El Barto
👍
... And All I Got Was This Really Cool Chair
As the title says, I spent five days with James Mursell at The Windsor Workshop making his “Crown Windsor” and I thought I’d share my thoughts. As an already very good and in depth topic about what a week there looks like was once posted) by another user, I’ll just summarise/think out loud for the most part. Couldn’t resist posting a few photos though. This is probably a reflection of myself in this kind of situation as much as it is a review of the course so hopefully it doesn’t come across as overly critical.
Arriving at the workshop was the kind of thing you’d expect, pleasantries exchanged and introductions made. It feels great stepping inside for the first time; there are amazing chairs everywhere and the whole place is very big and light and well kitted out. The actual location is also beautiful, just outside the South Downs. Unfortunately for me, I was staying with family in Worthing so saw little of the surrounding country and lots of the INSANE traffic Worthing has to offer.
This was my benchmate John, he was cool. Throughout the week you and your benchmate provide assistance in various ways so I’m glad John was a clever and competent bloke:
Each day was filled with its own unique challenges as new areas of the build were started and others added to or completed. One thing I realised I didn’t really like about these things (and should have anticipated beforehand obviously) is the social aspect. Banter and the like, I’m just no good at it. I’m not saying we should work in silence with our heads down like mindless drones, but faffing about wastes time. That’s purely my take on it; I know most people enjoy talking to one another and conversing but I’m terrible at it. I think it’s ‘cause I’m on the spectrum/a grumpy b*astard. After all, I paid to learn how to build a chair, not make friends! (That’s probably the meaner part of me talking but whatever). And with that in mind, the days were quite slow as there were total beginners in our group (one of them literally hadn’t held a drill before - not a criticism, just an example of the varying degrees of experience. I’m by no means an expert at any of this stuff but comfortable enough with hand tools). It did frustrate me at times but it’s testament to the efficacy of the course that that person left with an amazing, handmade chair.
But here also lies the problem, I think. The days are well oiled machines and for good reason - it’s a big undertaking to build these chairs in five days. But because of the importance of time it doesn’t leave much room for a solid understanding of what we were doing, or why it was done in a certain way, or history, or reasons behind things, or how this design was even landed on in the first place. I really wanted a deeper understanding of what we were doing which I don’t really feel like I got. I thought I’d be in a room full of would-be chair makers keen to learn about chair making in a broader sense (or at least the broader sense of Windsor chairs, or even a small part of Windsor chairs) but instead it was more about the chair we were making, there wasn’t much time for anything else. Perhaps there aren’t any five day courses like that and I was naive going into it, expecting too much. Like I said, I understand that in order to complete a chair like this in five days it needs to be done in a time efficient manner and compromises will be made. It doesn’t really matter in the end because all that information can be gained from books anyway.
I should point out here that James himself could not have been a friendlier or more patient chap. That he invited us into his home three times a day to eat and drink tea (the food was excellent and plentiful, btw) was incredibly generous. He’s a skilled craftsman and it was a pleasure to watch him work. He also has a really great dog. See photo above and below. The workshop has beautiful natural light in the afternoon, especially at this time of year.
The steam bending room. People seemed to find this step unnecessarily stressful, maybe because it’s such a foreign experience to bend wood and have it keep bending. However, James is an expert so obviously all we had to do was listen to his instructions and things would work out. It was only when there was too much haste and panic that things went wrong.
Probably the least enjoyable part of the build was roughing out the seat with an adze. Possibly because it’s barbaric, possibly because it’s tiring. Ha ha. Next time I might try one of these lil guys:
For the sake of time, the legs are pre-turned by James. However, each spindle is shaped with a spokeshave, it took a heck of a long time but was a very good way to become more than well acquainted with the methods involved, as well as James’ excellent spokeshaves (I’m slightly regretting not picking up one of the smaller ones to take home). This photo shows them at the roughing out stage. Once they were dried for a few days we went back over them to clean them up:
And here they are before and after being run through the Veritas dowel maker. Very fun:
One thing I should have done is take a dust mask or ask for one at least. You get so preoccupied with the tasks at hand that you don’t notice the massive amount of airborne dust floating around. By the end of the week I was coughing like an old geezer and now my chest hurts. Shoulda known better. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
James has had these neat plates made up to gauge the size of spindles against. I have a piece of aluminium exactly the same size knocking about so might do something similar, it was definitely handy:
Here’s the chair just before the arm went on. I liked it at this stage ‘cause it looked like the Iron Throne:
Like I said earlier, I paid to learn how to make a chair and that I did very effectively. Everything was clearly explained and demonstrated and was in fact remarkably simple. Being shown James’ method for laying out and drilling holes for spindles by eye, for instance, was something one could easily misinterpret in a book. The chair is beautiful and the skills I picked up will be invaluable. But in the final days and afterwards I couldn’t help feeling a bit uninspired by the whole thing, a bit let down. I wanted to be wowed. I’d read so much from other people who’d been on the courses and came away full of inspiration and absolutely loved every minute of it and I felt like maybe I’d missed something that they hadn’t. Can’t put my finger on it. Either way, I thought I’d try and give an honest account of how I found it, and I found it ok. Below is a photo of the final chair. I’ll definitely be making another one.
I should reiterate that James’ travishers and spokeshaves really are brilliant. An absolute pleasure to use.
