Moser is a great designer builder and one of the most successful furniture makers out there,making pieces inspired by his designs can only be winners.

 

Alrighty Mark. You have my attention and I look forward to this blog. I am a T. Moser fan as well but you are way ahead of me in the skills and experience department.

Cheers, Scott

 

You might want to look into making your own cushions rather then pass on making the chairs you want altogether. The big thing is making sure that all the hides come from the same batch at the same time; it ensures color consistency. Ordering 4 hides at once would probably run you 4-500 total and another 100 for filler.

 

Hi Mark, I'm late to this series, but I got a peep of your latest blog today and I will be following it just for fun as your blog looks particularly well done to me and our work highly skilled too.

 

Nice blog, Dusty. I'll look though this blog series.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

 

where on his site can i find the gloucester rocker pdf?

if it's not there, could you make the pdf available?

thanks

 

Follow this link then download the product sheet. We've had these rockers for five years now and appreciate his design even more over time…

 

thanks so much

looks like they might have cut back the pdf, it is only 2 pages and is mostly promo pictures, not really detailed:

https://www.thosmoser.com/product/new-gloucester-rocker/

https://www.thosmoser.com/wp-content/uploads/tm_ngr_new-gloucester_l.pdf

looks like they might have cut back all pdfs

 

i sent in an email to the thos moser site to see if they could provide the more detailed pdf, if i hear from them, will update

 

Turning Long, Thin Spindles

Stock Preparation
Run one face of the rough ash board across the jointer. Then run the opposite face through the planer. That should take some of the twists out of the wood. Rip ¾" square, 31" long spindle blanks on the table saw. Make several extra blanks beyond the 14 that are needed.

Mark the center of the tailstock end of the spindle using a plastic center marking gauge. Make a pilot with an awl. Drill the hole about ¼" deep with a 1/8" diameter brad point bit. This step helps center the live center of the tailstock on the spindle.

I like to secure these spindles in a heavy lathe chuck. Even if the spindle departs the tailstock, there is time to turn the lathe off before the spindle breaks. I like to use my Super Nova 2 chuck with pin jaws attached. This method seems more reliable than using a spur center on the headstock.

Center Steady
I'm a big advocate of using some sort of center steady while turning long, narrow spindles. I used to use an old Delta steady that had adjustable steel blocks and no bearings. Plenty of Johnson's Paste Wax took the place of bearings. I made six bowback chairs using that steady. I replaced my old Delta lathe and the swing is higher on my new Jet 1642. That put me in the market for a new center steady. I selected the

Oneway because of its great adjustability and quality wheels/bearings. It does a great job of steadying these chair spindles.

Turn the center 4" of the blank with a roughing gouge until it is round. Secure the center steady wheels to that portion of the blank.

Use a parting tool with a gauge set to 15/32" on each side of the steady's wheels. This helps ensure a continuous taper on the final spindle.

Turn the rest of the spindle to final dimensions on either side of the steady.

My Secret to an Excellent Taper…A Sanding Block!

The rocker calls for 14 spindles for the back alone. Using the parting tool to set a reference depth at the midpoint of the spindle does wonders for uniformity. However, achieving a real smooth, even taper with a skew or gouge requires skills I don't possess. Here is my secret method…

I use a Veritas sanding block with 100 grit sandpaper and the lathe turning at 1,000 to 1,500 rpm. It's amazing how the sanding block evens out the bumps and voids in the taper. My lathe dust hood does a good job of keeping this a clean method.

Order of Cuts
Using a center steady makes the process of turning long, thin spindles a lot easier. However it does add extra steps. Here's the flow of cuts that works for me.
1. I like installing the narrow end of the spindle at the headstock. The spindle runs truer at that end.
2. Round the middle several inches with a roughing gouge.
3. Install the center steady.
4. Round the rest of the spindle.
5. Set reference depth cuts with parting tool on either side of center steady and at narrow end.
6. Turn spindle to final dimensions.
7. Sand the spindle.
8. Move the center steady toward the tailstock.
9. Even the taper where the center steady had been.
10. Turn the tenon at the tailstock end.
11. Move center steady out of the way.
12. Sand the entire spindle to even taper.

I've completed 6 of the 14 spindles. I'll complete the legs and arm rest spindles next. It might be over a week before my next blog entry.

Next blog…modeling a seat blank from pine.

 

Turning Long, Thin Spindles

Stock Preparation
Run one face of the rough ash board across the jointer. Then run the opposite face through the planer. That should take some of the twists out of the wood. Rip ¾" square, 31" long spindle blanks on the table saw. Make several extra blanks beyond the 14 that are needed.

Mark the center of the tailstock end of the spindle using a plastic center marking gauge. Make a pilot with an awl. Drill the hole about ¼" deep with a 1/8" diameter brad point bit. This step helps center the live center of the tailstock on the spindle.

I like to secure these spindles in a heavy lathe chuck. Even if the spindle departs the tailstock, there is time to turn the lathe off before the spindle breaks. I like to use my Super Nova 2 chuck with pin jaws attached. This method seems more reliable than using a spur center on the headstock.

Center Steady
I'm a big advocate of using some sort of center steady while turning long, narrow spindles. I used to use an old Delta steady that had adjustable steel blocks and no bearings. Plenty of Johnson's Paste Wax took the place of bearings. I made six bowback chairs using that steady. I replaced my old Delta lathe and the swing is higher on my new Jet 1642. That put me in the market for a new center steady. I selected the

Oneway because of its great adjustability and quality wheels/bearings. It does a great job of steadying these chair spindles.

Turn the center 4" of the blank with a roughing gouge until it is round. Secure the center steady wheels to that portion of the blank.

Use a parting tool with a gauge set to 15/32" on each side of the steady's wheels. This helps ensure a continuous taper on the final spindle.

Turn the rest of the spindle to final dimensions on either side of the steady.

My Secret to an Excellent Taper…A Sanding Block!

The rocker calls for 14 spindles for the back alone. Using the parting tool to set a reference depth at the midpoint of the spindle does wonders for uniformity. However, achieving a real smooth, even taper with a skew or gouge requires skills I don't possess. Here is my secret method…

I use a Veritas sanding block with 100 grit sandpaper and the lathe turning at 1,000 to 1,500 rpm. It's amazing how the sanding block evens out the bumps and voids in the taper. My lathe dust hood does a good job of keeping this a clean method.

Order of Cuts
Using a center steady makes the process of turning long, thin spindles a lot easier. However it does add extra steps. Here's the flow of cuts that works for me.
1. I like installing the narrow end of the spindle at the headstock. The spindle runs truer at that end.
2. Round the middle several inches with a roughing gouge.
3. Install the center steady.
4. Round the rest of the spindle.
5. Set reference depth cuts with parting tool on either side of center steady and at narrow end.
6. Turn spindle to final dimensions.
7. Sand the spindle.
8. Move the center steady toward the tailstock.
9. Even the taper where the center steady had been.
10. Turn the tenon at the tailstock end.
11. Move center steady out of the way.
12. Sand the entire spindle to even taper.

I've completed 6 of the 14 spindles. I'll complete the legs and arm rest spindles next. It might be over a week before my next blog entry.

Next blog…modeling a seat blank from pine.

Thats a fine looking steady you have there. I ve looked at the one ways and was really impressed. I use a cheapy now with the tiny rollers. Very agravating at times. Your post just may motivate me enough to go on and buy one. Thanks ! JB

 

Modeling a Seat Blank from Pine

Necessity of a Model

The seat blank is a critical piece of this rocking chair. All of the spindles and the legs attach directly to the seat. I made six bow-back chairs back in the mid-nineties and didn't model the first seat blank. Unfortunately, I didn't nail the design on the first attempt and chair number one is not as comfortable as the other five. I decided to take the time to model a seat blank for this rocking chair.

Gluing Up the Blank
I selected construction-grade 2×6 pine for the blank and alternated the heartwood in hopes that the blank would remain stable.

I was surprised that, despite this precaution, the blank released a tremendous amount of stress after I shaped it and it curled up 7/16". This will impact the splay angle of the legs, but I'll continue to use the blank for subsequent steps.
Update: The seat continues to curl up. The total curve in the cross section is now 3/4". I will no longer sculp the seat when using construction-grade pine for a chair model. It's still worth it to use the pine in order to figure out angles for the various spindles and the leg holes. The only disadvantage of not shaping the seat is that the model will be 3/4" higher than the final product.

Marking Out Curves and Leg Holes
The curve for the front and the back of the seat blank is not a perfect radius. The back curve seems to have a flatter section in the center.

My technique for marking out these curves is to use a flexible stick. However, the curve for the back was too tight for my curve marking stick. No problem, I ripped a scrap piece of Formica and used that instead. I determined where the curve would terminate on the side of the blank. I chose 8" from the back and made marks on the blank here and at the center of the back. This is a four-handed operation. My lovely wife works well with me as we determine a pleasing curve and then she traces it out. Once you've determined a good curve, measure where the curve stick intersects the curve termination mark and then mark a symmetrical mark on the opposite side of the stick.

This will help achieve a symmetrical curve. I clamped a piece of wood at the back of the blank to provide a place to oppose the curve stick and flatten out the curve in that section. I used a similar procedure on the front curve without the flattening step.

Drilling Leg Holes with a Compound Angle Drilling Jig
The leg holes must be precisely located since they intersect the rockers. The back legs are located to create a 5 degree splay angle between the front and the back legs and also rest in the curve formed when shaping the seat blank. I'm trying a 15 degree splay angle to achieve the desired width for stability on these shorter than normal legs (they're shorter because they terminate in the rocker versus resting directly on the floor.) The front legs are angled 7 degrees forward. The back legs are angled 30 degrees back.

I mark the leg hole locations with a compass. This provides a better means of aiming the drill press to the correct location than a center point or even a cross marking. Tip: it's much easier to position the seat blank accurately on the jig if the blank is square when drilling the holes.

I use a home-built compound angle drilling jig to drill these 1" diameter holes on my drill press. Old-school Windsor chair builders might do this by eye with a bit brace…not me! I previously used a jig fixed at 10 degrees. However, I needed a 7 degree splay on my bar stools this past summer and decided to build an adjustable jig that work for any future projects. I rip a piece of MDF the correct width to obtain the angle I need and then label it for future use. This piece is inserted in a slot, opposite the hinged side, and raises the table to the correct angle. Gravity keeps everything in place.

I clamp the jig to the drill press and the seat blank to the jig while drilling each leg hole. There's too much torque, when using a 1" Forstner bit, to not take this precaution.

Note: When drilling the left rear leg, the 30 degree angle may put the seat blank too close to the drill press handles. I removed them and used a screw driver inserted in the holes to plunge the bit.

Shaping the Seat with an Arbortech Turboplane

Note: It may make more sense to shape the seat first and then drill the leg holes. It is possible that, in the process of grinding the blank, the seat could splinter at the leg hole. It did not splinter on my pine blank. However, I may run a test piece of cherry before committing to this order of shaping with the 8/4 cherry seat blank.

I used to use a King Arthur chainsaw shaping disk mounted to my angle grinder. I would then clean up those marks with a carbide grinder as pictured.

I recently purchased an Arbortech Turboplane grinding disk. This disk cuts with more of a planing action, rather than grinding. It worked quite well with the pine blank. However, knots seemed to draw it off course more than the carbide disk.

The final surface was much cleaner than previous disks produced. I was able to easily clean up the Arbortech's marks with a 50-grit sanding disk.

This disk seems safer than the Lancelot as the cutting depth is limited by the projection of the three cutters through the disk profile. Once the seat is taken down to the final depth, it is much easier to plane a flat section with this disk. I'm impressed with its quality of cut, safety, and ease of use.

Next Steps
I'll turn the four legs and build the prototype rockers to fit them in. This will provide a stable base from which to fit the spindles and the back crest.

 

Modeling a Seat Blank from Pine

Necessity of a Model

The seat blank is a critical piece of this rocking chair. All of the spindles and the legs attach directly to the seat. I made six bow-back chairs back in the mid-nineties and didn't model the first seat blank. Unfortunately, I didn't nail the design on the first attempt and chair number one is not as comfortable as the other five. I decided to take the time to model a seat blank for this rocking chair.

Gluing Up the Blank
I selected construction-grade 2×6 pine for the blank and alternated the heartwood in hopes that the blank would remain stable.

I was surprised that, despite this precaution, the blank released a tremendous amount of stress after I shaped it and it curled up 7/16". This will impact the splay angle of the legs, but I'll continue to use the blank for subsequent steps.
Update: The seat continues to curl up. The total curve in the cross section is now 3/4". I will no longer sculp the seat when using construction-grade pine for a chair model. It's still worth it to use the pine in order to figure out angles for the various spindles and the leg holes. The only disadvantage of not shaping the seat is that the model will be 3/4" higher than the final product.

Marking Out Curves and Leg Holes
The curve for the front and the back of the seat blank is not a perfect radius. The back curve seems to have a flatter section in the center.

My technique for marking out these curves is to use a flexible stick. However, the curve for the back was too tight for my curve marking stick. No problem, I ripped a scrap piece of Formica and used that instead. I determined where the curve would terminate on the side of the blank. I chose 8" from the back and made marks on the blank here and at the center of the back. This is a four-handed operation. My lovely wife works well with me as we determine a pleasing curve and then she traces it out. Once you've determined a good curve, measure where the curve stick intersects the curve termination mark and then mark a symmetrical mark on the opposite side of the stick.

This will help achieve a symmetrical curve. I clamped a piece of wood at the back of the blank to provide a place to oppose the curve stick and flatten out the curve in that section. I used a similar procedure on the front curve without the flattening step.

Drilling Leg Holes with a Compound Angle Drilling Jig
The leg holes must be precisely located since they intersect the rockers. The back legs are located to create a 5 degree splay angle between the front and the back legs and also rest in the curve formed when shaping the seat blank. I'm trying a 15 degree splay angle to achieve the desired width for stability on these shorter than normal legs (they're shorter because they terminate in the rocker versus resting directly on the floor.) The front legs are angled 7 degrees forward. The back legs are angled 30 degrees back.

I mark the leg hole locations with a compass. This provides a better means of aiming the drill press to the correct location than a center point or even a cross marking. Tip: it's much easier to position the seat blank accurately on the jig if the blank is square when drilling the holes.

I use a home-built compound angle drilling jig to drill these 1" diameter holes on my drill press. Old-school Windsor chair builders might do this by eye with a bit brace…not me! I previously used a jig fixed at 10 degrees. However, I needed a 7 degree splay on my bar stools this past summer and decided to build an adjustable jig that work for any future projects. I rip a piece of MDF the correct width to obtain the angle I need and then label it for future use. This piece is inserted in a slot, opposite the hinged side, and raises the table to the correct angle. Gravity keeps everything in place.

I clamp the jig to the drill press and the seat blank to the jig while drilling each leg hole. There's too much torque, when using a 1" Forstner bit, to not take this precaution.

Note: When drilling the left rear leg, the 30 degree angle may put the seat blank too close to the drill press handles. I removed them and used a screw driver inserted in the holes to plunge the bit.

Shaping the Seat with an Arbortech Turboplane

Note: It may make more sense to shape the seat first and then drill the leg holes. It is possible that, in the process of grinding the blank, the seat could splinter at the leg hole. It did not splinter on my pine blank. However, I may run a test piece of cherry before committing to this order of shaping with the 8/4 cherry seat blank.

I used to use a King Arthur chainsaw shaping disk mounted to my angle grinder. I would then clean up those marks with a carbide grinder as pictured.

I recently purchased an Arbortech Turboplane grinding disk. This disk cuts with more of a planing action, rather than grinding. It worked quite well with the pine blank. However, knots seemed to draw it off course more than the carbide disk.

The final surface was much cleaner than previous disks produced. I was able to easily clean up the Arbortech's marks with a 50-grit sanding disk.

This disk seems safer than the Lancelot as the cutting depth is limited by the projection of the three cutters through the disk profile. Once the seat is taken down to the final depth, it is much easier to plane a flat section with this disk. I'm impressed with its quality of cut, safety, and ease of use.

Next Steps
I'll turn the four legs and build the prototype rockers to fit them in. This will provide a stable base from which to fit the spindles and the back crest.

Mark,

Great Blog/Tutorial.

I have been wanting to make a Rocking Chair for my Great-Granddaughter and you have demystified most of my concerns with attempting that project. I really like your Drilling Jig.

I am adding your Blog to my 'watch list' for more tips and techniques as you progress through your build.

I think I may commit to building her one this winter.

Thanks for the informative post.

Work Safely and have Fun. - Grandpa Len.

 

Mistakes So Far...

It's been a while since I posted an update on my rocking chair project. I got busy with life and didn't work on it for a while. However, I'm back at it full speed. Before I move forward with a full post, I figured that I'd show you a few of the mistakes I've made so far!

1. Don't Use Construction Lumber for a Seat Blank Prototype

I thought that it made sense to use construction grade lumber for my seat blank prototype, but that was a bad idea since it cupped like crazy after I shaped the seat and made it thinner by 50% on one side. I experimented with pushing the cup out of it and it snapped.

My solution was to glue up some 8/4 cherry and derive the angles for the 20 spindle holes very carefully on the final seat blank.

At this point I also decided to make two rocking chairs in a batch production mode. I made jig templates for drilling the seat blank spindle holes and also for the top crest. I used the first seat blank to make the jig and successfully copied the holes in the second seat blank. More on that in a subsequent post.

2. Don't Use 3/8" Tenons on Base Spindles for Chair Backs

I turned out 14 spindles from ash for the back of the rocking chair. They were a perfect tension and had nice, even tapers. However, I used 3/8" tenons that transitioned abruptly to an 11/16" diameter at the base of the spindle. This created a sharp point which caused the spindles to break at the base when I flexed them as I experimented with various angles of entry into the head crest.

This was a frustrating setback as I now have to turn 14 long, narrow spindles over again. I had already drilled 3/8" holes in the first seat blank. Thankfully, I was successful at re-boring these holes to 1/2" by working my way through some fractional bits. I was able to at least salvage the seat blank that way.

