Chairmaking &
Chairmakers

See also: Wood Furniture

DEFINITIONS: Making and repairing of chairs and stools. Some chairmakers are called "bodgers," meaning a highly-skilled woodworker who uses traditional woodturning techniques to make chair legs and other cylindrical parts of chairs from green wood. Bodgers are also known as chair-bodgers.

KENTUCKY CHAIRMAKERS: 

Mike Angel


Chester Cornett (1913-1981)



John Keeton


Irvin Messer


Terry Ratliff

(Featured in: Glenn, Andrew D.  Backwoods Chairmakers: In Search of the Appalachian Ladderback Chairmaker.  Lost Arts Press, 2023.)


Justin Roberts (willow chairs and sculptures)


Dewey Thompson


Don Weber

Don Weber makes Welsh stick chairs. strip canoes,
and bamboo fly rods.

Willow Chair by Justin Roberts

Historic Chairmaking:

Chairmaking Bibliography: