Teaching in Rollinsford

It’s the day after Thanksgiving and I’m just starting to think through the week at Peter Galbert’s Chair Shop in the Mill Buildings of Rollinsford, NH. Six students worked for six days on a greenwood ladderback chair. Pete’s usually making Windsor chairs in his space, which made it an ideal space to build the ladderbacks.

There’s always a wild card when teaching - some sort of a surprise that requires quick adaptation. For our class it centered around the bark. It was scheduled to arrive early in the week, but didn’t make it to us until noon on the last class day. Within an hour of receiving it we were weaving it into the chairs (our backup plan - weave in a nylon strapping seat as practice - was thankfully dismissed once we received the bark).

The class picture was taken directly before weaving in the bark seat since a person or two usually heads out early on the last day. And the front post remain long until it’s time to finish the chair.