I will turn the spindles with 1/2" base tenons that transition gently to a 5/8" spindle diameter at the base. The set of weak spindles were still handy to experiment with the proper angles for the head crest. They give a good view of what the final chair might look like.

3. Be Sure You Have the Correct Prototype Piece When Making a Jig/Template

I used my final prototype for the top crest to build a jig that guides the drill bit for accurate, repeatable spindle holes in the crest. This picture tells the story well…

The technique is to drill through the top of the prototype crest into a piece of hardwood scrap. That scrap becomes the jig/template when you clamp it to the bottom of the final piece and drill from the bottom up into the piece. It perfectly duplicates the compound angle of the prototype crest. The mistake I made is that the final prototype was still connected to the spindles and I was using a bad prototype to make my jig! That only wasted a piece of scrap cherry.

I'll try to catch up my blog posts to my project progress in the coming week…

 

Mistakes So Far...

It's been a while since I posted an update on my rocking chair project. I got busy with life and didn't work on it for a while. However, I'm back at it full speed. Before I move forward with a full post, I figured that I'd show you a few of the mistakes I've made so far!

1. Don't Use Construction Lumber for a Seat Blank Prototype

I thought that it made sense to use construction grade lumber for my seat blank prototype, but that was a bad idea since it cupped like crazy after I shaped the seat and made it thinner by 50% on one side. I experimented with pushing the cup out of it and it snapped.

My solution was to glue up some 8/4 cherry and derive the angles for the 20 spindle holes very carefully on the final seat blank.

At this point I also decided to make two rocking chairs in a batch production mode. I made jig templates for drilling the seat blank spindle holes and also for the top crest. I used the first seat blank to make the jig and successfully copied the holes in the second seat blank. More on that in a subsequent post.

2. Don't Use 3/8" Tenons on Base Spindles for Chair Backs

I turned out 14 spindles from ash for the back of the rocking chair. They were a perfect tension and had nice, even tapers. However, I used 3/8" tenons that transitioned abruptly to an 11/16" diameter at the base of the spindle. This created a sharp point which caused the spindles to break at the base when I flexed them as I experimented with various angles of entry into the head crest.

This was a frustrating setback as I now have to turn 14 long, narrow spindles over again. I had already drilled 3/8" holes in the first seat blank. Thankfully, I was successful at re-boring these holes to 1/2" by working my way through some fractional bits. I was able to at least salvage the seat blank that way.

I will turn the spindles with 1/2" base tenons that transition gently to a 5/8" spindle diameter at the base. The set of weak spindles were still handy to experiment with the proper angles for the head crest. They give a good view of what the final chair might look like.

3. Be Sure You Have the Correct Prototype Piece When Making a Jig/Template

I used my final prototype for the top crest to build a jig that guides the drill bit for accurate, repeatable spindle holes in the crest. This picture tells the story well…

The technique is to drill through the top of the prototype crest into a piece of hardwood scrap. That scrap becomes the jig/template when you clamp it to the bottom of the final piece and drill from the bottom up into the piece. It perfectly duplicates the compound angle of the prototype crest. The mistake I made is that the final prototype was still connected to the spindles and I was using a bad prototype to make my jig! That only wasted a piece of scrap cherry.

I'll try to catch up my blog posts to my project progress in the coming week…

Looks like a good start.

 

Drilling Spindle Holes

Determining the correct angles for the spindle holes in the seat blank and the top crest is an important step that impacts the aesthetics, comfort, and strength of the rocking chair. I plan to make a total of 14 (a pair for each of my kids and stepkids) of these rocking chairs over the years and production repeatability is another goal.

Seat Blank

I used a diagram from the Thos. Moser web site to get an idea of the possible angles of the holes in the seat blank. I made a scrap top crest with the deisred curve. I then enlisted my wife's help and held some spindles in place to confirm the angles. I then committed and drilled the middle six holes in the blank and the scrap top crest. This provided a means to hold the top crest in place while I fiddled with the more complex outer holes. At this point, I felt confident that I had the correct angles for the seat blank holes and drilled them (with a drill press) in the first seat blank. I then used that blank to build my seat template.

Trace the outline of the seat blank onto some scrap plywood. Screw some scrap 8/4 hardwood onto the plywood around its perimeter. (The harder the wood the better since you will use this as a drilling guide for future projects.) Clamp the bottom of this assembly to the top of the first seat blank. Use the holes of the original seat blank as a guide and drill through them, from the bottom, into the template. After drilling all 20 holes, you have a jig/template that will exactly duplicate the holes in your original seat blank.

Trace and cut out a second seat blank. Clamp the drilling template to the top of the seat blank and a scrap piece of plywood to the bottom. The scrap of plywood will minimize slintering as your drill bit passes through the bottom of the new seat blank. Label your drilling template in some way to ensure you always orient the contact face of the jig correctly to the top of the new seat blank. All holes are drilled through the top of the jig/template into the top of the seat blank.

Two of the spindle holes land near the rear leg hole. Use a piece of tape to stop the hole prior to entering the rear leg hole.

Here is the second seat blank with 20 spindle holes drilled accurately with only a hand drill and a clever jig! Many of these holes are compound angles. It is easy to get these angles drilled backwards when using the drill press on the original blank. It's real mind bender! However, when the jig is clamped to the blank correctly, subsequent seat blanks are flawless and capable of being drilled in 10 minutes!

Top Crest

The procedure to drill the top crest holes is very similar to the seat blank. I used 2×4 scrap for experimental top crests. I determined the correct spindle hole angles on the fourth prototype. I tried different approaches and finally was able to visualize good compound angles for the outermost spindles.

The spindle holes in the top crest don't pass all the way through. Therefore, the holes are drilled from the bottom of the crest. The jig/template is created by clamping the bottom of the prototype to the top of the jig/template and drilling from the top of the prototype into the top of the jig.

