Rocking Chair Build - WIP

[Doug B]

What a great WIP documentation. This is great Cody.

[Ruffnek]

Thanks, Doug. It's a fun build, too.

[Leo Voisine]

Cody -- be careful

One thing you are doing is inspiring >me< to get off my a$$ and get in the shop.

It >could< cause me to get a splinter, or cut my finger.

I am as diligently as >I< can be - working on my dresser design.

I will be in the shop soon.

I am fully enjoying your thread - and also enjoying designing my dresser.

AWESOME

[boodrow]

I got a chance to look at the rocker Cody is workin on yesterday. That is goin to be one beautiful rocker!
Boodrow

[Joe Lyddon]

Cody, how much are just the Plans for your rocker?
... DVD also included? (extra?)
... have a link?

Looks like the Major part of the time will be spent on shaping and sanding.

[Leo Voisine]

Actually - it looks like a REAL interesting and "doable" project.

I could maybe find a reason to wanna try my hand at that.

I would also be interested in know how to obtain the plans.

[Ruffnek]

Joe, Leo, you can get the plans at www.haltaylor.com/plans.htm

They are not inexpensive but are less now with the PDF format than when they were strictly paper copies. Hal says that the printing cost was what drove up the price. I paid $270 for the plans and paper templates plus another $30 for the back brace hole template.

I'll probably also order the new arm rest plans because I like the transition to the front leg a lot better...it's more like Maloof's design.

Both of you guys are plenty capable of building the chair if you have the plans. There is nothing difficult about the woodworking, it's just time consuming, especially on the first chair with all the jigs, etc. to build. Actually, the hardest part sometimes is figuring out what Hal is trying to describe. I really believe I could re-write his plans in much less detail and make them much more understandable than they are now.

As for my progress, there isn't much. I went out to the shop this afternoon, did some sanding/shaping on the back legs, glued them to the seat and put two new backbrace stacks on the bending form. My daughter had my camera at a rodeo so I couldn't take pictures and I didn't want to do much without documenting it...plus I wanted to watch the Arizona vs Green Bay game and boy, was that entertaining.

I should get in a full day's work tomorrow and then it will sit for two weeks while I'm offshore. I also think I can finish over my next hitch off, too. This one is going much faster than the first build.

[Joe Lyddon]

Yes, that AZ GB game was one of most exciting games I've seen in a LONG time!

When it went into OT & GB won the toss, I figured they would win... as they usually do, winning the toss... especially with two such great teams, I went to the shop to get a little playing in...

I have a TV there and was listening more than watching...
All of a sudden I heard "Arizona Wins!"... I couldn't believe my ears!

GB must have made one cricial mistake!

Yep they did... Fluke pass interception for a TD & it was over!

I told my wife before the game started (and all but one Expert thought GB would win),
"If Kurt Warner is sharp as a tack and threads the needle like he has done in the past, they will win."

Sure enough he was all of that & then some! True poetry in motion.

I'm very happy for him... of all people, he really deserves it!

If they continue to play like they did today, they will win the Super Bowl!

I look forward to them doing just that...

Great game... Best in NFL history! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Cody, BTW, thanks for the links, etc.! ;D ;D ;D

[Leo Voisine]

Jan 10, 2010 20:57:41 GMT -6 Ruffnek said:

Both of you guys are plenty capable of building the chair if you have the plans.

I am pretty sure I could "do" it. I just don't know what I would "do" with it once it was done. My house is tiny - and I have no place to display such a thing.

My son and daughter-in-law and more in tune with something like that. It would be an awesome gift for them. I have been looking for something for them since they got married 2-1/2 years ago. This just might be it.

With you showing this thread - I am all the most --- stimulated ---

[maxwellsmart007]

This is the most entertaining and enlightening forum thread I've ever read...feels like I'm looking over your shoulder as you make it, and it's downright inspiring...

Water is freezing in my shop right now, even with the furnace going, so my woodworking is on hold until spring - but I sure am getting inspiration from here, Cody!

[sawduster]

Actually, the hardest part sometimes is figuring out what Hal is trying to describe. I really believe I could re-write his plans in much less detail and make them much more understandable than they are now.

Ditto that. Hal does tend to dwell overly on some parts of the build, sometimes not real clearly, and sort of glosses over some other stuff.

Leo, I could very easily see you really getting off writing the code for that robot router you have to cut a lot of the parts. When I was thinking of going into sort of production mode on these chairs, one of the things I was considering was outsourcing the butt buckets to you to do on your fancy router. I think Hal has one of those machines now and will do the butt bucket for folks for an additional charge.

[Ruffnek]

[quote author=sawduster board=genwork thread=1183 post=12310 time=1263237274 I think Hal has one of those machines now and will do the butt bucket for folks for an additional charge.[/quote]

Yes, he uses a CNC machine now to sculpt the seat. If doing a lot of these, I believe I could also make a jig for my router that would remove most of the material...something shaped like 1/2 of the scooped outline for an extended router base to ride on. Similar to flattening a board with a router except in this case you want a sloped depth.

I know that to do a lot of them, I would have to control the dust a lot better than I'm doing now. My entire shop is yellow with Bois d'Arc dust. That stuff goes everywhere.

