Replies

1. 
   robertwhiteneck | Sep 18, 2008 10:18pm | #1

   You could find tools and ideas at Mike Dunbar's web site http://www.thewindsoinstitute.com Bob

2. 
   Samson | Sep 19, 2008 12:13am | #2

   What sort of Windsor?  Rustic or refined?  If refined, you need a lathe.

   Are you going to start with green wood or try to get their with kiln dried stuff?  Cause the tools are different.

   Are you going to wedge the joins or use the wet/dry technique?

   The list goes on and on really.  Can you be more specific about your plan and materials?

1. 
   artd | Sep 19, 2008 02:45am | #3

   Looking to build some continuous arm chairs. The power tools and steamer are no problem have a full shop. It is the hand tools and why I need them. Most books on Windsors just cover the different styles of chairs not the building of them, I do have Rendi's and Dunbar's books on building chairs. I'm just trying to get some insights on what other people have used and why. Dunbar and others list tools that they have for sale, but are all of them necessary.  Half the fun of woodworking is figuring out how to make it and making the jigs needed to make it.

1. 
   johnjesseph | Sep 19, 2008 05:37am | #4

   You don't need to buy many tools if you have a well equipped shop. Most of Dunbar's original tooling was based on his educated guess as to chairmaking tools.  I think now he is very pragmatic in his approach, and interested in keeping students coming in, and having succesful experiences.  Based on that, the tooling he recommends has changed considerably. However, you can make a great chair with a totally different approach if you want.

   A drawknife is useful, and a spokeshave.  I suggest a Stanley 53 or 54 spokeshave if you like vintage, a Lee Valley if you like new.  Metal bevel down shaves are fine, you don't need a wooden shave.  Vintage drawknives, as you probably know, are ubiquitous.

   Go to http://www.greenwoodworking.com/reamer.htm and make a tapered reamer based on John Alexander's plan. 

   Curtis Buchanan had a great article in FWW on seat shaping.  You can get by with a gouge to hollow the seat, and then really thick scrapers.  Maybe coarse sandpaper on a ROS.  (I do it mostly by Curtis' method, FWIW)

   Go to http://chairnotes.blogspot.com/ and do some cogitating.

   Look at the work at http://www.marksoukup.com/catalog.php and bypass Dunbar style chairs- you can spot Dunbar student chairs a mile away, and you might not want to follow the crowd.

   If you want to build in the Dunbar style, Rendi's book is good, but the actual chair built is fugly to me- nasty.

   Get Drew Langsner's book from interlibrary loan, read it, then buy it from him at http://www.countryworkshops.org.  Don't use his designs, scale your own from pictures in Charles Santore's books. 

   etc. etc. 

   TMI!!! John 

1. 
   artd | Sep 19, 2008 02:59pm | #5

   Thanks John

   Been to some of the websites you listed. I have all but the draw knife and that will be easy to pickup.

   Art

1. 
   cherryjohn | Sep 20, 2008 04:57am | #6

   Having made about 30 windsors............ a great spoke shave is the one thing I would not skrimp on.  You can get past the  spoon bits with  brad points but I still like spoons...........and good reemer is a necessity.  Seat carving is something that requires a travisher and a compas plane if you want to do the seat the old way.  Dunbar suggests a scorp on the seat but that just looked like an invitation to an ugly leg injury to me......I used a compass plane and a travisher exclusively.  A good draw knife is a delight, as is a great spoke shave.Wicked Decent Woodworks

   (oldest woodworking shop in NH)

   Rochester NH

   " If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"

2. 
   johnjesseph | Sep 20, 2008 03:58pm | #7

   I would respectfully observe that no one really knows what the "old way" was, or what tools were used.  Certainly depends on who, when, and where you are talking about.  I speculate that the variety of shop settings and processes was tremendous, and that although the adze, scorp, compass plane, and travisher are all traditional tools and were likely candidates, I am not aware of any documentation that clearly describes their use in chairmaking as a group.  I have owned and used several of the above, and have also made lots of chairs the "traditional" way, you can make chairs without them and no one will know the difference.  I have talked to lots of chair makers that omit one or more "Dunbar approved" seat tool for one reason or another, to no ill effect.  I agree a travisher might be nice, but like Jim Rendi shows in his book, you can shape a metal spokeshave to a nice travisher, works well.

   Sounds maybe like the original poster know the answer to his question before he asked, nothing more to add....

3. 
   artd | Sep 20, 2008 07:39pm | #8

   John

   I have a good idea of what tools I may need. I know that everyone has there own list of tools that they use. If you talk to the different people/schools teaching Windsor chair making they each have their own preferred list of tools. What I was trying to find out is what people ended up using after they took a class and built some chairs on their own. What tools ended up in the drawer collecting dust and what tool they used for every chair. I have seen too many people go out and buy every tool on the list only to find out you only need it one time and the old one that was in the shop would have worked just fine.

   Art

4. 
   rhagenstein | Sep 22, 2008 08:17am | #9

   On the issue of chair tools, I am wondering if anyone has used the LV pullshave (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=54888&cat=1,310) and if so , what are thoughts about utility for shaping chair seats and the like.

5. 
   lefky | Sep 22, 2008 02:54pm | #10

   I have found the radius on the LV pullshave to be much too tight to be much use in shaping a seat. I have stuck with an inshave and travisher as the primary shaping tools.Jeff

6. 
   rhagenstein | Sep 23, 2008 03:05am | #11

   Thanks Jeff.  always good to get the insight from actual experience.  I appreciate it.

   -Randy