Smoker’s Bow Windsor Chair

Colwin Way Turns a Traditional Chair from Ash

As a professional woodturner, I find chair making an extremely pleasing process. I have taught Windsor chair making for Axminster Tools and Machinery, along with fellow tutors Jason Breach and Ben Beddows. As tutors, we favoured this course above all of the others. The reason for this is that the course took six students with no woodworking experience through a whole variety of processes, tools, machinery and emotions. Yes, emotions: a lot of work goes into your first chair and when it all comes together, it is not unusual to see the odd tear or three. A normal Windsor chair would be a double bow involving steam bending, but for this article I’m going to make a smoker’s bow, which requires more turning.

The seat of my chair is made from a solid piece of ash but to find a piece of timber this size is very difficult, so you may want to join some boards together. Alternatively, you could scale down my measurements and make a child’s chair instead. I’m also using ash for all the other components but again you could mix and match, as very often Windsor chairs would have been made from several timbers. Ash and yew bend very well so were often used in steam bending, whereas elm was often used for the seat.

Yes, emotions: a lot of work goes into your first chair and when it all comes together, it is not unusual to see the odd tear or three.

You will need

• 9mm MDF for templates
• Bradawl
• Metre rule
• Bandsaw or jigsaw
• Angle grinder
• Carving blades for angle grinder
• G clamps
• Flat spokeshave
• Convex spokeshave
• Plane
• Cabinet scraper
• 20mm & 25mm Forstner bits
• Dividers
• Callipers
• Mallet
• Cordless drill
• 12mm lip and spur bit
• Angle guide or bevel gauge
• Strap clamp

Cutting list for legs and stretchers

• 4 x legs 460 x 50 x 50mm – tenon diameter 25mm
• 1 x centre stretcher 420 x 50 x 50mm – tenon diameter 20mm
• 2 x side stretchers 380 x 50 x 50mm – tenon diameter 20mm

Making seat templates

I’ve included all the measurements and I’d advise you to pencil in the dimensions of all the other components like the legs, stretchers and arm supports as well. I’m using 9mm MDF for all the templates, but plywood would work equally well. If you are only making one chair, thick cardboard would have the same effect.

Explanation of sight lines

• The sight lines on the seat enable you to get the correct splay on the chair legs.
• The splay is the amount of angle the legs protrude when looking straight at the chair.
• The hinge board and risers give you the leg angle when looking from the side of the chair.
• This chair is designed to give a lounge feel or a Sunday morning peaceful paper reading feel, if you know what I mean!

Hinge board

1. The hinge board lets you create whichever angle you want with the use of risers. The one I’m using is made up from bits I’ve found from old machines: two pieces of plywood or MDF connected at one end with a couple of hinges. You could make one easily using a drilled mortise at one end and a mortise cut in half the other to act as a cradle.

Marking, cutting out and shaping the seat

2. Use a template to mark out the seat that measures 475 x 445mm. Position the template to make the most out of the grain: I position the template to have the grain running from front-to-back as opposed to side-to-side, which I feel looks a bit better but this is not compulsory. You can clearly see the sight lines drawn on the template; these will be used to mark the seat blank.

3. After you’ve marked the seat out with pencil and without moving the template, use a bradawl to dot the position of the legs. This will be our centre point when drilling for the legs later on. All the instructions and measurements for the template can be seen in the technical drawings opposite.

4. Again using the template, mark the positions of the sight lines with pencil onto your blank. Now, using a rule and pencil, join all of your markings together to replicate the sight lines from your template.

5. Once your blank has all the sight lines and the leg positions marked onto it, start to cut the blank out. Here I’m using a bandsaw, but a handheld jigsaw will work equally well. Try to keep as close to the pencil line as possible. This will save a lot of elbow grease later when using hand tools to tidy up the blank.

6. Now we are going to use the second template to add a second line over the blank. This line will be used when shaping the scoop in the top of the seat.

7. Draw a heavy line to use as your stop line. It is important to be able to clearly see this line when using the power tools. Here is the fully prepped seat blank with its sight lines and second template markings on.

8. Now for the fun part: shaping the seat! Use an angle grinder with a turbo plane blade. This gives a really quick way of roughing out the seat ready for hand tools. However, great care must be taken when using these power tools and carving heads, so if you feel uncomfortable in using them stick to hand tools.

9. At this point the seat should be roughed out and ready for finishing hand tools and fine tuning. I personally test all my seats while shaping by putting the seat blank on a stool and sitting on it. I do this until the seat shape fits me perfectly.

Cleaning and drilling the seat with hand tools

10. Before the final shaping we need to drill the holes in the underside of the seat to take the legs later on. Here you can clearly see how the sight lines work. Keep the sight line in line with the drill and drill on the bradawl point you made when marking out the blank. The sight line will give you the correct splay.

11. This picture shows the drilling in process. Use a hinge board to give you the correct drilling angle which, in this case, is 10° for the front legs and 15° for the back legs.