Drilling through the prototype top crest into the jig/template. For final cuts into the top crest, the top of the jig will contact the bottom of the top crest. I label that surface "contact" on the jig to avoid confusion. I will tape the drill bit since all of the holes are stopped. The three outside holes are compound angles and if drilled too far, will penetrate the back of the top crest.

Here's how the spindles lay in a well-fit top crest.

Here's a rough idea of how the spindles fit together from the seat blank to the top crest. Please note that the bottom spindles in this picture have undersized 3/8" tenons sitting in 1/2" holes. The final product will have more tension and curves in the outer spindles. Forcing slight curvature in the outer spindles creates tension in the assembly and keeps the back from flexing excessively. This tension is created by slightly misaligning the spindle holes between the seat blank and the top crest. The tension and the resulting curves in the spindles don't appear in this photo since the undersized tenons allow the base of the tenons to straighten out a bit. I must turn new spindles with 1/2" base tenons to see the final result!

 

Laminating a Curved Leg Brace

Advantages of a Laminated Chair Brace

Thos. Moser makes good use of laminated leg braces in his chair designs in lieu of chair rungs between the legs. The final product has much cleaner lines and is quite strong. The beauty of this approach is that the legs are allowed to flex on uneven floors. I have a set of six chairs that I made in 1993 that used laminated braces. Not one leg joint has loosened after almost 20 years of constant use.

Here's a photo of a brace on an Eastward bench that I built in 1998. These benches often hold three adults as we sit down in our dining room.

Ripping Laminate Strips

The curve for the back leg is pretty tight. The laminating strips must be less than 1/10" in order to not split as they're clampled to the form. Most planers won't plane down to less than 1/10", so the best option is to rip the strips on a tablesaw. Caution: Don't set the fence 1/10" from your saw blade. It will pinch and burn. Rather adjust your rip fence for each cut and let the piece fall away to the outside of the blade. A zero clearance insert will keep that thin piece from falling into and wedging between the insert and the blade. I use 8/4 stock and laminate the brace wide enough to create two braces simultaneously. I then rip the braces on the tablesaw.

Laminating Using a Bending Form

Determine the curve and build a bending form by stacking plywood together to the proper height. Cut the stacked plywood to the correct shape. Sand the new form to smooth out the curve. Apply packing tape to the face of the bending form so that that brace doesn't become a permanent part of the form! Apply plastic to the plywood base to prevent the same thing.

I used to use Weldwood resincorcal glue for laminating. It dried real hard and the lamination didn't creep. That is no longer available. Unibond makes a good laminating glue, but it's sold in one gallon quantities, costs over $50, and has a limited shelf life. For small batches of braces, I decided to try Gorilla glue. It dries hard and there was neglible springback or creep in the week since pulling the braces off the bending form.

Gorilla glue works best if one side of the glue-up is wetted. Here I'm using a fine mist from an old hair spray bottle.

Stack the laminate as you apply glue to each layer.

Apply a liberal layer of glue.

Spread the glue with a putty knife.

Begin clamping at the center. Notice the flat spot cut into the inside of the form for more secure clamping.

Apply clamps outward.

Here is the final clamping configuration. Leave the brace clamped for at least 24 hours to allow the glue to cure.

Final Product

Scrape off the excess glue and rip two 1/2" braces from the 1 1/2" wide brace. I won't show a picture of that process. My tablesaw's cutting guard was in the way of cutting this curve, so I made the cut with a push stick and a feather board.

Next, the rear legs need a mortise to receive the laminated brace…

 

Laminating a Curved Leg Brace

Advantages of a Laminated Chair Brace

Thos. Moser makes good use of laminated leg braces in his chair designs in lieu of chair rungs between the legs. The final product has much cleaner lines and is quite strong. The beauty of this approach is that the legs are allowed to flex on uneven floors. I have a set of six chairs that I made in 1993 that used laminated braces. Not one leg joint has loosened after almost 20 years of constant use.

Here's a photo of a brace on an Eastward bench that I built in 1998. These benches often hold three adults as we sit down in our dining room.

Ripping Laminate Strips

The curve for the back leg is pretty tight. The laminating strips must be less than 1/10" in order to not split as they're clampled to the form. Most planers won't plane down to less than 1/10", so the best option is to rip the strips on a tablesaw. Caution: Don't set the fence 1/10" from your saw blade. It will pinch and burn. Rather adjust your rip fence for each cut and let the piece fall away to the outside of the blade. A zero clearance insert will keep that thin piece from falling into and wedging between the insert and the blade. I use 8/4 stock and laminate the brace wide enough to create two braces simultaneously. I then rip the braces on the tablesaw.

Laminating Using a Bending Form

Determine the curve and build a bending form by stacking plywood together to the proper height. Cut the stacked plywood to the correct shape. Sand the new form to smooth out the curve. Apply packing tape to the face of the bending form so that that brace doesn't become a permanent part of the form! Apply plastic to the plywood base to prevent the same thing.

I used to use Weldwood resincorcal glue for laminating. It dried real hard and the lamination didn't creep. That is no longer available. Unibond makes a good laminating glue, but it's sold in one gallon quantities, costs over $50, and has a limited shelf life. For small batches of braces, I decided to try Gorilla glue. It dries hard and there was neglible springback or creep in the week since pulling the braces off the bending form.

Gorilla glue works best if one side of the glue-up is wetted. Here I'm using a fine mist from an old hair spray bottle.

Stack the laminate as you apply glue to each layer.

Apply a liberal layer of glue.

Spread the glue with a putty knife.

Begin clamping at the center. Notice the flat spot cut into the inside of the form for more secure clamping.

Apply clamps outward.

Here is the final clamping configuration. Leave the brace clamped for at least 24 hours to allow the glue to cure.

Final Product

Scrape off the excess glue and rip two 1/2" braces from the 1 1/2" wide brace. I won't show a picture of that process. My tablesaw's cutting guard was in the way of cutting this curve, so I made the cut with a push stick and a feather board.

Next, the rear legs need a mortise to receive the laminated brace…

Great stuff Mark. You are an excellent teacher.

 

Plunging a Mortise in a Turned Leg

To use a laminated brace, there must be a 1/2" wide mortise in the leg. This is a simple process if you have the proper jig.

