Charles Rohlfs 1898 Desk Chair and Popular Woodworking Article

One of the goals I set when I retired three years ago was to write and publish an article in a major woodworking magazine.

Early last year I was thrilled when Popular Woodworking magazine accepted my proposal about building Charles Rohlfs’ 1898 desk chair. I made this chair several months ago but I held off posting it until the article in the Feb 2015 edition of Popular Woodworking Magazine was published.

Most woodworkers are familiar with Arts and Crafts makers such as Morris, Stickley and Greene. Their furniture is routinely featured in woodworking magazines. Charles Rohlfs has not received the same notoriety.

I’ve been studying Rohlfs work for a number of years and have recreated a number of his pieces. Rohlfs work is unmistakably arts and crafts furniture but with an eccentric edge to it. So I am thrilled to be able to bring Rohlfs work to a large number of woodworkers.

I’ve made a number of versions of the desk chair, refining each one to more closely resemble the original version that I saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

This version of Rohlfs 1898 Desk Chair is made from African mahogany. It was darkened a bit with an English chestnut stain, and finished with several coats of “tung oil” then wax.