Thread: WIP - Maloof inspired rocker

you could borrow mine

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

you could borrow mine

Crowie just came to the rescue.... Thanks anyway. For some reason I just thought they'd be easy to find.

Make sure that they are 1/2 inch and not 12mm Andy. I have metric and imperial, but I am in Brisbane.

I somehow got convinced to go Christmas shopping today so I got less than two hours in the workshop.

I've now started to work on the arms. The arm blanks are roughly 20" long X 4 1/2" wide and 2 1/2" thick.

Now, if I left them as they were referencing the front of the blank on top of the front leg I wouldn't be able to make contact with the rear leg.

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So I cut a 6 degree angle about 150mm from the front. I used my 6 degree jig that I used for the adder block for the rear legs.



The front leg will be sitting flat on this taper so I cleaned it up with hand planes.

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Now I can mark the angle of the leg joint against the arm blank. I used a bevel gauge to find the angle and set my drop saw to cut the bevel.

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Nice and flush.... Very happy how this turned out.

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I traced the template onto the underside of the arm blanks. I just need to put dowel centre points in the front legs to locate the middle.

The I'll cut out the arm using the two arm templates. Then lots and lots of sculpting!

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Andy, While the project is for your best girl, one must always remember that sometimes the shed must come second or third or fourth, etc; especially when there is three of you running around...

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, the chair is looking great!!!
Cheers, Peter

It's coming along so well! Great to see your progress.

cheers,

ajw

Originally Posted by ajw

It's coming along so well! Great to see your progress.

cheers,

ajw

Thanks mate. It's been an awesome project so far and I'm really enjoying the process.

I'll likely build another sculptured chair after this one. Probably not a rocker but perhaps s low back dining chair.

Andy this is a great WIP thanks for taking the time to show us the journey. It looks fantastic.

Ross

I'm starting to think about the finish I'll be applying to my rocker.

Initially I was going to just use livos kunos oil which is my preferred finish.

But I was soon convinced that I'll use the traditional maloof finish which is 1/3 linseed oil, 1/3 raw tung oil and 1/3 semi gloss urethane varnish mixed together.

Then after around 4 coats you apply 1/2 linseed oil and 1/2 tung oil with shredded beeswax mixed it.

Has anyone used this finish? I'm generally not a big fan of semi gloss/gloss finishes but on some pieces I actually like it. I really like it on rockers as in my opinion it highlights the curves and transitions really well.

I'd be interested to know what products you have used if you have made this finish?

Cheers

I spent a good part of an hour this morning fine tuning the fit of the arm to the rear leg. Once I was happy, I used the dowel centre points (thanks Crowie!) to mark the dowel location for the front leg.

Because I cut a 6 degree taper on the front of the arms I had to somehow bring the arm back to level so I used my 6 degree jig that I made for the adder block for the rear legs.


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I ran out of time this morning but the next step is to mark out the two templates on the blank and cut them out on the bandsaw.

Hopefully I'll get this done tomorrow so
I can start sculpting the arms.

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Cheers

Andy, I used the Maloof finish on my chair but did not use the last step. When I was satisfied with the number of coats I just used a wax finish. If I remember right it was Ubeaut Traditional Wax. Am happy with the finish. Use the chair just about every night while watching the TV news for a number of years now- seat and slats have not changed much in colour. However, the arm rests are taking on a greyish patina that looks nice. I am tempted to give them a going over with oooo steel wool just in case it is only a grease build up and apply some more wax.

Originally Posted by BobR

Andy, I used the Maloof finish on my chair but did not use the last step. When I was satisfied with the number of coats I just used a wax finish. If I remember right it was Ubeaut Traditional Wax. Am happy with the finish. Use the chair just about every night while watching the TV news for a number of years now- seat and slats have not changed much in colour. However, the arm rests are taking on a greyish patina that looks nice. I am tempted to give them a going over with oooo steel wool just in case it is only a grease build up and apply some more wax.

Thanks Bob. Do you remember which urethane varnish you used?


Cheers

Yesterday I used my bandsaw to cut out the two templates for the arms. It's a bit awkward cutting them on the bandsaw but I've gotten used to it during this build.


This is after the first template...

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And second template....

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I've now marked out for the first round of carving with my Holey Galahad wheel. It's basically grinding a 45 degree angle between the lines. I'll then use rasps to clean up and move to the other side and gently blend in the two areas. Then there's plenty to do on the underside but I'm really looking forward to it.

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I'm planning to get a fair bit done between tomorrow and Tuesday. I've got about 6 weeks to finish the rocker so I'm cutting it very fine! I hope to get this done by Tuesday:

- Arms sculpted
- Finish sculpting the seat
- Rounding over the seat sides

Then I'll start working on the headrest and rockers and that will be all the chair components completed. There will obviously be a ton of sculpting but this can be done at night after work.

I am really looking forward to sculpting the chair and refining the details with rasps. I've been doing heaps of research lately and been in contact with a couple of guys in the US who makes rockers full time. They swear by the Festool rotex 150 with the soft pad for doing the initial sanding and removing the grinding marks off the chair.
The rotex won't replace rasps but it will help a lot especially with the seat. My family have been asking what I want for my birthday coming up in a few weeks so I've put forward the rotex.

Cheers!

Andy can't remember for sure as it was a few years ago now. I have had a look through my shelf of finishes and can see a small tin of Feast Watson Clear Varnish, so it may have been this as I don't normally use varnish.