Mortising Jig

This is the jig that I used to make mortises for all of my mortise and tenon joints prior to purchasing a mortiser. I simply added some plywood to the base to raise it to the swing of my new lathe. I added a strip of plywood on the bottom to register it between the bed ways of the lathe. It is then secured by a scrap of hardwood that clamps under the bed ways by fastening a bolt through to a threaded fastener in the base of the jig.

Plunging the Mortise

Fasten the seat tenon of the leg securely in a lathe chuch and lock the indexer to prevent the drive end of the lathe from turning. Drill a hole in the center of the leg bottom. This is what registers the tail stock in the correct location. The plunge cut is 1/2" deep at the bottom side of the leg. The router is centered in the jig using an adjustable router fence. I mark the start and stop points of the plunge cut directly on the leg.

Here is what the 1/2" wide plunge cut looks like while still attached between centers.

Here are two pairs of rear legs routed and ready for squaring with a mortising chisel.

Next Step:

The next step will be trimming the braces to fit the mortises…

 

Plunging a Mortise in a Turned Leg

To use a laminated brace, there must be a 1/2" wide mortise in the leg. This is a simple process if you have the proper jig.

Mortising Jig

This is the jig that I used to make mortises for all of my mortise and tenon joints prior to purchasing a mortiser. I simply added some plywood to the base to raise it to the swing of my new lathe. I added a strip of plywood on the bottom to register it between the bed ways of the lathe. It is then secured by a scrap of hardwood that clamps under the bed ways by fastening a bolt through to a threaded fastener in the base of the jig.

Plunging the Mortise

Fasten the seat tenon of the leg securely in a lathe chuch and lock the indexer to prevent the drive end of the lathe from turning. Drill a hole in the center of the leg bottom. This is what registers the tail stock in the correct location. The plunge cut is 1/2" deep at the bottom side of the leg. The router is centered in the jig using an adjustable router fence. I mark the start and stop points of the plunge cut directly on the leg.

Here is what the 1/2" wide plunge cut looks like while still attached between centers.

Here are two pairs of rear legs routed and ready for squaring with a mortising chisel.

Next Step:

The next step will be trimming the braces to fit the mortises…

I was very happy to learn about this brace method as opposed to stretchers.

 

Fitting a Laminated Leg Brace

With the mortises plunged in the legs, the braces need to be fitted to the leg and seat. This involves some tight tolerances and compound angles, but is quite acheivable when approached systematically. Trace your laminated brace onto some scrap plywood. Do most of your fitting with these plywood models. It would be a shame to waste a good brace!

Square the Mortise

The bottom side of the routed mortise must be squared to receive the brace. Ash is quite hard, so I honed my 1/2" mortising chisel before making the cuts.

Plane the Brace

The laminated brace had some waves in it from the clamping pressure. The brace must be flat where it contacts the bottom of the seat. These are planed flat with a sharp smoothing plane.

I ripped the braces about 1/32" oversize to allow for precise fitting to the mortise. The holdfast stabilizes the brace as I plane the brace to final thickness.

Determine Angle of Brace in Mortise

The legs holes are drilled at a compound angle through the seat. That makes determining the contact angle of the brace to the leg mortise a challenge.

Put the brace into the mortise and sight the twist angle of the leg that results in the leg brace landing flat on the bottom of the seat. Keep the leg in this position and use a protractor to find the angle that tracks down the center of the leg. Transfer this angle to the contact surface of the brace.

Here the brace-leg mortise contact surface is trimmed to that angle. You need to do a good job of estimating how long the brace needs to be. The brace needs to be 1/2" tall at that end. If you make the angled cut line too deep into the curve, you will not have the required 1/2" thickness at the end of the brace and it will land below the surface of the leg at the bottom of the mortise.

Extend Mortise to Provide Clearance for Brace

The brace form I used is one I recycled from previous projects. The resulting brace contacts the leg on this rocker high on the leg. I believe that my rear legs are angled too far back and will likely bring them about 5-10 degrees more upright on subsequent rocking chairs.

This photo shows the brace not making contact with the existing mortise. I determined that I needed to extend the mortise higher on the leg to provide clearance for the brace. I remounted the leg to the lathe and extended the mortise at a shallow depth with a plunge router.

I then chopped the mortise extension at a shallow angle to remove the minimum amount of wood from the leg.

Another view of the mortise.

The brace has adequate clearance in the leg mortise.

Cut Brace to Length

Use your plywood template to determine the final cut on the brace that will rest at the bottom of the leg mortise. I sneak up to this cut in 1/16" increments and test fit between cuts. If you cut the final brace too short, you'll have to glue in a spacer at the bottom of the tenon, or laminate a new brace…ouch! I've done this in the past.

Final Fit

Here's the final fit on one of the rocking chairs. Two screws and glue hold the brace at each contact point on the seat and the leg. I'll drill holes to receive round washer head screws and plug the holes with cherry buttons during assembly.

My next step is to cut wedges and saw kerfs in the upper and lower leg tenons. I'm getting close to assembling the bottom half of the rocking chairs!

 

Fitting a Laminated Leg Brace

With the mortises plunged in the legs, the braces need to be fitted to the leg and seat. This involves some tight tolerances and compound angles, but is quite acheivable when approached systematically. Trace your laminated brace onto some scrap plywood. Do most of your fitting with these plywood models. It would be a shame to waste a good brace!

Square the Mortise

The bottom side of the routed mortise must be squared to receive the brace. Ash is quite hard, so I honed my 1/2" mortising chisel before making the cuts.

Plane the Brace

The laminated brace had some waves in it from the clamping pressure. The brace must be flat where it contacts the bottom of the seat. These are planed flat with a sharp smoothing plane.

I ripped the braces about 1/32" oversize to allow for precise fitting to the mortise. The holdfast stabilizes the brace as I plane the brace to final thickness.

Determine Angle of Brace in Mortise

The legs holes are drilled at a compound angle through the seat. That makes determining the contact angle of the brace to the leg mortise a challenge.

