Windsor Chair Making Classes Near Waco

I just finished taking a Democratic chair class with Blake. It was great! He is very informative and knowledgable about making Windsor chairs. He is a wonderful instructor. The classes are six days long and eight to nine hours a day. It is very unique to have classes like these so near us. I am taking a similar one in New Hampshire in April where I am having to ship tools to and manage to ship my chair plus tools back to Dallas.

One unique thing about the classes is that the chairs are made using wet wood. So Blake provide a log, for my class a red oak, and you split out all the parts for the chair from the log.

For any questions you can contact Blake at www.blakeloree.com .

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Neat! I am going to seriously look into this. I really would love to make a set of ladder back chairs :heart_eyes:

And I’d kill a D.C. politician or lobbyist (dealers choice on that) for one of those mini woodworking workbenches he has pictured.


FEI, Waco is also home to the Heritage School of Woodworking which has excellent instructors and classes:

They are part of a larger group (Homestead Heritage) which has a pretty neat fair every year (or whenever):

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Yes he is a member of the intentional community at Homestead Heritage. We ate lunch there very cool and tasty.

The plans for the mini workbench are here. The guy does a pay what you want thing. Workbench Plans (digital download)

I am redoing the CAD plans right now and plan on building one soon. I am reworking it so I can do it with laminated SYP I have had sitting in my garage forever. I am also going to tackle a shave horse soon.

I am considering going back for the ladder back chairs as well. I want to make a set for my parents.

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Nice workbench, but I can’t resist. That isn’t a miniature workbench. This is a miniature workbench. :grin: (I crack myself up!)

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I REALLY love the idea of starting with a log and ending with a chair! I wish someone would teach something similar at DMS, even just how to properly break down a log using our woodshop

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Actually, very interested in the heritage part of this woodworking. What sorts of tools did you use for this? The shaving horse part of that I understand … curious about the rest.

Hmmm… I’ve been eyeing the willows growing up along the service road, and contemplating the chairs the Willy-benders used to make out at Scarborough…

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Curtis Buchanan the guy who designed the chair we made and taught Blake to make them has done a multiparty YouTube series showing the process. It is much better than me trying to explain the process. One exception we did use power drill for drilling the spindle mortises and crest mortises. Also a band saw was used to cut out the seat blanks. Those were the only two “modern” tools though.

Video series link https://youtu.be/2DoQl6xBAUI

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I can’t Recall who but I’m pretty sure someone just made a mini vice that would mount perfectly to that
Edit now I’m recalling that was you right?

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