Woodworker: Fred Shindle

This comb-back Windsor is based on the speaker’s chair built for The Carpenters’ Company, a trade guild, and used at the meeting of the First Continental Congress in 1774 at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia. Shindle was given access to the original by The Carpenters’ Company so that he could take photographs and measurements. His version now resides in the main hall where that first meeting took place. The chair has a poplar seat, maple turnings, hickory spindles, mahogany arms, and a white-oak crest. The finish is two coats of black milk paint followed by linseed oil.

Photo: J . Elberson Photography