Put the brace into the mortise and sight the twist angle of the leg that results in the leg brace landing flat on the bottom of the seat. Keep the leg in this position and use a protractor to find the angle that tracks down the center of the leg. Transfer this angle to the contact surface of the brace.

Here the brace-leg mortise contact surface is trimmed to that angle. You need to do a good job of estimating how long the brace needs to be. The brace needs to be 1/2" tall at that end. If you make the angled cut line too deep into the curve, you will not have the required 1/2" thickness at the end of the brace and it will land below the surface of the leg at the bottom of the mortise.

Extend Mortise to Provide Clearance for Brace

The brace form I used is one I recycled from previous projects. The resulting brace contacts the leg on this rocker high on the leg. I believe that my rear legs are angled too far back and will likely bring them about 5-10 degrees more upright on subsequent rocking chairs.

This photo shows the brace not making contact with the existing mortise. I determined that I needed to extend the mortise higher on the leg to provide clearance for the brace. I remounted the leg to the lathe and extended the mortise at a shallow depth with a plunge router.

I then chopped the mortise extension at a shallow angle to remove the minimum amount of wood from the leg.

Another view of the mortise.

The brace has adequate clearance in the leg mortise.

Cut Brace to Length

Use your plywood template to determine the final cut on the brace that will rest at the bottom of the leg mortise. I sneak up to this cut in 1/16" increments and test fit between cuts. If you cut the final brace too short, you'll have to glue in a spacer at the bottom of the tenon, or laminate a new brace…ouch! I've done this in the past.

Final Fit

Here's the final fit on one of the rocking chairs. Two screws and glue hold the brace at each contact point on the seat and the leg. I'll drill holes to receive round washer head screws and plug the holes with cherry buttons during assembly.

My next step is to cut wedges and saw kerfs in the upper and lower leg tenons. I'm getting close to assembling the bottom half of the rocking chairs!

I found it interesting that you found the back leg angle of 30 deg. to be a bit too much, as I thought about 19 to 23 deg. was the norm. But who knows? Maybe the 30deg angle will work out ok in the end.

 

Producing Wedges and Sawing Kerfs

Wedges provide a bit of extra security in a leg joint. If the glue ever fails, the mechanical power of the wedge will hold the chair together longer.

Producing Wedges

I prefer a wedge with 4 degrees of taper. This shallow taper has a lot of power. However, you must get the thickness at the entry of the wedge close to the right thickness. If it is too thin, the wedge will bottom out in the joint before reaching its proper tightness.

Begin the process by surfacing wood to the thickness of the width of the tenon. A 1" tenon rquires 1" thick stock. Wedges need to be cut with the grain to remain strong. Crosscut a piece of wood to the final length of the wedge. This wood is then ripped on the tablesaw using the miter guage with an auxiliary fence.

Set the miter guage to 2 degrees. Make the first cut and throw the wedge away.

Flip the wood over.

Make another cut. Make a mark on the auxiliary fence to reproduce wedges with the same thickness.

Here's what the wedge looks like right off the saw.

This stack of wedges will hold the the seat tenons in place on two rocking chairs.

Marking Kerfs

The wedges need to run perpendicular to the grain. If they run parallel to the grain, they will likely split the seat or the rocker.

Marking out the seat tenon.

Marking out the rocker tenon.

Sawing Kerfs

I have cut the kerfs by hand on some previous projects. However, I like to cut them on the bandsaw with a V-block now.

Here's a view of the technique in action. The roller stand keeps the V-block steady. The v-block keeps the leg from rolling.

Sight the blade with your mark to ensure correct orientation.

Close-up of a cut. I make a slight wedge-shaped cut for the seat tenons and a simple kerf for rocker and spindle tenons.

A chair's-worth of legs kerfed and ready for assembly.

I need to complete the rockers next…

 

Producing Wedges and Sawing Kerfs

Wedges provide a bit of extra security in a leg joint. If the glue ever fails, the mechanical power of the wedge will hold the chair together longer.

Producing Wedges

I prefer a wedge with 4 degrees of taper. This shallow taper has a lot of power. However, you must get the thickness at the entry of the wedge close to the right thickness. If it is too thin, the wedge will bottom out in the joint before reaching its proper tightness.

Begin the process by surfacing wood to the thickness of the width of the tenon. A 1" tenon rquires 1" thick stock. Wedges need to be cut with the grain to remain strong. Crosscut a piece of wood to the final length of the wedge. This wood is then ripped on the tablesaw using the miter guage with an auxiliary fence.

Set the miter guage to 2 degrees. Make the first cut and throw the wedge away.

Flip the wood over.

Make another cut. Make a mark on the auxiliary fence to reproduce wedges with the same thickness.

Here's what the wedge looks like right off the saw.

This stack of wedges will hold the the seat tenons in place on two rocking chairs.

Marking Kerfs

The wedges need to run perpendicular to the grain. If they run parallel to the grain, they will likely split the seat or the rocker.

Marking out the seat tenon.

Marking out the rocker tenon.

Sawing Kerfs

I have cut the kerfs by hand on some previous projects. However, I like to cut them on the bandsaw with a V-block now.

Here's a view of the technique in action. The roller stand keeps the V-block steady. The v-block keeps the leg from rolling.

Sight the blade with your mark to ensure correct orientation.

Close-up of a cut. I make a slight wedge-shaped cut for the seat tenons and a simple kerf for rocker and spindle tenons.

A chair's-worth of legs kerfed and ready for assembly.

I need to complete the rockers next…

Mark,

I am just getting caught up. Wonderful blog and thanks for taking the time.

 

Designing and Cutting the Rocker

Designing the Rocker

I'm working from a handful of photographs and a sketch from the Thos. Moser website to build this rocking chair. It's enough to follow, but a true plan would be more precise. Drawing a good rocker is particularly challenging without a detailed plan. I determined some critical intercept points for the rocker's curve from the profile drawing. With my wife's help, I drew a fair curve with a strip of scrap Formica.

After drawing the bottom curve, I inserted a set of legs in the seat blank and rested it against the drawing of the rocker. I determined accurate landing points for the leg tenons on the full-scale drawing. Establishing the centerline of the leg holes and the exact angle of the holes is critical for the legs to align properly between the seat blank and the rocker. I experimented with a pair of rockers from 2 X 6 scap. I confirmed my measurements and fit before cutting the "good" wood.

