Rocking Chair Build - WIP

[Joe Lyddon]

Jan 11, 2010 20:20:03 GMT -6 Ruffnek said:

Day 5

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.

OK Cody, have a safe stay out there...
... we'll be here waiting for you.

Thank you for your work on this thread...

Take care...

[admin]

Jan 11, 2010 21:54:06 GMT -6 Ruffnek said:

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.

I was asking about the rocker seat, but it's good to know about this as well, lol.

[sawduster]

All of the wood for these start off at 8/4 (at least according to the instructions) and after jointing and planing they're minimum 1 3/4" thick. The pilot holes toward the back of the butt bucket (the deepest ones) are 3/4" deep and that area is dug out to that depth leaving ~1" + of thickness there.

That being said, I've got a couple slabs of pecan that are 6/4+ that I'm hope to use for a chair, and I think even with some alterations to the plans for using the thinner wood, that the chair will be plenty sturdy.

[Ruffnek]

Sorry for the mixup, TJ.

Jerry has the seat thickness pretty well covered. On this particular chair, I had 2" stock after jointing and planing (at least on the seat boards). I drilled 3/4" depth control holes at the back which left 1 1/4" of seat thickness there. Everything else is thicker than that.

On my first chair, the Walnut I used was only 1 3/4" thick so the seat on it is only 1" at the thinnest point. Still, 1" of wood is pretty strong. I don't believe it will ever be a problem.

For anyone that is interested, there's also a rocking chair build thread going over at SMC. Two guys are each building a rocker and it's a great thread. They are using a different design than Hal's...one more closely based on the Maloof rocker.

[Ruffnek]

Day 6 - I put in 4 hours today for a total of 31 on the build.

I didn't get a lot done, mostly re-familiarizing myself with the process but I moved forward a little.

I started by cutting the top and bottom curves on the headrest and then cutting it to final length. Hal has a convoluted process for cutting the 6 degree angles on the ends but I just laid it in-between the leg tops and marked it top and bottom, then connected the marks with a line. After clamping it to my TS sled with wedges to hold it at the correct angle, I made the end cuts. Piece of cake and much simpler than it sounds in the instructions. Here's the headrest after final trimming.



After cutting the curves and making the end cuts, I laid out for the backslat holes and drilled those at the drill press with a 10 mm bit. Remember, I'm not utilizing the "floating" backslat feature that Hal uses. Mine will be glued in place when done.



Once I confirmed a decent fit between the legs (it will require just a bit of tweaking with a block plane) I clamped the legs against the headrest and drilled pilot holes for 2 1/2" screws to hold it on. I also utilized a tip from Tim and even took it a step further. I remember him advocating a wax toilet ring for coating screws to make them drive easier. I got a wax ring but didn't like that it was held in very flimsy plastic. So, I melted it down and poured it into a cut-off, clean glue bottle. Now I can push the screw directly into the wax and when it gets down low, I'll just cut the plastic glue bottle down some more. Works great and thanks , Tim.



I also glued up the last two backslats (I thought I was done but realized I was two short after counting them) jointed an edge on the existing slats and on the rockers, too. Tomorrow I'll start shaping the backslats and glue the stacks onto the rockers.

I started "sculpting" the front legs outside the shop with the angle grinder and flap disc. But, of course, it started raining so I had to move the chair back inside. I held off on the sculpting because it's just too dusty to do it in the shop.

You can see from the pic where the joint needs sculpting...lots of stock to remove there.



Thanks for following along.

[Ruffnek]

Day 7 - another 4 hours put in for a total of 35.

I had some business to conduct this morning but when I finally got out to the shop, I finished trimming the rockers to size, both length and width. After trimming, I set the chair on the rockers to mark the position for the "stacks". The stacks enable a transition from the leg to the rocker and add to the sculpted look.

I set the front legs 1 1/4" back from the end of the rockers and marked the rockers at the back legs for the stacks. Hal says to put a mark at the center of the back leg and at the back edge. Then make a mark halfway between those for the center of the stacks. Pfffft

I just eyeballed it and made one mark.





With the rockers marked, I put one back on the rocker form, glued on the stacks and clamped them down.



With that done, I took the last two backslats off the bending form and trimmed them all to size ( 1 3/8" wide) and squared the ends. Note that the two slats that were on top when I glued up two at a time have a different bend shape. I use those two on the outside.



I used the smaller of the two templates provided, marked the bottom end of the slats and cut out the profile on the band saw.



