The Frustrating Bias Against Strut-leg Chairs

Today, a class of 12 chairmakers had to make a decision: Was anyone willing to build their comb-back chair without stretchers between the legs?

After a moment of looking around the room, two people raised their hands.

“Wow,” I said. “Worse than I thought.”

Stretcher-less stick chairs – what we call “strut-leg” chairs – have survived just fine for centuries…