Putting Slats in my Jennie Alexander chair

new chair, ash & hickory

There’s a 15-minute video at the bottom of this post, showing how I made and fit the slats in the ash & hickory Jennie Alexander-style chair I made the other day. JA’s slats are different from many others - for one thing, they get installed after the chair frame is assembled. Most ladderback-type chairs include the previously-bent slats as part of the rear assembly.

Another JA-specific feature is that each slat bends to a different curve. Alexander wanted each slat to provide dedicated support to the sitter’s back - so she concocted this method of “popping” the slats into the assembled frame. Maybe other chairmakers did it before her, but I can’t think of any examples. Most bend the slats ahead of time, often in a form like this:

these slats all come out with the same curvature