Explaining ‘Straight Grain’ for Bulls%$t Chairs

A few people pointed out that my explanation of how to read the grain in “Build a Chair from Bulls%$t” was lacking. I don’t disagree. It’s the page of the book that I struggled with the most.

And the result of the struggle was that the illustration on page 21 was somehow more information than was needed, but not enough information to be clear. I spent today thinking it over while building a fireplace surround.

Here’s the deal: This book could be 1,000 pages long and still not be complete. My goal was to give just enough information that:

1) The reader would commit to making a chair

2) They wouldn’t make a piece of fragile shit

When it comes to getting straight grain for the “sticky” parts of the chair, here’s what’s important. If you buy tool handles for the legs (which is what I recommend), then you don’t need to worry about the grain direction for the legs. I’ve found that tool handles are selected with dead-straight grain at the factory. In my months of searching, I haven’t found one tool handle with grain that was unacceptably wonked.

But when it comes to buying dowels for the sticks in the chair, you must be careful. Dowel manufacturers will gladly accept grain that deviates 20° (or more) from the long edges of the dowel. This divergent grain is not acceptable in a chair.

So how do you explain this and teach people? I came up with three ways. One way is to show: Bad, OK and Ideal grain. And not get into the “why” so much. The second choice is to really show readers why. And the third is somewhere between.

I chose “somewhere between” for page 21. And it wasn’t the right choice.

At the top of this entry is probably what I will put on page 21 instead. It is just enough information to get the chair built without impaling the sitter.

But the full-on explanation of grain direction is below the paywall in three full-page sketches. If I really wanted to do it right, it would require another three pages.

I hope you can see the difficult place I’m in. Or maybe I’m still off-base. I’m sure you’ll let me know.