Highland Woodworking Welcomes Back Curtis Buchanan

Over the years Highland Woodworking has played host to many woodworking legends, including Sam Maloof, Toshio Odate, Roy Underhill, Rude Osolnik and Tage Frid, and many others. Frequently, these events are a homecoming of sorts, a meeting place for a community of woodworkers and craftsmen. With so much in common - obviously a passion for wood, a love of making something with one’s hands and just plain creativity - having the "Legends" here often becomes a reason to get together and share in the fellowship of woodworking.

One of the woodworkers we came to love almost instantly is renowned Windsor Chair maker Curtis Buchanan. Curtis can be found teaching Windsor Chair Making to groups of eager students at least once, sometimes twice, each year at Highland. His visits are always highly anticipated. With much fondness for him we are always very proud when others find out how great he is.

Curtis was here last week teaching a series of classes, including his week-long Build a Windsor Fan Back Side Chair workshop. Students each built a chair using traditional methods - steam bending greenwood, shaping the parts on a shaving horse with a spokeshave, draw knife & scorp, and honing the seat from a single board of Eastern white pine.

Curtis was recently featured on the cover of the February '07 issue of Woodwork Magazine . Written by Stephanie Stone, a research psychologist who teaches at Johns Hopkins University, the article is illustrated with photos by Doug Thompson, Tom Pardue, Pete Montanti and many of Curtis’s own pictures. It is a really well done piece that captures a great deal of Curtis’s warm and easygoing personality. You can read it here: www.highlandwoodworking.com/woodnews/may_2007/woodwork_feb07.pdf .

In the latter part of the article, Curtis mentions that the comfortable chair, also know as a "sittin’ chair", was always offered to family and friends because you wanted them to stay and visit, versus a "company" chair, which often was not quite as inviting. Curtis, know that we will always have a sittin' chair with your name on it, saved for you here at Highland Woodworking.

Below is a montage of photos from Curtis's classes.