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Wheel Back Double Bow Windsor Chair

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Wheel Back Double Bow Windsor Chair Phillip Spencer Wheel Back Double Bow Windsor Chair I have always wanted to build a Windsor chair and, after reading the book 'Windsor Chair Making' by James Mursell and being given a Windsor Chair flat pack kit by my good friend Jack (https://pegsandtails.wordpress.com/), it was now or never. Making the chair presented several challenges for me, things that I had either not tried before or a level of work that put me outside my comfort zone, like steam bending wood and drilling all the compound angled holes in the seat and bows. It would be a change from working with straight lines and right angles. Figure 1 The Windsor chair flat pack chair kit Did I want to build an American style chair or an English style chair? After a lot of research and thought I decided on the English style; they look more solid and traditional than the highly stylised American versions and besides that there are several schools around offering courses in making an American style chair. I went back to my book by James Mursell and visited his web site ( http://windsorchairplans.com ) and ordered a plan for his new Wheel Back Double Bow Windsor chair and I also ordered a Travisher from his shop. A travisher is used to carve out the seat. James was also very helpful answering my emailed questions. Figure 2 The Wheel Back Double Bow Windsor chair by James Mursell, this is the chair I have chosen to build. To read about the history of Windsor chairs The design sponge site is a good place to start (http://www.designsponge.com/2010/09/past-present-windsor-chair-history-resources.html) Timber Typically English Elm is used for the seats of a Windsor chair because the grain is cross linked and offers superior strength; other timbers can be used successfully but there may be a risk of splitting so the shaping of the seat usually has to be left thicker. I used American Ash for the bows and the spindles on the chair and American Ash for the legs. Phillip Spencer Tooling Before I was able to start on making the chair I had to make the templates, formers to steam bend wood on, compression bands to support the wood when bending it, a steam box and steam generator and also finish off some tooling like the Travisher kit. I also needed (which I already had) low angle spoke shaves to shape the bows and spindles and a lathe to turn the legs and I purchased a ⅝ inch rounding plane to help with the spindles in the arms and back, and a range of drill bits. Steam bending Kit Twenty years ago I found an old electric pressure cooker on the hard rubbish, I always thought that it would come in handy one day, it was this that I used for the steam generator. At Bunning's I purchased some 15mm Brass Threaded Hexagon Nipples and 15 mm nuts to fit. If you don't have an electric pressure cooker handy or it would be missed from the kitchen, wall paper steamers would work just as well make sure that it has at least a 5.5ltr capacity and will steam for about two hours. Figure 3 The modified pressure cooker The steam generator seemed to generate plenty of steam. I connected this using 15mm PVC hose to a steam box which I made up out of some pine, I used an article available from Rockler to build it. Figure 4 The steam box a PDF outlining details on making the steam box can be found here http://www.rockler.com/steam-bending-kit-w- free-bentwood-carryall-plan-download Phillip Spencer Figure 5 My steam box and steam generator, about to be tested. Formers Figure 8Former for the Bow I made up the formers to bend the bows out of 19mm I made the compression bands using 1.5mm x 30mm form ply, two pieces thick to make the formers up to stainless steel, the band for the arm and bow is 1.5m 38mm and screwed them onto a base that I could clamp to the bench when I bent the wood. I also made long and band for the arm posts is 1m long I fitted up some 30mm wide stainless steel compression wooden handled to the ends to make them easier to strips to prevent the wood from splintering when I hold. carried out the bending. The holes in the formers are to fit clamps to hold the wood in shape as the wood is bent and dried. Figure 6 Former for the arm Figure 9 The compression bands The other tooling I needed was a Scorp and a Travisher. The Scorp, Travisher and Spoke Shaves To hollow out the seat I needed a Scorp and to smooth and fine tune the seat I needed a Travisher. The Scorp was purchased from Carbitec and I ordered the Travisher in line from the Windsor Workshop, to reduce costs a bit I ordered the Travisher as an Figure 7 Former for the arm posts unfinished kit, I needed to finish it off and fettle it to my preferences. Phillip Spencer Not having used a Scorp or a Draw Knife before I had to undergo a learning process to be able to use it effectively. The Travisher is like a large curved spoke shave so I was able to use this without much trouble The travisher is an essential item when carving out the seat, it will allowed me to get a smooth finish and also to refine the shape of the seat definitely a recommended purchase . I also found a rounding plane useful. Figure 13 Rounding plane Figure 10 The Scorp. Figure 14 Spoke shaves are also required, I made these several years ago. Making the chair I started out making the seat, I milled the Elm to thickness on my Woodwork clubs thicknesser (it was larger than mine and able to handle the width). Marked out the shape of the base with the template I had made up from the drawings from the Windsor Workshop. and then proceeded to mark up the holes Figure 11 The Travisher kit and tenon for the splat at the back of the chair. Figure 15 The seat cut and shaped with the holes marked for the Figure 12 Completed Travisher legs and arm post. It was at this stage I realised that I had one more tool to make up to help drill the compound angled holes in the seat, I needed to make up a tilting table for my Phillip Spencer drill. This is a simple device, two pieces of scrap MDF were hinged together, the bottom piece was bolted to the table on the drill and blocks used as a sliding packing to get the top table to the required angle. Figure 16 The tilting Table. This allowed me to set the angle of the hole I needed to drill and also move to seat around to line up the sight lines to get the angle accurate. Note: The leg holes were drilled from one side of the seat whilst the arm hole was drilled from the other side. Figure 17 All the compound angled holes that can be pre drilled, these holes hold the spindles that hold the arm up they have The only holes left to drill were the holes for the arm been pre-drilled because the holes in the arm are blind. Also the mortise for the back splat has been cut at 14 deg. spindles, these had to be drilled because the holes in the underside of the arm are blind so there is no way Carving the seat to get them lined up using line of sight like the holes Before starting to carve out the seat I suggest that you for the back spindles. do a few push-ups and have a good breakfast, pulling the Scorp is hard work and your shoulders will be sore The mortise for the splat is cut at 14ᵒ this is the slope for a few days after. of the back of the seat, the arm bow will be clamped to it when the holes for the back spindles are drilled by line of sight. Figure 18 The carved seat Phillip Spencer After a consultation with my friend Jack it was decided to try just over double the time in the steam box. I left a new piece of wood for the arm in the steam box (did I mention it is worthwhile to cut extra pieces when about to steam?) and steamed it for one hour forty minutes and it was then quickly placed in the compression band and into the former to bend, time is of the essence here as the is only about a one minute window to get the wood into the former and bent. I thought carving the seat might be a challenge, the scorp took a little getting used to whilst the Travisher worked brilliantly, before I started to hog out the waste from the seat I drilled a series of blind holes to indicate the depth I wanted the seat to be, so I would not inadvertently go through the bottom of seat and, also to leave sufficient wood for strength. The shaping of the seat was straight forward, I suggest that to help with the carving process imagining your Figure 20 Succuss favourite bottom to help to get the right shape! Bending the arm and bow Steam bending can best be described as a black art, you can read copious amounts of information and think that you have a good understanding of the process and then after your first bend fails you realise that the books are not always right.
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