Post by Ruffnek on Jan 4, 2010 20:33:55 GMT -6
Day 1
I got in 5:45 hours today on the rocking chair. I messed around this morning with a box I'm working on and then took some time getting rid of an adware program on the computer, plus my normal goofing off. But, at least I got started and that has been the difficult part, knowing how much time is involved with this build.
Maybe the hardest part of this is lumber selection. I bought 50 BF of Bois d'Arc which gives me a little extra but there's also defects and normal waste to take into account. I do a lot of head scratching trying to decide which plank I want for a specific piece(s). Since the Bois d'Arc planks are not very long or wide, stock selection is even more important. Ideally, the stock would be long enough and wide enough to place components, like the legs, side-by-side on the same board for ultimate grain/color matching. That's just not possible with wood like Bois d'Arc or even Mesquite because long, wide boards are not available due to how gnarly the trees are when grown.
Here's a pic of the rough-sawn stack that I've had stickered on my bench and acclimating to my shop for about a month now. The widest boards there are only 8" roughsawn. Thickness is about 2 1/8...8/4 roughsawn.
It looks pretty ugly in that first pic but when it's jointed and planed, the yellow color re-emerges. Here's the two planks that I selected for the back legs. Those require the longest and widest stock since they are angled.
After jointing and planing with the leg outline traced on them. Actually these are two different planks because when I got the first two planed smooth, they were only about 1 11/16" thick and I need 2" if possible. I guess I selected the two most cupped boards in the stack. These shown here planed to a full 2" thickness after jointing. I only jointed one face for planing but not the edges because the pattern does not run along either edge.
After tracing the pattern it was over to the bandsaw to cut out the back legs. BTW, Hal included full size patterns for all three chair sizes...small, medium, large...with the plans I got. I cut out the patterns and glued them to 1/4" MDF with Super 77 adhesive, then cut out the MDF templates.
I use a 3/8", 3 tpi Timberwolf blade in the bandsaw to cut out the pieces. I also used a roller stand to hold up the outfeed piece cause that Bois d'Arc is heavy stuff.
Here's the back legs roughed out. There's no need to smooth the saw marks now because the legs will be cut on, sanded and shaped a lot more before the chair is finished.
With the back legs cut out, I now turned my attention to the seat bottom. The large seat bottom is 22" wide x 24" deep. Because of the limited width of my stock, I used a 4-board layout...two 8" boards in the middle and two 4" boards on the outside. I'm placing the narrow strip of sap wood in the middle of the chair bottom as sort of an accent strip.
After jointing and planing, I ended up with a seat blank 22 1/2" wide x 25" deep. That size blank of 2" Bois d'Arc with 5 Bessey clamps on it is heavy! I estimate it weighed 45-50 lbs.
With the seat set aside, I decided to rip the slats for the seat back and the rockers next. I've read lots of methods for ripping thin slats and seen some pretty complicated contraptions but the way Hal recommends is simple, quick and safe IMHO.
To cut the 43" x 1 9/16" x 1/8" rocker slats, I first set the TS fence 1/8" from the blade. The blade was raised to only protrude about 1/4" above the stock. Note that a zero clearance insert is a necessity for cutting strips this narrow.
I then took a push shoe, cut a new clean bottom on it and CA glued on a new cleat. The push shoe will be specifically for cutting the rocker slats. Since the back slats are cut thinner, a new push shoe will be used for them.
The push shoe is used to push the stock through the blade and the blade cuts a shallow groove in the bottom of the shoe. The cleat still pushes the narrow portion past the blade and the blade runs in the same groove each time a new slat is cut. The only downside to this method is that the left hand must hold the stock tight against the fence since a featherboard would have to be repositioned after each cut.
I kept the jointer running and jointed the edge after each cut, just taking off about 1/64 to remove any saw marks. Here's the rocker slats in stacks of 5 each. I also cut the seat back slats which were a bit shorter and also a bit thinner. That's one thing I don't like about Hal's plans...he isn't consistent in defining the dimensions. His plans say to cut the rocker slats to 1/8" and to cut the seat-back slats to 90 thousanths...just slightly thinner than 1/8". Oh well, it's a minor irritation.
Some of these rocker slats will be used to build up the 1 1/2" thick rockers and the rest cut up into short lengths for the legs-to-rocker transition. More on that later.
Next, I laid out the headrest pieces. I need a total of 26" width and ended up using 6 pieces that gave me 30" total before trimming.
The headrest is coopered...the edges of the pieces are beveled to curve the piece when glued up. The inside edges of the back legs will be cut at 20 degrees. Two edges give 40 degrees total. To figure the angle for the headrest, take the number of pieces minus one.. in this case that equals 5. Divide that into 40 and you get 8 degrees per joint. Since each joint has two pieces, divide 8 by two to arrive at the 4 degree cut on both sides of each piece, except for the two outside pieces which only need the inside beveled.
Here are the headrest pieces with the bevel cut...notice the gap on the bottom.
And as the last thing this evening, I glued up three pairs of headrest pieces. I'll complete the glue-up tomorrow.
That's it for day one. I've got a doctor's appointment at 10:00 tomorrow so I won't get back in the shop until after noon.
Thanks for following along.
