Class Details
- 5-day Class
- 9:00am to 5:00pm
- Sunday hours are 9:00am to 4:30pm
- Class Size: 5
- Hands-On Workshop
- We provide all tools and materials. If you have your own tools you want to work with, feel free to bring them.
- Class includes a lunch break. You can bring your lunch or eat at one of the restaurants in the area.
- This class takes place at our store in Atlanta.
Class Description
In this hands-on Windsor chairmaking class, we’ll build a Velda Windsor Side Chair while exploring the traditional methods, tools, and joinery techniques that have been used by chairmakers for generations.
We’ll begin at the log, learning how to split chair parts from the log rather than simply sawing them out. This gives us the opportunity to orient the grain for maximum strength and stability. We’ll discuss how different parts of the chair benefit from different grain orientations and how understanding the wood is just as important as understanding the tools.
Traditional hand tools will play a major role throughout the class. We’ll use the drawknife, shaving horse, spokeshaves, and other traditional chairmaking tools to shape and refine the components. Modern tools will also be incorporated where they can improve efficiency, accuracy, or safety without taking away from the traditional approach.
A major focus of the class will be wood movement and joinery. We’ll discuss how wood shrinks differently along the tangential, radial, and longitudinal planes and how that movement should influence the way we orient and join each component. These principles will then be put directly into practice as we build the chair, giving you a better understanding of why Windsor chair joinery works—not simply how to reproduce it.
We’ll cover the preparation and shaping of the individual components, including the legs, stretchers, spindles, and other chair parts, followed by drilling, fitting, and assembling the chair using traditional Windsor joinery techniques.
Throughout the class, we’ll focus on reading the wood, choosing the best grain orientation, making strong mechanical joints, and developing the skills necessary to build Windsor chairs with hand tools and modern equipment working together.
Whether you are new to Windsor chairmaking or already have experience with woodworking, this class is designed to give you a deeper understanding of the traditional craft, the reasoning behind the construction, and the techniques that make a Windsor chair both beautiful and exceptionally strong.
What We’ll Cover
- Splitting chair parts from the log
- Understanding grain orientation and wood movement
- Tangential, radial, and longitudinal shrinkage
- Traditional Windsor chairmaking tools
- Steam bending parts
- Drawknife / shaving-horse techniques
- Spokeshave techniques & sharpening
- Strategic use of modern woodworking tools
- Shaping and preparing chair components
- Traditional Windsor joinery
- Drilling (Mortis) and fitting components
- Understanding and applying proper joint geometry
- Chair assembly and fitting
- Developing an understanding of why Windsor chairs are built the way they are
The goal is not simply to leave with a finished chair, but to leave with the knowledge and hands-on skills to understand, build, and reproduce a traditional Windsor chair on your own.
