The legs, stretchers, and arm posts of a Windsor chair can be shaped with a drawknife, but many woodworkers work with a lathe instead, using a story pole for each component (page 52) as a
A hand brace fitted with a spoon bit bores a mortise in one side stretcher of a sack-back Windsor chair. The mortise will house a tenon of the middle stretcher. The mortise must be angled; a spoon bit enables you to start drilling the hole straight for the first ‘A inch before tilting the tool to the correct angle.
guide to produce the turnings. Refer to the illustration below for dimensions, and use calipers to check key diameters as the work progresses. Start by turning the legs and the arm posts. But before you can turn the stretchers, you have to bore the leg mortises in the seat and test-fit the legs in place. By measuring the exact distance between the legs with the chair test-assembled, the stretchers can be sized with precision.
The tenons that join the pieces together—at the top ends of the legs, the bottoms of the arm posts, and at both ends of the stretchers—are tapered to lock the tenons into their mortises.
TURNING THE LEGS AND ARM POSTS
1 Shaping the legs and arm posts
Mount the blank between centers on your lathe and use a roughing gouge to produce the turning. Refer to the anatomy illustration opposite for the locations and diameters of decorative elements like beads and coves. Once you are satisfied with the turning’s shape, form the tapered tenon at the appropriate end (right). On the legs, as shown, the tenon should be 2Vz inches long, tapering from 1 inch to % inch in diameter. Make the arm post tenons 1 inch long, tapering from 5/s to Tie inch in diameter. Finally, turn a shallow groove on each leg to indicate the location of the stretchers; this groove will double as a decorative element.
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Smoothing the turnings
Remove the tool rest and fold a piece of 80-grit sandpaper in thirds to prevent the paper from slipping. Switch on the lathe and hold the paper against the turning. Work with the grain along the length of the piece as much as possible (left), being careful not to round over the decorative elements on the stock. Stop sanding periodically to prevent burning the wood. Work with progressively finer papers, stopping when you reach 220-grit.
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Marking the leg and spindle mortises on the seat
Before you can turn the stretchers, you need to bore the leg mortises into the seat, test-fit the legs in the mortises, and measure the distances between the legs. Start by making a template of the seat from й-inch hardboard, referring to the anatomy illustration on page 84 for the dimensions of the seat as well as the location and size of the leg and spindle mortises. Drill a hole through the template at each mortise mark, then set the seat on a work surface, position the template atop it, and mark the holes (right).
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Drilling the leg mortises
Clamp the seat down and fit a hand brace with a spoon bit the same diameter as the small end of the leg tenons. Use a straightedge and a sliding bevel to help you drill the compound-angle holes. This will enable the legs to splay out from the side of the seat at the proper angle and be angled—or raked—toward the front or back of the chair. Position the straightedge across the seat at the correct splay angle of 105°, or 15° from the perpendicular (page 73). Then adjust the sliding bevel to the required rake angle, which is 100° for the front legs and 115° for the rear legs, or 10° and 25° from vertical. Position the sliding bevel on the straightedge. Then, center the bit on the mortise mark and begin drilling, keeping the hand brace parallel to the straightedge and the bit lined up with the slope of the bevel (left). Repeat the procedure to bore the remaining leg mortises.
О Once all the leg mortises have been drilled, remove the spoon bit and install a tapered reamer. This device will give the leg mortises a tapered shape that matches the conical shape of the leg tenons, locking the legs to the seat. Secure the seat in a vise, then taper each leg mortise, steadying the hand brace against your chest (above). Periodically test-fit the legs in their mortises, reaming the holes until the fit is snug.
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Checking the splay and rake of the legs
Test-fit the front legs in their mortises and check whether their splay and rake angles are uniform. To help you gauge the rake angle, place a straightedge across the legs; the board should be perfectly level (left). Repeat for the rear legs. If any of the angles are off slightly, you can compensate for minor inaccuracies when the time comes to turn and install the stretchers (page 92).
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Turning and sizing the middle stretcher
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Since the middle and side stretchers are assembled before being glued to the legs, you cannot determine the length of the middle stretcher by measurement. Instead, calculate its length. Start by cutting a blank several inches longer than you need and turn it on your lathe; use the illustration on page 88 as a guide. To determine the stretcher’s length, secure it in a vise and mark its middle. Then measure the distances between the front legs and then the rear legs, aligning your tape with the turned stretcher grooves; add the results together and divide by two. Add another 2lA inches for the tenons and / inch to provide the proper amount of tension. Adjust a set of calipers to one-half your grand total and mark off this distance from the center mark to each end (right). Cut the stretcher to length and turn a tenon at each end.
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