons with cross grain wedges seem to hold up very well without getting loose if you make the mortise in a slight cone shape{larger cone on entry,smaller on exit the entry cone pointing to center and reversed cone on exit so they meet in center where hole is smallest} from both the entry and exit side and the tenon pointed so shoulders fit the entry side with the end of tenon being the size of the center hole and extending at same size to far side of mortise,be sure to cut a slot in the end to accept the wedge and make it so it runs across the grain of the mortised piece.Leave the wedge a little proud until everything has dried good so it can be driven in a little further to tighten everything up.
    This is a great way to make furnishings for the homestead and pick up some extra money.It can be done indoors during bad weather,and is a very relaxing,rewarding craft.

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