The Windsor Chronicles Blog

Next Monday I start teaching another sack back class. Once the students have settled in, get a cup of coffee, and are seated on their stools, I will begin with a 20 minute introduction to Windsor chairs as a revolutionary piece of furniture. If you have taken sack back, this posting will be very familiar. However, even if you have heard it before, it doesn’t hurt us to pause once in a while and consider again the basics of our craft.

To better understand why Windsors were so revolutionary, let’s first talk about the other way of making chairs. It is certainly the older way. The first recorded use of this method is the ancient Greek Klysmos chair, a form that was developed by the 5th century B.C. Women depicted on Grecian urns and Attic vases are often shown sitting in this type of chair. The method of construction used to make a Klysmos had probably been around a long time before ancient Greece. For us, the important point is that while Windsor construction has been around for centuries, the other has been used for millennia.

In the other, older method of chair construction the rear legs are also part of the back, as the rear legs continue up to create the stiles. Thus, the chair’s back and undercarriage are a single unit. Ladder backs and all the formal style chairs — Chippendale, Queen Anne, etc. — used this method. So did those awful Shaker chairs made by those vile and treacherous Shaker chairmakers from Shakermaker U.

The chair back is framed by those two stiles. They create two strong vertical lines, around which the chair has to be designed. There are no alternatives. Make a chair this way and you have to deal with those stiles.

The stiles have to be held together by a horizontal element that keeps them from separating. In a cabinetmaker chair, a shaped crest rail is secured to the stiles with mortise and tenon joints. On a ladder back type chair the top slat is generally pinned to prevent the stiles from separating.

In this earlier method of chair construction, there is a void, a space between the stiles. This void is filled with some element that conforms to the sitter’s back. Cabinetmakers generally used a vertical splat, which is curved to the shape of the human spine. In a ladder back, the space between the stiles is filled with concave slats.

In this first method of chair construction the seat is an open, four-sided frame. Like the back, this void, too has to be filled with something comfortable. Cabinetmaker chairs are usually upholstered. An upholstered seat is essentially a cushion that conforms to the shape of the sitter’s backside. A ladder back chair seat is usually woven from a material called rush. Traditional rush was the long leaf of the cattail, a water plant that grows abundantly in marshes. The leaves are twisted into a rope and woven to create a concave seat. Hickory splint was used for chair seating, as was cane. The Shakers used woven cloth tape.

This older method of chair construction has a major problem. The four-sided seat frame is joined to the legs, and each of these joints is a weak spot. If the legs separate, the chair will break at one of those places. Rotational forces created by a shifting, squirming human being will tear at those joints, eventually wearing them out.

Over the centuries, cabinetmakers and chairmakers using this method of chair construction have usually added a stretcher system to their chairs to protect these weak points. These stretcher systems — H, box, or other — all served the same critical purpose. They hold the legs together and keep them from separating. If they do separate the chair will break at one of those four weak points, as surely as the sun rises in the morning.

This first method of construction also suffers from other constraints that limit comfort. First, the seat has to be parallel to the floor. Second, the amount of cant to the back is limited by the grain in the leg/stile. The more the back cants, the more the stile is cut across the grain and the weaker the chair. So, this type of chair holds the sitter’s thighs parallel to the floor with his back bolt upright. While your mother would be proud of your posture, you are not comfortable.

Shaker chairmakers tried to find a way around the problem of an upright back by canting the entire leg/stile. While this solution created some recline to the back, it moved the pivot point (the ends of the rear legs on which the chair tips) under the sitter’s center of gravity. You don’t have to be a Windsor chairmaker to know how dumb that is.

Now that you understand the first method, let’s contrast it with Windsor construction. The Windsor chair’s solid wooden seat is the truly revolutionary development. There are so many diverse styles of Windsor chairs, that what we call Windsor is really a method of construction developed around a solid wooden seat.

The identity of the guy who came up with this idea is lost to History. We only know he was working in England sometime around the turn of the 17th to the 18th century — about 1700. We can be pretty sure he was a trained chairmaker.

The solid wooden seat was revolutionary because it divided a chair into two separate systems: the under carriage and the back. The solid seat not only served to support the sitter, it provided a strong, reliable anchor for the two systems. Unlike the other method of construction, neither of these systems is weak, and they do not require protection.

Dividing the chair into two systems made possible a host of new possibilities in design. First, chairmakers were no longer forced to design around those two strong vertical lines created by leg/stiles. They were free to design chairs in ways that had not been heretofore possible. They could use bent bows, or crests perched on top of long spindles. Of course, stiles remained an option for a Windsor chairmaker. They occur in fan back arm and side chairs, and all the 19th century Sheraton period Windsors.

The solid seat also created a revolution in chair construction and joinery. In the older method the chair is weak where the legs are connected to a seat frame. Windsors are strongest at this point. Hardwood legs are secured with locking tapers into a softwood seat nearly 2 inches thick. (Everyone who has seen me lift a 300 pound bench top by pulling up on a chair leg pushed into a tapered hole, knows how strong this joint is.)

The older method of construction relied on rigid parts to resist the sitter’s weight and the stresses created by the sitter’s movement. Those stresses eventually tear apart the joints. A Windsor chair back is flexible. It is a web of flexible parts woven into a unit. My analogy is a suspension bridge. A suspension bridge too, is strong because it is a tough web of flexible parts.

A suspension bridge has to be anchored on the ends with concrete piers. So does a Windsor chair back. The back is anchored to the solid wooden seat by the stumps and short spindles.

New joints were developed to take advantage of the solid wooden seat. The faceted drive-fit tenon on the ends of the flexible long spindles is perhaps the most permanent joint in woodworking. The locking taper mentioned above locks the legs into the seat, creating a powerful, reliable joint.

While the locking taper is not permanent, it is renewable. This concept of joint as that retightens itself was and remains, revolutionary in woodworking. The same applies to joints in compression; parts that push others apart, rather than holding them together. They are a Windsor chairmaking technique and have no counterpart in furniture construction.

Windsor construction made possible a revolution in chair comfort. Because the leg/seat joints are so strong, the seat does not have to be parallel to the floor. It can be canted so it is higher in the front than in the back. This is a much more comfortable placement.

Because the back does not depend on stiles cut out of wood, there is no concern for creating weakness by cutting across grain. This means that Windsor chair backs can be canted more to allow the sitter to recline in a more comfortable position. The stumps and the drive fit tenons are so strong, a Windsor chair back is more than capable of supporting the weight of a reclining torso.

Besides serving as an anchor, the solid wood seat is thick enough to be deeply saddled. Its carved concave upper surface is body conforming, also adding to the sitter’s comfort.

All these improvements in chairmaking, made possible by the solid wooden seat, created the revolution in seating that we call Windsor chairs.

If you would like to receive periodic updates, tips, tool reviews, and new sources, that are outside the scope of this blog, join our mailing list by emailing me at mike@thewindsorinstitute.com

This week Fred, Don, and I are teaching the rocking chair class. While showing the class the complexities of legging up a rocker, I reminded them of a common question we get from sack back students when we take the class on a tour of the showroom. “So, this class is just a sack back with rockers on it?”

When it comes to causing us to giggle, that question is right up there with “So, what’s so hard about a c-arm?” Once you have done either chair, you know the answers and the questions will make you guffaw as well. Everything about a c-arm is hard, and this class is far more than just a sack back with rockers.

