Hand Made Windsor Office Chairs, Boardroom Chairs, Conference Table Chairs

These windsor chairs on swivel / tilt bases make a very comfortable and classy look for any office or home desk.   They also work very well around a conference table or boardroom table.   The style works well with a traditional table as well as austere modern looks.  The base can be locked or allowed to tilt back with a tension control for adjusting the tilt.  The height is also adjustable with the side lever.  Hard carpet wheels or urethane wheels for floors are available.  I generally set them up with the urethane wheels at no extra cost as they seem to work with all floors in my opinion.  Please feel free to inquire if you have other ideas.  More information is available on my website at TimothyClark.com.

Below are a pair of office chairs. The right hand chair has its arm rail mounted and wedged.  These chairs are made to last.

Handmade Rocking Chair- The Waltham Rocker by Timothy Clarkrk

I have many favorites, but this rocker ranks very high.  A rocker is the top dog of chairs in my mind and this one is just so raw and refined at the same time.   Making a new one always brings be back to Williamsburg, VA where in 7th grade, I was first exposed to quality hand work when I saw wooden instrument makers, furniture makers and a man making cedar shingles on a shaving horse.  The smells of the green wood, the hissing of hand planes and the thunking of chisels and mallets.  I am a laborer at heart.  I love the making.

Below, I am in the middle of trimming the wedged spindle ends on the underside of the rocker seat.  This rocker is to be finished with milk paint, so I use poplar or Aspen for the seat.  A good wood for painting and strong but fairly easy to shape.

 The next few shots show the back going on.

Spindles are inserted and wedged 2 at a time.

awaiting arms

 Below, a roughed out arm rail lamination is drilled and the hand is marked for sawing.  As can be seen, extra wood is added to accommodate the hand.  The hand looks more like a paw but it is called a hand. I borrowed the idea for this hand from a 1700's chair that I saw when I used to spend a lot of time at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.  

Below is the rail ready for assembly.  You are looking at the bottom of the rail.

These two chairs have their second coats of milk paint.  They appear a bit gray as they have not yet received their coat of oil and varnish which will saturate the dry looking paint.

Happy Spring

Tim

Spring Update, Work Stools and Office Chairs

I just finished up two extra large kitchen work stools. They are based on my regular High Kitchen Work Stool but they are 2 inches wider and deeper than the original.  The three images below show some of the steps in shaping the seats.

the finished stools

stool leg wedged tenon detail

stool seat detail

bags of sawdust take a ride on the mercedes to the bottom of the driveway.

 For the last few years, I have been bagging my sawdust and putting it at the bottom of my driveway.  It always disappears within a day.  I think it gets used for chicken house bedding.  If I ever get some chickens, I will start keeping it for myself.

fruits of labor

a blank for a rocking chair seat all mapped out for drilling

Below are two of my Waltham Arm Chairs in cherry and ash to be mounted on office chair , swivel tilt hardware.

looking up at my shop roof peak while lying on the driveway on a sunny spring day.

Figaro, teaching me how to enjoy a sunny driveway.

The grass is beginning to green up, the black birds are in the marsh nearby and the geese are nesting after spending a week or so sitting on the ice.

Happy Spring,
Tim

Office Windsor Chair and Windsor Bar Chairs

Below is my latest office chair using the upper portion of my painted Waltham Arm chair.  These are really great chairs. The swivel and tilting action of the mechanism as well as a bit of cushion due to the air shock that the chair sits on, makes this a very comfortable chair.  They definitely class up a home office and would look great around a conference table.  Other chairs that I have made into office chairs can be seen on my website.

Below are bar chairs that are still under construction.  They will have backs like this previous design

but they use the same seat as my Waltham Side Chair.   I think they will be comfortable and very nice looking.  The seat is actually a thinner version of the Waltham side chair seat, making them a bit lighter than they would be otherwise.

Enjoy the sun.

