Chairmaking & Design

If you're looking into chairmaking as a hobby (or necessity!), this is an excellent place to start. Jeff Miller goes into detail regarding the fundamentals of making chairs from wood. This books is beautifully illustrated throughout, mostly with black-and-while illustrated drawings, but also with greyscale photos and a gallery of color photographs in the front of the book. This book primarily focuses on upright sitting chairs (such as you might use at a table or desk) and doesn't include discussion of lounging chairs or upholstered chairs (like you might find in a living room). Starting off with dimensions and proportions as well as discussion of different styles of chairs. Critical discussions about the forces the chair will encounter during it's life as well as wood movement you'll need to consider in designing and constructing your joinery. He includes excellent discussions and explanations of various jigs that will make the process easier and more repeatable (as rarely does one make a single chair... mostly you're going to be making a set of them, after all) and more successful. He includes detailed design, jig details and construction instruction on 8 different styles of chairs.