Thread: Rocking Chair - WIP

Back into it again. The three weeks at Stradie did not happen. Went up not feeling well and lasted one week - back home and into hospital for just over a week with a lung infection. Now have the all clear to get back into the workshop. Have started shaping the spindles. Will put some photos up when I get a moment.

Thanks for the update.

Haven't had time to comment before this Bob, but the project is looking really good!

I applaud your choice of Blackwood. A lovely timber.

Bob

I have just found the WIP of the rocking chair, I finished one exactely like yours, with the brock video as an assistance, mind you I got over the tune that was in the back ground very quickly. I started it over two years ago and took nearly a year to finish, actually i did it in a class with 6 others, and I was the only one to finish, I think they are still working on them.

It's one of those jobs that takes a lot of shaping and sanding and patience, yours looks great. Its a great feeling to see it come together.

Everyone that has seen mine loves it, the shape, the feel and the overall look of it is worth the time and trouble, you will enjoy it for years to come.

Graham

Graham I can understand why it could have taken you two years. I came across a blog by someone else who had made the rocker and they took over a year. Mind you, they were still in the workforce so this was a part time activity.

As Brock says, you better like spindles because you have seven of them to make. Did all my shaping by hand with rasps. This takes time - if I was lucky I might get one and a half done in a day. If I remember right Scott (Wongo) made a jig that enabled him to use a router. From what I can see it depends on the front and back profile that you settle on as to whether or not you could use a router. I don't believe that I could have used a router to achieve my profile.

After getting the general shaping done I used a grinder with a 120 grit flap disk to get the sanding under way. I then used a ROSand 180 grit to smooth things down. Then it was down to hand sanding - 180, 240, 320, and 400.

A Veritas tenon cutter was used to put a 1/2" tenon on the bottom and a 3/8" one on the top. Worked like a charm.

In all the spindles took about two weeks with the usual domestic interuptions.

Next step will be to finish shaping the seat and preparing it to take the spindles.

That's a long time on the spindles. I guess most of the work by hand is almost normal for us hobbiest. Great work.

Christos, I came across one fellow who used an angle grinder and flap disk to do his general shaping and the best he could do was three in a day. He would have then had to resort to hand sanding to get the finish. As you move up the grits more blemishes become obvious. In most cases you have to go back to the lowest grit to remove it, then progress up again. I was still finding things after I had reached 400. I would be just walking past the holding frame and the light would highlight something else. One does not want to make a Malouf style chair and have it look second rate. Even Malouf took several months per chair - and he was the expert. Very satisfying though.

G'day Bob, just found this post and love your WIP so far.
I'll keep looking back to see how you are going.
I also have the Brock plans also but thought I would make the low back dining chair first as I could probably complete it sooner than the rocker. I am at the shaping stage also and it is very slow, lucky I'm also a fisherman

I am a relative newbie to woodworking and this is my first chair so I guess there is nothing like jumping in the deep end. Like you I want the rocker I make to be special so I hopefully wont be making the same mistakes I've made on this first attempt.

I did the shaped legs in lieu of the turned frontlegs on my dining chair and used my spoke shaves a lot and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot more than the sanding and rasping.
Anyway thanks for posting the WIP. Cheers, Ian

Back again - seems to be a long time between drinks. Building a rocker seems to be mostly shaping and sanding. For this reason you don't see me giving regular updates.

Since the last update the seat has had more shaping carried out on it. The roundover at the front has been worked on, where the front meets the sides has been softened, and the pomel has been reduced. The holes have been drilled for the spindles. A curve has been put on the sides between the legs. Still waiting for a large round over bit to do the underside edges.

Time to try the spindles in the back of the chair. Each one has its tennon shaped for a particular hole. Being round they will fit in any hole, but because they will have to lean forward to fit the crest (head rest) the hole is stretched forward, and the back of the tenon relieved. All shoulder lines on the spindle need to match up. As the seat is coopered the two outside spindles need to be shortened at the bottom or the shoulders would sit too heigh.

The third photo has the crest in place, but the spindles are up behind it. Because of the shape of the bottom of the crest each spindle has to have its length reduced and a new round tenon made. Whilst this sounds straight forward it takes a bit of jiggery pokery to make it all happen. Only one has to be a little long and it stops the crest fitting properly. When this is fixed it exposes another one, and so on.

Last photo is of the crest fitted and screwed, and the front legs and arms fitted for a trial run.

Very comfortable.

Next step is to remove the spindles for some shaping of the top half. During the fitting of the spindles to the crest those that have been shortened the most need to have their tops thined down a bit. The crest needs some more shaping work, then its on to shaping all the components to have them merge seamlessly.

It's coming together very well.

looks great

Bob, the seat (Pic 1) is looking great.

Enjoying the WIP Bob, your doing a fantastic job with the rocker, it looks really good.

Looking good, Bob.