The Comb Back Windsor

[John Keeton]

For nearly 50 years I have wanted to build a comb back Windsor chair, but the time, money and skill level never came together until recent years. I retired 6 years ago, so I have the time. The good Lord has been good to us, so the funds are available for all the necessary tools and materials.

So, over the past few months I bought several new tools, some specific to chair building. I built the various forms, jigs and kiln and acquired plans and DVDs from Curtis Buchanan. My plans were to turn all the legs, stretchers and supports, rive out the oak parts, rough them out, and complete the build in a class at John C. Campbell to be taught last week by Brian Cunfer. The class was for a loop back, but Brian graciously agreed to assist me with the comb back since I would have much of the work done. But, with the Covid pandemic the April woodturning class I was to teach at JCC was cancelled and it became evident that the May chair class was going to be cancelled as well.

So, I was on my own, but decided to give it a go since by mid April all the individual parts had been completed. There were moments, but things went fairly well. Curtis' plans and the videos were absolutely essential in absence of hands on instruction. Turnings are hard maple, seat is poplar and all other parts are white oak. Finish is a variant of the black on red done by Curtis and Pete Galbert. Learning the nuances of milk paint may have been one of the biggest challenges in this build!

A little over a decade ago I was posting my flat work builds on SMC, then I got into turning and with few exceptions that was the end of flat work. I have enjoyed this chair project so much, that I fear it may now compete with my turning! There will definitely be another one this coming winter.

[Rich Greinert]

John, the chair is stunning! And thank you for telling of your journey to get there.

[Mel Fulks]

'Tis a beautiful thing! I've never seen such deeply turned arm supports. I like the color and,of course the mahogany
look was always good. I have a friend who has commented ,several times, that the old Windsors often had deeper
seats than modern stuff. Front to back dimension ,not scooping depth. I can't judge yours from the pic, but just pass it on as mo info.

[John Keeton]

Thanks, Mel and Rich. Mel, you may be right on the seat depth. I have Santore’s book and, while they vary significantly, many of the originals seem deeper front to back.

[Joe A Faulkner]

The chair looks fantastic. I imagine it was quite challenging. Well done.

[Jon Grider]

Beautiful workmanship John. And that milk paint finish is gorgeous. I see that your 'flat work' is done to the same high standards as your turnings.

[Peter Mich]

Stunning chair. I love the finish. You must be thrilled with the outcome. Plans for more? Curtis and Pete are great teachers.

Peter

[John TenEyck]

I'm not a fan of those chairs, but the workmanship and finish look outstanding. Is that a timberframe home you live in? My eye was immediately drawn to that structure. Beautiful.

John

[Mel Fulks]

There is a big difference between modern Windsors and the old ones on "fit and finish". I have wondered if a maker of
today would prosper by less precision and sanding. Some of old ones are pretty rough, tearouts simply facing the back
and tool marks visible all over. The number of chairs that 2 or 3 guys could turn out is astounding.

[Patrick McCarthy]

love it John, very nice indeed. Well done, sir.

[Tom M King]

Gorgeous!!

[jim sauterer]

Stunning john great job.

[Larry Frank]

Very nice and quite an accomplishment. Glad to see people go after something like this.

Two years ago, I went after one of those goals and built a Maloof style rocker.

[John Keeton]

Thanks so much, guys. This was the most satisfying woodworking project I have done. I am looking forward to the next one!
I'm not a fan of those chairs, but the workmanship and finish look outstanding. Is that a timberframe home you live in? My eye was immediately drawn to that structure. Beautiful.

JohnJohn, our home is built with SIPs and only the great room is timber framed, but it is a large room - about 1350 sq ft with hammerbeam bents and 25’ ceiling ridge.

[Jim Becker]

Wow...nice job! I'm glad you got to do this project that you wanted to do for so long!

[Brian Holcombe]

Exceptional work, John!

[Von Bickley]

Beautiful chair John. I always admired your flat work years ago and now I can look forward to your next chair.

[Andrew Hughes]

Awesome chair John I like it a lot.

[Mike Henderson]

Great job. Congratulations.

Mike

[Phil Mueller]

Beautiful chair, John. You must smile every time you walk by it. Love the color. Your skill in turning and flatwork have come together very nicely.

