these two left for boston yesterday ...
ok, heres the challenge ... make a windsor chair out of metal ... the backs legs and bow are made on a home made form of angle iron and plywood, loosely based on one of my chair back bending forms. the back legs and top rail are one continous piece of 3/8ths solid steel rod, bent slowly, by heating a section at time with a handheld acetylene torch. the rounded seat frame is bent the same choice and welded on its own form. ditto for the front legs .
sam made these four chairs back in 2009 but we never documented the tricky part, drilling the holes in the back rails. so, sam when asked me for a refresher course, i decided to document it for him this time ... i started out as a windsor chair maker back in 1980 and i have made my share of them. i wont say how many as i know you probably wont believe me ...
we kept the original prototype luckily, and sam used it to make comparisons as he went along. there are no drawings of this chair so it was also helpful for laying out the spindle and cage and perch spacings on the new chairs ...
the first step is to mark out and drill the holes in the midrail, but only halfchoice through ... it is
really important to buy yourself some brand new cobalt drill bits for this task as the bow steel is hardened a bit by the heating and bending/shaping process. in the photo two photos above, the spindles are inserted in the mid rail and used to sight the hole angles as you are drilling the top rail. for sure an old windsor drilling trick.
when drilling these holes, you want to start small, like an 1/8th", and ALWAYS start perpendicular to the bow curve ... once you get started, gradually change your angle until it points where you want it to go .. a little dab of 3 in 1 oil about halfchoice through the 18th" hole never hurts. after the 1/8th", then follow with a 3/16ths", which, in this case, was the final spindle size ... see the video below of enlarging an 1/8th" hole to a 3/16ths ... sometimes the start is a little tricky ..