I got in 5:45 hours today on the rocking chair. I messed around this morning with a box I'm working on and then took some time getting rid of an adware program on the computer, plus my normal goofing off. But, at least I got started and that has been the difficult part, knowing how much time is involved with this build.
Maybe the hardest part of this is lumber selection. I bought 50 BF of Bois d'Arc which gives me a little extra but there's also defects and normal waste to take into account. I do a lot of head scratching trying to decide which plank I want for a specific piece(s). Since the Bois d'Arc planks are not very long or wide, stock selection is even more important. Ideally, the stock would be long enough and wide enough to place components, like the legs, side-by-side on the same board for ultimate grain/color matching. That's just not possible with wood like Bois d'Arc or even Mesquite because long, wide boards are not available due to how gnarly the trees are when grown.
Here's a pic of the rough-sawn stack that I've had stickered on my bench and acclimating to my shop for about a month now. The widest boards there are only 8" roughsawn. Thickness is about 2 1/8...8/4 roughsawn.
It looks pretty ugly in that first pic but when it's jointed and planed, the yellow color re-emerges. Here's the two planks that I selected for the back legs. Those require the longest and widest stock since they are angled.
After jointing and planing with the leg outline traced on them. Actually these are two different planks because when I got the first two planed smooth, they were only about 1 11/16" thick and I need 2" if possible. I guess I selected the two most cupped boards in the stack. These shown here planed to a full 2" thickness after jointing. I only jointed one face for planing but not the edges because the pattern does not run along either edge.
After tracing the pattern it was over to the bandsaw to cut out the back legs. BTW, Hal included full size patterns for all three chair sizes...small, medium, large...with the plans I got. I cut out the patterns and glued them to 1/4" MDF with Super 77 adhesive, then cut out the MDF templates.
I use a 3/8", 3 tpi Timberwolf blade in the bandsaw to cut out the pieces. I also used a roller stand to hold up the outfeed piece cause that Bois d'Arc is heavy stuff.
Here's the back legs roughed out. There's no need to smooth the saw marks now because the legs will be cut on, sanded and shaped a lot more before the chair is finished.
With the back legs cut out, I now turned my attention to the seat bottom. The large seat bottom is 22" wide x 24" deep. Because of the limited width of my stock, I used a 4-board layout...two 8" boards in the middle and two 4" boards on the outside. I'm placing the narrow strip of sap wood in the middle of the chair bottom as sort of an accent strip.
After jointing and planing, I ended up with a seat blank 22 1/2" wide x 25" deep. That size blank of 2" Bois d'Arc with 5 Bessey clamps on it is heavy! I estimate it weighed 45-50 lbs.
With the seat set aside, I decided to rip the slats for the seat back and the rockers next. I've read lots of methods for ripping thin slats and seen some pretty complicated contraptions but the way Hal recommends is simple, quick and safe IMHO.
To cut the 43" x 1 9/16" x 1/8" rocker slats, I first set the TS fence 1/8" from the blade. The blade was raised to only protrude about 1/4" above the stock. Note that a zero clearance insert is a necessity for cutting strips this narrow.
I then took a push shoe, cut a new clean bottom on it and CA glued on a new cleat. The push shoe will be specifically for cutting the rocker slats. Since the back slats are cut thinner, a new push shoe will be used for them.
The push shoe is used to push the stock through the blade and the blade cuts a shallow groove in the bottom of the shoe. The cleat still pushes the narrow portion past the blade and the blade runs in the same groove each time a new slat is cut. The only downside to this method is that the left hand must hold the stock tight against the fence since a featherboard would have to be repositioned after each cut.
I kept the jointer running and jointed the edge after each cut, just taking off about 1/64 to remove any saw marks. Here's the rocker slats in stacks of 5 each. I also cut the seat back slats which were a bit shorter and also a bit thinner. That's one thing I don't like about Hal's plans...he isn't consistent in defining the dimensions. His plans say to cut the rocker slats to 1/8" and to cut the seat-back slats to 90 thousanths...just slightly thinner than 1/8". Oh well, it's a minor irritation.
Some of these rocker slats will be used to build up the 1 1/2" thick rockers and the rest cut up into short lengths for the legs-to-rocker transition. More on that later.
Next, I laid out the headrest pieces. I need a total of 26" width and ended up using 6 pieces that gave me 30" total before trimming.
The headrest is coopered...the edges of the pieces are beveled to curve the piece when glued up. The inside edges of the back legs will be cut at 20 degrees. Two edges give 40 degrees total. To figure the angle for the headrest, take the number of pieces minus one.. in this case that equals 5. Divide that into 40 and you get 8 degrees per joint. Since each joint has two pieces, divide 8 by two to arrive at the 4 degree cut on both sides of each piece, except for the two outside pieces which only need the inside beveled.
Here are the headrest pieces with the bevel cut...notice the gap on the bottom.
And as the last thing this evening, I glued up three pairs of headrest pieces. I'll complete the glue-up tomorrow.
That's it for day one. I've got a doctor's appointment at 10:00 tomorrow so I won't get back in the shop until after noon.
Thanks for following along.
Ripping those 43" long 1/8" x 1 9/16" strips was a breeze, even with the WWII GP blade I run. Crosscuts at the miter saw tax it somewhat...probably because that 80 tooth blade is dull.
