Thread: WIP - Maloof inspired rocker

AM walnut is one of my favorites. Getting it at a decent price is the tough bit for me. My local tries to charger over $15,000 a cube for 50mm thick. No thanks! American Hardwoods has decent pricing for oak, maple and walnut in Victoria

Also, excellent project choice. I purchased the maloof inspired low back chair plans. Still yet to start it though.

I believe I saw some at $6,700 a cube for (from memory) 250 x 35 boards - that was Black Walnut

Originally Posted by seriph1

I believe I saw some at $6,700 a cube for (from memory) 250 x 35 boards - that was Black Walnut

I paid about $70 a lineal metre inc GST for 200mm wide and 50mm thick from Matthews timber. They were the cheapest I could find. I waited for a fresh delivery and went there the next day and picked through the pile and got exactly what I was after.
Very happy with the wood so far.

The seat boards need to be aligned with either dowels, biscuits or dominos. The problem is that some of the boards have 3 degree bevels and you must reference off the bottom of the work piece. This operation can't be done with the standard domino setup.

So this is technique that I used and was described in the plan. I use the two most outer boards that have no bevels and use my domino to reference off that to plunge in. The final result was very good and ensures that the glue up will be much easier.


IMG_2644.jpg

gotta love a domino!

Just found this thread. Made this chair a few years ago from Tasmanian Blackwood. Looks like you are progressing really well. Only advice I can offer is the obvious - GO SLOW. You should have discovered by now that cutting out the blanks for the parts is the easy bit. The rest is all hand work for the final shape. I made a template of the back of the seat only so that I could test the holes for the spindles and also fine tune the shape/spacing of the spindles. I was also able to test fit the crest before installing it on the chair. The ends of each of the spindles have to be individually shaved for a net fit. I fitted "ears" on the top of the back legs. These took ages to get right as a matching pair. Anyway, good luck.

Originally Posted by BobR

Just found this thread. Made this chair a few years ago from Tasmanian Blackwood. Looks like you are progressing really well. Only advice I can offer is the obvious - GO SLOW. You should have discovered by now that cutting out the blanks for the parts is the easy bit. The rest is all hand work for the final shape. I made a template of the back of the seat only so that I could test the holes for the spindles and also fine tune the shape/spacing of the spindles. I was also able to test fit the crest before installing it on the chair. The ends of each of the spindles have to be individually shaved for a net fit. I fitted "ears" on the top of the back legs. These took ages to get right as a matching pair. Anyway, good luck.

Hi Bob,

I'd love to see a photo of your rocker... Tasmanian Blackwood was my other choice of timber.

Probably my only concern with the build is the shaping of the rocker and ensuring everything is even on both sides. As you said I'll go slow and hopefully it turns out well. I've got a couple of DVDs that describe in detail how to sculpt a rocker so I'll be watching them a few times.

I'm still waiting on my router bits to arrive from overseas. I can't progress much further without these so I'm jumping ahead.

Today I attached one of the adder blocks to the rear legs to give it more thickness and strength when creating the "maloof joint". I'll post an update tomorrow after I've made more progress.

I also need to order the dish wheels. I think I'll go with the kutzall very course and fine wheels and buy a couple of burrs for the sculpting.

Originally Posted by groeneaj

Probably my only concern with the build is the shaping of the rocker and ensuring everything is even on both sides.

the way I was shown is to cut the matching parts over length and then nail or screw them together through the over length tabs. Both sides can then be shaped together to achieve a match before the tabs are cut off to separate the pieces.

Originally Posted by groeneaj

.

I'm still waiting on my router bits to arrive from overseas. I can't progress much further without these so I'm jumping ahead.

.

Not wishing to Hijack your thread, I posted a new thread re Maloof joints and router bits. From watching various videos I arrived at using a 1/2" rebate bit with 1/2" bearing (overall bit diam 1 1/2") and a 3/4" round over bit which I already have in my collection. I've also seen a joint using a 3/8" rebate bit with a 5/8" round over.
What set are you buying please?

Cheers - Peter

Originally Posted by Lappa

Not wishing to Hijack your thread, I posted a new thread re Maloof joints and router bits. From watching various videos I arrived at using a 1/2" rebate bit with 1/2" bearing (overall bit diam 1 1/2") and a 3/4" round over bit which I already have in my collection. I've also seen a joint using a 3/8" rebate bit with a 5/8" round over.
What set are you buying please?

Cheers - Peter

Hi Peter,

I'm using this set- Whiteside Rabbet Roundover Router Bit Set

It's the set that from my understanding is widely used for the joint.

Cheers

Don't buy any burrs mate. I'll bring up mine and you can use them. I don't use them so someone might as well.

Originally Posted by shanesmith80

Don't buy any burrs mate. I'll bring up mine and you can use them. I don't use them so someone might as well.

Thanks mate

groeneaj I used a Saburr Tooth 4" wheel - EX coarse to shape my seat. Wnet through the blackwood like it was butter. Looks like you will be able to borrow a cutter and save some money. The Saburr Tooth was $75.65 back in 2012.

I have included some photos here of my chair including a second one made for my granddaughter. My WIP is available here, though some of the photos have gone. Can' paste URL for my WIP. You will have to look for it.