The ends were cut slightly oversize and the now they need to be sanded to exactly 25/64 inch wide. I did that at the shop-built, lathe-driven sanding disc.

For the past several months, I've been running across a piece of 3/4" MDF in the shop that had a slot cut in it and 25/64 written on it. I've got about a million jigs and stuff and I had forgotten what that one was for but I figured I'd need it again some day. Well, that day was today.



Here's the bottom end of the backslats sized to 25/64ths.



After rounding over at the router and sanding to final shape...all except the one on the r/h side. I realized after the pic that I had still had one to shape.



With the bottom end shaped, I placed the backslats in the seat bottom holes and scribed a line at the bottom of the headrest. I then measured up 7/8" from that point and marked the cut-off line for final backslat length.



With the backslats trimmed to length, I marked the top end for shaping, using the long template shown previously. The template has lines at the end marked 1 - 2 - 3 on one side and 5 - 6 - 7 on the other. The middle slat (no. 4) is marked using the small template which is symetrical.

After marking, the profile was cut at the bandsaw and shaped just as the bottom profiles were done. I also numbered the slats on each end to keep them organized, especially when they are placed permanently. It's easy to get one out of sequence and if the headrest is glued before noticing it.....bad, bad, bad.



The next hour plus was spend sanding the backslats through 320 grit...what a drudge. I still have to use the 500 grit abralon pad on them but I got tired and came inside. They are nice and smooth now, though.



That's it for now. The grandson is here for the weekend and I have a business trip Monday so I probably won't get in the shop until middle next week.

Thanks for following along.

[Joe Lyddon]

Cody!

Super COOL!!

Nice going!

[admin]

Very neat progress. And that's a grade A tip about melting the wax down and repouring it into a better container!

How wide is the back at the bottom (where the arm-rests will meet the back)? I'm a hefty and I'm curious about the protrusions for the armrests giving somebody of my build a poke in the back on each side.

[boodrow]

Lookin good Cody!
Boodrow

[Ruffnek]

Jan 30, 2010 4:50:12 GMT -6 admin said:

How wide is the back at the bottom (where the arm-rests will meet the back)?

It's 18 1/2" between those armrest protrusions.

Thanks for the comments.

[sawduster]

Note that the two slats that were on top when I glued up two at a time have a different bend shape. I use those two on the outside.

Don't know if that was an idea you came up with, or if it came out of the instructions (by the time I got there in mine I starting to get things pretty much figured out and was going in my own order ) but that is a good idea.

TJ,
The plans come with templates for three different sizes of chairs (at least for the parts that need to be different sizes). While the instructions don't really go into it, you can mix or match the different sized pieces to customize the chair for folks with different builds. The different leg lengths are for different heights of folks, and you could use the legs for the large chairs and the seat for a medium or small chair for folks like Timmer who are long and narrow, or you could use a bigger chair seat and legs from the medium or small chair for folks who are short and stout.

There is only a single set of templates for the runners, but all three sizes of chairs included in the plans fall within range of those heights. For a pro basketball center, you might need to extend the leg lengths beyond the size of the large chairs, but that would not be a difficult task. You would also need to increase the radius of the circular arc portion of the runners, but Hal has a page on his site to help you calculate the needed radius for taller chairs, and beyond that it simply becomes creating an eye pleasing arc tangent to the rocking arc to extend out the back a ways.

[boodrow]

I seen the chair this morn , a thing of beauty in the works. looks like it snowed yellow in Codys shop.
Boodrow

[rhull]

That's so awesome.

[elizabeth]

Cody: This is incredible work. How do you do it so fast? You had to make all those templates! How long did that take? I'm ashamed of my stupid little projects that take 10 months to do!

Congrats!!! Love the presentation too.

[Ruffnek]

Jan 30, 2010 15:47:41 GMT -6 elizabeth said:

Cody: This is incredible work. How do you do it so fast? You had to make all those templates! How long did that take? I'm ashamed of my stupid little projects that take 10 months to do!
Congrats!!! Love the presentation too.

Thanks, Elizabeth.

Speed comes with practice and I've already built one of these.

Your projects are hardly stupid, either. In fact, I think the smaller projects like boxes are harder because the mistakes are magnified when they are confined to such a small piece.

If I had put in full days when I had the chance, I would be done with the rocker by now but, oh well. I'd just be on to building something else.

I wish I had had the time and money to take up this woodworking hobby when I was much younger. I have too many projects that I want to build and too few years left.