Making a good rocking chair is an unforgiving process. Most Windsors allow you a certain amount of latitude. The rocker does not. The legs have to describe a PERFECT trapezoid. If not, the chair walks across the room. There is little forgiveness in the depth when reaming. The rockers are in close proximity to the stretcher and any difference in depth shows up readily.

Because the rockers create such pronounced horizontals, they have to line up on the vanishing point. Otherwise, they scream. The message they scream is “The guy who made me didn’t know what he was doing.”

The chair has to be balanced. That is why it has a crest. The extra height balances the design. The horizontal rockers add more surface area to the under carriage and make the chair look bottom heavy. The rockers’ size and length has to be balanced by the extra height created by the crest.

The crest also balances the actual chair. The added weight, close to three feet above the seat, perches the chair in an inviting position. It places the weight of the sitter’s shoulders in a place that gives the chair a smooth rock.

Long ago, we worked all out these balance problems in our rocker. To demonstrate this, I begin the class by holding the fronts of the rockers on the bench top with my thumbs. I then release the chair so it begins to rock. It is so well balanced and aligned it remains in motion for 55 seconds without any lateral movement.

The five center spindles pass through the bow to support the crest. This means they are not wedged. They rely on a tight fit of the spindle through a 3/8 inch hole. Multiply that tight fit five times and you have a place where angels fear to tread. It takes a lot of driving with the hammer to get the bow down into place. If you have any of the spindles too tight, the bow can hang up, or the spindle may break. As many times as I have done this, my heart is always in my throat. Tomorrow, as I gulp my heart back into my chest, I will think again of all the people who said, “So, it’s just a sack back with rockers?”

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We teach our students who go pro how to obtain free media. Everyone who tries these techniques gets at least a base hit. Some guys manage more than one base, and some even hit a home run. Sir Dan Santos just wracked up a grand slam.

Sir Dan and his work were featured in the magazine “Cape Cod and Islands Home.” The magazine is high end, glossy, and regional. That last word is important. I always tell guys going pro that all you need only one thing to sell Windsor chairs — people with money. What do you think the average income is for people who live on Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard? The area is dripping with history and over flows with affluent people who love traditional furniture. None of us could find a more perfect market.

The article itself was very nice. It starts out with a full page, full color portrait of Sir Dan. It then runs on for another seven pages. Each page has at least one more color photo — Sir Dan, Sir Dan at work, or Sir Dan’s work. The text is a glowing description of Sir Dan, his shop, and his career.

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Here’s an idea we received from Sir Joel Jackson. If you check the March 27 post you will better understand how this idea fits into the discussion.

“Mike - I met my brother in Houston this weekend. He lives in Milwaukee and is a partner in a media consulting firm. One of their niches is helping companies to a) go green, and b) promote it.

“He, his partner, and I were discussing my chair business and they suggested that I plant a tree for each set of chairs that I make, and POST SUCH in my booth. Of course, I live in the Hill Country of Texas, on 15 acres, so planting a tree isn’t very difficult for me. But, I am sure that there are organizations in every major population area that will take donations for the same purpose. Maybe this could be another addition to your Going Green suggestions.”

I like Sir Joel’s idea. A Windsor chairmaker can then point out that the chairs a client is buying will probably be around longer than the tree that is planted in their honor. Most trees only live a couple of hundred years. Lots of antique, hand made Windsors are pushing 250 years and are still going strong.

Sir Joel also discovered that chairmaking has its dangers. He added this word of warning for anyone thinking of taking up the craft. “Well, as if two rattlesnakes in my backyard, around my shop were not enough, I now have a coral snake IN my shop. I went out this morning to turn everything on in the shop and was greeted by a coral snake on the sidewalk in front of my shop door.

“I headed to the shed to get a hoe to relieve him of his head. When I returned, he had crawled around my propane bottles and was under my steamer. I rooted around and finally caught a glimpse of him. Then, he headed up under the siding and into my shop. Can’t find him any where.

Fortunately coral snakes do not strike, they must chew on you to inject their venom. But, they are the most venomous snake in North America. Oh boy, more fun. Once again, please advise those Sack Backers that this is a dangerous activity.”

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Here’s a short chairmaker joke to carry you through the weekend. It’s a continuation of a running joke, so if you don’t get it, look up the previous jokes in the archive.

A set of jumper cables walks into a Windsor chair shop. The jumper cables say to the Windsor chairmaker, “Got any Shaker chairs?”

The chairmaker looks up with violence in his eyes. He is certain the duck or the string has returned. If so, blood will be shed.

Instead, he sees the pair of jumper cables. So, he says in warning, “You’d better not start anything.”

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If you would like to receive periodic updates, tips, tool reviews, and new sources, that are outside the scope of this blog, join our mailing list by emailing me at mike@thewindsorinstitute.com

People who have never studied Windsor chairmaking at The Institute wonder what it is like here. I have tried to answer those questions in previous postings, and they can be found in the archives. However, I also receive lots of questions about The Institute’s location. Today, I am going to answer those.

Where is Hampton?

Don’t be embarrassed. The place is pretty small. Its year-round population is only about 15,000. Although the town was founded in 1638, nothing of historical significance has ever happened here.
(OK. It is the Windsor chairmaking capitol of the world.)

On a map New Hampshire looks like a tall right triangle. The angle formed by the triangle’s base and hypotenuse (eastern corner) pokes out between Maine and Massachusetts and touches the Atlantic Ocean. That corner creates roughly 18 miles of coastline. Hampton is a seaside community smack in the middle of that short stretch of coast. In fact, as I write this I am four miles from the ocean and 60 feet above sea level.

How do I get there?

While Hampton is quite small, the old New England punch line “You can’t get there from here” does not apply. Getting here is quite easy.

The major north/south highway, U.S. Route 95 and the major east/west highway NH Route 101 intersect in Hampton (about ¼ mile from where I am sitting.) Route 95 is the same highway that runs from the bottom tip of Florida to the top of Maine. If you are driving, it is the logical road to take. From the west, the New York Throughway and Massachusetts Turnpike will take you to Route 95.

If you choose to fly here, Logan Airport in Boston and Manchester Boston Regional Airport (a horrible name for a really nice facility) are both about 45 miles away. Logan is right off Route 95, and MBRA abuts Route 101 in Manchester. Thus, getting to Hampton from either airport is a straight shot. When I have a choice, I always fly into Manchester. It is a smaller city and is easier to get in and out of.

Is there anything for my family to do while I am there?

Hampton is best known for its long stretch of sandy beach known as Hampton Beach. The beach is so pleasant it has been a vacation destination since the mid 1800s. Families return year after year and generation after generation to vacation at the beach. To accommodate those familes, every sort of hotel, motel, cottage, food stand, store, amusement, etc. is on the beach. The place has an active night life with fireworks every Wednesday and concerts at the bandstand every eveningt.

The town of Hampton also has everything necessary to support and provide for the summer influx of tourists. The town’s major industry is hospitality. So, along with the beach, the town has lots of motels and restaurants. Of course, seafood is available everywhere. It is always fresh, as Hampton and neighboring towns have working harbors and active fishing fleets. Every restaurant serves lobster and they all brag they have the best chowder. Seafood is such a large part of the culture the Chamber of Commerce stages a Seafood Festival every September on the beach. The festival draws enormous crowds.

