Making a rocker with the Domino jointer - WIP

[Rocker]

Now that I am a proud owner of a Domino jointer, I realised that I needed to make a Domino version of my rocker CD, since this tool allows the rocker to be built without the need to construct precision morticing and tenoning jigs. I started another thread in the Festool forum - http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=35022 - to show some of the joints being made with the Domino, but thought people might find the whole process of making the rocker interesting.

Photo 1 shows shows a 200 x 50 x 2100 board of jarrah being marked out with a template for the back legs. The rocker's arms can be cut from the pieces of waste cut from the back of each leg. Note how the back legs are nested on the board.

Photo 2 shows the back legs being cut on the bandsaw, using a stand with transfer rollers to support the board on the infeed side.

Photo 3 shows the bandsawn back legs. Enough waste has been left near the sharp curves to enable the waste to be drilled away with a forstner bit. This is an easy way of shaping these parts.

Rocker

[Auld Bassoon]

Hi Rocker,

Although I don't have a Domino (yet...), I'd be interested to see how this works through.

BTW, I notice that you have a shop built infeed table for use with your Jet B/S - but I couldn't see an outfeed table? I find that both are necessary when cutting long boards. Care to comment?

[martrix]

Excellent Rocker! I will watch this one with great interest, as I want to build a Rocker one day:o .....http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon14.gif

I'm sure the Jarrah will look brilliant. Have you any thoughts of adding some details with a contrasting, maybe a blond timber? .....just a thought.

[Rocker]

Hi Rocker,

Although I don't have a Domino (yet...), I'd be interested to see how this works through.

BTW, I notice that you have a shop built infeed table for use with your Jet B/S - but I couldn't see an outfeed table? I find that both are necessary when cutting long boards. Care to comment?

Steve,

Being Scottish, I just move the roller stand to the outfeed side for the last part of the cut. It works for me.

Martrix,

I will probably use some silver ash to form the blocks between the legs and the rockers. I find that jarrah and silver ash contrast nicely.


Rocker

[Lignum]

Excellent thread Rocker, im realy looking foward to this. I liked your little wedge on the other thread re cutting the angled mortice:D :D

[MajorPanic]

David,

That port thingy on the bandsaw is where you hitch up a dust extractor............. it saves having a workshop full of dust & crap on the floor, oh yeh, it saves your lungs to :D

[Rocker]

Major,

OK, you are right; but I made the mistake of buying a 1 HP rather than a 2 HP dust collector, so I am always going to have dust on the floor. I wear a dust mask when doing particularly dusty jobs, but my lungs have a head-start on yours - I don't smoke:)

Rocker

[TassieKiwi]

I'll be watching......check out this thread on shaping:

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=34053

Could be good for those legs, and the spindles?

den

[Rocker]

I am amazed at the amount of progress that the Domino has enabled me to make in a couple of days' work; admittedly I previously had done quite a bit of preliminary TurboCAD work, and had compiled a table for the Domino parameters for each of the mortices, with columns for the cutter diameter, milling depth, jointing height, width setting, and the reference face on which the layout line is drawn.

The pic shows the unshaped skeleton of the chair, whose parts had still to be cut out of the boards two days ago, dry assembled. I chose not to fit the top back rail, since it is a bit tricky to assemble too many joints single-handed; but the top rail's mortices are cut too, and it fits well between the back legs.

I spent much of the time checking and re-checking my measurements, the layout lines, and the various adjustments to the Domino, since any mistake could potentially be costly in terms of wasted timber. There is no doubt that, once you got in the groove, you could cut the rocker's mortices very quickly, if you were building a number of them at once.

Rocker

[martrix]

There is no doubt that, once you got in the groove, you could cut the rocker's mortices very quickly, if you were building a number of them at once.

Rocker

Awesome........Look out, the "House of Rocker" will be going into production very soon:p ...the Maloof of Oz:rolleyes:

[TassieKiwi]

WoodWizard of Oz?

Rocker is looking good Mr Rocker. Are you keeping tabs on hrs?

[Lignum]

I am amazed at the amount of progress that the Domino has enabled me to make in a couple of days' work



This is the bit that`s hard to get others who havnt used one to understand.

Youve got all the peices for a project dressed and cut to size and your ready to mortice and assemble, and with Domi it just seems to flow with beautiful accuracy and so little time and effort.

Then for once you actualy enjoy the dry fit up because it fits with such precision and moderatly tight fit, its a joy.

This is a special tool that makes your time in the workshop so much more enjoyable. Love it:D

[boban]

Being Scottish, I just move the roller stand to the outfeed side for the last part of the cut. It works for me.

Rocker

A Scot who buy $1200+ power tool. Now there's a first.

That Scottish blood seems awfully diluted :D

[Rocker]

I'll be watching......check out this thread on shaping:

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=34053

Could be good for those legs, and the spindles?

den

Dennis,

Although I normally shy away from the Dark Side, I find that the initial shaping of the back legs of a rocker can be done more quickly and easily with a compass plane rather than by pattern routing, since it is not essential that the back legs be precisely identical and since they will be rounded over later anyway.

The backslats need to be made as bent laminations, since they are only 8 mm thick and they would be much too weak if they were pattern routed from solid wood. Pattern routing would no doubt be effective for the much thicker solid-wood spindles that are usually used for Maloof-style rockers with solid-wood seats.

Rocker

[TassieKiwi]

All makes sense. My first job tomorrow am is to smooth the legs with - my #20, so there ya go. The router was really efficient in getting the 2-3mm if initial waste off, and my design called for exact shapes for the 4 vertical members at each end.

Had to get up at 04:30hrs to cuddle Domi, did we? She gets nice and warm after about 10 mins of domineering. :D

[Rocker]

Tassiekiwi,

I am not keeping tabs on hours. At my age, you spend most of your time looking for the caliper that you just put down, or trying to remember what you intended to do next:)
I spent this morning on updating the CD, and the afternoon on making the front legs. I also cut the housings for the front legs on the outer face of the side rails, using a dado set, as well as the corresponding housings for the side rails on the inner face of the front legs.

I used my dowelling jig to rout the dowel holes in the top and bottom of the front legs, and I marked out and bandsawed the curved profile of their outer face and then faired it with a Record compass plane.

The picture shows a front leg completed, apart from the rounding over of the corners.

I am finding jarrah far easier to work than the blackwood which I used to make the four rockers I have completed so far. Jarrah is much less prone to burning when being routed than blackwood.

Rocker

[Rocker]

Today I cut the 12 laminations for the rockers, and the same number for the backslats, on the table-saw. I always reset the fence for each cut when cutting laminations; this is much safer than keeping the fence in a single position, and cutting so that the lamination is between the blade and the fence. I then thicknessed the rocker laminations to 6 mm, and the backslat laminations to 4 mm.

The photo shows the laminations for one of the rockers being glued up in a former, using Techniglue epoxy. I used about 140 ml of glue on the six laminations. The faces of the formers are lined with shiny brown packaging tape, so as to prevent the rocker from sticking to its former.

Rocker

[Carpenter]

Fascinating Rocker, I love these threads that show the process in detail. The curve forming jig is wonderful, so simple but very clever.

[bitingmidge]

The only thing you miss out on is the speed and convenience of the Domino. I would love to own one, but there is no way I could justify it unless I won the lottery.

Having not spent a lot of time poking round lately, I'm assuming you used the rest of your winnings to purchase the jarrah eh Rocker?

All of this makes me want to not finish my morticing jig of course!

cheers,

P
:D :D

[Rocker]

Midge,

Unfortunately, I didn't win the lottery, but I justified my change of heart by calculating that, if I made a Domino version of my rocker CD, and wrote an article on using the Domino to build a rocker, and managed to get it published in the US to coincide with the launch of the Domino over there, I might be able to recoup most of the cost of the machine. And anyway, I thought, "You're only old once, so why not?".

Rocker

[Rocker]

The the bent lamination for the rocker turned out well. The great advantage of glued laminations over steam-bending is that they have virtually no spring-back, so that the bent part is a predictable and repeatable shape.

The blanks for the arms were cut to shape (see photo below), but their curved underside was not cut. Its exact profile cannot be determined until the outline of the top of the front leg has been marked out on it, after dry-assembling the back leg, side-rail, and front leg. The dowel holes in the rear end of the arms are routed, but the corresponding dowel holes on the front facet (for the arms) on the back legs cannot be routed until the facet has been planed to fit the rear end of the arms after a trial fitting of the arm in the above-mentioned dry-assembly.

Rocker

[zenwood]

I noticed the acetone in the pic of the lamination glue up: what do you use that for?

Interesting that the techniglue doesn't stick to the shiny tape, or do you still get some of it tearing away?

[Rocker]

Zenwood,

I use acetone for clean-up of the measuring spoons used for the Techniglue epoxy. Epoxy does not stick at all to the shiny packing tape, so the formers come apart with no problems after the epoxy has set.

Rocker

[zenwood]

Thanks Rocker. I didn't know anything could dissolve the epoxy. I use disposable wooden ice-block sticks to 'measure' out the two parts. Good to know about the packing tape too.

[Rocker]

Glued up the laminations for the second rocker this morning, and cut the curves on the backs of the back rails with the bandsaw. After planing the backs smooth, which is easy enough to do with a jack-plane (a compass plane is not necessary for convex curves), I marked out the centre lines for the back-slat mortices on the backs of the rails. To prevent the plate of the Domino from wobbling on the curved backs, I attached thin narrow laths with double-sided tape to the edges of the Domino's plate. Milling the mortices, using the Wide setting to produce a mortice 31 mm wide, only took about 15 seconds for each mortice.

Rocker

[Gumby]

I wish you'd stop this Rocker, my wallet is starting to get nervous again. :rolleyes:

:)

[jmk89]

Thanks Rocker. I didn't know anything could dissolve the epoxy. I use disposable wooden ice-block sticks to 'measure' out the two parts. Good to know about the packing tape too.

there was a thread recently in one of the boatbuilding forums that indicated that the "best" cleanup for unset epoxy is white vinegar. It works.

[Rocker]

The front faces of the back rails were cut on the bandsaw, and roughly faired with a ROS; then the top and bottom edges of the top rail were bandsawn to shape, and again roughly faired.

Gumby,

Probably your wallet needs to go into hiding, otherwise ...

aargh; no! That pun might make someone think I was a journalist:eek:

Rocker

[Rocker]

Today, I bandsawed the inner profile of the back legs (see photo), and smoothed their faces with a jack plane followed by the ROS fitted with 60-grit paper; the sharp curves near the joints were tidied up using an angle-grinder fitted with an Arbortech sanding attachment. The sharp arrises will be rounded over with a 10 mm radius roundover bit.

Rocker

[Auld Bassoon]

Splendid stuff Rocker,

Do keep the posts coming.

Some commentary on what went well or what didn't work out as expected - and how you resolved this/these issues would be very interesting.

[jmk89]

Today, I bandsawed the inner profile of the back legs (see photo), and smoothed their faces with a jack plane followed by the ROS fitted with 60-grit paper; the sharp curves near the joints were tidied up using an angle-grinder fitted with an Arbortech sanding attachment. The sharp arrises will be rounded over with a 10 mm radius roundover bit.

Rocker

Rocker

Probably a dumb question but what makes you decide when to use the ROS and when to use the sander on the angle grinder? I suppose that it might be because the revs of the grinder are so much greater you use it for when you need to remove more wood in a hurry. I notice that the Triton ROS angle grinder attachment rotates and orbits much faster than an ordinary ROS, so I suppose that the same applies to the Arbortech non-orbiting attachment.

Cheers

Jeremy

[Rocker]

Jeremy,

You are right; since the angle-grinder attachment is so aggressive, it is only used, very gently, for shaping sharp curves near the joints; the ROS is used for smoothing flat or gently curved surfaces.

Rocker

[Rocker]

The chair parts have been roughly rounded over; the facets on the side rails have been planed; and the rocker blocks have been glued in place. The dowel holes have been routed in the front blocks, but the exact position of the holes in the rear blocks will be determined later.

Rocker

[Rocker]

The side-rails were glued to the back legs, and 1/2" diameter dowels 3 1/2" long were prepared from rock maple for attaching the rockers to the legs. Once the back legs have been trimmed to fit snugly on the back rocker blocks, the position of the dowel hole on those blocks, on the underside of the arms, and on the arm-facet on the back legs can be determined by dry-assembling the side-assembly, and using metal dowel-centres.

Rocker

[zenwood]

... 1/2" diameter dowels ... were prepared ... for attaching the rockers to the legs.

Why not use the domino for this?

[Rocker]

Why not use the domino for this?

Zenwood,

There are compelling reasons for using round dowels for connecting the legs to the rockers and the arms to the legs. In a nutshell, the Domino requires a reference surface for its plate to rest on that is preferably flat, and at least at a predictable angle, to the face into which the domino mortice is cut. My router dowelling jig, on the other hand, which I posted in another thread recently, see http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=35290 , reguires only a flat surface, in which the dowel hole is routed exactly perpendicular to the surface. The curved surfaces of the legs and arms of my rocking chair do not provide suitable reference surfaces for the Domino.

Furthermore, determining the position and orientation of the cut on the bottom of the back legs of my chair requires that the dry-assembled side-assembly be able to pivot on the round dowel that connects the front leg to the rocker, as I will illustrate in my next post in this thread.

Rocker

[Rocker]

The two photos below show the process of marking out and trimming the bottom end of the back leg. The front leg is clamped to the side rail and can swivel on its dowel inserted in the front rocker block (hence the need for a round dowel, rather than a domino). The projection of the plane of the top of the back rocker block is marked on three sides of the back leg; the bottom of the back leg is then trimmed to the lines with a backsaw. The second photo shows the trimmed back leg sitting snugly on the back rocker block.

A dowel hole can now be routed in the bottom of the back leg, using the dowelling jig mentioned in the previous post. Then the side-assembly is dry-assembled and clamped again, as described above, and a metal dowel-centre inserted into the dowel hole in the bottom of the back leg is used to mark the required position of the dowel hole in the back rocker block.

Rocker

[Rocker]

When the dowel is fitted in the back rocker block, the legs can only be emplaced on the rocker blocks whilst the housing joint between the side rail and the fron leg is still unglued, since the dowels that attach the legs to the rockers are not parallel, but converge at an acute angle. Incidentally, I am puzzled by Sam Malloof's 1983 FW article on making a rocker, since he says in that article that he glues the legs of his chairs to the solid-wood seat before fitting the chair to the rockers with dowels. I don't see how this is possible. He also says in that article that he uses white glue, i.e. PVA, to glue up the rocker laminations. I have read elsewhere of rockers delaminating through the use of PVA glue.

Anyway, after fitting the legs to the rockers, the side assembly is completed by fitting the arms to the legs. The first task is to lay the arm flat on the top of the front leg and see how the arm-facet on the back leg needs to be planed to yield a snug joint with the back end of the arm. Having planed it, and then retested the fit repeatedly until a good fit is achieved, the required position of the dowel hole on the facet can be determined by inserting a dowel centre into the dowel hole on the back of the arm to mark the position.

After routing the dowel hole in the arm-facet on the back leg, a dowel is inserted to hold the back end of the arm in place. Then the dowel-hole position on the underside of the arm can be determined in a similar fashion, by inserting a dowel centre into the dowel hole in the top of the front leg. Since the top and bottom faces of the arms are still flat and parallel, the dowel holes in the underside of the arms can be drilled on a drill press.

The dowel is then inserted into the top of the front leg, and the arm fitted, see photo below. The outline of the top of the front leg is then marked on the underside of the arm, and the bulk of the waste from the underside of the arm can then be bandsawn away.

Rocker

[zenwood]

Interesting to see the use of dowels in this project, and that Sam Maloof uses them too. He must mill the dowel holes prior to shaping so that they're parallel, and thus allow the legs to be fitted after they've been joined to the seat. Or he must have some fancy jiggery to get the dowels parallel.

Do you use 1/2" dowels throughout, or multiple smaller ones, which would give you more gluing area? If 1/2 inch, where did you get the dowel centres?

[Rocker]

Zenwood,

Yes, I use 1/2" dowels for joining the arms to the legs, and the legs to the rockers. Bunnings still sell 1/2" dowel centres. I think doubling up the dowels is unnecessary. With epoxy glue, I am convinced that the dowelled joints are easily strong enough, especially as they would normally be under compression. The joints that are most under stress, those joining the side rails and the lower back rail to the back legs, are dominoed and will be very strong.

Rocker

[TassieKiwi]

[quote=Rocker. Incidentally, I am puzzled by Sam Malloof's 1983 FW article on making a rocker, since he says in that article that he glues the legs of his chairs to the solid-wood seat before fitting the chair to the rockers with dowels. I don't see how this is possible. He also says in that article that he uses white glue, i.e. PVA, to glue up the rocker laminations. I have read elsewhere of rockers delaminating through the use of PVA glue.

Rocker[/quote]

I saw the 'Turningpoint' seminar, and he showed how this was done. The dowells are indeed parallel with each leg, and mounted first in the rocker. He cuts a 45° mitre on the top of the rear dowel, sloping forwards. The front dowell is introduced to it's hole, and then he 'says a little prayer' and gives the rocker a big whack to spring the rear dowel in! Has yet to have a failure.:cool: A WW dude fer sher.

[Lignum]

Dowels are good as long as you dont put them in at random but make sure the direction of the grain alignes propperly. Sounds like being a bit fussy, but thats why dowels continualy fail. This is a fab thread to follow the progress of the Rocka Rocka, very enjoyable:D

[Bob38S]

Love your work/pleasure - I look forward to seeing the finished example - unfortunately I can feel the need to sell a kidney to get one of these Domino machines - for the moment I'll need to continue with biscuits and pocket holes.
Great stuff,
Bob

[Lignum]

unfortunately I can feel the need to sell a kidney to get one of these Domino machines


Bob, how many kidneys do you have? i might be wrong but dont you only need one:confused:

[Rocker]

I saw the 'Turningpoint' seminar, and he showed how this was done. The dowells are indeed parallel with each leg, and mounted first in the rocker. He cuts a 45° mitre on the top of the rear dowel, sloping forwards. The front dowell is introduced to it's hole, and then he 'says a little prayer' and gives the rocker a big whack to spring the rear dowel in! Has yet to have a failure.:cool: A WW dude fer sher.

Hmm, I think I prefer my method to Sam's. Mine does not require any prayers and is pretty much foolproof. I would imagine it would be pretty hard to ensure that the dowel hole in the back leg was parallel to the one in the front leg. You would need to be Einstein to work that out, whereas my dowelling jig simply ensures that the dowel is perpendicular to the plane of the joint.

Rocker

[Rocker]

The waste has been bandsawed from the arms. Note the outline of the top of the front leg marked on the underside of the arm. Meanwhile, the backslat laminations are glued up, one backslat a day, in their former.

Rocker

[zenwood]

Former not long enough?

[Rocker]

Zenwood,

Didn't I mention that I was Scottish? It is the same former that I used to make the Neil Scobie rocker, which has shorter backslats, years ago. However, since the top end of the backslat is straight, it makes little difference.

Rocker

[Rocker]

The backslat laminations were quarter-sawn to bring out the curly figure in the jarrah. After the epoxy squeeze-out was planed away, the backslat was jointed to the correct width, and its edges were rounded over on the router table. No fence was used; the backslat was just routed on edge using a 4 mm radius bearing-guided roundover bit.

Rocker

[TassieKiwi]

Sexy. So you've done the mort's with Domi?

[Lignum]

Dont know how many have seen Rockers Zig Zag chair presentation, i have just had a look and i have to say the whole thing is absoulutly first class. So well put together with great photos, easy and clear diagrams and text. Realy well done:D :D :D :D I will be putting in an order for the Domi Rocker CD soon as its ready:)

[Rocker]

Sexy. So you've done the mort's with Domi?

Tassie,

As I mentioned in the first post of this thread, I have presented picures of the mortices cut with the Domino in another thread: http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=35022 . I then decided to have a separate thread, this one, to describe making the rest of the rocker. The backslat mortices are shown in post #25 of this thread.

Rocker

[Mick C.]

Hi Rocker,

I wanted to touch on a post of yours from earlier, the one where you mentioned Sam Maloof and his use of PVA for his rockers etc, and your use of Epoxy. I'm wondering what the prefered type of glue would be for this sort of situation??? I guess the use of epoxy would be for the lack of creep that it has when compared to PVA, as PVA is renouned for it??? But i also noted that Hal Taylor mentiones using titebond 3 for nearly all of his assembly and he says that he isnt all that familiar with epoxy... so what are the differences in the the 3??? I would have thought that epoxy would have been the choice of glue for something that was never going to come apart, both cause of its strength and its wicking action into the timber???? Would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.

[Rocker]

Mick,

I would never use PVA, which includes Titebond, I think, for bent laminations, since PVA is prone to creep, particularly in hot or humid conditions. Epoxy or urea-formaldehyde glue are both satisfactory for bent laminations, but you need to avoid the very runny epoxies, like West Systems, unless you add thickener to it. But then you might as well use a viscous epoxy like Techniglue, or Epox-E-glue, instead.

Rocker

[Bob38S]

Bob, how many kidneys do you have? i might be wrong but dont you only need one:confused:

True - but I'm kind of attached to the 2 of them and am reluctant to make a choice as to which one to give up. :D:D:D

My car runs on 4 wheels but there is a spare in the boot - haven't had to use the spare for many years but I don't leave home without it.

Still ---- the Domino does look good............

[Rocker]

The bulk of the waste has now been bandsawn away from the rockers. They will next be rounded over, using a 16 mm radius roundover bit; there will then be a lot of touching up to do with the sanding disc on the angle-grinder, before final hand-sanding.

Rocker

[Rocker]

Here is one of the rockers after about an hour's work, first with the roundover bit in the router, followed by touching up with the sanding attachment on the angle-grinder. The angle-grinder work is a bit stressful, since a careless movement could be disastrous. With a little imagination, you might find guidance on the sort of technique you need in the Kama Sutra, in the section dealing with foreplay.

Rocker

[zenwood]

the sort of technique you need in the Kama Sutra, in the section dealing with foreplay.
Drat! That bit's missing from my copy:eek:

[Auld Bassoon]

. With a little imagination, you might find guidance on the sort of technique you need in the Kama Sutra, in the section dealing with foreplay.


:D My copy of that esteemed volume appears not to contain any mention of angle grinders :eek: :D

[Rocker]

Some commentary on what went well or what didn't work out as expected - and how you resolved this/these issues would be very interesting.

Steve,

When you posted this, I thought "I have made four rockers already, what could go wrong?". Well a couple of things have gone wrong with this rocker. The first was that, in bandsawing the waste from the rocker blocks, I cut away a bit too much, so it is now difficult to achieve a smooth transition between the bottom of the legs and the rockers. The second problem is that the only jarrah I had in 50 mm thickness for the top back rail doesn't match the much lighter-coloured jarrah I used for the back legs. So I have now decided to discard the existing top back rail and make another by laminating two thinner boards of jarrah that does match the back legs. The glue line should only just be visible on the top edge of the top back rail. This will set me back a couple of days, but I think it is worth it.

Rocker

[Rocker]

Thanks to the Domino, making a new top back rail only took a couple of hours, once the epoxy glueing the two boards together had cured. The picture shows the old and the new top back rail, illustrating the huge variability in the colour of jarrah. The new rail matches the curly jarrah used for the back-slats.

