All Blog Posts (19)

I made my shave horse. It came out great. It is just what I needed. The weather is getting wintry and I'm in the new shop working on chairs. I got an improved steambox.I bought a kit from Rockler. It's an electric heater.The propane cooker I built wasn't suitable for indoor use. Winter around here you can't do much outdoors.Also,I needed the steam box to be near my workbench where I do my bending.

I have a seat complete with legs and stretchers for a combback ,now I'm working on the arm…

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Hi Ralph,

I am a co-worker of Fred's. He asked me to respond since we were just talking about this very topic yesterday. The Laguna might be a little on the light side for a boat anchor but I have a lead on an old Crescent 36" that weighs in at around 1500 lbs and might work for that purpose. I'm not sure why your particular saw is giving you trouble. I wonder if it has Friday Afternoon assembly syndrome.

 I've glued tires on many (~50 or so) band-saws using weather-strip adhesive. It… Continue

 Greetings All,

 

  I recenty had the rubber tire on the top wheel of my 16" Laguna 3000 damaged by the saw blade I had used. I replaced it with another rubber tire and was wondering what any of you have used to make it adhere to the wheel.  I used a really strong glue but after running it for approx. 15 minutes, the tire came off at a high rate of speed…

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I just finished panelling my new shop area that will be used for chairmaking. I will be starting construction on a shave horse for this area. What I have in mind is the adjustable english style shave horse designed by Brian Boggs. I would like it if anyone who uses a shavehorse or has used one to let me know if there is anything I should know before I start. Is this style a good choice for the various operations involved in Windsor chair making? I have heard the dumbhead style horse makes it… Continue

Well Irene went through on Sunday.  We were on the Eastern side of the storm and got almost no rain, however we did get enough wind to knock out the power. Some trees went down blocking several town roads but were removed pretty quickly by the town crew.  I have been running our generator for almost 4 days and getting pretty tired of listening  to it 24 hours a day. Western New England is a very different story as they got hit with the torrential rains as well as the wind.  Most of the rivers… Continue

  Hey Guy, we hope you and everyone up that way is staying warm and dry. The News Stations here make it sound worse than it usually is at times so we hope you are all OK. Take Care, Ralph, Caron & Windsor

As mentioned in my last posting I am listing the woodworking and chairmaking books that Jack had in his shop.  Again the buyer pays all shipping costs.  Pay-Pal is the preferred payment method.

Asking price is 1/2 the new price…

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Those of you who took classes at Mike Dunbar's may have met Jack Drake.  Jack took many classes and was well known among all the regulars. I found out that Jack passed away a year ago last February when his wife contacted me and asked if I could liquidate his shop for her. In this post I am listing the tools that are available.  In my next post I will list his woodworking related books that are available.  If you are interested in anything, email me and we can make arrangements.  The larger…

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This display chest was commissioned by a friend of my wife who wanted something to protect and display her keepsake quilts. She chose red oak and I finished it in General Finishes Shaker Maple and three coats of the GF Enduro waterbed urethane. If you haven't tried this finish yet, I can highly recommend this top coat. I had to brush it on since I don't yet have a spray unit, but it came out great. The unit measures 29"x19"x21" high.  Straight forward frame and panel (and glass)…

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   Hello Fred,

   I thought I'd pass on some information for anyone looking for wood to make Windsor chairs or figured wood for making other types of furniture. I found a web site called www.WoodPlanet.com If these Guy's do not have it or it can't be found, it's probably because God didn't make it. Ha! Ha! Anyway, the good thing about the site is, you register your information and let them know just what sort of wood you are looking for and…

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I thought I would post a little video showing a chair part being turned.  Here, I am turning a stile for a Nantucket Fan…

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Last year was two kids chairs, one for my Goddaughter and and the second for my Great Niece. This year was a pair of Birdcage Windors for my sister.  This has become my favorite gift giving tradition.

In the hey day of windsor chair making, chair shops would frequently have the local turner produce all their turnings. This was the beginning of division of labor and specialty skills that we see in manufacturing today.

There are shops today that specialize in turned wood products and chairmakers that will produce turnings for others, myself included.…

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Tonight's job was to mount the bow on the back of the chair. At this point the chair looks like a pin cushion with wedges sticking out from the top of the spindles. The spindles go through the bow and are split and a wedge driven into the top to lock it in place. The next step, trim the wedges, a little sanding to prep for finishing then on to Priscilla for… Continue

Today in the shop I am working carving the knuckles on the hands of what I call a Redshaw Sack Back. This chair is an exact reproduction of a circa 1760's chair that a customer had and wanted a copy for her son. It is one of my favorite chairs. The seat is a little shorter from front to back than my other Sack Back, making it a more pronounced kidney shape, and the bow has a little flatter bend at the top. This all… Continue

Today we officially published our new Littleriverwindsors.com web site. We are pretty excited with the options that are available to our viewers. You can view our albums, read the blog and forum entries and if you join you can post your own pictures and make comments on your own page as well as join in on any forum discussions.

We still have a lot to add but wanted to get on line with the new site as soon as we could. So look forward to new…

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Well, I have our new Little River Windsors web page up and running. There are a lot of neat things that you can do if you choose to join. Each member can create a page of their own page and photo albums. I will be periodically posting to my blog and there is a discussion forum that you can talk about anything, preferably related to woodworking and Windsor chairs.
Let me know what you think.

Welcome to our Little River Windsors web page. Take a look at the chairs and other related pieces that we have made. If you join you can also post your related pictures into your own albums, make comments to our blog and join in on the forum. If you have any woodworking questions regarding tool or techniques feel free to post them and we will be happy to help you out.