Windsor chair
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A classic Windsor Chair

A Windsor chair is a chair built with a wooden seat into which are fixed the backrest and undercarriage. Typically, the backrest and sometimes the arm pieces are formed from steam bent pieces of wood.

History

Windsor chairs were developed in the late 17th century in the vicinity of High Wycombe but named for the local big town of Windsor, Berkshire, England. Their introduction to America seems to have been by the 1726 governor of Pennsylvania, Patrick Gordon.

Forms and construction

There are about seven distinctive forms. These include:

• Sack-back

Sack-back Windsor Armchair

• Hoopback

• Comb-back

Comb-back Windsor armchair

Comb-back Windsor Armchair

Comb-back Windsor writing chair

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

Ricker Fanback Windsor side chair

Ricker Fanback Windsor side chair

Lyman Mower Windsor side chair

Lyman Mower Windsor side chair

It is common to find Windsors made in the 1700s that contain three different species of wood. Pine or poplar are common for the seat. Elm is common for seats because its rippled grain gives good cross-grain strength that resists splitting where holes are placed close to the edge of a seat. Maple makes crisp turnings. Oak, ash, and elm^{citation needed} all rive (split) and steam bend nicely. They are also straight grained and thus work well for slender spindles.

The wood of the seat is removed to create the saddle. Softer wood makes the shaping of the saddle easier.

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.

"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.

Assembling wedged tenon joints
Driving the spindle home	Driving the wedge into the tenon	Completed wedges, awaiting trimming

Conniseurship

When presented with a 'period' Windsor chair in a stain finish, be aware that in the period, American Windsors were always painted. Look for traces of original paint on the bottom of the seat and in the turnings. Also be aware that the value of such a chair has been diminished by this alteration of the original finish.

See also

• The Windsor Institute

References

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A leading expert on Windsor chairs was Tom Crispin of St. Albans, VT, whose book 'The Windsor Chair' of 1991 is a classic on the topic, being the product of 40 years of an intelligent dealer and craftsman's observations and research.^[1]

Acknowledged experts in the making of American Windosrs today are Brian Boggs, Michael Dunbar^[2] and Drew Langsner^[3].

External links

• Information on Windsor Chairs