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***Signpost***
Issue No. Eleven -- February 2, 2001
Contents:
- News
- The Windsor Seat
- Selections from Poor Richard's Almanac
- Noises of Nature by Jennifer Avalon
NEWS:
I wish I could tell you we are having one of those cold, cold winters Minnesota is famous for. That is, I'd love to tell you about it, but I'm glad we're not actually having one. I don't think Minnesotans really like the cold any more than anyone else, but every year we survive it and then we just have to talk (brag) about it. Reminds me of the old joke: You know you're in small-town Minnesota when after a blizzard you rush out to shovel the driveway so you can drive to town and tell everyone you meet how tough it was to shovel the driveway and drive to town.
"Cold enough for ya?" we love to ask. "Oh yeah, you betcha."
Three winters ago my thermometer twice registered (excuse me while I puff out my chest) 43 degrees below zero. Even a Minnesotan is willing to admit that's kinda chilly. International Falls, Minnesota, often mentioned as the coldest spot in the lower 48, has an annual festival called "Icebox Days." Three winters ago it was canceled -- due to the cold.
Enough of that. This is the time of year when I usually start filling out those pesky show applications. But not this year. I've been thinking for some time that I would not do any shows in 2001. It's now official: I'm not doing any shows in 2001. This internet thing just works too well -- I might as well stay home and work on your orders.
"The Windsor Seat" starts us on a new series. Upcoming issues will look at backs and legs
and then we'll get into construction and tools. We haven't actually finished the series on chair styles, but let's take a break from that for now.
A while back I promised more on Ben Franklin (see issue #5). Here is a taste of his famous Almanac with a link to the whole collection.
Lastly is an essay from Jennifer Avalon. Follow the link to her web site and you will find many more.
By the way, if you download my Home Page and find some shifty-eyed rascal gawking back at you, that's just me. I put another pic on the Bio Page; click on that one and you'll find yet another. Yeah, it's all about me. You betcha.
Enjoy issue eleven.
Until next time,
Bob
The Windsor Seat
DESIGN
The seat is the physical and visual anchor of a Windsor chair. Visually, it separates two dissimilar systems: the back and the under-carriage. Physically, it is the largest and heaviest part of the chair and most other parts (legs, spindles, arm-posts) are joined to it. To some it is a Windsor's most distinguishing characteristic. In any case, it is the feature which separates the Windsor from all other seating furniture, except those types which have evolved from it. (More on those in a future issue.)
The earliest American Windsor chairs used the "D" shaped seat common on English chairs in the mid-18th century. The "D" is mostly associated with the large comb-backs and low-backs that were made in Philadelphia at that time. The flat side of the "D" forms the front of the seat with the arm-posts positioned at the front corners and the spindles marching around the curved perimeter.
In the 1760s chairmakers began to move away from the "D" as the sack-back and bow-back came into popularity. The sack-back has almost always been made with the oval seat. Not really a true oval, it is perhaps a direct descendant of the "D", with the front edge given a moderate curve and the hard front corners rounded away. Ovals are generally quite shallow, often no more than 15" to 16" for a sack-back, but usually deeper for comb-backs and fan-backs.
The shield seat is the other type common to this early Windsor period. It is characterized by the inward cut on the sides which creates a distinct "S" or cyma curve, a feature common to the Queen Anne and Chippendale styles popular at the time. The shield is probably most often associated with bow-backs and continuous-arms, but it lends itself to most Windsor styles. The shield, however, was rarely used for sack-backs; for low-backs it was practically unheard of.
In the early 19th century, mass production brought about a degrading of the seat (among other parts). The shield seat dominated, but it lost more and more of its shape until it became a mere hint of itself and finally disappeared into the straight-sided seat of the "plank-bottom" chair.
MATERIAL
Just about any wood could have been sculpted into a Windsor seat, but production needs did not allow for the time it would take to work hard or otherwise difficult woods. Therefore, the softer woods have always dominated. White pine and yellow poplar were the most common, with basswood perhaps a close third. (I use white pine mostly, have used a little yellow poplar and occasionally true poplar, aka aspen or popple.)
The raw plank starts out two inches thick but, when flattened and surfaced, ends up about 1 3/4 inches. This substantial thickness makes up for the softness of the wood. But it also seems to compliment the overall design of the chair. Though the front edge of a seat is generally carved to make the seat look thinner, the true thickness can generally be seen from other angles, and I think few would declare that it detracts from the appearance of the chair. The thin (1" or so) hardwood seats used on modern production chairs generally look unsubstantial, and seem a weak visual complement to the beefier legs that support it. The thickness of a traditional Windsor seat, by comparison, is generally about equal to the diameter of the legs.
