Windsor Chairs Complete

[Mike Henderson]

I finally finished the two Windsor chairs that I've been working on (see pix). The one on the left is a bowback side chair and the one on the right is a sackback.

The finish is black milk paint with shellac over it. I left the spindles natural (just shellac) because an all black chair seemed to me to be a bit too much black.

While I enjoyed the challenge of making these chairs, I probably won't make any more Windsor chairs. My wife doesn't like them and I prefer to concentrate on more current style furniture. I'll offer these for sale at a fairly low price just to move them out.

Mike

[I'm thinking $300 for the bowback and $350 for the sackback. What do you think? Does that sound like a deal? Too high or too low?]

[Bob Easton]

Whether one really likes Windsors or not, those look great. ...and I know you learned a lot from making them. Nice work.

[John Keeton]

Mike, one of my goals is to someday take on building a Windsor! Nice job - particularly the sackback!

[Jim Kountz]

Mike, excellent job!! I love Windsors and will try my hand at one someday if I get a chance.
Really nice!!

[Robert Rozaieski]

They look great Mike! I'm not sure I'm crazy about the natural finish on the spindles but that's just my taste. I'm not into contemporary designs. I still think they look fantastic though.

Regarding your pricing, I think it depends on where you plan to try to sell them. In general I think your price is pretty low for a custom hand made Windsor, however, if you don't target the right clientelle you still may have a hard time moving them quickly in the current economic environment. You might try looking up a few local interior designers and see if they would be interested.

[Mike Henderson]

Thanks for your comments, Robert. The Orange County Fair is coming up soon. I'll try to enter them in the woodworking competition - although I don't expect I'll win anything with them - but I can put a price on them and many people will see it. Those interested fill out a card and I can call them at the end of the show. If they don't sell, I'll have to "gift" them to a relative or something.

I know the spindles are not "traditional" but I wanted to try something different. They were a pain to tape up to keep the milk paint off of them. And getting a good line at the bottom and top was a challenge, also. If the buyer doesn't like it, I'll sand them and do them black.

Mike

[If a buyer says, "I like them. Build me three more bowbacks and one more sackback" I'll laugh at them.]

[Todd Burch]

They look good Mike. How do they sit?

I've been dreaming about making Windsors for several years, to put at our dining table I made.

So the wife couldn't wait any longer, and she ordered 8 Windsors from Ethan Allen two weeks ago. She sent me an email, and it read something like this:

Subject: Congratulations

Honey, after 21 years of marriage, you are now the proud owner of 8 dining room chairs.


Todd

[glenn bradley]

Those look great Mike.

[george wilson]

Mike,you are really working too cheap!:)

[Mike Henderson]

They look good Mike. How do they sit?

I've been dreaming about making Windsors for several years, to put at our dining table I made.

So the wife couldn't wait any longer, and she ordered 8 Windsors from Ethan Allen two weeks ago. She sent me an email, and it read something like this:

Subject: Congratulations

Honey, after 21 years of marriage, you are now the proud owner of 8 dining room chairs.


Todd
They're very comfortable. I was surprised. But think about the history of the Windsor chair. They developed over a long time and craftsmen copied features that "worked" and sold well. So you'd expect that they'd develop to be comfortable. Our ancestor customers would not have bought them if they were uncomfortable.

Congratulations on your set of Windsors!

George W. - yeah, I know that's a cheap price but I need to sell them - no room in the house.

My wife once said to me, "You should have started building furniture when we were first married and needed furniture." But I was involved in my career and didn't have time for things like woodworking. And now we have a house full of furniture and don't need any more.

Mike

[Dave Anderson NH]

Mike, the chairs look great but I too am not crazy about the natural colored spindles. As for price, way too cheap. Most hand made Windsors in this area are selling for between $500 to $600 depending on the style and the maker.

[Todd Burch]

There are a few guys around these parts that are putting a $1200 price tag on their Windsor chairs. Personally, I've sat in their chairs and I think they are overpriced quite a bit, a some are downright uncomfortable. Makes no sense to me.

Todd

[george wilson]

Yes,Mike,they are worth MUCH MORE!!!!

[David Keller NC]

Mike - Nice job, they do look comfortable. Regarding pricing, Windsors have become something of a commodity item due to the success of teachers like Mike Dunbar and Jim Rendi. I don't mean "commodity" in the sense of Wal-Mart, just that there is a lot of competition in the field, and as a result, the price has become somewhat standardized. Unlike other period reproductions, you will typically find a price listed for various forms on most maker's websites. That should give you a guide for what to ask.

Even though you want them out of the house, don't sell them too cheap - you can buy a lot of tools with the extra cash!

