Windsor Chairmaking

with Luke A. Barnett

Windsor Chairs are the reason the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute is in business today. Luke Barnett started his career in chair making many years ago. After receiving awards, recognition, and many lucky breaks, Luke earned a substantial reputation as a professional chair maker. His chairs became highly sought after from his clients, peers, artists, and woodworkers. This eventually led to other woodworkers asking him to share his knowledge. Luke spent a few years traveling to various woodworking schools and teaching classes out of his home shop. In 2015 the Adrian Center for the Arts offered him an opportunity to take over a small 4 car garage building. There the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute was born. The classes quickly gained popularity and soon the 4 car garage space could not handle the capacity. In 2016 the City of Adrian offered the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute crew the opportunity to take over a gorgeous building that we now call home. All this sprung from Windsor Chairs.

What to expect during a Windsor Chair class at the SBWI:

• Hard Work

• Late nights

• A ton of fun

• Learning new skills that you can use in any type of woodworking

• To gain an intimate understanding of working with wood

• Sore muscles

• Some PG-13 language and inappropriate humor

• Being pushed to preform your best

• A complete chair without paint or finish

• A special bond with your classmates

• Friends that you will remember forever

Tools that are helpful to bring. Just to be clear the SBWI provides all the tools below which you are welcome to use. We put this list together at the request of students.

• Cordless drill w/ 3/8, 1/2, 5/8 Brad Point drill bit

• Spokeshave - round and flat

• Travisher

• Scorp

• Drawknife

• 6 degree reemer

• Folding rule

• Japanese style flush cut saw - just a cheap one from Lowe’s

• Large gouge - Pfiel 3/25 is perfect

• Set of Lee Valley Dowel Cutters - 1/2, 7/16, 3/8

• Froe

The Windsor Balloon Back Side Chair

5 Day Class

$1150 Tuition

Ages 16 & Up

Build a Windsor Balloon Back or Fan Back Side Chair with Chairmaker Luke A. Barnett. Students will join us for a 5-day class. Students can choose to build either a balloon back or a fan back side chair. You will learn both techniques in class. We will start with logs on Monday morning and finish with a balloon back OR fan back side chair on Friday. 

The Fan Back Windsor Side Chair

Two Weekend Class (4 Days)

$1150 Tuition

Ages 16 & Up

Build a Side Chair with Chairmaker Luke A. Barnett. Students will join us for a 4 day class. We will start with logs on Day 1 and finish with a side chair on Day 4. Students will learn how to obtain and choose the ideal logs for a chair. Student will learn how to rive the logs to get perfect straight grained lumber. We will steam bend the Crest. We will learn how to build a kiln and control the moisture content in the wood to get the best out of it. We will sculpt the spindles and carve the seat. This is a hand tool intensive class. There will likely be additional hours needed during this class, expect to work late some days.

The Windsor Continuous Arm Chair

6 Day Class

$1250 Tuition

Ages 16 & Up

Build a Windsor Continuous Arm Chair with Chairmaker Luke A. Barnett. Students will join us for a 6 day class. We will start with logs on Monday morning and finish with a continuous arm chair on Saturday. Students will learn how to obtain and choose the ideal logs for a chair. Student will learn how to rive the logs to get perfect straight grained lumber. We will steam bend the continuous arm bow . We will learn how to build a kiln and control the moisture content in the wood to get the best out of it. We will sculpt the arms and carve the seat. This is a hand tool intensive class. There will likely be additional hours needed during this class, expect to work late some days.

Upgrade is available to make a Continuous Arm Rocking Chair for an additional $150. This will require an additional day of class.

The Modern Windsor Rocking Chair

7 Day Class

$1400 Tuition

Ages 16 & Up

Build a Modern Windsor Rocking Chair with Chair maker Luke A. Barnett. Students will join us for a 7-day class. We will start with logs on Monday morning and finish with a rocking chair on Sunday.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will learn how to rive the logs to get perfect straight-grained lumber. We will steam bend the spindles, back posts, and crest.

• We will learn how to build a kiln and control the moisture content in the wood to get the best out of it.

• We will sculpt the arms and carve the seat.

• This is a hand tool, intensive class. There will likely be additional hours needed during this class, expect to work late some days

• At the end of the course, students will have created their own hand-crafted Windsor Modern Windsor Rocking Chair from a log to last generations.

• Gain an intimate knowledge of timber by starting with a log and exploiting the physical structure of the wood to obtain the perfect material. Mechanized machines are unable to obtain the same quality of the material.

• Use descriptive geometry and/or trigonometry to solve for sightline and resultant angles in chairs. This methodology is also used in complex hip roof structures.

• Utilize different species of wood to push wood beyond it quantified limitation laid out in the Wood Engineering Handbook.

• Students will learn how to obtain and choose the ideal logs for a chair.