Category: WINDSOR FURNITURE

MAKING THE SEAT

The seat of a sack-back Windsor chair is best cut from a single plank. As shown in the photo at left, the blank is roughed out by hand with a frame saw or bowsaw. Then the seat is given its basic shape using a variety of hand tools—the edges are rounded over by a drawknife […]

MAKING THE BOW AND ARM

The arm and bow of the sack-back Windsor anchor the chair’s back­rest, tying the spindles into a strong and comfortable structure. The grace­ful curves of both pieces are achieved through steam bending, a process that may well be the most challenging part of making the chair. The two essential elements of wood­steaming are a steam […]

MAKING THE SPINDLES

Windsor chair making starts with a freshly cut log. Because green wood is swollen and lubricated with moisture, it is easy to cleave and bend. It is also less work to shape. Splitting wood from a log offers other advantages. First, it is stronger, because the break follows the wood fibers rather than shearing them, […]

PENCIL POSTS

execution. The bevels that create the octagon must be laid out so the eight sides are equal as the post tapers from base to tip. Although the layout method shown below is straightforward, it demands precise drafting. With its solid, square base giving way to an octagonal section that gradually tapers to a narrow tip, […]

MAKING THE END BOARDS

The sunrise motif of the headboard featured in this chapter is a popular design, particularly in American Gauntry furniture. Whatever design you choose, however, the primary challenge in making the end boards for a bed is cutting the pieces symmetrically. The boards are too unwieldy to do the job accurately on the band saw. You […]

TURNING THE BEDPOSTS

Turning the bedposts of a four-poster bed may appear to be a daunting challenge, but the project is manageable if broken down into its component parts. The design of the posts is simple; each one comprises only a few recurring ele­ments, such as pommels, beads, vases, The pommel, or bottom section, of a four-poster bedpost […]

ANATOMY OF A FOUR-POSTER BED

Turned in four individual sections connected by tang joints; vase sections are glued together, but other tang joints are left dry for disassembly. Glued to end rail and to either headboard or foot­board; joined to side rails with knockdown hardware. Hole is drilled into top end to accept tenon at bottom end of finial Side […]

FOUR-POSTER BED

The four-poster bed is a dramatic and imposing piece of furniture that descends from the canopy beds of the Byzantine and medieval periods. Once, only heads of families could occu­py a bed with a full canopy; others con­tented themselves with half-canopy beds, or unadorned beds. The use of a canopied bed, then, was certainly a […]