Make a Windsor Chair (A fine woodworking book) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

With its turned legs, spindled back and angled, contoured seat, the Windsor chair has been a favourite for years. Now you can make your own with the help of this guide.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Taunton; 1st edition (March 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0918804213
• ISBN-13: 978-0918804211
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #990,862 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, Concise, & to the point, December 8, 1999

By	J. Dowski (Oxford, CT. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I not only have this book, I have made a chair in Mike's workshop in New Hampshire. Mike has been instrumental both through his writings and teachings in the recent revival of interest in the making of Windsor chairs by hand much as they were made hundreds of years ago. His book is my definitive resource for questions about Windsor chair construction when I am working in my shop. In this day and age where most of our furniture is mass produced by machines using wood composites and other man made materials it is refreshing to see how fine furniture was once (and in certain places still is) crafted directly from the forest with nothing but hand tools and the skilled hands of the chairwright

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make a Windsor Chair , Dunbar, July 8, 2001

By	Mike 1900 "mike1900" (CA USA) - See all my reviews

Excellent book dealing ONLY with the construction of the Windor chair. Dunbar takes the reader through the selection and riving of wood, adzing of the seat and turning of the chair legs, through to the finished construction of the chair. Dunbar also explains the construction of a steaming setup and jigs for the bending of wood(s). Dunbar runs a school on the making of Windors and this would be the textbook students use to learn Dunbar's methods. A "can't miss, no regrets" purchase.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dated but still useful, November 20, 2006

By	T. jefferson "Tom" (Massachusetts United States) - See all my reviews

Mike Dunbar has probably had more to do with the revival of hand made Windsor chairs using traditional tools and techniques than any other person in the U.S. and his book remains the best single guide to making such a chair. I purchased a copy eleven and a half years ago when I took my first class with Mike and when his book was still in print. I have never regretted the fifteen or twenty dollars it cost. Nonetheless it needs to be thoroughly revised and updated. Even Mike admits there are some serious errors in the book, and some of the techniques he and his students have developed since the book was first published will yield a better chair with considerably less effort. My advice would be to spend the six or seven hundred dollars to take one of his classes plus the cost of meals and a motel room for five days, take copious class notes, and then buy the book as a good reference work for subsequent chairs.