I've always been a bit intimidated by chairs and never took on the task of building one. Now that I am at school at North Bennet Street, I will have to build at least one as it is part of the program requirements. But, that will end up being my second or third chair as it turns out. In January, the school did a Windsor chair build, where all four semesters of students took on the task of building a comb back windsor chair. It's unusual for the entire school (roughly 40 of us) to be working on a common project and it was nice as we got the opportunity to work closer with other students we may not interact with as much.
The chair is a comb back windsor, a Curtis Buchanan style... And after we had spent a couple of weeks turning legs and arm posts and shaving spindles, and bending arms and crest rails, Elia Bizzari (schooled by Curtis) would join us for a week to guide us through assembly.
This had a number of firsts for me, including most of the green woodworking. I had a blast and learned a great deal. The chairs were for the most part the same with any variations to come in the choice of leg style and finishing... A couple did build rockers, and I built the only "brace back" (has a tail and two additional spindles).
Elia was a tmendous guide and Dan Faia (head of the department at NBSS and a seasoned windsor chair maker) were great coaches and leaders in the process. After spending so much time making everything fit perfect in our normal days, working in the world of windsor chairs and green woodworking and measurements that are "ish" (i.e. 5/8" ish) was quite a change.
The chairs came out great... A pic of mine is attached.. I went with traditional black over red milk paint, followed by an oil and wax.... The chair is very comfortable, and light...and my wife says this piece s not for sale..
Yo see some more pics of other students chairs and the group shots, you can visit the school website at www.nbss.edu.
Roger
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Originally Posted by Roger Myers
