A Father and Son Making Windsor Chairs

March 9, 2023 Dena Koehn

Every Windsor Chair Making class is an immersive, unforgettable experience. It is a week of hard, grueling work followed by pride and accomplishment at making an object so incredible it will last well beyond your lifetime. Last month, a father and son, Dean and Ryan Ramsey joined us to build Windsor Continuous Arm Chairs. I wanted to share the unique experience they shared as a father and son duo taking the course. Ryan documented the experience on his Instagram account and his business Ramsey Legacy Woodworks. I have shared his words and some images below, but check out his IG for more pictures and to follow his continued woodworking journey.

What a great start to a great week! Dad and I are taking a chair making course together in Michigan this week. It’s been great learning on our first day, but even better hanging with dad. More pictures tomorrow!

Day two of this Windsor Chair adventure. Today started off with refining the square spindles into tapered octagons. After getting 15 of those done shortly after lunch we went to split the log again for our back/arm piece. After that we drew on the template, cut it out on the ban saw, then began refining the shape with the draw knife until we got it very close to final shape. It was a big day with the draw knife. Our hands are sore, but our hearts are full! 😊 Thankful dad was willing to come on this crazy journey with me. It’s been good to have him to joke with me about the pain.

It was a big DAY 3 for the Windsor chair course. We started out taking our carved arm/backs and making the hand paddle part with a draw knife and a curved spike shave. We picked out our seat blanks. Then we copied patterns and drew the chair pattern on the blank. After that we went into one of the big areas that I wanted to get better in… marking and drilling the leg mortise. Laser and mirror were a big help. Drilled leg mortise, hand rail mortise, and back spindle mortise. After that we jumped into one of the BIGGEST things I wanted to do in the course, steam bending the back/arms. It went great! It was a very good day, a lot less physical and more mental.

Tomorrow however…. Back to physical shaping the seat. Still grateful to be doing this with dad.

It’s Thursday! We started off with our chair blanks today. We used a drawknife, scorp, travisher, and spoke shave in LOTS of different ways shaping and forming the seat into its beautiful and elegant shape. It was a great day learning about layout lines and sculpting. I loved hearing dad say today, “I never thought of my self as an artistic guy, but I really enjoyed sculpting the seat.” Doing things like this teach you a lot more about yourself than just how to build a piece of furniture. We got our legs prepped and drilled mortises for the stretchers. It was a full day.

Tomorrow! Final seat shaping, spindle finishing, and other fun.

Day 5 FRYDAY! One thing is for sure, we will use all six days to get this project done. Today we finished up the back of the seat, cutting, using the drawknife and spoke shave. After the seat was done we drilled the mortise for the stretchers and then glued up undercarriage of the chair. This went rough. Haha. Thankful for Luke teaching our class cause he saved me from major failure. Every time I’ve made a stool I make some major error in the glue up of the undercarriage, this was no different. Long story short, it ended up fine, but I was stressed and frustrated. Once that was finished up, we finished our spindles by cutting to length, tapering the ends, and then shaping the spindles to round. Then it was time to put the seat on the legs. Again, I learned some lessons, but in the end… we got it done. Another great day, ready to get the chair all pieced together. I’ll be sad for it to be over. It’s been fun. Dad has been a trooper. I’ve had years to become passionate about this, I kind of pushed him into the deep end over night. I am proud of the work he’s put in.

Day 6. Let me tell you… this is a 6 day class. We used every bit of every day. We didn’t leave until 6:30pm tonight. Today we began the process of marking and drilling our back/arm mortises. Getting the back onto the spindles was art. Not science. Long story short, it was a long day, but a great day. I’m so thankful for Luke (our teacher) for the time he spent with us teaching us the techniques, tips, and tricks. I’m really thankful that back in September, when I asked my dad a crazy question about going to a chair making class with me that he accepted my invitation. It was hard. In fact, it was said this week, if you can build a bent back Windsor chair, you can accomplish any woodworking project. I am proud of the work we did, and dad kept up the whole way. I know there’s a lot more woodworking in my future, but it’s looking like dad has just tapped into his inner woodworker! I can’t wait to see what he does next.