The finished Windsor Chairs are now on our Portfolio Page
nov 2010
-watch our building process video-
-watch our steam bending video-
Sack Back Windsor Chairs (building process)
This is the building process for three sack back windsor chairs. Two of these chairs are for a customer and one will be for inventory. The two commissioned chairs go with the six completed bow back windsor chairs and the cherry farm table that is complete. Our windsor chairs are all hand made, hand shaped, hand turned and hand finished in our shop by us.
The design for these chairs came from antique windsor chairs of the same style. Using our many references, we will draw these chairs full scale. From the drawings we get all the necessary patterns we need to start. The seat pattern, with site lines for drilling the multi angled holes to accept the legs, and the back pattern witch will be turned into a larger form for steam bending. The leg pattern is used to turn the maple legs on the lathe.
Next, we cut and shape the pattern for the arm and the back bow. From these patterns we make a form to use when we get to the steam bending.
We layout the locations for all the spindles, legs and arm posts on the seat pattern. From the pattern we layout the seat. We rough cut the seat on the bandsaw and clean up the shape with hand tools.
Next, we drill the holes (mortises) for the legs in the seat with angle gauges and site lines to help with the multiple angles. After these are drilled we dish out and shape the seat by hand.
After the seats are shaped we use a tapered reamer to taper the holes (mortises) in the seat. These tapered mortises will accept the tapered tenon on the legs, they were turned on the lathe to match the taper angle. Once reamed, the legs are hand fit to their matching location. This joint will be wedged from above when the seat and legs are glued up. This form of joinery is unmatched in quality and strength.
After all the holes are reamed and the legs are fit, layout and drilling for the two side stretchers on each chair begins. After careful layout for each of these stretchers, they are measured then turned on the lathe.
As one of us turns the stretchers on the lathe, the other fits the completed stretchers to the proper chair with hand tools. The stretchers are joined to the legs with round tenons. Fit by hand, this joint is extremely strong . With normal use and this type of traditional joinery these chairs will last for generations to come.
After the side stretchers are fit, the center stretcher is laid out and turned on the lathe. Once the center stretchers are fit it is time to glue up the lower chair. We glue the side stretchers and the center stretchers, followed by gluing the legs to there mortises. The wedges for the legs also get glued.
The maple wedges are glued, then wedged into the slot cut into the top of the leg. This creates a joint between the seat and the legs that is extremely strong.
Next, we start steam bending the oak parts for the arm rest and back bow. We steam the parts in our home made steamer for one hour. We take the piece out of the steamer and bend it to the form made from our drawings of the chair. We leave the oak piece on the form until it cools.
Now that we have our arms bent we start working on the top section of the chairs. On the lathe, we turn the arm posts that hold the arm rest. Also, each spindle is hand shaped with various hand tools.
Next, we clean the top of the legs and wedges flush with the seat with hand tools and scrapers. Then, we drill and ream the angled, tapered holes for the arm posts. The arm posts are turned on the lathe with a taper on the top and bottom that matches our tapering bit.
After we hand fit both arm posts, we rough shape the handhold first on the bandsaw then with hand tools. We fit the arm rail by drilling tapered holes at the proper angles to accept the arm posts. After these are fit we glue the arm posts along with wedging them where they exit the seat below.
Next, with the arm rail fit in place we lay out and drill for the spindles. All the spindles are drilled by eye. We use a couple techniques that help while drilling the various angles. Once the spindles are in we fit the top back bow. The back bow is steam bent as well and will be attached to the arm with glue and a wedge after final fitting.
Next, the glue up is a two step process, the arm rail is glued first along with the small spindles, then the back bow and the long spindles.
After the glue dries the wedged spindles and wedged arm post are cut and paired flush and smooth with the back and arm.
After some finishing touches the chairs are ready for finish. These chairs, along with the six bow back Windsor Chairs will get a traditional distressed black over red milk paint finish.
First these chairs will get a base stain. This stain will give the wood an older look when it is visible through distressing. After the base stain coat dries we brush on a coat of traditional red milk paint.
Next, we apply two coats of black milk paint. We apply the paint slightly thick with a sprayer, then we go over all of the chair surfaces with brushes to give the finish a brushed texture.
After the milk paint dries we distress the surface, levels of distressing vary according to the customers tastes. All the distressing we do is done to mimic natural wear in areas of the chairs that get the most use. By looking at various antique windsor chairs we can see what parts of the chairs are used and have aged the most. After the distressing is done we apply an oil varnish mixture, this gives the chairs some added protection along with a soft sheen.