I sure am having fun, though.

[imahic]

It's looking good, Cody. Thanks for taking time to document it for the rest of us. Not sure I will ever tackle one of those but it is really cool to watch your progress.

Mike

[deepsplinter]

Jan 31, 2010 0:27:42 GMT -6 imahic said:

It's looking good, Cody. Thanks for taking time to document it for the rest of us. Not sure I will ever tackle one of those but it is really cool to watch your progress.

Exactly what I'm thinking.

You make it sound like just anyone could make one. I know that's not the case...well, not for me anyway.

[sawduster]

Jan 31, 2010 14:33:48 GMT -6 deepsplinter said:

Jan 31, 2010 0:27:42 GMT -6 imahic said:

It's looking good, Cody. Thanks for taking time to document it for the rest of us. Not sure I will ever tackle one of those but it is really cool to watch your progress.

Exactly what I'm thinking.

You make it sound like just anyone could make one. I know that's not the case...well, not for me anyway.

Heck, if I could do it, most anyone could. ;D

With the instructions and templates from Hal, you really could do one. Seriously! It is just a matter of working through it.

I'm not one for making a bunch of jigs and such, nor for elaborate set-ups. I didn't make one of those special router tables like in one of Cody's pics, and used a rounder over bit where I could reach with my regular router table, then used handtools and an angle grinder with a 40 grit flapper sander to round over the stuff I couldn't reach with the router.

Hal uses a fairly elaborate set-up on the DP to drill the holes for the tops of the slats into the bottom of the head rest. I temporarily screwed the head rest in place, marked off the spacing then used the slats themselves to mark the angle needed for each slat and drilled them with a brace and bit.

There is some fair amount of freehand sculpting need but the angle grinder and a halfway careful eye handles all of the that. The toughest part was grinding out the butt bucket, and that was mostly because of the mess made by the grinder. No way to capture all that stuff, it clogged my portable DC bag within seconds, and completely clogged the filter on my shop vac in even less time. I finally just moved out on the driveway and fogged the neighborhood with mesquite dust. Did it during the day when most of the folks were off at work.

[Ruffnek]

Jerry's right. Y'all could build it, especially you, Dave.

Contrary to the impression some of you have, this woodworking stuff doesn't come easy to me. I've seen first projects from new woodworkers (online) that make me want to sell off my tools.

Y'all see the general procedure or the finished project but you don't see most of my mistakes because I've quit pointing them out.

[Ruffnek]

Day No. 8 - 2 hours today for a total of 37 hours.

No pics today.

Since it was cool and damp with occassional rain, I bit the bullet and finished shaping the front legs inside the shop. It totally covered everything in yellow sawdust but I'm ready to finish this chair, get paid and move on to something else.

After shaping the second front leg, I removed the headrest and adjusted the fit just a little with a block plane. That worked really well. I then inserted the back slats into the seat and headrest, checked the fit and glued & screwed everything in place.

Next, I did the same thing with the arm rests...adjusted the fit at the back leg, glued and screwed it in place.

It really looks like a chair now.

Before I left the shop, I cut plugs for all the counterbored screw holes and tapped them in with a dab of glue.

I have some more shaping with the grinder to do on the top of the headrest and then I'll fit the rockers. After that, it's just a matter of sand, sand, sand to get everfything smooth.

I'll get some pics tomorrow.

Random thoughts:

Last night, I was doing some online reading about James Krenov and ordered another of his books..."The Fine art of Cabinetmaking." Today, while gluing and screwing the head rest and arm rests in place on the rocker, I thought of both Krenov and Maloof. Krenov, classically trained as a cabinetmaker in a European school and Maloof, self taught with no formal art or furnituremaking training.

Krenov, opinionated and a woodworking purist who reverenced wood, scorned Maloof's use of screws in his joinery.

Maloof, not having any pre-conceived ideas about woodworking just went merrily on his way, building furniture as he saw fit and constantly changing and improving his designs. Yes, he used screws in his joinery but I don't believe anyone could argue that one of his rockers was not "fine woodworking."

Anyway, I thought of those two men while screwing and gluing the pieces on the rocker and how differently they approached the craft. Both were iconic, woodworking giants and their legacy will linger for a long time, but they are also a classic example that there's more than one way to get the 'coon. Their respective bodies of work prove that their disparate methods were neither right or wrong, but simply theirs.

I think there's a lesson there somewhere.