Windsor Chair - Forms and Construction

Forms and Construction

There are about seven distinctive forms. These include:

• Sack-back

• Hoopback

• Comb-back

• Continuous arm
• Low back
• Rod back
• Fan back

It is common to find American Windsors made in the 18th century that contain three different species of wood. Pine, bass or tulip poplar are common for the seat. Non ring porous hardwoods such as Maple are stiff and make crisp turnings, and were used for the undercarriage. Ring porous species such as Oak, ash, and hickory all rive (split) and steam bend nicely. These woods are also straight grained and flexible and thus work well for slender parts such as the spindles.

The seat of a Windsor chair is an essential part since it provides the stability to both the upper and lower portions. The thickness of the seat allows the legs to be anchored securely into their respective tapered sockets, providing the undercarriage with strength and stability. A timber that will provide the strength and stability whilst also allowing it to be shaped, in order to achieve the desired look and feel, requires a strong durable timber, with interlocking grain, to provide the right characteristics. English Windsors typically have elm seats because its interlocking grain gives good cross-grain strength that resists splitting where holes are placed close to the edge of a seat. There are no real satisfactory alternatives to elm although other woods have been tried, for example, oak and ash in Britain and various types of pine in the USA. Because of elm's strength compared to pine, tulip poplar or bass, English Windsor chair seats are usually not as thick as American Windsors. The English Windsor chair seats are not saddled (or dished) as deeply as their American counterparts- partly because of elm's relative strength, and partly because elm is comparatively more difficult to sculpt than the softer woods chosen by American chair makers.

The legs are splayed at angles fore-and-aft (rake) as well as side-to-side (splay) to provide actual and visual support of the person sitting. Early chairs made in America usually have stretchers connecting the front and back legs and a cross stretcher connecting the two side stretchers, creating what is known as an "H" stretcher assembly. A common misconception about this assembly is that the stretchers hold the legs together in order to keep them from pulling apart. In the traditional Windsor design, the wedged tenon joint which joins each leg to the seat is strong enough in itself to prevent the legs from creeping outward. The stretcher system actually pushes the legs apart to retain the necessary tension which reduces slack.

"Through-holed and wedged" is one of the primary means of joining Windsor chair parts. A cylindrical or slightly tapered hole is bored in the first piece, the matching cylindrical or tapered end of the second piece is inserted in the hole as a round tenon, and a wedge is driven into the end of this tenon, flaring it tight in the hole. The excess portion of the wedge is then cut flush with the surface. This supplies a mechanical hold that will prevail when the glue fails. In general, early Windsor chair joints are held together mechanically, making glue a redundant detail in their assembly.