Tim

Painted Sideboard #2

I have finally finished this sideboard that I have had underway for some time.  This piece ended up with a finish that looks a lot like another recent sideboard of a different design. The difference is that this piece is made of poplar with two coats of barn red milk paint followed by 2 coats of black milk paint and then worn a bit so that highlights of the red come through.  The previous sideboard, or Huntboard as I call it, was made of cherry with black milk paint.  You can see that here on my website.

The red paint and the red of the cherry achieve a very similar look under the black paint.

As with the Huntboard, I am very happy with how this piece looks.  I wish that I could have them both in my house.  I'd need a bigger house though.

Each cabinet has one adjustable shelf.  The interior is the same barn red milk paint that is underneath the black.
The finish of the interior is shellac over the milk paint to leave the interior smelling fresh.

The drawer sides and bottoms are pine and are sealed with shellac for a fresh interior smell.

This Cod Rib side chair is the first of a bunch of various chairs that I need to get cranking on now that the sideboard is done.

37 degrees and snowing today.  Feels like spring.

Chairs Delivered, Drawers Dovetailed

 Today, I delivered this set of Waltham chairs to a client who lives only 20 or so minutes away.  A nice change from the usual need to pay a shipper to deliver or to plan on a two day trip.  The chairs have a nice new home with great natural light and will spend their days around a nice table that was made by a friend and competitor, Paul Donio.  I'd put a link to his site here, but we are after all, competitors.  He can be found on google.   He does nice work.  Don't tell him I said that though.  

Anyway, it was nice to see the chairs in a modern clean setting.  They seem to work well with traditional or modern decor.

On to the sideboard-

Below are the hand cut dovetailed drawer parts for four drawers all ready for assembly.

Here, the sideboard is finally ready for final sanding and painting.  (The drawers do still need to have their joints planed.)  The knobs for the drawers and doors will be added after the painting is complete.

It is hard to see in this photo but there is a nice thumbnail detail on the edge of the top that I just shaped today after and before my chair delivery and before picking up my son from school, taking him to  his guitar lesson, picking up my daughter from her after school drawing class, taking them home and then taking her to a swimming lesson. The days do fill up quickly.

Next up are all of the chairs and stools that I mentioned in my last post.

Enjoy the sleet, rain and wind.

Tim

The Purpose of this Post: Progress on Present Projects

Once in a while in the midst of all that I have to do, I need to get a piece done for a show. Usually once a year.  These two chairs are what I have built for a show with the Guild of Vermont Furniture Makers that is taking place at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe, Vermont.  January 18 through sometime in April.  I delivered these today to the gallery. It should be a very nice show. All of the other pieces are spectacular.  These are my regular Waltham chairs but with a thin crest rail like that on my Cod Rib chairs.  I like the look.  The paint is a very dark brown that is a bit warmer than black.  Here is a link to the Museum.  Click Here.

Below is a list of what I am working on at present.  If you are a current client, you will notice that I have listed projects by piece and state.

Right now I am working on a Painted Sideboard for a Vermont client.  I am waiting for the hinges for the cabinet doors to arrive so that I can fit the doors. They have been delayed at the factory.  I cannot start painting until I have the doors all fit.

Along side of that project, I have been building a set of 6 Waltham chairs for another Vermont client.  These chairs are almost done.  The backs should be going on this weekend and the two arm chairs will get their arms by early next week. Then a week of painting and finishing and they will be done.

Next are a few smaller orders that will be roughed out at the same time.  First to be completed will be a single Cod Rib Side Chair for a client in Virginia.

Then comes is a set of 4 Bar Chairs (with New Waltham seats) and a Kitchen Stool for another Vermont client.    At the same time, I will be making one Bar Chair will the regular Cod Rib seat for another Vermont client.

Then is a Waltham Arm Office Chair (painted) for an Ohio client.
At the same time, I will be making two Cherry and Ash (natural finish) Waltham Arm Office Chairs for an interior designer in Connecticut.

After that,  come 2  Painted Waltham Rockers for client in Florida.


This has been a very unusual season with 4 clients from Vermont.  Over the years, orders from Vermont are very few and far between.  Maybe one small order a year.  A single chair or a couple of stools.  Not sure if it means anything.



Enjoy the warm weather.
Tim