As the title says, I spent five days with James Mursell at The Windsor Workshop making his “Crown Windsor” and I thought I’d share my thoughts. As an already very good and in depth topic about what a week there looks like was once posted) by another user, I’ll just summarise/think out loud for the most part. Couldn’t resist posting a few photos though. This is probably a reflection of myself in this kind of situation as much as it is a review of the course so hopefully it doesn’t come across as overly critical.
Arriving at the workshop was the kind of thing you’d expect, pleasantries exchanged and introductions made. It feels great stepping inside for the first time; there are amazing chairs everywhere and the whole place is very big and light and well kitted out. The actual location is also beautiful, just outside the South Downs. Unfortunately for me, I was staying with family in Worthing so saw little of the surrounding country and lots of the INSANE traffic Worthing has to offer.
This was my benchmate John, he was cool. Throughout the week you and your benchmate provide assistance in various ways so I’m glad John was a clever and competent bloke:
Each day was filled with its own unique challenges as new areas of the build were started and others added to or completed. One thing I realised I didn’t really like about these things (and should have anticipated beforehand obviously) is the social aspect. Banter and the like, I’m just no good at it. I’m not saying we should work in silence with our heads down like mindless drones, but faffing about wastes time. That’s purely my take on it; I know most people enjoy talking to one another and conversing but I’m terrible at it. I think it’s ‘cause I’m on the spectrum/a grumpy b*astard. After all, I paid to learn how to build a chair, not make friends! (That’s probably the meaner part of me talking but whatever). And with that in mind, the days were quite slow as there were total beginners in our group (one of them literally hadn’t held a drill before - not a criticism, just an example of the varying degrees of experience. I’m by no means an expert at any of this stuff but comfortable enough with hand tools). It did frustrate me at times but it’s testament to the efficacy of the course that that person left with an amazing, handmade chair.
But here also lies the problem, I think. The days are well oiled machines and for good reason - it’s a big undertaking to build these chairs in five days. But because of the importance of time it doesn’t leave much room for a solid understanding of what we were doing, or why it was done in a certain way, or history, or reasons behind things, or how this design was even landed on in the first place. I really wanted a deeper understanding of what we were doing which I don’t really feel like I got. I thought I’d be in a room full of would-be chair makers keen to learn about chair making in a broader sense (or at least the broader sense of Windsor chairs, or even a small part of Windsor chairs) but instead it was more about the chair we were making, there wasn’t much time for anything else. Perhaps there aren’t any five day courses like that and I was naive going into it, expecting too much. Like I said, I understand that in order to complete a chair like this in five days it needs to be done in a time efficient manner and compromises will be made. It doesn’t really matter in the end because all that information can be gained from books anyway.
I should point out here that James himself could not have been a friendlier or more patient chap. That he invited us into his home three times a day to eat and drink tea (the food was excellent and plentiful, btw) was incredibly generous. He’s a skilled craftsman and it was a pleasure to watch him work. He also has a really great dog. See photo above and below. The workshop has beautiful natural light in the afternoon, especially at this time of year.
The steam bending room. People seemed to find this step unnecessarily stressful, maybe because it’s such a foreign experience to bend wood and have it keep bending. However, James is an expert so obviously all we had to do was listen to his instructions and things would work out. It was only when there was too much haste and panic that things went wrong.
Probably the least enjoyable part of the build was roughing out the seat with an adze. Possibly because it’s barbaric, possibly because it’s tiring. Ha ha. Next time I might try one of these lil guys:
For the sake of time, the legs are pre-turned by James. However, each spindle is shaped with a spokeshave, it took a heck of a long time but was a very good way to become more than well acquainted with the methods involved, as well as James’ excellent spokeshaves (I’m slightly regretting not picking up one of the smaller ones to take home). This photo shows them at the roughing out stage. Once they were dried for a few days we went back over them to clean them up:
And here they are before and after being run through the Veritas dowel maker. Very fun:
One thing I should have done is take a dust mask or ask for one at least. You get so preoccupied with the tasks at hand that you don’t notice the massive amount of airborne dust floating around. By the end of the week I was coughing like an old geezer and now my chest hurts. Shoulda known better. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
James has had these neat plates made up to gauge the size of spindles against. I have a piece of aluminium exactly the same size knocking about so might do something similar, it was definitely handy:
Here’s the chair just before the arm went on. I liked it at this stage ‘cause it looked like the Iron Throne:
Like I said earlier, I paid to learn how to make a chair and that I did very effectively. Everything was clearly explained and demonstrated and was in fact remarkably simple. Being shown James’ method for laying out and drilling holes for spindles by eye, for instance, was something one could easily misinterpret in a book. The chair is beautiful and the skills I picked up will be invaluable. But in the final days and afterwards I couldn’t help feeling a bit uninspired by the whole thing, a bit let down. I wanted to be wowed. I’d read so much from other people who’d been on the courses and came away full of inspiration and absolutely loved every minute of it and I felt like maybe I’d missed something that they hadn’t. Can’t put my finger on it. Either way, I thought I’d try and give an honest account of how I found it, and I found it ok. Below is a photo of the final chair. I’ll definitely be making another one.
I should reiterate that James’ travishers and spokeshaves really are brilliant. An absolute pleasure to use.