[John Keeton]

I really do appreciate all the comments! Thanks for taking the time to view the thread.

[Prashun Patel]

John-
It was fun watching your journey; thanks for sharing that. I'm so impressed with this. Having tried my own hand at it, I appreciate how much skill each step of this takes (and how tempting it is to take shortcuts).

[Mike Null]

John
That is just beautiful. A gorgeous finish!

[John Keeton]

Thanks, Prashun. Seeing the beautiful work you were doing on your chairs was a real impetus for me to get started on this one.

Thanks, Mike!

[Mark Rainey]

John, that is a work of art.

[John Keeton]

Mark, thanks for taking time to comment.

[Prashun Patel]

John, what did you find the most enjoyable part and the most challenging part? What is your next project?

[Keith Outten]

Amazing workmanship John, worthy of the highest praise and thanks for sharing.

[John Keeton]

Keith, thanks for the comments!!


John, what did you find the most enjoyable part and the most challenging part? What is your next project?Prashun, I will respond to your last question first - yesterday I rived the oak for the next braced comb back! I probably won't get really into assembly until winter, but over summer and fall I will do the drawknife and shave work, as well as the turnings if I can get some hard maple dry by fall.

At first glance, drilling all of the compound angle holes in the seat, arm rail, etc. seems daunting, but using the seat plan layout in Curtis' plans, along with the sight lines greatly simplifies that process. While achieving the correct seat contours was probably the most challenging task for me (this one isn't perfect by any means), getting appropriate wood stock may be one of the most challenging parts of building a Windsor. With this first chair I used kiln dried hard maple for the turnings, but finding stock that is thick enough is difficult. I plan to get some green maple and rive out the parts for the next one.

One piece white pine seat material is available, but prohibitively expensive. A one piece white pine blank can run as much as $180 shipped!!!!!!!!!! Kinda takes the fun out of doing a chair! I ended up using 2.25" thick poplar for the seat and it is a two piece glue up, which worked fine. I acquired enough for four seats at an average cost per seat of about $10.

In my initial post I commented that I have wanted to build this chair for right at 50 years, but the time, money and skills didn't come together until recent years. Over the decades, I have enjoyed acquiring new woodworking skills, mostly by trying new things that challenged me. This type of chair has it all - turning, carving, complicated assembly, etc. I wouldn't want anyone to take for granted the 11 years I have been turning and teaching turning - it has given me the confidence to feel comfortable doing the intricate legs and arm supports for the Windsor. So, for me the turnings were relatively easy, but I think the Philadelphia style could be quite challenging for a beginning turner or perhaps even an intermediate turner. The carving of the volutes in white oak is a bit tricky and requires some decent and sharp carving gouges and a sense of what the wood is going to do when a gouge is introduced. The volutes involve making cuts with and against the grain, and that can't be avoided. I didn't find doing them all that difficult, but then I have some carving experience going back several decades and have carved many of the platters and turnings that I do. So, I think it is fair to say that each person may find various parts of this process easier than others depending on their background and skill sets acquired over the years.

Using milk paint has its own learning curve, and I have much yet to learn about that. I noticed that in Pete Galbert's recent blog post he is exploring various new techniques with the paint. I will definitely alter some of my methods on the next one in an effort to get more predictability.

The most rewarding part, other than getting the chair finally finished, would be the shavehorse work. It is absolutely therapeutic! I could and did lose track of time doing the spindles, crest and armrail. By far, that was the most enjoyable task. I had not previously done much with a drawknife or spokeshave, though I owned one of each. I now have a much broader selection of those tools!

Sorry for the long response, but as you know Prashun, there are so many aspects to building a chair, many of which are unique to that task. I am sure my observations will vary from that of others, if for no other reason than we each have such different woodworking backgrounds.

[michael langman]

Your first windsor chair! It looks absolutely beautiful John.

The amount of detail and craftsmanship that goes into making one, that comes out looking like that, speaks volumes to your abilities in wood working.

Thanks for sharing the story behind it, and the result.

[Bruce Page]

Simply stunning, John. I love seeing your work, or should I say, Art!

[John Keeton]

Michael, thanks for taking the time to comment.

Bruce, thanks! I still think about my days as moderator and the friendships formed. Hope you and your family are doing well.