12. Now the seat has been roughed out, move on to the fine shaping. To start with use a couple of spokeshaves, one flat and one with a slight convex curved profile. Together these will do most of the final shaping, however, help from other tools like pull shaves and travishers will also be useful.

13. Clean up to the shaped edge of the seat with a cabinet scraper prior to sanding. Try to work with the grain in order to prevent tearing.

14. When you are happy with the shaping of the seat and it feels comfortable to sit in, flatten off the top to crisp up the second template line. So that you don’t have a clamp or bench dog in the way here, use a sacrificial bench board to which stop blocks can be screwed to keep the workpiece from slipping.

15. You will now begin to see the finished top shape. Continue to shape the underside by curling up the edges with a spokeshave and planing the bottom before sanding the seat all over.

Turning the legs and stretchers

16. Now on to the turning: we’re going to start with the legs, which should have all been cut to the same length of 460mm. Mount the leg onto the lathe and rough the blank down to round. I’m using a favourite shape of mine, which works well on a larger chair.

17. I enjoy the discipline of copy turning but also the freedom of creating the shape of the first leg. Be sure to take your time turning the legs and tweak the design until you are happy. I use source material from books, the internet and my memory. Position the drill on the leg, for the stretcher to fit into, 200mm down from the top of the leg, and avoid any intricate design in this section.

18. When you’re happy with the leg, start the copying. Copy turning is simple if you measure everything with callipers and dividers. Start with the overall diameter after roughing: make this to the largest diameter on your first leg. Then approach each part of the design first by diameter then width. The front and back legs do not need to be the same.

19. The fit of the tenons must be firm but not tight. Work on a small section first, around 6mm. Measure the drill bit with a set of callipers and cut a 6mm tenon with a parting tool, then check in the seat. Once the fit is right, re-set your callipers and finish the tenon to about 30mm.

20. When all legs have been turned, sand them all (remembering not to sand the tenon).

21. Now move onto the centre stretcher. Measure and mark the halfway point, then use a set of dividers to start marking outwards in both directions. The side stretchers can be plain or shaped. For a smoker’s bow, the design is a bit more elaborate. Remember you will drill a mortise hole for the centre stretcher at the halfway point, so keep that area plain.

22. The finished legs and stretchers.

23. Next, drill the various holes for the stretchers using a hinge board. Use two different angles on the front and back legs – 10° for front and 15° for back. They require two different risers in the hinge board. Drill two-thirds through the leg to give a good joint, 200mm from the top of the leg.

24. Once drilled, take out the angled risers from the hinge board and drill the side rails at 90°, again to two-thirds deep.

25. Now dry fit the chair together. First insert each tenon into each mortise individually, then altogether. Do no glue yet as the top of the seat still needs to be drilled for the arm supports.

Drilling the seat

26. The seat and legs so far, ready for drilling.

27. Now we’ll drill the top of the seat to take the top arm support turnings. I prefer to drill these by hand using either a bevel gauge or angle guide to keep me at the correct angle, which in this case works out to be 10°. As the seat has already been shaped, you will also need a straight edge from which to work the mitre gauge. My mitre gauge is made from clear plastic and not ideal for photos, but if you look closely you should just make it out. Using a cordless drill and a 12mm lip and spur bit to avoid skidding, drill the eight holes around the perimeter of the seat. Measure the depth you want to go to before drilling and mark your drill bit with a piece of tape to ensure you don’t go too deep or through your seat.

28. Here’s the seat drilled and ready. The centre distance between each of the holes measures 135mm. To get these positioned evenly, mark a line running around the edge of the seat at 12mm in from the edge and then a centre point on the back edge of the seat. Work outward and around on both sides of this point with a set of dividers.

Assembling the bottom section

29. Now for the exciting bit, gluing the first parts together. You know all the parts fit together as you’ve already tested each joint when you went through the dry fit. Start by making sure you know which are your back legs and which are your fronts, marking them if you haven’t already. Position your turnings so that all of your mortises are facing upright and tools are at hand. You will need glue, a glue stick, a mallet, warm water and a rag. Add a good covering of glue to each of the holes, remembering you can wipe away any glue at the end with the water and rag.

30. To begin the under-seat assembly process, take one of the side stretchers and fit that to one front and one back leg. Position this assembly into the seat. Position the centre stretcher into this assembly. Connect the remaining front and back legs into the remaining side stretcher. Add this assembly to the centre stretcher and lower the whole assembly down into the seat. When in position, tap home fully with your mallet and wipe off any excess glue.

31. Here’s how your seat should look so far. At this point, make sure you don’t have too much wobble by sitting on the seat and having a ‘fidget’ or a ‘wiggle’, whichever you prefer! If you find it necessary, clamp the seat up using a strap clamp and leave overnight to dry. I like to think that all my chairs will be around for a long time, expecting them to outlast me and be handed down. By being the first person to sit in it means I’m a piece of that chair’s history.

Making the arm bow

32. Make a template from the armrest drawing in the plans, so that you can position the grain to show it at its best.

33. Use a bandsaw to cut out the arm but if you don’t have one then a jigsaw will achieve the same result. Cut as close to your line as possible and take your time as this will mean less cleaning up to do with hand tools later on.

