Restoration of Two Early American Windsors
This year the Russell family of Illinois contacted me about a set of Windsor's, built by a carpenter friend in the 1700's. After restoring a couple of side chairs, which were pretty straightforward, they brought me two arm chairs, a sack back and a comb back.
The side chairs and one arm chair had bamboo turnings which dated them to around 1780, as that was when bamboo turnings appeared according to the historic records I have of early American Windsors.
This article traces the steps taken to restore the two armchairs, a process that involved forty plus hours of labor-intensive work.
The repair of the Sack back should have been straightforward leg replacement; the legs broken off at the tenons, and one side stretcher with broken tenons. Closer examination revealed the second side stretcher somehow suffered torsion fractures and so needed to be replaced. Removal from the center stretcher resulted in damage to both sides of the stretchers, due to 18th century four penny square nails. Throughout the repairs of these and the previous set of side chairs, while the turnings were clearly the work of a pretty good Bodger, the tenons of the legs were not turned, rather roughhewn to fit a chiseled mortice in the seat, some quite elliptical, as evident on the Comb back. Rather than re shape the tenon and diminish its size, a full set of legs, mostly matching the original dimensions were turned of Ash; angles measured, fresh tenons turned, tapered mortices in the pine seat. Under carriage now fitted, glued, installed and wedged. The Sack back completed.
The comparatively robust tenons and mortices I have made for hundreds of chairs promises many more generations will sit in this chair. All the components of Windsor chairs are split out of a log, be it Ash, Oak, Hickory, Maple or Cherry. This ensures the grain runs straight through the piece, be it for legs, arm rails, backs or spindles, that it be resilient, light and strong.
The Arm rail of the Comb back was a challenge to remember. A full inch wide and half an inch thick to be steam bent to a tight radius. The splay of the spindles what will be fitted through holes bored in this arm rail is quite dramatic, from 10" on the seat, 13" at the arm rail to 18" at the crest. The arm rail needed to be free to slide up and off the compromising spindles, squeezed together by 5" without their breaking. A new arm rail had to be made from a piece of ash, the original being broken in five pieces, as well as being 3/4 " off concentric, meaning the right side of the spindles and arm post were assembled out of whack two hundred years ago.
I don't know any chair builder who would create a bending form out-of-round to
mimic an eccentric arm rail to the five pieces of what remained of the original that now lays on my workbench. A true form was made, and hope for the best. It took two attempts to get it right.
As mentioned, the maker of these chairs did a nice job turning with what was no doubt a spring or a treadle lathe, electricity being a hundred years away. The tenons were rough and whittled very narrow and uneven, fitted to ill formed mortices. This gave me the opportunity to turn a new arm post, as the original was broken, and using the reamer, correct the seating angle to match the concentric arm rail, now successfully bent. As for the holes for the spindles, there was nothing to do but clamp the arm rail to the spindle in the seat, eyeball the two angles, of the splay, and the "lean back" and with the spindle being in the way and also my guide, bore seven holes in exactly the right spot, freehand. Seven holes at 7/16", each at 3-degree increments. Don't overthink this! Now to taper the holes from the bottom up, to accommodate the varying thickness and taper of each spindle, and the two arm posts, to where it will rest, to replicate the original lean of the back. Two or three trials of fitting, and each time squeezing the top of the seven spindles together, feeding the arm rail down, hoping nothing gives out. Which it did. The remaining post fractured at a weak spot, so another had to be turned. At last, all in place, ready to assemble for good, raise the rail, glue in the mortices, glue on the tenons, pound it all together down tight, the wedges in the right places.
Lastly, now some glue around the tops of the spindles, in the holes in the crest and get them in place, and pound together with the soft mallet.
A nerve wracking under taking from start to finish, seemed like one step forward and two steps back at times, from start to finish.
To conclude, I will say these are beautiful pieces of early American woodworking. Chairmaking, especially Windsors is an exacting craft, where all the parts, the degrees, the proportions come together, exquisitely, and that this Bodger who made these chairs had it figured out for future generations to see. And to sit in! Nice work.
