Steve Maskery
Old Oak
:eusa-clap: :eusa-clap: :eusa-clap:
Most very excellent
Best wishes
The Legend
Most very excellent
Best wishes
The Legend
-
Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!
Windsor Chairs
- Thread starter Blackswanwood
- Start date
Blackswanwood
Old Oak
Steam bending was done on Friday to replenish Steve’s stock.
The steaming box can be made from different materials and Steve used to use ply. This one is made from a thick plastic pipe which slopes forward slightly. The wood being steamed is suspended on stainless steel bars inside the pipe. The pipe wall is about 12mm thick – I think it’s some sort of heavy duty drainage pipe … Steve found it on his doorstep after a discussion in the pub one night about needing to build a new steamer and is still trying to find out who to thank!
The steam is generated by the wallpaper stripper which is kept topped up using the kettle. The white pipe at the front is the drain.
Steve is loading up here and the pieces stay in for two hours before being bent.
On the wall are the various formers that Steve uses for the chairs he builds.
A former is already bolted to the bench and the steel strap is in place ready to make a bend.
The piece being steamed is inserted with the end against the left handle and any gap between it and the right handle filled with one of the spacers on the rhs of the table.
The wedges at the top are knocked in very tight, left handle pulled in, right handle pulled in and a bar clamp applied to hold them in place.
The handles are removed and the clamped-up pieces are then left for 48hrs.
The wood can be bent in any direction – this was an example Steve showed us which is used by walking stick makers …
Sorry, there are no more pictures but it takes two hands to do steam bending!
That’s the end other than for me to say what a great week it was.
This course is run by Steve who has been making and restoring Windsor chairs for over forty years. It’s all hands-on coaching from a craftsman using tools to get the job done the traditional way. Steve also spends a couple of weeks teaching at The Chippendale School each year. When you feel stupid (as you’ve measured your seat arm from the wrong side of the block etc) he just tells you it’s only a piece of wood and helps you get back on track. He’s a top bloke - those that go to the Harrogate show will probably have met him ...
The other chap on the course with me had attended one previously with another “maker” down in Sussex. The course he did is about £400 dearer to make a chair with a seat made from edge jointed Poplar. Class sizes were 8-10 (it’s no more than 2 with Steve) and while there was a turning demonstration the only use of the lathe by attendees was for sanding. If anyone is considering a course, I’d suggest asking a few questions before deciding which one is right for you.
The steaming box can be made from different materials and Steve used to use ply. This one is made from a thick plastic pipe which slopes forward slightly. The wood being steamed is suspended on stainless steel bars inside the pipe. The pipe wall is about 12mm thick – I think it’s some sort of heavy duty drainage pipe … Steve found it on his doorstep after a discussion in the pub one night about needing to build a new steamer and is still trying to find out who to thank!
The steam is generated by the wallpaper stripper which is kept topped up using the kettle. The white pipe at the front is the drain.
Steve is loading up here and the pieces stay in for two hours before being bent.
On the wall are the various formers that Steve uses for the chairs he builds.
A former is already bolted to the bench and the steel strap is in place ready to make a bend.
The piece being steamed is inserted with the end against the left handle and any gap between it and the right handle filled with one of the spacers on the rhs of the table.
The wedges at the top are knocked in very tight, left handle pulled in, right handle pulled in and a bar clamp applied to hold them in place.
The handles are removed and the clamped-up pieces are then left for 48hrs.
The wood can be bent in any direction – this was an example Steve showed us which is used by walking stick makers …
Sorry, there are no more pictures but it takes two hands to do steam bending!
That’s the end other than for me to say what a great week it was.
This course is run by Steve who has been making and restoring Windsor chairs for over forty years. It’s all hands-on coaching from a craftsman using tools to get the job done the traditional way. Steve also spends a couple of weeks teaching at The Chippendale School each year. When you feel stupid (as you’ve measured your seat arm from the wrong side of the block etc) he just tells you it’s only a piece of wood and helps you get back on track. He’s a top bloke - those that go to the Harrogate show will probably have met him ...
The other chap on the course with me had attended one previously with another “maker” down in Sussex. The course he did is about £400 dearer to make a chair with a seat made from edge jointed Poplar. Class sizes were 8-10 (it’s no more than 2 with Steve) and while there was a turning demonstration the only use of the lathe by attendees was for sanding. If anyone is considering a course, I’d suggest asking a few questions before deciding which one is right for you.
Cabinetman
Sequoia
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2020
- Messages
- 5,683
- Reaction score
- 1,364
- Location
- Lincolnshire Wolds + Massachusetts
- Name
- Ian
Well if that’s the guy I was recommending on the other thread he has changed the way he does things completely, it was a few years ago now and it was most instructive and I could easily recommend him, as I said it was all from bits of tree with the bark on, and apart from cutting out the blank we did everything, including the bentwood for our own chairs.
It may be the same guy who’s gone downhill and is just in it for an easy life now, or its someone else altogether, but anyway as Robert said check first, but it would be a shame if it was the same guy that’s gone off.
Ian
It may be the same guy who’s gone downhill and is just in it for an easy life now, or its someone else altogether, but anyway as Robert said check first, but it would be a shame if it was the same guy that’s gone off.
Ian
AJB Temple
Sequoia
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2019
- Messages
- 7,807
- Reaction score
- 1,275
Nice thread and you've done a super job on the chair.
Windsor chairs are not my thing, but I still admire good workmanship when I see it. Never seen one of those unusual planes before.
Windsor chairs are not my thing, but I still admire good workmanship when I see it. Never seen one of those unusual planes before.