Making a Chair circa 2021

Andrew Davis — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 18:02:28 GMT

Bevel Cut 2021-09

You can’t sit in a CAD diagram

There’s furniture and then there’s furniture. Two people can look at a table, bench, buffet, wine rack, etc. and have honest opinions about whether they like the item or not – and why. So, when someone asks a wood worker to build them a custom XYZ, the client probably has something in mind and can show the woodworker examples of what he/she likes or doesn’t like. The maker can create design drawings around multiple themes for the customer to review, and possibly show the customer 3-D versions or even animations. In the end, the woodworker or craftsman can often come close either on paper or in virtual reality to an agreed endpoint design (and finish) before firing up the table saw and mortising machine.

When it comes to chairs, however, the uncertainty is huge, and not because most of the joints are at non-right angles and the calculation can require a post-doctorate degree in solid geometry. No-no-no, the big unknown is COMFORT. A chair must be comfortable, unless of course the purpose of the chair is strictly for show, like a painting or sculpture. And like so many other things in life, comfort is strictly personal. What you find comfortable to sit in, I may find unpleasant or even wretched, despite its interesting grain pattern, unusual 12-layer French-polish finish, and fine upholstery from the Worcester foothills.

So, how do you know your client is going to like the chair you are building? Truth is – you don’t.

That’s why I don’t build chairs.

Chaos Cutting Boards

Tom Shirley — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 19:57:58 GMT

Bevel Cut June 2025

By Andrew Davis

A recent study published by the American Society of Glue Manufacturers concluded that there are more YouTube videos on cutting boards than for any other subject including politics, fashion, health, sex, and travel. Cutting boards indeed were one of the items featured at last year’s EMGW social following Jeff Clunie’s group project.

A few years ago, once my scrap bin overflowed, I took a woodworking diversion and decided to make a few simple cutting boards or charcuterie servers for my wife and adult children. That was the first time around; shortly thereafter I graduated to end grain cutting boards. Now I’ve got the bug and want to make more complex boards when I get the chance. Here are some observations from my dabbling with this woodworking domain.


End grain cutting board – early edition		End grain mosaic (or chaos) design based on FWW article – one of several I have made


Edge grain design for trivet		3-D design from class taught by Alex Snodgrass

▪ Once you go down this path, you start to value your scraps like never before. Since cutting boards can be of any length, width, or thickness supported by your jointer and planer, no scrap need go to waste.

▪ I find that good looking cutting boards make great house (or Christmas) gifts – much more impressive than a wine or cheese basket. I have gifted three “chaos” boards in this way and the recipients were duly impressed.

▪ If your cutting board is impressive, people often suggest that you should go into the business of making and selling them. Don’t take the bait. Unless you are set up for mass production (and marketing) or have access to lots of FREE wood, the time, energy, materials cost for non-waste wood is prohibitive. A kit of wood from a local retailer can run $50-60 for just the raw stock. I often respond to these business suggestions that after careful study, I believe I would be making less than $0.50 per hour for my efforts.

▪ Many of the cutting board designs today involve a glue-up followed by a clean-up, flattening, and then a re-slicing routine. Wash, rinse and repeat. The chaos board seen here involved 5 such cycles.

▪ Cutting boards are a great way to use up all your glue. Don’t even think about hide glue.

▪ If one side of your cutting board has a minor flaw, you can put rubber feet on that side and no one will ever see it unless you tell them about it. As they say, an expert woodworker knows how to fix or hide his mistakes.

▪ If your cutting board is especially interesting or just good looking, you will find that people are afraid to cut on them. They don’t want to scratch it. A tip from Alex Snodgrass: don’t put rubber feet on your boards – just use one side for cutting and the other side as a trivet or serving tray.

▪ While some designs start with the table saw blade at an odd angle, at some point in the process it is important that the blade be as close to 90 degrees as possible. The same holds true for the fence and your jointer.

Readers React to Last Month’s Bevel Cut

Hi Andrew,

I'll confess that I'm not wild about the epoxy craze, but I'm grateful that you've shared first=hand experience with the stuff. The huge range of options is pretty cool and the costs are sobering. Makes the rate of lumber inflation look tame by comparison. My limited experience with epoxy as an adhesive and with Total Boat's epoxy finishes has always reminded me that the ventilation in my shop is wanting. The stuff stinks! How do you handle that issue? I

enjoyed the Baskin-Robbins reference. For my money, I'd rather buy ice cream than epoxy, but that's just me.

Rob C

Andrew: You didn’t address the fundamental issue in the May Bevel Cut essay. Is “resin art” like CNC really woodworking? If you don’t include a dovetail or a mortise and tenon joint, are you practicing the craft? Zeke W

Eastern Massachusetts Guild of Woodworkers Bevel Cut Articles

Making a Chair circa 2021

Chaos Cutting Boards