Is there anything else in the area?

The beach is not the only reason Hampton is a vacation destination. The town is centrally located and many New England sites and attractions are within an easy day trip. Boston and all it has to offer, is 45 miles south directly down Route 95. Historic Portsmouth, one of the most beautiful cities in the country is 10 miles north up 95. Exeter, the Revolutionary capitol of New Hampshire is an adjacent town. In both places you can walk streets that haven’t changed in 200 years.

Maine is 14 miles up Route 95. The first town you reach is Kittery, a well known outlet mall Mecca. Freeport, the home of L.L. Bean and lots of other stores, is 90 minutes north. Along the way, you pass through a string of historic coastal towns with great views of the ocean.

NH Route 16 begins at Route 95 in Portsmouth. The highway takes you to the New Hampshire lakes region. Lakes Winnipesaukee and Ossipee are perhaps the best known of the numerous lakes in this vacation area. Beyond the lakes are the White Mountains and Mount Washington Valley. This area is stunningly beautiful. It is perhaps the best fall foliage area in New England. It is a popular ski area in the winter. However, there are all sorts of attractions for summer visitors – hiking, kayaking, a restored railway, outlet malls, etc.

Like so many other woodworkers, my wife loves fabric arts. Is there anything for her?

Someday a PhD candidate will write doctoral thesis examining why it is that woodworkers marry women who practice fabric arts. This pairing is a phenomenon. It is quite common during our classes for a group of wives who have just met, to pile into a car and hit all the quilting, knitting, and spinning shops. Susanna’s mother, sister, sister-in-law, and cousin are all quilters, so we know all the places.

Keepsake Quilters is one of the best known quilt shops in the country. It is in Meredith, NH a quaint town on Lake Winnipesaukee. So, going there pays double dividends. Wives get to visit the shop and see a beautiful region of the state.

My wife’s hobby is the second most common interest for a woodworker’s spouse. Is there any antiquing?

This is New England. People have been making things and leaving them around for 400 years. Hampton and surrounding towns have some nice antiquing, and there are famous antiquing areas all over the state. However, the biggest bang for the buck is Route 4 in Northwood. This road is known as “Antique Alley.” It is not possible in one day to stop at all the antique shops on Antique Alley. I still comb those shops and I’ve pulled some great stuff out of there.

Northwood is just a short hop west on Route 101. Antique Alley is the town’s Main Street, and Guinness lists it as the longest Main Street in the world. (By the way, are you getting the picture that 95 and 101 connect Hampton to the entire world?)

The biggest antique event of the year occurs during our August 4 sack back class. It is called Antiques Week in NH. The highlight of the week is the NHADA show in Manchester starting August 7. This is an important show attended by all the big name dealers. You will see stuff that should be in museums. During that week a host of specialty shows, auctions, flea markets, etc. also take place around the NHADA show.

OK. My wife will be happy. But what if I bring the kids?

If your kids get tired of the beach, there are seashore related attractions and activities all over the NH seacoast (which is only 18 mile long.) Hampton has whale watching, charter fishing, and sight seeing tours. There are also plenty of things to do off the beach. Here is just one example. Water Country in Portsmouth is one of the largest water parks in New England. (Ten minutes up Route 95.)

How do I find all these places?

We have already done that for you. We maintain a list of things to do in the area arranged by category. The list includes addresses and phone numbers. I keep the list on my computer. If you drop me an email at mike@thewindsorinstitute.com I will send it to you.

If you are getting any resistance to taking a Windsor chairmaking class this summer, show the list to the family. They’ll be much more willing to accommodate your dream if they know you won’t be the only one having fun.

If you would like to receive periodic updates, tips, tool reviews, and new sources, that are outside the scope of this blog, join our mailing list by emailing me at mike@thewindsorinstitute.com

We are teaching the April 21 sack back class this week. I also had to wrap up an article I owed Popular Woodworking. So, I don’t have time to sit down and write an essay on one of the many topics I have planned. I apologize. However, to make up for it with you, I am going to provide you with some chairmaker humor.

Those of you who used to receive the paper version of The Windsor Chronicles remember our humor column, “A Duck Walks into a Chair Shop….” If you want to know why it was called that, you can find the original joke in the archive.

By the way, the Windsor rocking chair class begins May 5. I have space for one more. This will be your last chance to make this chair until 2009.

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A piece of string walks into a Windsor chair shop and asks the chairmaker, “Got any Shaker chairs?”

The Windsor chairmaker looks up with rage on his face, assuming that lousy duck is back again. Rather than a duck, he sees it is a piece of string and so, keeps his temper under control. “No,” the Windsor chairmaker replied politely. “This is Windsor chair shop. We do not make Shaker chairs.” The piece of string leaves.

The next day the piece of string shows up again at the Windsor chair shop and asks the chairmaker “Got any Shaker chairs?”

This time the Windsor chairmaker is annoyed as he envisions the scenario with the duck playing itself out again. “I told you yesterday, this is a Windsor chair shop. We do not make Shaker chairs.” The piece of string left.

The next day the piece of string walks into the Windsor chair shop and asks the Windsor chairmaker, “Got any Shaker chairs?”

That’s it. The Windsor chairmaker flies into an uncontrollable rage. He stomps the string. He takes it and twists it. He throws it across the shop, causing it to unravel.

The very damaged string leaves, with very hurt feelings. As it walks away from the Windsor chair shop it is in tears. A Boy Scout sees the string and asks why it is crying. The string explains that he has been hurt and is unraveling.

The Boy Scout says that he always does a good deed daily and always follows his motto Be Prepared. So, he is prepared to do a good deed for the string. Unable to wind the string back the way he was originally, the Boy Scout ties him into a beautiful knot.

The only thing the Boy Scout cannot do is fix the string’s end, which has completely unraveled so it is frayed. The Boy Scout leaves the string with the frayed end, explaining to the string that is only a little bit.

Feeling very good about his new appearance the string returns to the Windsor chair shop the next day. He walks in the front door and asks the Windsor chairmaker, “Got any Shaker chairs?”

The chairmaker looks up from the chair he is legging up in a rage. However, standing before him is the string in its new appearance, a beautiful knot with a little bit of a frayed end.

The Windsor chairmaker knows he is not talking to the duck, but he is still suspicious. He examines the visitor and then says, “Hey. Aren’t you that piece of string that was in here yesterday?”

The string replied, “No. I’m a frayed knot.”

* * * *

A Windsor chairmaker is visiting New Hampshire and decides he will take care of the opportunity to visit the Mecca of the Windsor chairmaking world, The Windsor Institute.
When he arrives he finds one of the instructors sitting in a chair reading the newspaper.

Meanwhile, a rare white boxer is assembling a Windsor. The visiting chairmaker watches the white boxer work for a while. He finishes legging up the chair and starts on the back.

The visiting chairmaker is amazed. Finally, he easy to The Institute instructor, “That must be the smartest dog in the world.”

“I don’t think he’s so smart,” replies the instructor. “I still have to ream the leg holes for him.”

