Thread: First Rocking Chair

This is my first post and I thought I would share some photos of the first rocking chair I made with some help from Rocker. I used his plans and did some of the major work in his workshop as I didn't have all of the machines and jigs required at the time. The timber is Tasmanian Blackwood with a cotton weave upholstered seat insert. Once I had all of the major work done at Rockers place I did all the hand shaping and refining of the joints in my home workshop.




Some of the hand tools that I can highly recommend for the refining work are as follow:

• LN Shoulder Plane (Cleaning up tenon shoulders)
• LN Boggs Spoke Shaves (Very useful for nearly all of the shaping work)
• Dragon Rasps (Used in the difficult to reach areas)

I cannot recommend the LN spoke shaves enough. Very well balanced and capable of making a very fine and controlled cut.

With these tools and a lot of hand sanding I was able to achieve a pretty good finish and a form I was happy with. I ended up having the chair finished three days before my wife gave birth to our first child. This rocking chair design is really well suited for nursing.

If anyone is thinking of making a rocking chair I can recommend using the design Rocker has come out with. Rocker does run a course from time to time to help people who may not have all the tools required to do this sort of work.

I believe the time taken to refine the shape of the chair really is worth while even though it takes up a lot of the overall time. In my view it helps create a chair that feels like it really fits the body and has a great visual appeal.

I would be interested in seeing what other forum users think.