Here’s the elm seat from the other day. I got to work on it a little while yesterday. It’s a nearly-quartersawn section; just near the front edge of the seat the board gets close to the heart of the tree. It was shaving very nicely at this point, & I’m close to getting the hollow in the seat done.
Right now I don’t have a functioning bow/frame saw, and am not going shopping anytime soon. So I took the simple way out to cut the pattern of the seat – I just made a series of straight cuts that I will follow with drawknife & spokeshave work.
Next time, I’m going to work the outline before I then refine the front edge, then bevel underneath. It’s fun to make this seat. I have only done one windsor seat in hardwood before, and that was a tulip poplar seat, back in 1988. This elm is as air-dried as anything can be around here these days; it was cut c. 1995. Most of my wood is measured in months, sometimes weeks, since it was a tree, so this is something altogether different for me. Shaping the elm is fun work, I have only made it into flat panels before, and it’s not very good for that…
Here’s the scene (cropped) out the window of the shop. Didn’t bother with binoculars and eagles, visibilty was pretty bad, but the scenery was great, if that makes sense.
PETER FOLLANSBEE: JOINER’S NOTES 
Superb article. Would you mind if I get in touch with yourself on Facebook or twitter?