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A Windsor chairmaker and a Shaker chairmaker from New Hampshire take the train into Boston to meet with an interior decorator to discuss the possibility of a very large commission for the decorator’s client. The decorator (who obviously has no taste and knows nothing about chairs) grants the commission to the Shaker chairmaker. The two return home on the same train. The Windsor chairmaker is returning home broke, while the Shaker chairmaker has in his pocket a very large deposit on his new commission.

The Shaker chairmaker is feeling real good and even a bit cocky. He sits across from the Windsor chairmaker and starts chatting. After trying unsuccessfully to start conversations concerning the Red Sox, politics, and Sam Adams beer, the Shaker chairmaker says, “I’d like to propose a little game to pass the time. I’ll ask you a question, and if you can’t answer it you give me a dollar. Then you ask me a question, and if I can’t answer it I’ll give you a dollar. OK?”

The Windsor chairmaker thought for a moment, then said, “Sir, you’re obviously a man of considerable education and skill. Why you probably went to Shakermaker U. at the Harvard Shaker Community. “That’s right,” agreed the Shaker chairmaker. I am a Harvard man.

“Me,” pleaded the Windsor chairmaker, I’m only a simple graduate of The Windsor Institute. I have the chairmaker gene, which means I can’t even do math. You are obviously so much smarter that to make it fair, I think you should pay me a hundred dollars for each question you can’t answer.”

The Shaker chairmaker felt very cocky and very superior to this poor Windsor chairmaker. He smiled condescendingly as he answered. “OK. One hundred dollars it is. You go first.”

“What has three arms, one wing, and flies?” asked the Windsor chairmaker.

The Shaker chairmaker thought hard for a couple of minutes. “I give up. Here’s your hundred dollars.” He reached into his pocket and peeled a C note off the wad he had received as a deposit.

The Windsor chairmaker quickly made the bill disappear.

“Well,” said the Shaker chairmaker, “What is it?”

“Danged if I know,” said the Windsor chairmaker chairmaker. “Here’s your dollar.”

This the third part of a very long explanation and description of steam bending. I cannot run the whole part at once, and too much goes on around here to run it over consecutive weeks. Therefore, I am posting it as I can. If you are only begun to read my blog, you may want to search for Parts I and II and start there. Mike Dunbar.

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Since Windsor chair parts are bent from the middle, it is necessary to locate and mark the center. You have about 45 seconds to bend a part. While, this is more than enough time, you do not want to be delayed by problems that could have been avoided.

We also mark the centers of our bendings with a Sharpie, as it leaves a dark, easy to find mark. Do not skimp on this important step by making a faint or incomplete mark. Make the center mark all the way around a round part and on all four sides of one that is rectangular. When you take the hot, wet part out of the steam box, you do not want to waste precious time looking for your mark.

Do not use a mechanical pencil or a ball point. Steaming gives the wood a slight gray cast, and the faint mark made by a mechanical pencil can be hard to find. Steaming will bleed ink out of the wood and the mark will disappear.

Remember steaming wood is an art, not a science. Some parts will break, even when you are doing everything right. The goal is to keep these failures at an acceptable level. This means you want to have as much in your favor as possible. The process we use at The Institute does just that. An average of two parts out of 34 will break in a sack back class. In some classes, there are no breaks at all. In others, there are more than two.

In our experience, bending goes better some days than on others. Over the years I had observed this and began to look for the cause. The following may seem like folk lore, but it is quite true and accurate. The best bending days are those that are bone dry and crystal clear. These are the days that make you feel like you have boundless energy. Wood taken from the steam box on these days feels dry and not very hot.

The least favorable bending days are wet, gloomy, and dreary. These are the days when there is not enough coffee in the world to wake you up. Wood out of the steam box feels wet, and is so hot we end up juggling it from hand to hand as we carry it to the bending form.

This observation runs counter to what one would assume. Since wood needs to be hot and wet to bend, it seems a wet day would be our favor. However, this is not.

We found an indicator that would tell us when bending conditions were good. We found it in a very unlikely place — a piece of wood called a weather stick. These are specially cut twigs from Maine that are sold by some of the country living type catalogs for about $8. Please, Google “weather stick” rather than calling me for a phone number.

When the weather is dry and providing a good bending day, the stick points upward. When the weather turns dreary and overcast, the stick turns down. Obviously, the wood in the twig is responding to the relative humidity of the surrounding air, and the particular way it was cut makes it go up and down.

The weather stick further underscores how much successful steam bending is art and skill. I would never recommend becoming a slave to the weather stick. However, if you are not in a hurry and have the flexibility to wait for a better day, I would. At home, you have an advantage in that you can wait for a good bending day. We have to bend on the first day of each class so our parts are dry and ready to use later in the week. Regardless of the weather, we fire up the boxes and go to work.

To successfully bend wood it has to be both hot and wet. The temperature should be at least 185 degrees F. with 25% moisture content. With both these properties the wood is said to be plasticized, which means capable of being bent.

The steam box we use is the one we developed and perfected here at The Institute. We call it The Ultimate Steam Box, because it is so efficient and because it solves the problems associated with other ways of making these devices.

To make the box we use Schedule 80 PVC pipe. (Schedule 40 will not take the heat and will crinkle up like a pretzel.) Wood steam boxes require a lot of steaming time just to become saturated and tight. Unless insulated, metal boxes radiate off a lot of the heat that should be plasticizing the wood. If you touch an exposed part of a metal tube you can get a good burn. PVC is both impervious and a good insulator. I demonstrate this to a class by holding my hand on the PVC tube. Only 1/4 inch away from my skin is live steam.

We boil water on a 160,000 BTU burner originally designed for cooking lobsters and crawdads. This burner creates a rolling boil and lots of steam. Electric hot plates and the camp stoves that I used early in my career, make the water simmer and do not provide the volume of steam created by these new burners.

We boil our water in 5 gallon steel utility cans. Needless to say, we buy these brand new and never put gasoline in them. Five gallon capacity is more water than most chairmakers will need. However, in a sack back class we bend 34 arms and bows in about 2 1/2 hours, and having to continually fill the boilers is a nuisance. For most chairmakers a two gallon can is sufficient.

The steam box and boiler are connected by tight fittings. This ensures that all the steam that is generated in the boiler is conveyed to the steam box. Because the PVC is impervious and a good insulator, the steam goes right to work doing its intended job of plasticizing the chair parts.

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We heard recently from Sir Chris Otto. Sir Chris wrote to tell us he was working on an order for six sack backs. Also, that order will include his 100th chair. When he is done, he will have 104 chairs under his belt.

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After my posting about my thoughts of a new approach to selling chairs, I heard from Sir Joel Jackson. Sir Joel said he would try my ideas and keep me posted. I head from him recently. He had just exhibited at a show. He writes, “I posted a nicely printed sign at the entrance to my booth that began “INVEST YOUR INCENTIVE CHECK IN A SET OF HAND-MADE WINDSOR CHAIRS”. I then preceeded to list some of the benefits that you eluded to in your blog.

I had several positive comments, none that were negative. Traffic was extremely slow compared to previous spring shows. However; I did sell a stool, settee, comb back and youth chair. All of those customers had stopped to read the sign. I was reluctant to discuss it with them for fear of interupting the selling process; but, I think it helped. Those that did comment especially liked the concept of the chairs outlasting the length of time to replace the wood with which they were made.

I don’t have another show until Memorial weekend, but will post the sign there and continue to test the waters.

