Veritas' unique Chair making tools

[Mike Holbrook]

Lee Valley/Veritas offer three unique tools ( Veritas Pullshave, Chairmaker's Scraper, Chair Devils) that appear to be specifically designed for making chair seats and spindles. As far as I can tell there are no similar tools made by other companies, although there are obviously spokeshaves, travishers, inshaves...that can do the same work.

Oddly I am not finding any discussion of these tools on our pages. Maybe the specific, chair oriented, nature of these tools is the reason? I thought I would make this post to see if I can get any comments from anyone who may use these tools. Yes, I am interested in making Windsor Chairs.

[lowell holmes]

The first tool I recommend is Mike Dunbar's Windsor Chair book. I realize this doesn't address the Veritas question.

You will need a taper drill bit and a travisher for sure.

I did attend the Homestead Heritage class for windsor chairs. We started by splitting green red oak. The above seat spindles were shaped with draw knives and spoke shaves.

The legs and cross braces were turned on a lathe.

[george wilson]

I have a whole set of antique chair maker's devils that I ought to sell. They are still like new. I have made a few chairs,but they aren't in my range of interests.

[Bob Glenn]

Mike, good to hear you're going to make a windsor. I've seen the pullshave and was tempted to buy it, however, I think it would be too slow for saddling a seat. I usually drill two holes with a spoon bit in my seat blank towards the back as a depth gauge for saddling. I usually saddle out about one inch at the deepest points. I hog out the majority of the wood with a gutter adz, then shape with an inshave and finish with a travisher and scraper. I think this is the way most chair makers do it. Chris Schwartz has said there are 6 ways to do anything, two of them good, two are bad and two will get you by.

As far as a chair devil goes, I made one out of a scraper blade and didn't like it. The idea sounds viable, it just didn't work for me. Your experience may vary. A draw knife, spoke shave and scraper work for me.

I am a self taught chairmaker from Dunbar's book. It took me eight months to make my first chair. That after reading the book cover to cover at least three times and pondering the seemingly impossible, it wasn't until I went out to the firewood pile, pulled out an oak log and split it then took it to the garage with draw knife in hand, that I actually began to think I could make a windsor chair. It was then I realized you just make one piece at a time. I took me five tries to make a spindle that I liked, then I just had to carve 12 more just like it.

The biggest thing I've learned is there are lots of ways to make a chair and they all work as long as you understand the dynamics of how a windsor chair works. You are starting a fine journey and at the end, you will have something you can relax on. There are a couple websites with good information, google 'Windsor chair resources", or Peter Galbert's Chair Notes. There hasn't been a lot of activity on the WCR site lately, but Peter Galbert's blog is full of really good information. Pete is a great teacher and after 14 years of making chairs, and still possesses a great passion for the art. He continually pushes the envelope in his work and is advancing the trade.

Good luck, it,s a long but rewarding journey. Don't give up, there's lots of help out there if you get stuck. Bob

[Mike Holbrook]

Thanks for the input guys. I bought a Barr drawknife from Highland Woodworking. I have an order in with Country Workshops for a selection of Hans Karlsson tools: adze, hatchet, inshave, a selection of gouges and a LN froe. I think I just need something to finish up seats and spindles. A travisher seems to be the favorite for finishing seats and a concave spokeshave the favorite for spindles. Searching the Lee Valley web site for the two items just mentioned was how I found the Veritas tools I am asking about.

I have a copy of Michael Dunbar's old Windsor book and I have a copy of Drew Lagsner's Chair book on order. Trying to find copies of Abbot's books. I plan to build Windsors to go on a covered deck for quests at our dog club. I am thinking of something a little sturdier, Irish, Welsh, more primitive designs. I am hoping I can make spindles and legs on a shaving horse instead of turning them on a lathe. I have been watching Mike Abbots YouTube videos. He seems to make ladder backs without a lathe.

Peter Galbert is doing a Windsor class at Highland Woodworking in March. I am trying to decide if I have a chance of talking the wife into giving me a week to take the class. Although I may have missed out on the one remaining spot as of Friday. I am also guessing that a good amount of Peter's class is spent making parts on a lathe which is not my main area of interest.

I live on 12 forested acres with lots of trees I would love to make things with.

[lowell holmes]

Mike,

I am not an expert Windsor chair builder by any stretch of imagination.

Thinking back to the class, it was several years past. I remember we also needed two different gouges. One was a small narrow gouge for making the decorative groove around the back of the chair seat and the other was a 3/4" gouge for helping with the shaping of the seat hollow.

I was planning to make more Windsor chairs , but the issue of acquiring green red oak and splitting it caused me to drop the ambition. It is a strenuous messy proposition for a suburban location.

For your information, there is a porch full of Windsor chairs at Bayou Bend in Houston. Also, Frank Strazza at Homestead Heritage made a prize winning Windsor Settee that is special.

[Prashun Patel]

If like me you believe the genius of a windsor is its technology not methodology, there is a much easier alternative to the laborious process of hollowing a seat with hand tools: a small angle grinder with a carbide grinding wheel. If you are planning to make multiples, I strongly consider this time-saver.

