Steam Bending Windsor Chair Parts

I'm working on another chair order and need to steam bend the bows for 4 sack backs. I thought it might be helpful to show how I go about the process for those wanting to make a Windsor. In this video, I'm starting with the already shaped pieces ready to bend.

I began by riving out the bows to roughly 1" x 1" x 48". After shaping them with a draw knife and spokeshave at the shaving horse to their pre-steamed sizes, they're ready for bending. I'm self taught at this and never learned how most chair makers go about it, so I don't move the bends from a bending form to a cooling form. I tie off the bent bows and hang them on the wall to cool. I have never had any problems doing it this way and it saves not only material for more jigs, but also a ton of space in the shop. Hope this video gives someone out there a little more encouragement to dive into Windsor Chair making. Steam bending can be used for several aspects in woodworking and it's also pretty cool just to watch happen in front of you.

Windsor DVD

Here is a promo to my DVD on making a Bow Back Windsor. I use a few new techniques now but this is basically how it's done. There are a few things I left out on the DVD because it was intended to be given to students taking my chair class as a warm up for what to expect and what they need to kind of familiarize themselves with before coming to the class. The DVD is about 30 minutes long and is available on my web site for purchase.

The Painted Titanic

Here is how the Titanic looked after it was painted. I have to say this was a hard chair to paint. With 37 back spindles, 10 legs, 9 stretchers and all the in between areas, it took quite some time to get it completely coated. The nice thing about it though was by the time I had gotten to the end of painting, the parts I did first were almost completely dry. For the finish, I used a 1:1:1 mix of Spar Varnish, Linseed Oil and Naptha as a thinner.

Steam bending rig

 This is the Steam Box I have used for 8 or 9 years now. It's just a simple pine box screwed together about 6 foot long. I can hold almost everything I need to steam with this one box. The 5 gallon gas can was purchased new and has only been filled with water, the turkey cooker base is one purchased from Wal-Mart and few years ago. This setup puts out enough steam to get the entire box up to 212 degrees in about 20 minutes of so and depending on how much water I fill the can with will last from 45 mins- over 3 hours.

 My jigs for bending are simple construction lumber and a plywood base. I never had the room to have multiple jigs so I made one base and interchangeable forms. I can do Sack backs, comb backs, C-arms, and Bow backs just by unscrewing the form and putting the appropriate one in place. This way I only have one big clunky base to contend with and with just a couple of screws I can keep everything together when not in use. If I need to do several of the same chairs I bend 2 at a time and once bent I tie a string around them and wait till I have 2 more bent and clamp them all together to help keep them from moving around.