In an upcoming issue, I will discuss the tools and processes used to make a Windsor seat.
Selections From Poor Richard's Almanac
Poor Richard, 1734
Courteous Readers,
Your kind and charitable Assistance last Year, in purchasing so
large an Impression of my Almanacks, has made my Circumstances much
more easy in the World, and requires my grateful Acknowledgment. My
Wife has been enabled to get a Pot of her own, and is no longer
oblig'd to borrow one from a Neighbour; nor have we ever since been
without something of our own to put in it. She has also got a pair
of Shoes, two new Shifts, and a new warm Petticoat; and for my part,
I have bought a second-hand Coat, so good, that I am now not asham'd
to go to Town or be seen there. These Things have render'd her
Temper so much more pacifick than it us'd to be, that I may say, I
have slept more, and more quietly within this last Year, than in the
three foregoing Years put together. Accept my hearty Thanks
therefor, and my sincere Wishes for your Health and Prosperity.
Would you live with ease,
Do what you ought, and not what you please.
Better slip with foot than tongue.
Where carcasses are, eagles will gather,
And where good laws are, much people flock thither.
"Blame-all" and "Praise-all" are two blockheads.
No man e'er was glorious, who was not laborious.
What pains our Justice takes his faults to hide,
With half that pains sure he might cure 'em quite.
Take this remark from Richard poor and lame,
Whate'er's begun in anger ends in shame.
All things are easy to Industry,
All things difficult to Sloth.
Don't think to hunt two hares with one dog.
Who pleasure gives,
Shall joy receive.
Where there's Marriage without Love, there will be Love without
Marriage.
Lawyers, Preachers, and Tomtits Eggs, there are more of them
hatch'd than come to perfection.
Would you persuade, speak of Interest, not of Reason.
There have been as great Souls unknown to fame as any of the
most famous.
An innocent Plowman is more worthy than a vicious Prince.
He that is rich need not live sparingly, and he that can live
sparingly need not be rich.
A wicked Hero will turn his back to an innocent coward.
When 'tis fair be sure take your Great coat with you.
He does not possess Wealth, it possesses him.
Necessity has no Law; I know some Attorneys of the name.
Avarice and Happiness never saw each other, how then shou'd
they become acquainted.
He that waits upon Fortune, is never sure of a Dinner.
Marry your Son when you will, but your Daughter when you can.
If you wou'd have Guests merry with your cheer,
Be so your self, or so at least appear.
Reader, farewel, all Happiness attend thee:
May each New-Year better and richer find thee.
Your poor Friend and Servant,
Octob. 30. 1733. R. SAUNDERS [aka, Benjamin Franklin]
The following is reprinted with permission from AviatorRecords.com
Noises of Nature
Sometimes I think I've just about heard it all....then I hear something that makes me realize there will always be more amazing things to hear on this planet!!! One of America's illustrious states just passed a law, after a new development was built on previous farmland, next to currently operating farms. The new law puts farmers in jail for 90 days and/or fines them if their farm animals make too much noise. The new neighbors of these farmers claim they want the "peace and quiet" of the countryside. I would like to know what planet these new neighbors think they're living on.
In the mornings early, where I live, somebody's rooster heralds in the dawn.....sometimes a stray cat meows in the fields.....dogs often bark to say hello to one another through the woods. There are birds that chirp in the trees, crickets that sing at dusk, the occasional horse that passes by, leaving it's dung on the road. That is the "price" I pay for choosing to live in the countryside.....a price that I welcome, because I feel I am living among some of God's best handiwork. What can be said for a human being who has so lost touch with the sounds of nature that they want to close it out completely? Nature is more than the smell of fresh grass and flowers....it is more than the moon rising over the forest, and the mist lingering over the hill. Nature is alive.....and so are the creatures living in it.
We want everything handed to us on a platter.....most of us don't make the connection between "beast and beefsteak." Perhaps if we all had to hunt for our own food we wouldn't be perturbed by the noises of nature.....we would realize that those noises help to maintain us. Is the noise of city living any more civilized than that of the farm?
From the woods,
Jennifer Avalon
Sources
- Sage-Advice.com
- Jennifer Avalon
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