[sawduster]

Why couldn't I remember CNC? Brain must be goin. Yeah, if doin a bunch of em, some super dust control would have to be at the top of the list.

[dburkhart]

yes his instructions are hard to follow.I have the old book the new book and the video.Its coming along though except the back legs .i cut around the kerfs and forgot they were at 6 degrees now one side is below seat level.Imay do new legs i might just grind the outside of the seat.Iam still pondering on this.Do you guys think this will cause structure issues?Sorry IF I AM TAGING ALONG ON THIS THREAD I AM LEARNING AS YOU GO.

[Leo Voisine]

Ya know - the CNC might be just the ticket for the seat. I could model it in Solidworks, then make a program for it.

Even so - it would need to be finished by hand - and that's about all I would CNC.

[Leo Voisine]

Jan 11, 2010 13:14:34 GMT -6 sawduster said:

Leo, I could very easily see you really getting off writing the code for that robot router you have to cut a lot of the parts.

Jerry - whatcha been smokin lately? Not cigarettes I hope.

Robot Router?

Now yer startin to sound like Limey!! ;D

CNC - Computer Numerical Control

[Ruffnek]

Jan 11, 2010 16:33:34 GMT -6 dburkhart said:

yes his instructions are hard to follow.I have the old book the new book and the video.Its coming along though except the back legs .i cut around the kerfs and forgot they were at 6 degrees now one side is below seat level.Imay do new legs i might just grind the outside of the seat.Iam still pondering on this.Do you guys think this will cause structure issues?Sorry IF I AM TAGING ALONG ON THIS THREAD I AM LEARNING AS YOU GO.

Unless it's more than 1/8" or so, I don't think it will do anything structurally to the joint. You still have the tenon on the inside and there is so much glue surface that a wee bit missing on top shouldn't hurt a thing.

[Ruffnek]

Day 5

I only put in 3 hours today for a total of 27 hours on the build. I tweaked my back about three weeks ago and it was almost back to normal when I tweaked it again. Plus, I just haven't gotten back to 100% since that bout with the stomach bug. As Linda Ronstadt once sang, poor, poor pitiful me.

I had left the back legs glued to the seat and removed the clamps this morning. I also removed the two back braces on the form and clamped two more stacks in place.

Today was mostly about the front legs, however. Remember I had glued a 2" piece inbetween the two legs...like putting 3 legs together. There is a template for marking the legs and cutting them apart again.



Now I take the second, front leg pattern and mark the legs for sawing still again.



And after that is completed, I measure over 1 3/8" to the inside of the leg and mark it for sawing it one last time.



The front legs after all that marking and sawing.



After I cleaned up the curves at the joint area, I rounded over all the sides at the auxilliary router table I made for this task. Since the legs, both front and back are so irregularly shaped, the bit has to be elevated above the "table" in order to access the edges for rounding over. This is what I came up with and it works okay.



Like Hal, I also found it beneficial to mark the bit rotation to help avoid any confusion.



BTW, Jason (Beamer) asked a while back in this thread about how the Bois d'Arc was to work. I was still sawing out parts then and replied that it worked great. Well, after routing the stuff I have a different opinion. It is horrible to rout! Since rounding over the first side on the first back leg, I've started doing climb cuts to avoid massive tearout. The stuff is really brittle when routing and that's surprising because I never noticed that feature when turning or sawing it.

Anyway, here are the front legs after routing and some sanding cleanup.



And test fit onto the seat. At this point, I laid a straightedge across the top of the front legs to see where it would contact the back legs. I had to tweak that angle a hair to get it to meet the back legs exactly right.



With the fit good, I spread some glue and clamped them in place. Note: Hal recommends gluing one leg at a time but I can't really see why, even using TBIII. I glued both of mine and had them clamped well before the 10 minutes of open time had expired.



With the legs glued and clamped, I took the headrest and cut off the glue blocks at the band saw. After cleaning it up with the ROS, I jointed the bottom edge flat...VERY light passes since it's end grain being jointed.


Now, I mark the headrest sweep, using the pattern you see on the table in front of it. After cutting the first line at the bandsaw, an other line is marked 1 1/4" from the first and it is sawn at the bandsaw.




Here's the headrest after mucho sanding with the ROS and a curved sanding block. I think the curved block with 80 grit worked better than the ROS, even if it was more labor intensive.



That's it for about 16 days. I leave for two weeks offshore tomorrow night. I'll be back home Jan 27th and back in the shop the 28th or 29th, the good Lord willing.

Thanks for following along.

[admin]

Very nice thus far! The router housing/holder looks like an idea I'll be implementing in my own shop as well. Router table is fine, but that housing would work much better with my space limitations!

How thick is the seat at it's thinnest point? Looks to be a shade under 3/4" if my eyesight holds true. ;D

[Ruffnek]

Jan 11, 2010 21:20:32 GMT -6 admin said:

How thick is the seat at it's thinnest point? Looks to be a shade under 3/4" if my eyesight holds true. ;D

It started out as a piece of 3/4" Birch plywood but the overhang, where the router attaches, is actually 3/8". I had to make it thin in order to get enough height on the bit. A 1/2" long-shank bit would have allowed me to keep the 3/4" thickness all the way.

A nice piece of phenolic or 3/8" aluminum would work great, too, for the top.