Recreating an 18th century Windsor chair with traditional hand tools 

Thanks Kelsey👍

Thanks Andrew. I’ll have another open day soon and maybe you’ll be able to visit again.

Thanks Julian. That was part one. We’ll get another done in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks Oisin. I will try and get something sorted soon. I’m a bit disorganised as far as filming is concerned.

Thanks William. It’s what I like to do.

Old style long 's' that looked very like an f. Went out of fashion in the mid 18th century.

@@regionalfurnituresociety interesting, thanks for the insight ! You learn something new every day

@@acanadianwoodworker it was never used if the ‘s’ was the last letter of the word- only beginning and middle.

The original chair seat is made from ash. I didn’t have any ash that big but I do have elm which is a good seat wood. I’ll fell a big ash after these gales blow over and convert it for future use.

You arrive at that conclusion because you don’t understand how to build things I suspect. There’s been many a jobsite I’ve walked on with my basic carpentry tools and other than the power miter saw and table saw- if even needed- I’m at work with two or three trips inside with my box and a bucket of traditional tools. On the big jobs all the other workmen are still wheeling in with their folding saw stands and once they finally get going I’ve been already working for some time. And while they re-cut and calculate their angles and fitment and try to biscuit stuff, me and my hand planes, old-fashioned scribes, chisels, and wooden-handled hammer usually can do 125% to 150% their productivity at the same quality expectation. Building a Windsor is a tedious process yet it’s both easy and accurate without any power tools needed. Few if any ‘mistakes’ occur and those that do most often are absorbed by body english and simply the organic process of constructing the chair. Add power tools to the mix and you might do some tasks faster in the process but you will have more unrecoverable mistakes- never mind losing the esthetics of the workman and the productivity losses of compounding error. Too much accuracy applied to an art is visually “colder” and has an institutional, uninviting tactile presence. Not understanding that tactile and esthetic elements are not features but rather revelations bequeathed as a gift to the end user is common- don’t feel too badly. Lots of folks look at handcraft and in their laziness think, “that’s too much work” and so they employ machinery to ease their discomfiture- spending much time sanding afterwards to cover up their tool marks and errors. There’s little, very little, benefits to many modern and post-modern ideologies when applied to handcrafted chairs or even the leather-wrapped interior door pull of a Maserati or Rolls-Royce where the felt but not seen heavy stitching cords are intentional- specified to communicate to the user an esthetic through a tactile-only sensory exposure. Newer methods are not always better. Not understanding that the consequential byproduct of these sensory tool methods is an essential part of the value of the finished chair is an unfortunate consequence of the societal trend of the current generation’s swallowing the koolaid- everything ‘old’ is inferior or inefficient. A chair is not just a chair- it can be much more than a chair.

@@fishhuntadventure actually you know all, I am well aware of how to make stuff and if you think a sawyer in a saw pit was happy getting covered in crap then you are unfortunately living in la la land.. like Any trades person, its all about quality in the quickest time so they can move to the next job.

You prolly dont care at all but does someone know of a way to log back into an Instagram account?? I somehow lost the account password. I love any tricks you can give me.

@Aryan Ares Instablaster :)

@Judah Dario I really appreciate your reply. I found the site on google and I'm in the hacking process now. Takes quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.

@Judah Dario It worked and I actually got access to my account again. Im so happy:D Thanks so much you saved my ass :D

@Aryan Ares Glad I could help =)

Thanks Leon. I love my time in the woods making things with old hand tools.

Rob, you make it seem so easy and natural

Leon Cohen I remember when I first started making windsor chairs in the early eighties. My ached like hell. Not any more.

It was my back that ached by the way.

Thanks. Not bad for my age

Hi Kun, I bought my first adze nearly 50 years ago and have been using them regularly ever since. It is still physically hard work though.

@@ailbyashholt3532 thats awesome man. I just started wood working and i try to do as much as possible with hand tools. Its harder and more time consuming, but i get more satisfaction out of it. Its just a hobby so im in no rush to finish my projects.