Windsor chair

Traditional Windsors are typically painted, primarily to hide the different types of wood used in construction, based on their characteristics.

[1] There is evidence of the "stick" construction of stools in the art of Ancient Egypt, more than three thousand years before a recognisable Windsor design evolved.

[2] The modern Windsor design emerged as early as the 16th century in England when wheelwrights started coping out chair spindles in the same way they made wheel spokes.

[7] Then there was the benchman who worked in a small town or village workshop and would produce the seats, backsplats and other sawn parts.

Ring porous species such as Oak, ash, and hickory all rive (split) and steam bend nicely.

The thickness of the seat allows the legs to be anchored securely into their respective tapered sockets, providing the undercarriage with strength and stability.

[12] There are no real satisfactory alternatives to elm although other woods have been tried, for example, oak and ash in Britain and various types of pine in the USA.

In general, early Windsor chair joints are held together mechanically, making glue a redundant detail in their assembly.

[17] In the 19th century settlers from the mid-west of America to Ontario, Canada would coat their chairs with the solid primary colours of milk paint, a mix of buttermilk, turpentine and cow's blood.

[17] By mid-century, to save production costs, the chair was painted in solid colours with some simple stencilling being the only design.