34. You can cut one arm from a thick piece of timber, then split it through with the bandsaw to make two identical arms with matching grain. If you’re uncomfortable with doing this, just cut each of the two half arms out using a slightly thinner piece of timber.

35. So it’s now down to elbow grease and hand tools. Start by flattening the arms with a plane on a flat surface, working with the grain as much as possible to avoid breakout. Here I’m using a couple of stop blocks screwed to a sacrificial bench cover. This means I can position the arms securely to work on, anywhere I like on the bench.

36. Now do the edges of the arm with the convex and concave spokeshaves. I really enjoy using these tools and find it a pleasing part of the project. We need to do enough here to take out any bandsaw marks. Make sure you cut with the grain and not against it, to leave the best possible finish.

37. Use a router and a roundover bit to save a bit of time, to soften the top and bottom of the arms. If you don’t own a router or are unsure about this process, just use the spokeshave to create a nice edge to your arms.

Making the back support

38. The next step is to cut out the back support, which will also act as a bridge to join the two arm sections together. Use your prepared arms as a template when marking out the back support. Again, cut as close to your markings as possible.

39. Once the back support has been cut out, you can glue the three sections together. I find it easier to hold the back support upside down in the bench vice for this step. Glue the bottom surface of the support then position the two arm sections over the back support and clamp loosely with a couple of clamps. Before you clamp up completely, drill through the arm and into the back support with an 8mm drill bit in four equally-spaced places. Glue these holes and tap in four 8mm dowels to add strength to the finished arms.

40. At this point, add more clamps and ensure that no gaps remain. Leave overnight for the glue to dry. When the arm is fully dry, put it back in the vice and spokeshave the back support to follow the contours of your arms. Wrap it around your own back, testing for comfort until you’re happy with the fit.

At this point, make sure you don’t have too much wobble by sitting on the seat and having a ‘fidget’ or a ‘wiggle’, whichever you prefer!

41. When the glue has dried, you can drill the holes to the underside of your chair arm. Here I’ve positioned the back support over the side of the bench to work on the arm more easily. Once again, use the angle guide to ensure that you keep to the 10° you’ve used on the seat drillings. Make the hole centres 155mm apart and 12mm diameter. Again, mark the depth on the drill before drilling.

Turning the arm supports

42. Now it’s time for a bit more copy turning. We have eight arm supports to turn. As you can see from the plans, I’ve made mine top heavy, but you can change this as you see fit. Just use my design as a guide. Start by roughing down, sizing and cleaning all your supports blanks to the same size.

43. When you’ve decided on your design and turned your first support, start measuring each feature starting from the top and working down the length.

44. Plot these measurements onto the blank with a set of dividers.

45. This picture shows the blank marked out where the positions of each feature are easy to see.

46. Now you know where each feature is to be placed, we can move onto the callipers. In this picture I’m measuring the first fillet. Fillets are easy to measure and easy to re-cut as they’re flat bottomed.

47. Cut the fillet into the blank and check as you go with the callipers, ensuring an exact match. Once you’re happy with this depth, move onto the next feature one bit at a time, measuring with dividers and callipers as you go. You will soon build up a rhythm and start understanding the processes in copy turning. Anyway, who will know if you make 20 supports and pick the best eight for your chair; it’s all good practice.

48. When you’ve cleaned up and cut the tenons to 12mm, sand each support. Remember not to sand the tenons themselves.

49. You should now have eight arm supports ready to be dry-fitted to the bottom section of your chair, which should now be dry.

Assembling the top section

50. You will need to dry fit the whole top section of the chair together before you even open the glue pot. This is your last chance to tweak. It may sometimes be necessary to slightly change an angle on one of the holes or even nip a bit off the end of a couple of the supports to make the arms sit at a better angle. This is all part of the general finishing process.

51. To glue this final section together, again prepare all of your tools close to hand and glue the holes in the seat first. The supports can then be tapped into the seat. Flip the arm upside down and glue the holes before turning it over and working around from the first support in sequence to the last. Finish by tapping down and wiping off any excess glue with warm water and a rag.

52. The finished chair just after gluing. Clamp your chair with strap clamps, making sure the strap goes under the seat and not around the stretcher or spanning the arms; this would only act to pull the arms inward rather than down.

The finish

53. Finishing the chair is definitely a personal decision. You can use French polish, wax or, as I have used here, oil. If you are using finishing oil, give the timber a generous coat to begin with, but wipe off the excess after about 10 minutes. If you don’t do this, the surface will become sticky. After this, you can apply several very light coats and lightly sand between each to de-nib and build up to the desired sheen. You will usually need to leave oil overnight to dry sufficiently before re- coating. However, in the warmer months, the process can be a bit quicker. Once finished, you will have an heirloom that will become a great conversation starter and indulge you in those quiet Sunday morning paper-reading sessions.

Further reading

Ladder Back Chair Restoration