Story Stick
Cabinetmakers use a “story stick” (or story pole) to record dimensions for a project on site, then the dimensions are used in the shop to build the project. Two sticks are made, usually from a piece of scrap plywood or particle board, one for the horizontal layout and one for vertical.
As the name implies, each stick tells the cabinetmaker a story, providing an easy way to avoid errors in reading a tape measure or dimensions from a plan.
Chairmakers use a story stick as well. The one I made in North Carolina during the Ladderback Chairmaking class has all the dimensions I’ll need to build another one of Lyle Wheeler’s No. 203 chairs.
With the stick I’ll never have to put a rule or tape measure on another post or rung billet. It also shows where to taper the bottom of the posts and where to add the notch at the top of the back posts where the finial begins. A note on the stick even tells the chairmaker how many rungs, posts, and slats are needed — three back slats, two back rungs, three front rungs, and six side rungs (3 on each side), two front posts and two back posts.
The only thing this story stick doesn’t do is give you diameters for the posts and rungs. For that I made another, smaller story stick like the one shown in the picture at left. This stick has three notches. The short notch at the top right edge of the stick provides the rough diameter of the rungs. The short notch at the bottom right provides two dimensions — the rough diameter of the posts — and the width of the wider seat rungs. The long notch at the bottom left of the small story stick can also be used to lay out the tapers on the posts. I’m looking forward to using these story sticks to help me make at least four more ladderback chairs.