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I have steered many clients away from the idea of keeping their chairs outside. The type of joinery and the thickness of the wood in a Windsor chair doesn't lend itself to weathering. But I have so many kicking around that I keep a few on the porch year round. They get hours of direct sunlight, snow, rain and constant use (wet swimsuits and all). It has been a great testing ground for the weak points of the construction. The chair you see in the images has been outside for about 5 years. As you can see, the knuckle is cracked ( I no longer glue on hands, preferring to make them integral to the arm), the legs are split and the bow has suffered a catastrophic break.
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The amazing thing about it is that we use this chair, cracks and all, and it doesn't even creak. I take it as a tribute to the brilliant technology in the Windsor chair. Each piece is a part of a web and the minor failures shown don't affect the whole. Of course, at some point in the future, I expect the chair to break, I'll be curious to see where. But it does give me confidence in the longevity of the pieces that are kept indoors.
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This will be my last post for a while, I am heading down to teach at Penland until early July. I could have my house sitters post about my dogs misbehavior (Lily has learned to rip through screens, 4 and counting), but I'm sure you have better things to do. I am looking forward to posting images of the projects and ideas the come from the class. Going to Penland always seems like a vacation, until I get there and work harder than I do all year!