The appeal of a Windsor bench has lasted through the decades, and is a popular addition to any home or office featuring traditional or country décor. Built to last generations with high quality hardwood, and constructed by professional craftsmen, a Windsor bench is as much of an investment as it is a lovely piece of quality furniture.
Often, several paint colors are available to choose from as well, but black or stained is usually a popular choice, as well as an antique finish for an extra touch of rustic charm.
| Recently, the team of fine furniture makers proudly recalled the history of the family company, which was started just a few years prior to the Civil War. With the exception of the passage of more than a century of time, their account of the past could very well be the company’s continuing story.
The Duckloe company began in 1859 when master craftsman, Frederick Duckloe, fashioned by his hands, the spokes, rims hubs, frame and the entire carcass of his first passenger carriage. He spent many productive years filling the demands of his carriage customers, but he also experimented with the making of Windsor Chairs from available sketches and drawings of the great English masters. Plain and fancy Windsors soon replaced his carriage sales, and many of the models he made during the last part of the 19th century now are sought after as original antiques by today’s serious collectors. By the early 1900′s, the rare skills of this master were employed in the restoration of many foreign Windsor Chairs and Settees, and his time was freely given to training an only son, W.J. Duckloe- who made his mark by making in solid woods many fine reproduction pieces including fine hand-turned high poster beds, bureaus, chests, tables and a great variety of choice pieces that required sharply-cut dovetails or mortises with wood pegs for added strength. |
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| But in the 1930′s, he too found the Windsor chair to be irresistible. With razor sharp hand-turning tools and a lathe powered by a foot treadle instead of electricity, W.J. Duckloe made his early chair models. His hands pushed the deep-shaped chisels to scoop the great horn seats and sanded every part of a finished chair. Each and every tapered spindle was formed by spoke shave and block plane from tough grained hickory. The handmade Windsors were signed with chisel marks and perfect in every detail. So limited were the making of Windsors in this manner that a ‘good week’ would produce a half dozen great comb backs. In 1938 , fresh from high school and four years of part-time apprenticeship, Frederick Duckloe Sr., first son of W.J. moved full-time to his father’s shop. For the next four years, father taught son as a cabinetmaker but World War II interrupted this busy schedule so that plans for fine furniture were laid aside until war’s end. | |
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