Rocker

[jacko]

Hey Rocker, I notice that you have cut mortices into the curved section of the rail. Did you do this before creating the curve (to get them all parralel) or can the Domino cope with this after the cut? For example could it cope with cutting matching motices in the junction of the horizontal support and the arc in the attached image? Be really nice if it could, then I could avoid having to use screws and then hiding them!
Jacko

[Rocker]

Photo 1 shows the dry-assembly of the back rails between the back legs, in order to trim the top ends of the back-slats to length (they have already been trimmed in this picture). Photo 2 shows the back-assembly which will eventually be glued between the two glued-up side-assemblies of the chair in the final glue-up stage. Before the side assemblies are glued up, though, a good deal of work remains to be done in the way of fairng the back legs, and ensuring that the transitions between the various chair parts at the joints are smooth.

Jacko,

The process of cutting the back-slat mortices was explained and pictured in Post #25 of this thread. The plate of the Domino rested on the curved back surface, but the curve in the lower edge of the top back rail was cut after the mortices had been milled, so some of the mortices are deeper than others.

I am not sure from your picture whether the junction between the arc and the support is a flat plane or a curved one. If it is flat, I think the Domino could definitely do it; if curved, it might still be able to do it with a fair amount of fiddling about. I would still be inclined to use screws instead though, as you have done. If you have a tapered plug cutter, you can make plugged screw holes almost invisible.

Rocker

[Auld Bassoon]

Hi Rocker,

"What could go wrong?" Oh how I loathe that phrase, as every time I use it - well, need I say more? :rolleyes: :(
Given the level of attention to detail that you so obviously apply, I'd have thought that a miniscule glue line is much the preferable alternative to mis-matched colours in the Jarrah between the back legs and the upper back rail.

[Rocker]

After a great deal of messing around with getting the parts to match more or less smoothly at the joints, it is time for the glue-up of the first side-assembly. The side-rail had previously been glued to the back leg, but the other parts are all glued in a single glueing operation. The front leg/side-rail joint is not clamped, since it is already held together tightly by a reinforcing screw driven from the inside.

I am beginning to feel that it was a mistake to make the rocker blocks from silver ash, since they are too conspicuous and will draw the eye away from the rest of the chair. Probably a 5 mm layer of silver ash to provide less obtrusive decoration would have been better.

Today, I got from Timbecon some flexible sanding pads, which are useful for sanding concave curves. See http://www.timbecon.com.au/products/sanding-accessories-attachments-389_1.aspx . Unfortunately, I had done by hand most of the sanding for which the angle-grinder sanding attachment was unsuitable, before these gadgets arrived.

Rocker

[Lignum]

That looks awsome Rock:D So what are you going to do with this when its finished? donate it to the free stuff draw:D :D

[Rocker]

Lignum,

It will probably get sent to the Old Dart for one of my nephews or nieces. However, I could contribute a CD on how to make a rocker to the prize draw in a few weeks' time, when the Domino version is ready, so that the winner can choose a Domino or non-Domino version.

Rocker

[Rocker]

At long last, the rocker has finally come together. The picture below shows the clamps on for the glue-up of the back-assembly and the front rail between the two side-assemblies. All that now remains is to install the rear glue-blocks that will support the back part of the slip seat, and to fine-tune the slip-seat frame, and get it upholstered. Then, after final sanding, and the application of the finish, the rocker will be ready.

The chair is significantly heavier than the blackwood version made to the same design, since blackwood is only about 3/4 of the density of jarrah.

Rocker

[DPB]

David, just curious. It looks like the centre of gravity is too far forward. Is the rocker being tipped forward by the concrete curb shown in the picture? You know why I ask.;)

[Rocker]

Don,

I have now taken the clamps off, and the rocker is balanced at a point directly beneath the back legs. When the slip seat is added, it should balance at a point about 50 mm in front of the back legs, as Sam Maloof recommends.

Rocker

[zenwood]

Those silver ash blocks are certainly quite prominent. Maybe it's worth considering staining them?

Good to see how it all comes together. I'd love to be able to tackle something similar, in the fullness of time.

