{"id":1588,"date":"2022-09-25T18:43:27","date_gmt":"2022-09-25T18:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.talesfromtheboatshed.com\/?p=1588"},"modified":"2022-09-25T18:43:27","modified_gmt":"2022-09-25T18:43:27","slug":"i-made-a-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.talesfromtheboatshed.com\/?p=1588","title":{"rendered":"I Made a Chair"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For a few years now, we have spoken with a chair maker, James Mursell, at some major craft fairs. He runs the Windsor Workshop<\/a> near Pulborough in West Sussex. Knowing that I fancied doing one of his courses, Sylvia gave me one of his chair-making courses for Christmas, booked for a week in early July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We stayed in one of the self-catering cottages on James’ farm, beautifully converted from former stables. While I steamed and shaped chair parts, Sylvia was able to have a well-earned break, reading and relaxing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James has the programme down to a tee. His instruction and teaching was excellent and, it was great to be learning in a small group with the other seven attendees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group included a father and son team, a father, mother and son team and a man who had come over from Japan, just to do the course!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We used cleverly-designed jigs to steam bend the arm and bow of our chairs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A test fitting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This jig supports the arm, ready for drilling the holes for some of the spindles – drilling the holes in-line is the most challenging part of the process.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Shaping the ends of the arms<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Putting wedges in the bow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Eight happy novice chair-makers with our expert teacher\/mentor, James Mursell (far left).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A ‘Classic’ Windsor chair in Ash and Mahogany …<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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… and its new owner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After some delay – I am much better at starting things than finishing them – here is Sylvia’s new Windsor chair, with its hard oil and wax finish applied, in its rightful place, at the desk I made for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If anyone reading this fancies making a stool or Windsor chair, I can thoroughly recommend a course at The Windsor Workshop. No prior knowledge or woodworking experience is required, though a little certainly helps. James also produces some super chair-making tools and, yes, I have got a few of them for future projects!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a few years now, we have spoken with a chair maker, James Mursell, at some major craft fairs. He runs the Windsor Workshop near Pulborough in West Sussex. Knowing that I fancied doing one of his courses, Sylvia gave me one of his chair-making courses for Christmas, booked for a week in early July.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.talesfromtheboatshed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.talesfromtheboatshed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.talesfromtheboatshed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talesfromtheboatshed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talesfromtheboatshed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.talesfromtheboatshed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.talesfromtheboatshed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talesfromtheboatshed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talesfromtheboatshed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}