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Not a class goes by but someone asks me what books about Windsors they should purchase to help advance their studies of these chairs. I am happy to give them a list, and I intend to give that list here, but first, a thought.

It is good that our students want to look at pictures of old chairs and to read more about Windsors. However, nothing beats seeing the real thing. My first bit of advice is to go find some 18th and 19th century Windsors. See the real thing. Looking at pictures of animals in National Geographic does not give you the same knowledge you get from a visit to a zoo or by going on a safari.

One advantage of studying at The Institute is that we do have a collection of period chairs. Many art museums, even in cities in the mid-west and the far west, have Windsors in their collections. Windsors are sold in antique auctions all around the country. Get on auctioneer mailing lists. However you do it, look at as many old chairs as possible.

I know that a lot of the people making Windsors for sale have never done that. Had they any knowledge of period Windsors, they would not make the monstrosities they illustrate on their web sites. The only other possible excuse is that these guys are blind.

Here at The Institute we have an extensive collection of books and other material about Windsor chairs. In fact, I just added to our collection copies of Antiques Magazine from 1926 and 1946. Both contain articles on Windsor chairs. However, you would be better served by reading only a handful of books and then, going off to look at originals.

The landmark book on Windsors is “American Windsor Chairs” by Nancy Goyne Evans. I suspect it will be a couple of generations (if ever) before anyone surpasses the scholarship in this book. Nancy spent several decades accumulating every scrap of information she could find about Windsor chairs. Meanwhile, everyone like me who loves Windsors knew this book was planned. We waited restlessly for many years for it to be published. We were not disappointed.

“American Windsor Chairs” is mainly a survey book. Through her research Nancy developed a firm understanding of regional characteristics. These are the differences in style, design, materials, and construction favored in a region. These details varied from region to region, and knowing them, helps identify the place of manufacture of an antique Windsor.

Each section in the book deals with a particular region: Philadelphia, or New York, or Eastern Massachusetts, etc. The section explains the cultural, commercial, and economic forces that influenced that region. Then, Nancy shows pictures of Windsors from that region, tracing their development from the 1760s to the 1840s. The section on the next region does the same. The result is a massive volume of more than 800 pages with hundreds and hundreds of high quality pictures of Windsors.

Nancy followed her first book with a second; “American Windsor Furniture, Specialized Forms.” In this book Nancy examined all the other furniture made using Windsor design and construction. These specialized forms are numerous. They include settees, rockers, cradles, commode chairs, etc. This book is as equally well illustrated as Nancy’s first book. While it contains less of the classic chairs our customers prefer, seeing these other forms gives a 21st century chairmaker a better understanding of scale, design, etc.

Nancy was still not done after two books. Through her research she had developed a good picture of the business of being a Windsor chairmaker. She describes our career as it was practiced in the 18th and 19th centuries in “Windsor Chair-Making in America, from Craft Shop to Consumer.”

Anyone making Windsor chairs should own at the very least, “American Windsor Chairs.” Whether or not you acquire the second two volumes depends on how deeply involved you are with the craft. All three volumes are so large and contain so much information I will confess that I had not read them completely. I prefer to keep them handy and peruse them as my time permits. I am familiar enough with these books that I can find any information I may need.

By the way, I know it may sound a bit familiar referring to the author by her first name. I do so because I know her. She and I began corresponding in 1975. She has visited The Institute, and even once gave a presentation to the members of the Royal Orders.

Before Nancy published her first book, the best survey book on Windsor chairs was “Windsor Style in America” by Charles Santore. His first volume, published in 1981 was followed by volume II in 1987. The two volumes were later combined and published in another edition.

Besides studying and researching Windsor chairs, Charlie (I know him, too) is also a collector. Many of the chairs in his books are from his collection. I do not know if his books are still in print. However, you should not have any trouble finding a copy on Amazon or Ex Libris.

The English equivalent of Nancy’s first book is “The English Country Chair” by Bernard Cotton. While this book is not completely about Windsors, they do dominate its pages. Like Nancy’s book, this too is a regional study. It is also a true tome with hundreds and hundreds photos of chairs. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Cotton while I was speaking in England in 2004.

I have already written about Michael Harding-Hill’s book “Windsor Chairs.” The photography in this book makes it a must have.

Prior to Charlie Santore’s books in the 1980s, the few books published on Windsor chairs were very different. The earlier Windsor chair books were written for antique collectors. They contain little scholarship and frequently, a lot of romantic misinformation.

In 1962 Thomas Ormsbee published “The Windsor Chair.” Ormsbee was an antique buff and published “Spinning Wheel” a magazine for collectors. Along with “The Windsor Chair” he wrote several other books for collectors.

I still have a soft spot for Ormsbee’s book, because when I was starting it was just about all there was. I scoured his book and practically memorized it. “The Windsor Chair” is only a book for collectors. It is not profusely illustrated. It shows the different styles of chairs, but sometimes only one or two examples of any particular type.

From 1962 we have to jump all the way back to 1917. For 45 years, the only book on Windsor chairs was “American Windsors” by Wallace Nutting. This book has been reprinted a number times, sometimes under a slightly different title. We have examples of several editions here, along with an original.

It is important to know about Nutting’s book, although not important to own a copy. He is the first author to try and make sense of Windsor chairs. However, Nutting was no scholar. He was a collector, and was more concerned with what he called “merit” than with dating chairs or understanding regional characteristics. In other words, he was trying to describe to collectors what is today called connoisseurship; how to distinguish a good example from a poor one.

In “American Windsors” Nutting imposed a regrettable influence on Windsor chairs that is still with us. It is responsible for many of the monstrosities that are still being made by 21st century chairmakers who have not studied at The Institute. I plan a future posting on Nutting’s influence.

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I know I did not post last week. I had no idea so many people wait for my scribbling. I received numerous emails representing varying degrees of distress. Some people were actually annoyed that I had not posted. I appreciate the concerns of those who feared something had happened to me.

I missed last week because I was focused on attracting a literary agent for my book “The Comet Team.” Contacting an agent requires a query, a synopsis, and a sample chapter. I had to get all this together and emailed. I only have so much time during a week to write, and something had to give.

The material has been sent and I now begin the part that drives all writers nuts. I have to wait. As a writer it does not escape me that the publishing industry has no guilt about making writers wait. However, once the manuscript enters production the writer is under constant deadlines.

If you would like to receive periodic updates, tips, tool reviews, and new sources, that are outside the scope of this blog, join our mailing list by emailing me at mike@thewindsorinstitute.com

Lately, I have heard from a number of professional chairmakers who are very concerned with the economy and the effect it is having on their sales. They have good reasons for their concerns. It’s hard to sell chairs when your customers are paying $3.25 for gasoline, higher prices to heat their houses, and higher prices to feed their families. A set of handmade chairs moves to the back burner – a way back, back burner.

There is no doubt times are tough out there. I have run my chairmaking business through several recessions, beginning with the one in the 1970s. I survived them all by using the strategies we teach our students who go pro.

This time feels different to me, and this leads me to suspect we are in for a very tough time, for a very long time. Hard times change the way people act and the way they think. As a result, hard times often change the country and the culture. For example, my parents lived through the depression. It changed them. They were frugal all their lives. My sense is that another such change is taking place.

