Pull Up A Chair... Or Five

It started with his siblings. As each one got married, they received a beautiful, handmade piece of furniture from him. He wanted to give them something that would last; something that they could pass along to their future kids. A couple of the pieces were a joint effort, made with love by Gorg and a visiting brother (also gifted in working with wood). Over the years, this tradition has extended to include our close friends. 

A little over a year ago, two friends of ours got married to one another. It was a joyous occasion and the wedding was beautiful. When asked what they could use, this couple had expressed a desire and need for a small dining table. So, a couple of hours after they said "I do," this Oak beauty with a turned Cherry pedestal and Cherry inlay was smuggled into their new home...

They were so pleased with the table that they requested chairs to go along with it several months later. Now one of these friends, Lisa, happens to be a talented local potter. We were in need of some new not-so-formal dishes, so a bartering deal was struck. Lisa agreed to make us a set of dishes and a few canisters in exchange for some dining room chairs. Several months later, I received these beauties...

Aren't they gorgeous?!

 So, now all that was left was for Gorg to crank out some chairs! Easy, right? Well, maybe for me since I didn't have to do much, but not so much for Gorg :) Chair making doesn't have to be terribly difficult, but it does take a lot of time and a lot of effort. Let the chair making begin!

designing new seat templates

Our friends decided on a set of Windsor Chairs. Those require a lot of turning, turning, and more turning. 

beginnings of a seat, legs, & spindles

It's a start.

Did I mention a lot of turning? "What is 'turning'?" you may ask. Well, it's generally accomplished with one of the machines pictured above. That is a lathe. It turns a block of wood at a high rate of speed. While it is spinning, those wooden handled tools in front of it are used to carve the turning wood. For a spindle, he starts with a piece of wood like this:

He then proceeds to power up the lathe and apply one of the lathe tools to begin the shaping.

Different tools are used for various types of shaping. Some use micrometers to check their measurements, but Gorg's eye has had years to develop a knack for 'eyeballing' it. It's downright uncanny how close he gets.

After he's finished with the lathe tools, it's a cinch to sand them down while they are still spinning. 

Take a look at this video showing Gorg turning a spindle from start to finish so that you can see what I'm talking about, not to mention how fast he is on the lathe. (Please forgive my autofocus.)

the completed spindles

All in all, there were 75 pieces turned by hand for this set of chairs.

just a few of the turnings

Once the turnings were finished, he began to shape the seats. Because, who wants to sit on giant, hard-edged slabs of Walnut, right? (This is probably his least favorite part of chair making, simply because it's soooo dusty. I couldn't even begin to video the shaping and getting an 'in progress' photo was difficult enough. When all 5 seats were finished, there was a good, solid inch of ultra fine Walnut dust in the shop and probably another eighth of an inch in our living room above; and that was with the shop doors wide open to allow the bulk of it to escape.)

Once the seats were shaped, he began to glue the chairs together. Legs and stretchers were the first to be assembled.

After the base of the chair was together and squared so that it sat properly, he wedged the tenons into the legs.

Then it was time for the spindles and crests.

  

a close up of the wedged tenon legs

Our friends had opted for a bit of a modern twist on an old Windsor style. The traditional 'bamboo' turnings were paired with Cherry circles in the crest in place of a more traditional 'butterfly' or 'birdcage'.   

I got a bit lazy with the photographs while he was assembling the crest, so we'll skip ahead to the final shaping and sanding.
 

A completed chair, ready for finish

The final products all ready to be delivered. Just in time for New Year's Eve partying!

Walnut seats, Oak spindles and legs, & Cherry circles

 And, just to brag a bit and show a couple of other Windsor styles that he's made, here are a couple more photos of Windsors that he's done in the past. Enjoy!

the traditional 'butterfly'

 

Curly Maple comb back Windsor