[jacko]

OK Rocker, now that the project has been (nearly) completed, here comes the $64 question. The next time you make one of your wonderful rockers, will you use the domino or not? If so, will you change anything else in the process? Once again a wondrful WIP, and great result.
Jacko

[Rocker]

Jacko,

If I made another rocker, I would definitely use the Domino, since, although I can achieve comparable accuracy with my morticing and tenoning jigs, and a dado set, it is a lot more hassle and time-consuming to do so. Also, with routed mortices, I have to round the tenons with hand tools, after cutting their cheeks with my table-saw jig. With the Domino-made rocker, I have used two mortices at each of the joints between the rails and the back legs, instead of the single larger mortice at each joint that I used in my previous rockers. Apart from that, nothing was changed.

In making a rocker, the joinery itself is a relatively small part of the work; the time-consuming part is rounding-over and fairing the parts, and fairing the the junctions between the legs and the rails and arms, so that they flow into one another relatively smoothly. This can be speeded up quite a bit by using sanding attachments for an angle-grinder and drill, but it is still quite laborious.

I am getting the slip seat upholstered in leather, but it won't be ready until next week. I will post pictures of the completed project then.

Rocker

[Rocker]

Here is the completed rocker after four coats of Minwax wipe-on gloss poly. I am still waiting for the slip seat to be upholstered. I decided to make a virtue of the over-obtrusive rocker blocks by calling it a rocker in spats:)

Rocker

[Lignum]

David, MAGNIFICENT :D :D :D :D That is a first rate rocker beautifuly made, well done:D

I realy like the "Rocker blocks" and will the seat upholstery be a similar color to the blocks?

Once again a pearler of a job, good stuff:D

[bjn]

Rocker

What outstanding workmanship!

The contrasting spats are very visually appealing.:)

Cheers
Brenton

[zenwood]

Here is ... a rocker in spats Fantastic result, Rocker. You could upholster the seat in Rocker tartan, and it would look like a piper.

Greenie, etc.

[Rocker]

Lignum,

I have told the upholsterer to do the seat in dark green leather, if he has it, otherwise in black. I think a cream-coloured seat to match the silver-ash spats would make the chair look odd, although it just might work.

Rocker

[MajorPanic]

Those silver ash blocks are certainly quite prominent. Maybe it's worth considering staining them?
WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP YOU PHILISTINE!!! ;) :D :D :D

Stain Silver Ash?? what are you? why not just stain some Snake Wood or Cocobolo or Ebony or Blackwood?????

Great work David!

[Rocker]

Fantastic result, Rocker. You could upholster the seat in Rocker tartan, and it would look like a piper.

Greenie, etc.

On the other hand, it might look like the other Billy - Connolly:D

Rocker

[Auld Bassoon]

Absolutely fantastic result David! I really like the little S.Ash 'spats'.

[TassieKiwi]

I buggered off to Switzerland and missed the rest of this.

Magnificent result David, that should put a smile on your dial. I don't mind the lighter blocks. You coulud use a fabric that is predominantly dark, with small highlights that pick out the light colour?

Lovely hierloom, whatever you do/have done by now!

PS is there an update on the Domi CD?

[TassieKiwi]

Hmm, I think I prefer my method to Sam's. Mine does not require any prayers and is pretty much foolproof. I would imagine it would be pretty hard to ensure that the dowel hole in the back leg was parallel to the one in the front leg. You would need to be Einstein to work that out, whereas my dowelling jig simply ensures that the dowel is perpendicular to the plane of the joint.

Rocker

An idea - as the blocks are glued on to the rockers anyway , could you assemble them on to the legs with dowels first after getting all of the angles right, and then glue the whole asssembly to the rockers?

[Rocker]

PS is there an update on the Domi CD?

Dennis,

The CD for the rocker made with domino joinery is ready. See my website: http://www.dldundas.com . Since you have already bought the other CD, I will let you have it for 50% off.

Your idea on the dowels might work for a solid-seat rocker, but I will let others try it. For an upholstered-seat rocker, I think my method is best. If you missed the later part of this thread, you probably also missed the thread showing the finished rocker: http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=36941&highlight=spats .

Rocker