Making the 'Kanna' Chair - pt.1

The final chair, next to the very log I got the wood from

Making chairs seems tricky. Between the splayed legs, non-linear shapes and curved edges it seems like a massive undertaking to create one. Some of this is true, but much of it is negated by the fact that woodworkers have been making chairs for thousands of years and that has resulted in some ingenious ways of working around what would be otherwise difficult tasks. On the plus side, chairs breakaway from traditional square furniture and leave more room for interpretation given their abstract nature.

This is the first article in a 2 part series briefly covering how I designed and made these chairs from start to finish.

My favorite chair. At around 200 years old it is still rock solid and inspires me every time I sit in it

A few months back a large ash tree was blown down in the backyard of my parents house. Spying an opportunity for free wood and a good story I set to work hewing the beam every time I'd visit my parents. I didn't have a specific use for all of the wood but once I got a request to make a pair of chairs I knew I had exactly the right kind of wood on hand.

With the wood ready, I had only to come up with a good design and build it correctly. I took a lot of inspiration from my chair I have by my desk. At 200+ years old this federalist style chair is a masterclass in proportions and construction, still holding up staggeringly well despite the centuries. Considering the design the first thing I decided was that the legs should be octagonal. Octagonal shapes feel wonderful in the hand and retain subtle but crisp edges that are quite satisfying. Additionally, they break up and reflect light in facets, similar to how diamonds work. Using this at the foundation for the design I began to sketch out the chair itself.

One of my designs for the chair. Ultimately I decided to have the legs taper down rather than up, as is traditional.

Since the ash was still somewhat wet I needed a wide piece of dry wood for making the seat pans. I had some very wide honey locust boards on hand that I decided to use. First thing I did was flatten them down, revealing some magnificent grain in the process.

Honey Locust is a delightful wood. It's similar to elm but with more of an amber color. The wood glows bright green when exposed to UV light which is always fun.

More than other kinds of furniture, making chairs requires lot of time and care measuring compared to cutting and assembling. Each point for driling reqires it's own sightlines and angles that must fall in line with the greater curve of the chair. Most importantly, it needs to be symetrical.

Lines must be clear- a mistake cannot be corrected and restarting with such a large piece of wood is expensive and time consuming.

Two of the bigest barriers to entry when it comes to chairmaking is woodturning and steambending. Owning a lathe is a luxury, and steambending wood can be very intimidating. With this deisgn there is no woodturning needed and the steambending is simple. To make the seatcrest, I drew out the curve and used nails and a sashigane to copy it onto the scrap wood that would be my form. With the curves marked out I could cut everything on the bandsaw and move onto making a steam box.

The curve of the seatpan was copied by using nails and bending my caprenters square around them.

The steam box couldn't have been more basic, and thats all this project called for. I nailed a couple piece of contruction lumber into a box, drilled a hole in it, then used a clothes steamer to pump steam in for an hour. Depending on the project, even a PVC pipe can be used to hold the wood and steam in a pinch. All that matters is that the wood is heated up completely.

My simple steamer box. An hour with the clothes steamer running and the wood was ready to be bent in its form.

Once taken out of the box, the wood was clamped in the form and left overnight to cool off. The next day I had a curved piece of honey locust, voila!