Replies

1. 
   wooddork | Mar 16, 2009 11:54pm | #1

   I'd think that it would be good. White pine is the standard for windsor chair bottoms which is probably second to none as far as soft and weak is concerned. If I recall, gum is fairly split resistant, so it sounds good to me. Is this sweet gum, or black gum you're talking about? I've only ever worked with sweet gum, and while pretty nice to work with hand tools, I wouldn't call it soft.

1. 
   DWPorter | Mar 17, 2009 12:19am | #2

   Yeah, it's plain old sweet gum. I guess I meant "soft" compared to other backyard trees--oak, beech, etc.
   David Porter

2. 
   pmmatty | Mar 17, 2009 02:37am | #3

   I'm not even sure what "gum" is, but I use poplar with great success.  Plentiful, inexpensive, easy to carve.  I use angle grinders with arbortech cutters which make extremely short work of carving the seat. pmm

3. 
   danmart | Mar 17, 2009 04:15am | #4

   If you plan on working the seat shape with hand tools(a few photos attached), pine or soft poplar will make short work of this aspect. Should be some nice poplar in your part of the country??

   Gum and yellow pine are kind of difficult to work with hand tools. If you plan on shaping the seat with an angle grinder, the gum will work as well as any other wood under the chain cutter. If the gum works without a fight, go for it. Note: avoid yellow pine- I learned the hard way.

   check out the windsor site

   windsorchairesources.com

   best

   dan

   
   

   ---

   Edited 3/16/2009 9:18 pm ET by danmart

   
1. 
   Samson | Mar 18, 2009 09:49pm | #5

   Dan,

   When you make a Windsor, how do you do the leg mortise and tenons?  What tools do you personally use, and what angle taper?  Also, do you use a reverse taper on the top side or simply rely on the softness of the seat wood and the wedge to effectively accomplish this without resking a poor fit?

   Thanks,

   Sean

1. 
   danmart | Mar 19, 2009 04:25am | #6

   http://www.greenwoodworking.com/

    How do you do the leg mortise and tenons? 

   I use a tapered mortise and sometimes a straight drilled hole. I have not had a failure in the leg to seat joint. This is not a high problem area in my view.

   What tools do you personally use, and what angle taper? 

   I have a tapered reamer that I bought from  a guy up in NY. Fred Emhof made one for me a long time ago when I went to his shop(between Albany and Binghamton). The taper is 11:1.  After a while, I made my own reamer so I went to 8:1 to put a little steeper taper on the tenon.

   The beauty of the tapered hole is the builder can "adjust"the angle of the hole a bit. You can put the leg in,  step back and see if the angle matches the other leg. If not, you can adjust it a bit with the reamer and  still have a nice tight joint.

   If a reamer is something you would like  to try, I would  urge you to look at John Alexander's site. Address above. He is a fellow Maryland resident by the way. A truly fantastic woodworker. He gives you plans on how to make  your own reamer using an old saw blade. I have made several over the years and they work better than the expensive metal ones you put in a bit brace.  You have much better control of the reamer and you can sight down the reamer as you turn it with 2 hands.  A bonus. Remember, most of the reaming is end grain and the comfort of the Alexander reamer makes a big difference. It is also very easy to sharpen.

    

    Also, do you use a reverse taper on the top side or simply rely on the softness of the seat wood and the wedge to effectively accomplish this without resking a poor fit?

   No. It is  not necessary. I do use a slightly oversize wedge tapped in from the sitting side of the seat. This locks the leg tenon and keeps it from twisting in the pine.

   The under-carriage of the windsor is so important to the life of the chair. The care and accuracy of how you assemble the legs and stretchers is critical. Tight joints and proper angles makes a big difference in the integrity of the chair. Additionally,  I would recommend using hide glue for chair construction. It  works very well and you can repair it easily. No other glue will allow you to do repairs without extensive work.

   Use of Wood: pine seat, maple legs and stretchers, red oak bends, ashe or oak spindles. Some others  like hickory, I avoid it. Just a choice but it is a bear to drill a hole with a spoon bit in dry hickory. Yea  someone is going to reply how they do it with ease-- I'm hickory challenged I guess.

   Windsor reading and sites to see:

   Peter Galbert

   Curtis Buchanan

   David Sawyer

   Windsorchairresources.com

   good luck

   dan

    

    

    

   Edited 3/18/2009 10:05 pm ET by danmart

   Edited 3/18/2009 10:11 pm ET by danmart

1. 
   dkellernc | May 16, 2009 08:34pm | #8

   "Yea  someone is going to reply how they do it with ease-- I'm hickory challenged I guess."

   Ha!  - No they're not, unless they're being deliberately deceptive or don't know any better.  Dry hickory's hard as glass, and the grain's usually interlocked.  I don't doubt that it works as well as any wood under duress from a carbide edge rotating at high speed, but working this stuff with hand tools is beyond difficult.  Pecan, though not the same tree, is about as bad when dry.  I'd much rather plane ebony.

   Green hickory, though, seems easy enough.  At least it has been the few times I took down a sapling for some handles.

1. 
   danmart | May 17, 2009 12:40am | #9

   Green hickory, though, seems easy enough.  At least it has been the few times I took down a sapling for some handles.

   Piece of cake when its green. Splits like red oak, slices with a drawknife just great. Once its dry -- you are stuck. The hickory I find in my area and up towards Winston-Salem is shagbark type.

   This is the finest wood there is when its dry-- for the woodstove.

   d

    

2. 
   dkellernc | May 17, 2009 05:50pm | #10

   "

   This is the finest wood there is when its dry-- for the woodstove."

   Ha!  I like it.  Like most woodworker's, I couldn't bring myself to toss shorts and scraps of walnut, mahogany, figured maple, etc..., so I wound up with a 500 lb. box of them.  I finally brought myself to use them as kindling, and my shop's much the more organized for it.

3. 
   danmart | May 17, 2009 10:22pm | #11

   I finally brought myself to use them as kindling, and my shop's much the more organized for it.

   Its funny too how much you can move around without tripping over those "valuable scraps" I just can't toss.

4. 
   dkellernc | May 18, 2009 04:57pm | #12

   Yeah - But you've seen my shop, it's still not "organized".  There are some scraps I just can't bear to burn - particularly rosewood, ebony and other exotics. ;-)

4. 
   danmart | May 16, 2009 02:04am | #7

   did you ever build the windsor?

1. 
   DWPorter | May 18, 2009 10:56pm | #13

   I've got the wood drying and I'm working on a little kiln powered by a light bulb--trying to speed things up. 

   I've some soft maple drying for the seat.  Thanks for the interest!