You may still like the pull-shave or (gasp) random orbital sander to smooth the seat, but at least you'll save all the rough chopping.

ps: I just got Dunbar's book. I'm waiting for the next storm to bring down an oak...

[george wilson]

I made a special handle for a 2" wide Pfiel gouge that might be helpful to making a chair seat. The handle is about 16" (I'd have to go measure it,sorry no pictures right now),long and has a mushroom head. By shoving it with my hip,I really could hog wood off when making an arch top musical instrument. Pretty good control,too. Of course not intended for finish cuts.

[Tony Wilkins]

The first tool I recommend is Mike Dunbar's Windsor Chair book. I realize this doesn't address the Veritas question.


I'm waiting for the upcoming chair building book from Lost Art Press. http://blog.lostartpress.com/2013/09/28/peter-galbert-on-chairmaking/

It looks to be very informative as well. Having watched a lot of free videos, I like Peter Galbert's instructional style (so far) the best.

[Paul Saffold]

This doesn't answer your q's about the specific tools. I have not made Windsor chairs but did read up on them quite a bit before I veered towards ladder backs. Curtis Buchanan has a great website. He teaches and has an instructional DVD but the videos (50+) are free on his site and on Youtube. Most of the vids are Windsor specific but several are general how-to use specific tools and sharpening. Very laid back presentation but filled with good tips and info.

http://www.curtisbuchananchairmaker.com/videos.html

https://www.youtube.com/user/curtisbuchanan52/videos

[Jack Curtis]

I made a special handle for a 2" wide Pfiel gouge that might be helpful to making a chair seat. The handle is about 16" (I'd have to go measure it,sorry no pictures right now),long and has a mushroom head. By shoving it with my hip,I really could hog wood off when making an arch top musical instrument. Pretty good control,too. Of course not intended for finish cuts.

Does it look anything like this (a Chinese chisel resold by Dictum?

280289

[Jack Curtis]

This doesn't answer your q's about the specific tools. I have not made Windsor chairs but did read up on them quite a bit before I veered towards ladder backs. Curtis Buchanan has a great website. He teaches and has an instructional DVD but the videos (50+) are free on his site and on Youtube. Most of the vids are Windsor specific but several are general how-to use specific tools and sharpening. Very laid back presentation but filled with good tips and info....

This is an exquisite series that walks you from selecting a tree through finishing. I'm sure anyone here could successfully build a chair with this series as a guide.

[lowell holmes]

One of the fellows at the Homestead Heritage Windsor Chair class had a travisher he made himself. My Highland Woodworking travisher is a good tool, it has a radius of 4 1/4" on the iron.

The travisher made by the fellow has a radius of 7". After using his travisher (we used each others tools) I decided I would like to buy his travisher. I started at $100 offer, then $200, and finally $300
convinced him and he sold it to me. I have made three wooden seat rocking chairs since then and use his travisher to sculpt the seats. It does such a nice job, leaving a smooth surface with very little tear out. I just don't use the 4 1/4" radius tool. I have not regretted spending the $300. The reason for posting this to alert you that big adz's and scorps are not needed. I feel that the clean up left by the sharper radius leaves a lot to be desired. We excavated a u shaped trough with a gouge and mallet, cleaned it up with the travisher. The trough on the rocking chairs I build is 3/4" deep.

He said he used an old 10" brake drum as a bending form when he made the iron.

If any of you are inclined to make your own tool, you might want to play with the radius of the shave.

[Mike Holbrook]

Great information guys, very helpful.

I am blessed with a very good supply of green wood. I have a long drive across our 12 acres that has a several oaks lying along it that I have had to saw up into movable logs in just the last few months. I also plan to thin out some of the trees in the section of the property that is used as a dog park and for dog training. I have access to just about any type of hard wood, tons of poplar, sycamore, birch, oak, hickory and maple...

I am registered for the Peter Galbert Class, Making a Continuous Arm Windsor Chair. I am still thinking out the tools. I like the idea of the Veritas Pull Shave. The only thing I wonder about is the size of the tool. The sole has a 3 1/2" radius, but the instructions say the actual blade only has a 2 1/2" radius. As Lowell mentions above a larger cutting surface might be handy. On the other hand the Hans Karlsson inshave I have on order may handle most of the larger areas. Drew Langsner apparently has worked with Hans on the design for 20 years. This particular inshave has less curve in the center and more on the sides, so the center can be used for the less curved surfaces and the edges for the steeper curves. The Veritas Pullshave might work well to refine the inshave work. I think Peter uses curved scrapers for final finishing. I just picked up the suggested set from Highland WW.

Mike Dunbar mentions in Make a Windsor Chair using wooden smoothing and compass planes along with two sizes of flat bottom spokeshaves to clean up after rough work with an adze. Again like Lowell I am a little nervous about using an adze on the seat. I have a small Karlsson Adze on order but I am thinking it will see more use on deep bowls from halved logs.