The last couple of decades created a culture of consumption. This was the era of the McMansion, of the Mercedes, of the second home, the expensive trips abroad. Lots of people lived large and financially, they lived on the edge. To buy more house than their incomes could support, they used sub prime mortgages. When they needed yet more money, they borrowed against the equity in the house, or put it on plastic. A lot of people partied and now all of us have to pay the piper, and suffer the hang over.

I think Americans are pulling in their horns for the long haul, perhaps another generation or more. If indeed, the country and the economy do change, we Windsor chairmakers need to change the way we sell chairs. In other words, we need to change our approach: the message and sales pitch we give our customers.

Two things have crossed my desk recently that have suggested to me a new marketing strategy. The first was an email I received from Dr. Chuck Pezeshki. I wrote about that email in another posting earlier this year. Chuck observed that “Windsors are Eco-design personified.” He explained to me that, “Eco-design considers the whole lifecycle of a product. A Windsor that lasts 200 years, and is painted with milk paint, lasts far longer than the tree takes to re-grow the wood, is made of mostly locally-grown wood (no transportation CO2), is manufactured by human hands, and has no toxic disposal cost at the end-of-life.”

The second item was an editorial in Maine Antiques Digest. The title was The Compact Market, and it was written by Sam Pennington, the publication’s editor. Sam began his editorial by describing a new trend called Compact Shopping. In explanation he wrote, “Subscribers to the compact shopping theory desire ‘to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture…’ ” Furthermore according to Sam, compact shoppers seek to cut back on clutter and waste and to simplify their lives. Shopping local is important part of this trend.

The two items tie together very nicely. Windsor chairs, known commonly as “green chairs” in the 18th century, are the ultimate green chair of the 21st. As Dr. Chuck points out, Windsors are made of local woods and are generally purchased by people who live near the maker. Thus, they make use of a renewable resource, and there is little energy consumption or pollution associated with them. Think how much energy it takes to import those cheap chairs from southeast Asia that J. C. Penny had to recall. Because Windsor chairs are made by hand, a chairmaker produces his own energy, and he exhales the only green house gas he produces.

Windsor chairs are finished in milk paint, a non-toxic finish that dries without giving off polluting vapors. A handmade Windsor can be expected to last two of more centuries. As Chuck points out, the chair lasts far longer than it takes for replacement trees to grow and mature.

If I am right about this recession changing our consumer culture, Americans will begin to desire things that will last. They will be looking for things of quality, with permanent value. They will be shopping closer to home, and be more conscious of the impact their purchase has on the environment and the economy. No longer will furniture be thought of as disposable the way it has for the past 20 years; changed every time someone changed the decor. Consider for a moment how many trees were cut down to produce furniture that was put out at the curb for the rubbish pick up, as well as all the energy required to make, transport, and dispose of it.

As Americans simplify their lives and look for quality and permanency, Windsor chairs fit right in. Buying handmade Windsor chairs, a customer buys the only set of chairs he or she will own for a lifetime. Since handmade Windsors last far longer than people do, a set of Windsors purchased today will be passed on to the owner’s descendants. In other words, these chairs will become cherished family heirlooms.

There is no worry that by buying chairs that last 200 years customers will have to live the rest of their lives with something that has gone out of style. Windsors fit in with any décor. Those who subscribe to my monthly email newsletter will be receiving some old photos from The Institute’s collection. These pictures are of late 19th and early 20th century interiors, and show Windsors in use. When those photos were taken, the Windsors were already 100 years old, but remained part of the household’s furnishings.

Windsors were a product of the late Georgian and Federal periods. As those photos prove, they remained in use through the myriad of Victorian furniture styles, as well as the fin-de-siecle furniture styles. Why? Because they blended well with every style. There is no reason to assume that will change in the future. Windsor design is timeless.

My advice is for Windsor chairmakers is to incorporate these themes into their sale pitch. Use these talking points when speaking with a potential customer. Explain how your handmade Windsor chairs mesh with their new priorities and new shopping habits. Above all, use these talking points when speaking with the news media. These are important points, and you want them to appear in every article about you. In other words, make a little green by explaining that green chairs are green.

Perhaps you are not a professional Windsor chairmaker, and instead work wood for your own enjoyment. Or, perhaps you appreciate and share the same concerns as compact shoppers. Here is a suggestion for you. For the same reasons as described above, consider learning to make your own Windsors.

Starting in May the government will begin sending out rebate checks. Instead of spending the check on something transitory – something that will not last — invest it in yourself. Use it to develop a new skill. Take a Windsor chairmaking class at The Windsor Institute.

You will make a chair that will last 200 years and that you will pass on to your descendants. Instead of being a stranger to your great grand children, you will be kept alive in their memories every time they tell someone about you and the family heirloom you made for them. The handmade Windsor you make at The Windsor Institute will be your legacy.

If you would like to receive periodic updates, tips, tool reviews, and new sources, that are outside the scope of this blog, join our mailing list by emailing me at mike@thewindsorinstitute.com

I know that readers visit these pages to read about Windsor chairs and to get the latest news from their fellow Windsor chairmakers. So, I apologize for today’s topic, as it is a bit off the subject –well, — other than it is about a guy who does happen to be Windsor chairmaker. During classes a lot of people have asked me about this and as you will see the event wrapped up only a couple of days ago, so my report on it is timely.

My first blog of the year was a list of my New Years resolutions. I am happy to report that so far, I have not missed a weekly love letter to my wife. Also, I am closing in a new chair for 2009, and it is not any I mentioned in January. If you remembered, I also resolved to finish a book I was working on.

Well, I finished a book, but it was not the one I began writing last year. If you read that first blog of the year, do you remember I mentioned that I had several books in my mind that I planned on writing someday? One of them is no longer in the planning stages. It is written, and it is now in the find-a-publisher stage.

Believe it or not, the following story is true. January 22 I had my left shoulder repaired. I came home full of drugs and with a prescription for vicodin. I took the pain killers for only two days and then stopped, as I found them very unpleasant.

I did not sleep for the next two nights. Instead of counting sheep, I lay awake and developed the entire plot for another book I had also mentioned in my first posting of the year. You may recall from that posting that my son Michael, now 15, is still friends with two boys he met in pre-school. When they were in the second grade, the three boys discovered they shared a common desire to become astronauts. They formed a group called the Comet Team, and the Comet Team’s imaginary adventures became the basis for a lot of their play together.

I always said that someday I was going to write an adventure book for young adults based on the Comet Team. Well, I finally did. It was the plot for that book that I worked out while unable to sleep for two nights.

After all that lost sleep, I just could not keep the book within me. It was bubbling out so, I started writing immediately. With a recently repaired shoulder, I couldn’t do much at work. So instead, I wrote, and I wrote, and I wrote. I wrote every day I could. I wrote at night. I wrote weekends. I wrote for two solid months until this Tuesday past, when I completed the book.

I have started to edit the manuscript and I am amazed at how clean it is. The edit is not requiring a lot of work. I am adding some detail and fleshing out some scenes, but so far, not much. Most of my editing is ironing out continuity problems. Someone wearing a blue dress in one chapter, is wearing red pants in another. That sort of thing.

I know I am prejudiced, but I really like the story. While sitting on the couch drinking coffee every morning for the past twomonths, I would read the previous day’s chapter to my wife Susanna. She is brutally frank with me and I can count on her to tell it like it is. If I lay an egg, Susanna does not ooh and aah. She tells me I blew it.

