How to Build a Windsor Chair

Choose the wood you would like to use for your chair. Traditional woods used for the Windsor chair include white pine, poplar and basswood for the seats; oak, ash, and hickory for the spindles and backs; and maple and birch for the legs and other parts that are turned on the lathe.

Cut the trees from the list above or buy the felled logs someone else has cut. Green wood works best, because when it is split by hand, you are able to achieve a continuous grain, giving the individual pieces of wood far more strength than when cut by a chain saw. Use a wedge to split the wood lengthwise, then split the wood into the smaller pieces need for the various Windsor chair parts with a froe, a tool with a wooden handle and a long, metal blade used to split logs into smaller pieces.

Shape the wood into the pieces you need for the Windsor chair arm rails, back and spindles by either placing the wood you split on a shaving horse or in a vise, and shaving it with a drawknife.

Create a wooden form that will be the template for the curve of the back and arm rails out of a thick piece of wood. Trace the curve you wish with a pencil, then cut the wood into shape.

Place the back and arm rail into a steam box for an hour or more to soften the wood. Once the wood it pliable, bend it into shape by placing it over the template you created in the previous step. You should bend the wood quickly-within a minute or so-before the wood looses its pliability. Pegs and a wedge placed just outside the template help hold the bent wood in place.

Shave the spindles with a spoke shave and a draw knife. You can turn the spindles of the Windsor chair on a lathe, should you so desire.

Glue a piece of wood to the side of each arm rail's end. You will shape this wood into a curve with a coping saw or a chisel. The resulting curve is called a knuckle.

Turn the split maple or birch on a lathe to create the stretchers, legs and arm posts.

Build the seat of the Windsor chair by cutting a 2 inch thick piece of poplar or pine into an oval or a shield shape. Use a gutter adz (a tool that resembles a very sharp hoe) to create the rough shape of the seat, the refine the shape with scrapers, compass shavers, travishers (curved spoke shaves) and other such tools.

Drill tapered holes into the bottom of the seat for the legs, and drill holes into the legs for stretchers. Put wood glue in the holes of the seat and on the legs, and insert the legs. Align the legs to ensure the Windsor sits squarely, then insert stretchers between the legs. Trim the tops of the legs where they extend beyond the top seat with a chisel. Wedge the legs for maximum strength.

Make more holes with a drill from the top of the seat for the arm posts and spindles. The arm post holes extend through the seat, and the arm posts should be wedged and glued from the bottom of the seat. Drill holes into the arm rests and back of the Windsor chair. Insert the spindles into the seat (be sure to cover the ends with wood glue) and line them up with the holes of the back and armrest. Trim any excess that extends below the seat and above the back and arm rests with a chisel.

Smooth any rough edges with scrapers or hand planes and sand paper. Traditionally, the chair is painted to mask the different kinds of wood used in the creation of the chair. One of the traditional paints used is a milk paint, which is non-toxic, and with wear, creates a nice patina. You can coat the milk paint with boiled linseed oil or polyurethane. Some chair use more than one layer of milk paint of varying colors, so that as the paint wears, the different colors come through, giving the chair an antique look.