Added Class and Spoon Video!

As I mentioned in the recent post, I have been batting the idea of teaching a perch class back and forth with my friends at Lie-Nielsen this summer and we finally pulled the trigger. It's a two day class and spaces are limited to 10 students. Check out their site for the details.

This is one of my favorite chair projects. I did all the writing for my book sitting on one, so I assure you, it's a comfortable seat!



 Jon Binzen is somewhat of an unsung hero in the world of woodworking. He has been creating the back cover for Fine Woodworking for many years as well as some of it's best features. I've been lucky enough to work with Jon a few times and recently, with his help and advocacy, I wrote an article for Fine Woodworking on spoon carving. It's been a long time since the magazine featured spoon carving and I'm proud to be in it. That said, there are lots of great spoon carvers out there and I can name a few that I think deserve to be heard more than me. Jon also shot a video about my spoons that you can see here.

The other side of the Bench

I do have photos that I want to post, but my new Iphone is not playing well with my old computer!

As part of my birthday present, I took a Thai cooking class with the lovely Stephanie H. I love to cook, but with most things, I am untrained, which means that I am deeply committed to screwing things up. Such as the time that I spent three months learning to cook the (almost) perfect poached egg.
In the class, it was  fascinating to observe the instructor's efforts to turn knowledge into information and experience, in hopes that it would become knowledge to the students. It's a problem that I've faced often from the instructors side, but standing there with no experience cooking Thai food gave me an insight into the view that so many students probably have when they enter my class.

I have a huge amount of respect for students, especially adult students. These are generally people who are in some form of mastery in their lives and occupations, who give up the skill and control that they've spend countless hours acquiring while risking failure at something new. This takes great courage and elicits a lot of empathy from me.
I also got to see the instructor struggle to forget what he knows in order to present it to the students without assumptions. I've heard it referred to as "the curse of knowledge", where you can't remember what it's like not to know something. As a teacher, it's a tough thing to be mindful of and it lurks around every corner.
Teaching is the toughest and most rewarding thing that I do, however, my teaching schedule for the next year is rather sparse, and already mostly filled up. I've accepted a residency grant from the State University of New York in Purchase for 4 months at the end 2016 and that eats up just about all the time that I'm willing to stay away from home. It's basically a get paid to make what you want opportunity, and with the book behind me, I feel the call of the shop and new ideas beckoning.

 I will be at North Bennet Street School teaching continuing ed (open to all) in December, but the class is full (you can wait list it) and then again in January, but that's for the cabinet/ furniture program students. I'll then be at Highland in Atlanta in March, but again, I think that it's full, but you can check with them. The final option is a class in May at North Bennet street, you can contact their Continuing Ed program to inquire and maybe even get on a list before the class is officially offered (I shoulda checked with them first, but you never know). I have had a chat with Deneb about a weekend course up at Lie-Nielsen, perhaps a perch, next summer, but we haven't gotten any further. Thanks for your patience, I will be teaching more in 2017 at the some of the schools where you've seen me in the past.

And I must thank those of you who wrote in comments and emails about my loss of Lil, it meant a lot to me. I've loved sharing my time with her on Chairnotes and your support is much appreciated. 

Getting a Jump on 2015

I hope that you had a great holiday season and are as ready as I am to embrace a new year. I am sending off the last of my images for the book tomorrow and Chris and Linda at Lost Art Press are working hard on getting it all put together. I'm thrilled to see it all coming together and look forward to starting this year with such a big project off my roster.

With that in mind, here is my teaching schedule as it stands now. There won't be a lot of classes for me this year, frankly, I feel like I've kinda earned a break. But, I am excited for the classes that I am teaching so here are the details. You can contact me at peter@petergalbertchairmaker.com or 978-563-1425 to register or if you have any questions.

Early March (exact date to be set) THIS CLASS IS FULL
Balloon Back side chair

3 student class taught at my shop in Sterling
6 day class, tuition $1400
Don't be fooled by the simple looking side chair, it has plenty to challenge new and even seasoned makers looking to raise their skill level. I have taught this class a number of times recently and am convinced that the students learn more, make a better chair and have more fun doing it rather than tackling an armchair. For a 6 day class, armchairs are alright, but the extra time producing twice as many spindles eats into the time for indepth instruction and skill building
All classes that I host require a $250 deposit to hold the spot. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the classes.


I'm very excited to team up with Caleb who will be hosting this class and hopefully many others in the future. I will be teaching the class with the help of Charlie Ryland who has been helping me in the shop and teaching with me for the last year.

May 4th in Greenville, SC at the shop of Caleb James This Class is Full!
Balloon Back Side Chair
6 students/ 6 day class, tuition $1300

I will be back at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking June 15th for a class building the Balloon Back side chair. You can find more info on their website.

I will also be teaching more in house classes at the North Bennet Street School, The Sapfm in Ohio and a series of classes down under in Australia. I might schedule more as the year marches on, but as I said, a little breathing room, and chairmaking/ blogging time seems like just the thing for 2015!