However, her reaction was very positive. She too, thinks it’s a pretty good adventure. With that kind of support I am ready to begin looking for a publisher. I expect to start shopping the manuscript around by early April. I have written other books and so, have been through this process before. I know from experience it results in a lot of waiting and frequent rejections.

In the event any reader knows a young adult book editor, I would be most happy to have the contact passed on to me. Personal contacts are invaluable and can greatly shorten the process of finding a publisher.

Thank you for reading my story. As I said earlier, I know you read this blog because you are interested in Windsors, and not with what I do in my spare time. To express my gratitude for your patience I have included a treat for you below — another example of the best of Windsor chairmaker humor. It comes to you courtesy of Sir Jerry Olson.

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A duck walks into Widow Fletchers Tavern in Hampton and orders a ham
sandwich and a Windsor chair. (For those who may have never eaten at Widow Fletcher’s the name of their martini is Windsor Chair.)

The barman looks at him and says, “But you’re a duck”.

“I see your eyes are working”, replies the duck.

“And you talk!” exclaims the barman.

“I see your ears are working”, says the duck, “Now can I have my Windsor Chair and my sandwich please?”

“Certainly”, says the barman, “sorry about my reaction. It’s just we don’t get
many ducks in this pub. What are you doing round this way?”

“I’m teach at The Windsor Institute over on Timber Swamp Road”, explains the duck.

Then the duck drinks his Windsor Chair, eats his sandwich, and leaves.

This same routine goes on daily for two weeks. Then, one day the circus comes to town. The Ringmaster of the circus comes into the pub for a drink.

The barman says to Ringmaster “You’re with the circus aren’t you? I know this duck that would be just great for you to have in your circus. He talks, he drinks martinis, and everything!”

“Sounds marvelous”, says the ringmaster. “He would make a wonderful exhibition for our side show. How about you give him a call and see if he’s interested in a job with me?”

The barman calls The Windsor Institute and makes an appointment with the duck to drop by the next day. When the duck arrives at Widow’s the barman says, “Hey Mr. Duck, I reckon I can line you up with a top job, paying really good
money!”

“Yeah?”, says the duck, “Sounds great, where is it?”

“At the circus”, says the barman.

“The circus?” the duck enquires.

“That’s right”, replies the barman.

“The circus?” the duck asks again.

“Yes” says the barman

“That place with the big tent?” the duck enquires.

“Yeah” the barman replies.

“With all the animals?” the duck questioned.

“Of Course” the barman replies.

“With the big canvas roof with the hole in the middle”, asks the duck.

“That’s right!” says the barman.

The duck looks confused. ……

“What the heck would they want with a Windsor chairmaker?”

If you would like to receive periodic updates, tips, tool reviews, and new sources, that are outside the scope of this blog, join our mailing list by emailing me at mike@thewindsorinstitute.com

This the second part of a very long explanation and description of steam bending. I cannot run the whole part at once, and too much goes on around here to run it over consecutive weeks. Therefore, I am posting it as I can. If you are only starting to read my blog, you may want to search for Part I and start there. Mike Dunbar.

Trees that are cut in the summer or late spring are more likely to decay quickly. At that time of the year the tree is in its growth cycle and the sap is up. The weather is also much warmer. A tree dropped in July when temperatures are in the 90s can begin to decay in a week. A tree dropped in October when the tree is dormant and the weather cool, will remain fresh much longer. In fact, we like to put in a large supply of logs in the late fall, as they remain frozen from December through March. In the warm weather we buy small numbers of logs, and more frequently.

The problem is that other than in the sapwood, you cannot always see the early stages of decay, a break down of the wood that makes it brittle and incapable of bending. Although over the phone or via email, I cannot diagnose why wood will not bend, I suspect that decay is most often the culprit. Your best protection is to know a tree’s history — when was dropped and where it has been in the meanwhile.

No matter how fresh your log, it will not remain that way. This means you need to get to work on it right away. There is no difference between wood taken from a log that has been at the mill for six months and one that has been lying in your back yard for the same amount of time.

This the analogy I use when describing wood selection during a class. Think of yourself as a farmer putting down a cow for meat. You will not take the cow out into the field, drop it, walk away, and return three months later to cut off a steak. The meat needs to be processed right away. Once it is cut up you have two choices – freeze it or dry it into jerky.

Treat a tree the same. Split it up right away. Then, you have two options, freeze it or dry it. Here at The Institute, we have a large 6 foot chest freezer which we fill with riven wood for our classes and for sale.

Unfortunately, back in the 1970s working wood that has been split from the log was been dubbed “green woodworking.” As a result many people think the wood needs to be kept wet. This is wrong, and results in a lot of ruined wood. Some people try keeping the billets submerged in water. This is unnecessary. Others wrap it in plastic. Still others wax the ends These steps only promotes decay.

If you cannot freeze your wood, allow the billets to air dry. Although successful steam bending requires the wood to be wet, the steam box will take care of that. Treat the billets like you would any other wood you buy. Keep it dry and off the ground. I remember one fellow who called because his bends were breaking. It turned out he had stored his billets on the ground under his back porch. Of course, the wood began to rot just as would a board stored on the ground.

The best place to store billets is in a garage or other unheated building. Unless you live in a desert, it will not air dry much below 10% - 14%. Wood stored this way will be good for years. I have successfully bent air dried wood I split into billets a decade earlier.

Here at the Institute we split our logs with a log splitter. Every couple of months we have what we call a “spilling party.” Fred, Don, and I, along with a farmer who lives down the road, split enough wood for our upcoming classes and for sales. The farmer Kevin, drives his tractor down here with a four-foot splitter mounted on rear. Splitting the logs this way saves us a great deal of back breaking labor.

If you are a chairmaker working on a smaller scale you will most likely split your logs by hand. Using a maul and splitting wedges, split the log into halves. This is called riving. Use a hatchet to snip any wood that is tearing from the two halves and holding them together. Otherwise, these tears may lengthen and waste good wood. Next, split the halves into quarters and then, the quarters into eighths. These eighths - called billets - have a cross section that looks like a slice of pie.

With a maul and wedge split away the pointed piece of the pie. This is the tree’s juvenile wood, and it is seldom useful. Next, use a drawknife to peel the bark off each billet. Remember, the tree’s living growth layer is right under the bark. It is wet and rich with nutrients. If left this way, boring insects will quickly make your riven billets their home.

After our splitting parties we take these billets and carefully following the grain, cut them on our Hitachi band resaw into arm and bow blanks. We use this big saw because we are cutting enough stock for as many as six classes at a time. You are not likely to place these demands on your equipment and so, can use your shop band saw. To make the stock more manageable, you might want to split your billets one more time, into sixteenths.

Once the oak has been sawn into bending stock it is ready to be worked. In our experience, stock that has been set aside for even a couple of days and has lost a bit of water will bend better than wood that is dead fresh. As I explained last issue, the use of the term “green woodworking” leads many people to think that wetter is better. However, as long as wood is not heated by kiln drying, being placed near a stove, or stored in a hot attac, moisture content is largely irrelevant. The steam box will provide the necessary moisture.

