Chairs

About Our Chairs, Settees, Benches and Stools

We handcraft each chair one at a time, using time-tested tools and techniques. The woods we use may be harvested from our own wood-lot or from the surrounding region. The seats are solid poplar—sawn and dried by us to our own standards. Four to six hours are required to carve each seat to its owner's specifications.

Custom Chairs

Seneca Creek Joinery will gladly build any Windsor chair that you desire. We merely need good pictures of the chair and approximate dimension, as well as meeting with you to discuss your specific needs. If you don't see the chair you're looking for here, that doesn't mean that we can't or won't make it. We will also be happy to match a chair that you already own—perhaps a family heirloom that you want duplicated for your whole family to use and enjoy. There are additional costs for making forms and jigs to copy your chair.

Left to right, bow-back side chair; continuous-arm chair;
sack-back chair in green and in black.

Turnings are riven or hand-split from maple or hickory logs. They are air-dried before being individually turned on the lathe.

Spindles and bent parts are rived from oak or hickory logs. They are carved green. Spindles are set aside to dry before their final carving and placement in a chair.

We custom fit each chair to its owner. We want your chair to be comfortable to you. We can modify the design of almost any Windsor chair to accommodate your needs.

A fan back rocker in progress in the workshop.

Rocking Chairs

Left: Comb back rocker.

Right: Rod back rocker.

(See children's rockers below).

Walnut Bench

This sturdy bench is built in 2 pieces from one beautiful piece of walnut.

It would be just great where you may have space constraints for a long bench.

Continuous Arm
(Continuous-Bow) Chair

This is a reproduction of a chair made in Rhode Island in the mid 1770's. It is also available without the brace spindles.

This chair is a favorite among people of smaller stature. It is a very comfortable chair—as well as being hauntingly beautiful. The one piece back and arms create a charm and grace that never cease to please the eye.

This is a Shaker-styled chair that Chris learned to make from John Alexander. It is light, strong, comfortable, and attractive. The seat is woven with Shaker tape and is available in a variety of colors.

Post and Rung Chairs and Stools

These timeless classics have been in production and use for over a millenia.

We use some of the same techniques in the contruction of our chairs that have proven themselves in the test of time—such as green/dry joinery.

Dry wooden tenons are inserted into green wood legs for a fit unsurpassed by almost any othe joinery technique.

We typically hand weave the seats with hemp twine or with tape. You can have your choice of either natural hemp fiber or we can dye the fiber to your color preference.

Ladder back chairs

The seats on the ladder back chairs to the left re

Jason's Settee

This bench in progress is a variation on our low-back settee. It is one foot wider and the spindles are turned instead of carved.

Low-Back Chairs & Settees

This magnificent chair traces its ancestry to some of the first American Windsor chairs that came out of Philadelphia.

This chair has a wide, but shallow seat that in combination with the sawn arm and back encourages good posture.

These chairs were designed as office chairs, but we also make a deeper version that lends itself better to relaxation.

This was a very common style of chair in the mid 1700's. Variations of this style of chair proliferated through the nineteenth century. This is a very comfortable chair that looks equally well in the dining room as in the kitchen.

Lowback Settee

This is another of our low-back settee. These spindles are also turned instead of carved.

Custom Settee

This is a custom settee with hand-carved spindles and carved arms.

We offer these chairs in two widths to accommodate your comfort. As always these chairs are fit to you. Finished in either milk paint or tung oil.

Sack Back Chair

The sack back on the left is an example of a chair popular in New England starting about 1765. The chair is so called because it was the custom at that time to make a fabric covering or sack to fit over the back of the chair to "keep the chill off your back." It is not only attractive, but a very comfortable chair for both working and relaxing.

Bow-Back Chair
Another of our popular standards, these are very comfortable side chairs which work well in any number of decorative styles.

Our standard bow-back chair includes two back or brace spindles, which not only add to the beauty of the chair, but add strength for a durability that will last for generations.

The comb-back chairs is offered in two widths as well as a larger version for taller people.

Comb-Back or High-Back Chair

This is a chair with a commanding presence. Admire its strong lines and delicate looking components. These chairs provide support for the back and head of the user. A chair that is comfortable enough for a long day of work or for a snooze after work.

Children's Rockers

The sack-back rocker to the right has been scaled down for little people and/or their toys.

Rockers are also available in larger sizes. See Rod back and comb back rockers above.

Built with the same methods as our full-sized chairs, these smaller rockers are made to be used by your favorite young children and their children........

This small chair is an older rocker that has been restored and painted.

Interested in a custom outdoor bench? Ask us.

Windsor stools come in different shapes and in different heights. Tall stools, short stools and in-between heights--perfect for what you need it for. Choose a 3-legged or 4-legged stool.

Round three-legged Windsor stool. A shorter version of the Windsor stool.

Green-painted Windsor stool.

A D-shaped seat with 3 legs.