I must say that this post was a learning experience !! In all these years I had never heard of a birdcage Windsor !!
Maybe, ..... here is another tid-bit of learning experience.
When it comes to those old “spindle” chairs, there was a construction technique that not too many people are familiar with …… but was used by a few of the “old time” chairmakers for holding the cross-brace “spindles” permanently in place without the use of glue or nails.
I don’t know what the official name is so I’ll just call it a “ball-joint”.
The “spindles” were cut with a “ball” on each end and then laid aside to completely dry out.
The legs were then cut out of “green” wood (
high moisture content) …… and the “spindle” holes were drilled
the same diameter as the “balls” on the ends of the spindle.
The chair was then assembled and set aside for the chair legs to “dry out”. And when they did the wood would shrink and “clamp” tight around those “ball-joints”, never to come out again unless broken.
