William Showalter

Who is William Showalter?

William Showalter is a master chairmaker who produces 18th century style Windsor chairs in Tennessee, USA.

Showalter has been making the chairs for 20 years using antique tools and a pedal driven lathe he commissioned from a blacksmith. He uses rived oak for the arms and spindles, white pine for the seat, and birch or maple for the legs. The chairs are joined without glue, colored with milk paint made from ground limestone, curdled milk and pigment. They chairs are burnished with burlap and linseed oil for a dark-brown color and finish. It can take four weeks from collecting the wood to completing the chair. They are sold by commission in 12 styles, and there is a three-year waiting list. A "trumble chair", the most popular of the styles offered by Showalter, costs $2,300.