The type of chair you are making determines the stock’s shape and dimensions. When sawing, the goal is to keep the blade in one layer of growth as much as possible, as doing this perfectly results in stock with no grain direction. Following one layer of growth may result in stock that is not perfectly straight and that has a slight bow. This is not a problem, as the part is going to be bent anyway.

Like most other human endeavors sawing bending stock is not always possible to do perfectly. As a result, when shaping the wood into chair backs there will sometimes be places in the stock where you will be cutting with the grain and other times, against it.

When a tool begins to dive or choke, it is necessary to cut in the opposite direction. The greatest risk occurs when using the draw knife. This tool’s open blade can dive as it follows the stock’s grain and ruin the part. A light test cut is always best.

Do not be concerned by the light colored sapwood. In our experience it bends well. However, it does best when in compression. Therefore, when it is present, we plan our work so that it will be on the inside of the bend. In other words, so it will be placed against the bending form.

Pin knots are a real hazard, as they create weak spots. It is best to plan your work so they are removed while shaping the part. If this is not possible, we again prefer to place them on the inside of the bend so they are in compression.

When either sapwood, pin knots, or some other risk is present, our habit is to mark the area with large, dark Xs made with a Sharpie permanent marker. When the part comes out of the steam box, this reminds us that when making the Xs we had determined a preferred placement on the form.

If you would like to receive periodic updates, tips, tool reviews, and new sources, that are outside the scope of this blog, join our mailing list by emailing me at mike@thewindsorinstitute.com

Sir Ron Tatman attended the February 18 Balloon back chair class. He brought us a copy of a newspaper article about him and his chairmaking that was printed in the Sunday edition of The Downstate (DE) Daily. The piece ran on the front page of the “@home” section, above the fold. It included three color photos. Two of the pictures were of Sir Ron working on a settee seat. The other was a portrait of his Nantucket fan back and Philadelphia high back chairs.

By the way, Sir Ron is a member of the Delaware National Guard and expects to be deployed to Iraq later in the year. He will be leaving behind his wife Jill and two teenage daughters. The only good news is that Sir Ron has promised to stay in touch with us. He said he will be curious to see what sort of woodworking is done in Iraq, and what sorts of trees are available. It’s not likely that there are suitable trees in the desert, but I have no idea what species grow along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Wouldn’t be a hoot if Sir Ron found native trees that he could use to built the first Windsor chair ever made in Iraq?

* * * *

Another old friend attended the Balloon back class. Jim Van Hoven returned for his first class in several years. It was good to share his company again. Jim is one of the Immortals, that very small and elite group that make up the Chairmakers Hall of Fame. Anyone who has taken sack back knows of him. This is his intro. “In the old days reamed leg holes used to be all over the place. It was a nightmare. But, not any more thanks to a humanitarian, a philanthropist, and a chairmaker concerned with the well-being of his fellow chairs makers – the very eccentric, but truly genius Dr. James Van Hoven (he’s not really a doctor, but it sounds better) who gave us his innovation the Vanhovenometer.” At that point in the class I always show the class how to properly use the Vanhovenometer.

Through Jim’s generosity The Institute has received a treasured object for its permanent collection. When he returned home Jim sent us the original Vanhoveometer. It is the one he brought to class in 1994. It was the one that inspired me to add the concept to our teaching method. We have found a suitable place for it to hang on the classroom wall. It is where I can easily point it out to everyone when I introduce the Vanhovenometer. However, it is high enough that it cannot be easily reached by curious hands. A Vanhovenometer is a delicate instrument and if dropped or bumped, it can be knocked out of calibration.

Jim also gave us a copy of an article about him and his chairmaking that appeared in the local newspaper the Country Messenger. The full page article was accompanied by two color photos of Jim working. He made sure a slew of other chairs appeared in the background.

* * * *

The March 3 Nantucket fan back class witnessed a quadruple knighting as Sir George Wright, Sir Joel Barker, Sir John Robillard, and Sir Mike Shelton were inducted into the Royal Orders. They became in that order the 139th, 140th, 141st, and 142nd Knights of Windsor.

Sir Bob Longstreet played a really mean trick on his friend Sir George. Bob could not attend the knighting, so he sent us a bunch of disposable cameras to hand out to the Assembled Multitude before the ceremony. We passed them out before Sir George’s Long Kiss, knowing each guy with a camera would want to get lots of pictures of George’s most memorable moment. Sir Bob succeeded in making it one of the longest in recent memory. It went on so long my arm fatigued. To rest my arm, I had to stand up with Sir George’s lips still applied to the gaudy red bauble.

The class decided to change Sir Bob’s name from Longstreet to Longkiss. By the way, yes Sir Bob is a direct descendent of the famous Civil War general of the same name.

* * * *
The Nantucket fan back class also witnessed our first Raising of 2008. Since everyone in the February 18 class had been here numerous times, we did not have a Raising. A Raising is a spoof on the Masonic ceremony of the same name. In a Masonic raising, a Fellow Craft is raised to a Master Mason. We skip a step and raise our Entered Apprentice chairmakers directly to Master Chairmaker. We do so in an over-the-top spoof that is one long joke. We teach our newly made “masters” the secret distress call of the master chairmaker. We also show them the secret handshake master chairmakers use to identify and to greet each other.

There is not a straight face in the room during a Raising. The ceremony is obviously a favorite, as during every advanced class I am always asked several times, “When’s the Raising?”

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Spouses often tip me off when someone in a class is having a birthday. We love to surprise a student with a cake and with the rest of the class singing Happy Birthday to You.” I had the tables turned on me during the Nantucket fan back class. I turned 61 years old on March 5.

I was working in the office when I received a phone call on my cell. It was Susanna asking me to come down to the classroom. As I got near the bottom of the stairs the class broke into Happy Birthday. A cake with lighted candles was on the bench near the kitchen. After being so nice to me, I felt it would have been rude not to share my cake with the class.

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We have started to plan our 2009 class schedule. We do have to include the two settees next year — the sack back settee and the low back. Both were left out the schedule this year to make room for two Balloon back classes. Adding both settees back in will require leaving out two classes in 2009, as well. We have already decided that those two classes will be Boston fan back and NYC bow back. Both are side chairs.

These classes will return to the schedule in 2010, but if you were planning on taking them sooner, the 2008 classes will be your last chance for a couple of years. The Boston fan back is April 7, and the NYC November 17. We still have space in both classes.

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Under threat of having to sleep in my car, I have surrendered to my wife’s insistence that I clean out the clutter I have accumulated over 37 years. It all came to a head when she went up to the second floor of the new building. I have it so full of stuff that nothing more can be stored there. She has long argued that I have so many woodworking tools and items that I will never use most of them again if I live to be 100. I was ordered to start cleaning out on my own, or she was going to do it for me.

I would rather have control of the process. So, I have started Mike’s Garage Sale. I will pull items out of my hoard and put a price tag on them. When an item sells, I will replace it with another. When you are here you can check out my sale. The first two items are one of my work benches and my 12 inch planer. Items are cash and carry. I cannot get into shipping.

Susanna has been yelling at me about my piles of walnut and cherry because they take up a whole corner of the new building. They contain lots of wide stuff, as well as 8/4, 12/4, and 16/4. All I can say to the guys who have seen this wood and coveted it is drool on. Talk to Susanna after my funeral. She has threatened to get rid of everything I own at that time, and will probably cut you a sweet deal.

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