[Prashun Patel]

Your chairs are beautiful. I bought some cherry Windsors about 7 years ago for my kitchen table. They were about $200/pc - which I thought was CHEAP! They're pegged/wedged with thru tenons.

[Doug Mason]

Very nice (although I too don't care too much for the natural colored spindles--but pictures can be decieving). Maybe you posted this elsewhere, but I'm assuming you used steam and green wood. And did you buy a scorp for the seat or did you use other tools?

[Mike Henderson]

Very nice (although I too don't care too much for the natural colored spindles--but pictures can be decieving). Maybe you posted this elsewhere, but I'm assuming you used steam and green wood. And did you buy a scorp for the seat or did you use other tools?
I only used green wood for the bending parts - everything else was kiln dried. For the seat, I used a chairmaker's plane, mainly because I already owned it. Doing the seat is easy because you're working in softwood.

Mike

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Purdy chairs.

[Tom Stovell]

Congratulations on those chairs. I've made a few Windsors years ago and thought the bending was about the coolest thing I've done in woodworking. The compound curve of a continuous arm especially.

You are selling yourself short at the price you mentioned although if you want to move them quickly, they should at that price.

Tom

[James Davis]

Mike those chairs are great. be careful with your pricing though, I built a rocking chair for my daughter once and had a wealthy friend see it. She wanted one for her grandson. She asked how much to build it. I told her I would build her one for $150.00, she told me that she would get back with me later. A few days later, word got back to me that she would not let her grandson have a $150.00 rocking horse, He deserved better(More expensive)

James

[Mike Henderson]

Mike those chairs are great. be careful with your pricing though, I built a rocking chair for my daughter once and had a wealthy friend see it. She wanted one for her grandson. She asked how much to build it. I told her I would build her one for $150.00, she told me that she would get back with me later. A few days later, word got back to me that she would not let her grandson have a $150.00 rocking horse, He deserved better(More expensive)

James
That's really funny. I had a funny "job estimate" situation recently. I was contacted by a prospective client but the job was something I really didn't want to do. So when I put the estimate together I estimated on the high side. In discussing it with my wife, she asked me, "Do you want to do that job?" and when I said, "No, not really", she said, "Then double the estimate!", which I did. I was too embarrassed to present the estimate in person so I mailed it to her. Time went by - about two months - and no word from the client so I figured I had dodged that bullet (I figured she had found someone less expensive).

Then a few days ago, I get a check in the mail - she wants the work done, and has another project she wants me to do on time and materials.

Go figure.

Mike

[Sean Hughto]

I have a contractor friend who refers to that as Japanese for "no" because apparently (as he explained it to me) in Japanese culture, quoting an unreasonable price is seen as better than saying no directly. I don't know if there's any truth in that, but it made sense to me that if he ended up having to do a job he didn't want in the first place, he should get a rate that made up for the anticipated aggravation.

[Richard Dooling]

That's funny Mike. When I had my shop we would figure up a bid and then add in a "B" factor for customers we knew would be a pain. The extra cash didn't make the customer any easier to deal with, but it did take some of the sting out of the job.

Great chairs!

[Mark Maleski]

Mike, I paid considerably more for a couple windsors I bought. A knowledgable buyer would snatch them up at your price. Did you rive components where called for?

[Mike Henderson]

Mike, I paid considerably more for a couple windsors I bought. A knowledgable buyer would snatch them up at your price. Did you rive components where called for?
I used green riven wood for the bending parts but klin dried (and not riven) for the rest, including the spindles. I did select oak that was pretty straight grain for the spindles, however.

I got the green wood from a friend of mine who makes Windsors and he ordered it from the east coast. It's tough to find green oak out west here.

Mike

[Joe Cunningham]

I think they look great. I might be tempted to cut down the gloss a little on the shellac, but I like the spindle contrast.

One thing on the spindles--if the customer doesn't like them, I don't think you will have to sand much. I put garnet shellac under black milk paint and it laid down very nice. I did a little 'distressing' at the corners of the table legs for just a hint of the garnet color.

[Bob Glenn]

Mike, you're selling yourself short on the price. I sold the last one I made for 600 dollars, a sackback. I don't usually sell mine, but a fellow eighteenth century re-enactor, bugged me for two years to make one for him.

BTW, nice looking chairs. Ask 500 for the side chair and 600 for the sackback. That's more in line with other makers.

Good luck!

[Mike Henderson]

I think they look great. I might be tempted to cut down the gloss a little on the shellac, but I like the spindle contrast.
I agree about the gloss, Joe. I'm going to rub them with some fine steel wool. I tried 0000 steel wool but it's a bit too fine. I'll try 00 steel wool next. I use a bit of mineral oil with the steel wool when I rub it.

Thanks for your comments.

Mike