Thread: Making an English Comb-back Windsor Chair

At the end of my last entry I had run out of daylight, so today I took a spokeshave and eased the front edges of the seat scallops so they won't dig into the back of the sitter's thighs. I also removed some of the surplus from the top of the leg tennons and sawed the kerfs in them to accept the Ash wedges.

The undercarriage was glued together and into the seat using Horse Sauce with the addition of a little urea to buy me a little time while I wrestled with it all. The wedges were dipped into the Horse Sauce too and driven into the tops of the legs effectively locking them solidly in their mortices.

In the absence of a cast iron saw table, I set the chair on a perfectly levelled sheet of particleboard and placed a bubble on the back rim of the seat to level the chair. I measured the seat height and then scribed the bottom of the legs using a scrap of wood of the requisite thickness.

With the chair laid on its side I sawed the surplus off the bottoms of the legs. The chair was then placed upright on the particleboard again to confirm it was stable. It wobbled just perceivably. Again, I used the bubble to level the seat and determine which leg was the culprit. It was the front left leg which only necessitated a few pull-throughs with my 80-grit Leg Leveller.


A few swipes with the leg leveller shortened the long leg.

The tops of the legs were sawn off close to the seat and the entire seat was then cleaned up with a spokeshave and a couple of scrapers.


Final clean-up of the seat.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

It was an Oak wake table.

Nice! I hope all of your windsors get together at some time to form a period coffee house. Crisp legs, and a well shaped seat btw!

Incoming silly question!

Which way is the grain of the seat running? Side to side? Does it matter which way?

PS; I like the leg leveller.

Looking good WW been popping in and checking it out.

How do you determine the drill hole position and angle and location for stretchers on the legs.??

Is there a specific height/distance along the leg.??

a specific line as from the photo it appears the stretcher is off centre of axis??

I can relate the way you describe working the seat shape. Many a vehicle panel while making new ones rolling stretching etc when I first started was by pattern and measure. Then onto eye sight and feel. Similar with panel repair hands and eye tell the tail.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

The undercarriage was glued together and into the seat using Horse Sauce with the addition of a little urea to buy me a little time while I wrestled with it all.

Woodwould, I just sit back here in awe of your skills.

One thing I'd like to pick your brains on is the amount of urea you use to retard the hide glue and what amount of extra open time does it give?

I've not used hide glue yet, but am very close to be ready to give it a go. As a second question, what is the normal open time to hide glue?

Originally Posted by tea lady

Which way is the grain of the seat running? Side to side? Does it matter which way?

The grain is running side to side. It doesn't matter one jot which way the grain runs, but historically, with most side chairs, the grain runs from front to back. However, the sheer breadth of many styles of armchairs dictates the grain runs side to side as planks of Elm that width are scarce.

Originally Posted by wheelinround

How do you determine the drill hole position and angle and location for stretchers on the legs.??

That's easy; the position of mortices is dictated by the original and the bulbous shape of the legs. The angle becomes self apparent with the legs in the seat; I just line the drill up with the two bulbous areas on the legs and start drilling.

Originally Posted by wheelinround

Is there a specific height/distance along the leg.??

Yes, again, dictated by the original. If you were designing from scratch, then I suppose a measurement of 150mm to 200mm would be a good starting point.

Originally Posted by wheelinround

a specific line as from the photo it appears the stretcher is off centre of axis??

Sorry, you've lost me with that one.

Originally Posted by wheelinround

I can relate the way you describe working the seat shape. Many a vehicle panel while making new ones rolling stretching etc when I first started was by pattern and measure. Then onto eye sight and feel. Similar with panel repair hands and eye tell the tail.

Indeed, many manual trades and skills rely on human feel and sight to achieve a degree of 'perfection' that machines can't match.

Originally Posted by Waldo

Woodwould, I just sit back here in awe of your skills.

One thing I'd like to pick your brains on is the amount of urea you use to retard the hide glue and what amount of extra open time does it give?

I've not used hide glue yet, but am very close to be ready to give it a go. As a second question, what is the normal open time to hide glue?

About thisssssss much glue and thisssssss much urea. Oh I don't know, if I were to measure it accurately, I'd say between 25% to 30% urea. I usually plonk three or four spoonfuls of glue in the pot and one of urea, but sometimes if I need 'slow' glue, I'll add some urea to an existing brew, so who knows what percentage that lot works out to. I often adjust the brew on the fly depending on what it's required for.

Much depends on the quality of the glue, its gram strength and the dilution, but the open time can be extended by at least five minutes which is actually a very long time. Normal open time can be less than a minute to about two minutes.

Thanks for the reply on the urea. A longer open time is good for stress levels.

Thanks for the reply on the urea. A longer open time is good for stress levels.

You are not meant to drink it!

Sorry WW ... I'm been watching quietly from the side, enthralled by the progress made, but could not resist this comment

Looking forward to the finish.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I finally got a round to modifying my Stanley 51 into a Travisher with a 5" radius, as per mic-d's earlier post. After some thought about a jig to get a consistent shape on the radius on both planes, it didn't take too long at all. I did the blade freehand after marking out the shape and it probably needs some refinement. I gave it a tryout on a seat made from pallet timber and I gotta say, I'm thrilled with the result and it works like a charm.

Thanks mic-d for the idea and next time I go to the markets I'll buy another '51 for maybe another one.

p.s. If I get the windsor / George Nakashima inspired chair using pallet timber finished I'll post pics in another thread

Originally Posted by derekh

I finally got a round to modifying my Stanley 51 into a Travisher with a 5" radius, as per mic-d's earlier post. After some thought about a jig to get a consistent shape on the radius on both planes, it didn't take too long at all. I did the blade freehand after marking out the shape and it probably needs some refinement. I gave it a tryout on a seat made from pallet timber and I gotta say, I'm thrilled with the result and it works like a charm.

Thanks mic-d for the idea and next time I go to the markets I'll buy another '51 for maybe another one.

p.s. If I get the windsor / George Nakashima inspired chair using pallet timber finished I'll post pics in another thread

Well done! I'd like a selection of travishers with different radii. The one I have now is about 4" or 4.5" radius, which is perfectly alright, but my old (18th or early 19th century) travisher was more like 6" radius and was more generally more useful than my current one. I'd ideally like another one with a 10" or even 12" radius, but for all the chairs I'm likely to make now, the one I have will see me out.

looks good.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

.

I have a fairly large quantity of European Ash, so the legs, stretchers, sticks and crest rail will all be of Ash. I also have a stack of English Walnut, so while I'm tempted to use some for the arm and arm posts, I have yet to convince myself it is the right choice.

where you get your timber from, if you don't mind me asking ?

Originally Posted by apricotripper

where you get your timber from, if you don't mind me asking ?

The Ash (690mm diameter!) came out of one of Melbourne's gardens and the Walnut came from overseas.