The wooden Windsor chair is a familiar enough object to most of us, and when stained to produce a bad imitation of mahogany may not be very attractive, but it has points of elegance, and when we see the skill and ingenuity with which its parts are shaped out and built up, we find a fascination even about this simple article of furniture. Moreover, when the chair is finished and the grain of the wood is still showing, it is by no means unpleasant to look upon.

In the big factories which have grown up, wooden chairs are, of course, turned out by the thousand, but we will ask our readers to follow us in imagination to the picturesque village of Aldbourne, in Wiltshire, and watch the process of chair making in the thatched workshop, where everything is done in practically the same way that it was hundreds of years ago.

Local Wood

The rough material consists of beech or birch stems from which the legs and rungs are made. These are brought in from the neighbouring woods, whilst stout elm planks, cut up in the saw pit, are used for the seats and the flat portions of the backs. First of all the logs are sawn into convenient lengths in the yard and split into pieces from which the legs and rungs are shaved roughly in to the form of a rolling pin, when they are ready to be turned into the pole-lathe, of which there are two examples in the workshop.

The Aldbourne pole-lathes have two heads, between which the leg or rung revolves and the treadle is above ground. Moreover, the pole itself, instead of being fixed with one end pointing towards the ground, runs along the rafters, and in this case is not really a pole, as it consists of one or two very long strips of spruce wood. The cord passes directly round the object to be turned, and causes it to revolve first one way and then the other. The rungs are turned in the same way from thinner pieces of birch or beech wood.

The method of cutting out the back involves taking a thick elm plank fastened so that it slopes somewhat and is held firmly in position by a simple iron apparatus called a dog, which is driven into a hole in the bench, so that it is firmly wedged against the board.

Seats

It is then possible with a band-saw worked perpendicularly up and down to cut out a number of the curved backs one after the other, which are broader than the board is thick. It will be remembered that the seat of a Windsor chair is hollowed out, and this is done, to begin with, with an adze, a number of seats being planed out from a single board. The boards are sawn up into the right length for the seats, which are cut and shaped with a band saw.

The seat is held in position in this case also by an iron dog. Finishing up is done by means of a spokeshave, which, in the case of the one used for the seats, is bow shaped. The sides of the back are cut out and finished in a similar way to its top, and we now have all the pieces to make the chair, except the little ornamental bit which completes the back. This is slightly bowed, and shaped on an ordinary lathe, each end being dealt with separately and turned on a single headstock, while the other, which is at a slight angle to it, makes a larger circle as it revolves freely.

Legs

Perhaps the most ingenious part of the whole process is the boring of the legs. On the bench are three pegs; the legs are laid between these, and between them again is a piece of wood cut to a special shape. The introduction of a wedge holds the whole series firmly. A special kind of centre-bit is used with a rotund hollow end, like a combination of a spoon and a gouge. This is held against a pad which is fastened to the chest, so that the work can be done very quickly without hurting the workman. The bit brings out all the shavings in one little core. The shape of the bit enables a hole to be made almost entirely through the leg; whereas, if an ordinary bit were driven in so far, the point would come right through.

The braces which hold the bit are all made in the workshop, as are also all the handles used for the shaves. Before the holes are made in the two legs (which are the front or back pair as the case may be) the position is marked off at the end of each with a gauge. The small hole in the wedge is filled with grease that is used for lubricating the bit. The holes are bored at a slight angle, and the rungs are glued in while the legs are held securely as has been indicated. The seats and backs are all bored in a similar way and the last part of the process is fixing the back to the seat.

When all the parts of the chairs are made they are dried in a specially heated room and allowed to season in open sheds.

Various Designs

The finished chair when it has been further stained and polished will be worth about 2s. 4d. Owing to the competition with the factories the price is a little less than it used to be. There are all sorts of variations of the design which we have described. In the armchairs and in some of the others the back is made of perpendicular bars. These armchairs by the way, are very comfortable and can be bought for 10s. 6d each, retail.

Children's high chairs are also made and a small size of the ordinary form. The little armchairs are intended for small children, and recently a number have been made for the county councils schools. These chairs look exceedingly pretty and would cost retail no more than 3s. 6d each.

Some small stools are manufactured and another branch of the industry is the making of tall oval-seated office stools.

We are much indebted to Mr Albert Bray for the interesting documentation of his methods.

The Country Home, Volume IV, December 1929

Reprinted in The Dabchick, August 1998.

Aldbourne picture postcard village