Expanding on my earlier comments about a steamed bow blank stretching unequally as it is bent around a bending jig, I wanted to address the issue of one piece hand-rests versus two piece bow/hand-rest laminations, and the effect of each method on the assembled chair.  I've noticed a number of Windsor chair-makers who make their bows and hand-rests out of a single riven piece of stock. They know the "ideal" length of a particular bow blank for a given chair design and bend the same length of stock time after time. My problem with this method is that it ignores a number of variables that creep in and vary both the length and symmetry of the bow. Some of these variables are; small differences in the compound angles drilled for the arm posts between one side of the chair and the other, the tendency of one side of a bow blank to stretch more than the other (explained in an earlier post), the general orneriness of a given bow blank (differences in grain), the "sproing" as an unclamped bow relaxes when removed from the bending jig, and even the method used to mark out the holes drilled in the arm for the arm-post tenons, any or all may effect a bow's symmetry. And differences in shape effect the gap between the back edge of the seat and the inner side face of the arm bow. These comments are particulary relevant for Comb-back and Sack-back Windsors where the arm bow extends beyond the back edge of the seat and this distance, or gap, determines the angle of the chair's back. Shorten or lengthen this distance and back angle changes.  For the my Sack-back Windsors, as an example, I want an inch gap between these two points as measured with a framing square laid front to back on the seat. This measurement is important because it determines the angle at which the spindles in the arm bow fan out and back from the spindle deck. In a single chair, whether the gap is actually 3/4 of an inch, or 1-1/4 inch, while effecting the angle of the chair's back, isn't usually noticable because the chair is a one-off and it will still be more or less comfortable.. For a batch of chairs, I find that it is an absolute "must do" to fit each bow individually to a specific chair in order to determine the sweetest curve side to side and to create a consistant bow to seat gap, and back angle in the set of chairs. This means that my holes for the arm-post tenons vary from bow to bow, and the glued on blocks from which the hand-rests are cut vary as well. I will talk about how I do this in a future post. Thanks for stopping in.

Good Morning. Brian thank you for your email. I thought I would post my reply on the blog as it may be of interest to others. I look forward to receiving the chunk of Osage Orange. I have never had the opportunity to work with that species of wood. I haven't really seen that wood since I was a forestry student at the University of Michigan eons ago. The osage orange trees I remember in Michigan were all saplings or small trees. OK for small turnings, similar to apple wood, but nothing large enough for sawn lumber stock.The Phippsburg church for whom I am building the baptismal font want me to incorporate a piece of wood from a 250 year old linden tree, planted in the church yard, at the time the church was founded. I went to college just as Earth Day happened. Within a year or two the School of Natural Resources student population exploded. All the freshman engineers who flunked out of the engineering school (Michigan proudly told it incoming engineering classes that less than 10 percent of them would graduate as engineers), decided to become foresters rather than english teachers. Naturally, it followed that when we graduated, there were no jobs. I have always noticed in a humorous but sad way that if you ask cabinetmakers of a certain age what they studied in college, you will find that they are unemployed foresters, wildlife biologists, botonists, and any other NR major you name. The person with a personality drawn to working alone in the woods is equally at home working by himself in a wood shop. Anyway, I definitely did not consider an advanced degree after reviewing the number of rejection letters I received. My favorite nephew is a junior at the University of Maine, studying forestry. I've tried to talk him out of it, but no luck.

As to the question of when I find time to write. Well, this morning it is clear, freezing, and the wind is howling. The wind chill is awfull. It is a lot more attractive to sit at the computer with a cup of coffee and type than wander out to the shop and get a fire going. I will. Just not now. Speaking of weather, it reached a balmy 54 degrees yesterday and things started to melt. The problem today is that with the return of cold temps, black ice is everywhere. A bit of good news, Mt Kilamanjaro, the mountain of snow at the end of the drive is gone. Snow was so piled up so high and deep I couldn't get the wife's car out of the garage in the barn. The earlier picture of the shop and snow posted here at an earlier date this winter doesn't begin to show the pile that's accumulated since that picture was posted. A neighbor down the street brought his tractor over Saturday, and between the two of us, and working several more hours Sunday, we managed to clear away the mountain of snow. I can walk directly to the shop from the house for the first time in about two months. Yesterday it was warm enough for me to crank over and run the weasel. Cold batteries just do not crank a deisel fast enough to start the engine. Knowing this from past experience I didn't try while temps were well below zero the past couple of weeks.

On you comment about router bases, I need to pull the December issue of FWW out of the library and take a look at the base you asked about. I don't subscribe to most woodworking magazines today because I find many of the articles deal with things I already know, areas of the craft that I don't work in, or design styles I find not to my taste. I am already regretting subscribing to Popular Woodworking. In the most recent issue, the only article of interest to me was Peter Follansbee's essay about the pile of started but unfinished projects that fill his shop, and according to death inventories taken in the 1700 and 1800's our predecessor"s shops as well. For my part, my shop is filled with half started work, and protype designs that are 80 to 90 percent OK, but there is something still not quite right with the overall design. Right now I have two high-chairs that have been sitting for a couple of years waiting for new "better" bows to be made.I've made new bending jigs for what I hope will be new bows that I find satisfactory. If not, we'll do it again. But my ash log is still buried in the snow, and the paying work is taking priority this month. Speaking of paying work, I had better wrap this up and go out and light the stove. Thanks again for dropping by.