A rocker with the top profile cut out and the leg holes drilled. I draw the rocker in the exact same position on the blank each time. I can then drill the hole more accurately.

Drilling the Leg Holes

Having established the axis of the leg holes, I now determine the angle of the leg holes in relation to the bottom of the blank.

The front leg hole is drilled in a prepared blank. I previously planed the landing point smooth and true with a smooting plane.

Four rockers drilled and ready for some smoothing.

Smoothing the Rocker

Even with a fine blade, the bandsaw leaves marks that require smoothing. Sanding the marks is not the most effective method.

A freshly honed smoothing plane removes saw marks and trues up an outside curve at the same time.

A spoke shave works well inside the curve when a smoothing plane won't reach the wood. It's usually best to work downhill to stay with the grain.

A situation where going slightly uphill acutally runs with the grain.

Further Shaping of the Rocker

There is further shaping that should be done to the rocker before assembly.

Moser adds a nice visual detail in the rocker by tapering it in the last foot or so of the rear of the rocker to 3/4" thickness. I cut this curve on the bandsaw

Moser uses a different joinery method for his rockers that allows the legs to contact the rocker at the splay angle of the legs. This allows his rocker to make full contact with the floor across its entire width. I turn full tenons on the leg and run them straight through the rocker at a 90 degree angle. This puts only the edge of the rocker in contact with the floor. I use a 1/2" round-over bit the keep the rocker from damaging the floor. Note: With the leg holes already drilled, the pilot bearing of the router will follow the leg hole and remove too much material. Skip this portion when routing the rocker and blend it in with a file.

Mark Out Cross Dowel

To speed assembly, pre-mark the hole for a cross dowel that will pin the lower leg tenon to the rocker. Also pre-cut the dowel and taper it at one end for easy entry.

The next step is to assemble the lower half of the rocking chair.

 

Designing and Cutting the Rocker

Designing the Rocker

I'm working from a handful of photographs and a sketch from the Thos. Moser website to build this rocking chair. It's enough to follow, but a true plan would be more precise. Drawing a good rocker is particularly challenging without a detailed plan. I determined some critical intercept points for the rocker's curve from the profile drawing. With my wife's help, I drew a fair curve with a strip of scrap Formica.

After drawing the bottom curve, I inserted a set of legs in the seat blank and rested it against the drawing of the rocker. I determined accurate landing points for the leg tenons on the full-scale drawing. Establishing the centerline of the leg holes and the exact angle of the holes is critical for the legs to align properly between the seat blank and the rocker. I experimented with a pair of rockers from 2 X 6 scap. I confirmed my measurements and fit before cutting the "good" wood.

A rocker with the top profile cut out and the leg holes drilled. I draw the rocker in the exact same position on the blank each time. I can then drill the hole more accurately.

Drilling the Leg Holes

Having established the axis of the leg holes, I now determine the angle of the leg holes in relation to the bottom of the blank.

The front leg hole is drilled in a prepared blank. I previously planed the landing point smooth and true with a smooting plane.

Four rockers drilled and ready for some smoothing.

Smoothing the Rocker

Even with a fine blade, the bandsaw leaves marks that require smoothing. Sanding the marks is not the most effective method.

A freshly honed smoothing plane removes saw marks and trues up an outside curve at the same time.

A spoke shave works well inside the curve when a smoothing plane won't reach the wood. It's usually best to work downhill to stay with the grain.

A situation where going slightly uphill acutally runs with the grain.

Further Shaping of the Rocker

There is further shaping that should be done to the rocker before assembly.

Moser adds a nice visual detail in the rocker by tapering it in the last foot or so of the rear of the rocker to 3/4" thickness. I cut this curve on the bandsaw

Moser uses a different joinery method for his rockers that allows the legs to contact the rocker at the splay angle of the legs. This allows his rocker to make full contact with the floor across its entire width. I turn full tenons on the leg and run them straight through the rocker at a 90 degree angle. This puts only the edge of the rocker in contact with the floor. I use a 1/2" round-over bit the keep the rocker from damaging the floor. Note: With the leg holes already drilled, the pilot bearing of the router will follow the leg hole and remove too much material. Skip this portion when routing the rocker and blend it in with a file.

Mark Out Cross Dowel

To speed assembly, pre-mark the hole for a cross dowel that will pin the lower leg tenon to the rocker. Also pre-cut the dowel and taper it at one end for easy entry.

The next step is to assemble the lower half of the rocking chair.

Mark, I have never done a full scale drawings. I'd really like to hear more about that and maybe see a picture. What kind of paper did you use? Do you ever use sketch up?

 

Assembling the Lower Half of the Rocking Chair

Watch This Video!

Follow this link to a 13-minute, real-time video of the glue-up of one rocker assembly. Note: I made one mistake during the assembly. I clamped the legs after having tapped wedges in place. I should have applied clamp pressure before tapping the wedges in place. The tenons made good contact, so it didn't matter.

Prepare to Assemble

I use Gorilla Glue to perform complex chair assemblies. It's quite messy, but allows more time to align parts before the glue sets.

It's good to have all the parts organized before starting the glue-up. Pre-cut the dowels, wedges, and kerfs. Have the brace holes drilled and the proper screws handy. I use a Frisbee to hold the small parts!

Apply glue to the seat hole.

Apply glue to the rocker hole.

Spray some water on the tenon. This will help activate the glue. Polyurethane glue requires moisture to cure.

Apply glue to the tenon.

Assemble Rocker

It seems unlikely that one could assemble a front leg and back leg into a rocker simultaneously when the angles are about 20 degrees different, but it works…

Push the legs into the seat first. Insert the rear rocker tenon part way. Fit the front rocker tenon. This will put up some resistance, but the kerfs provide a little bit of play.

Push the rocker the rest of the way onto the tenons.

Install Brace

Polyurethane glue allows time to twist parts into place. With the rocker assembled. The rear leg is twisted into position to line up the brace with the screw holes.

Screw and glue the brace into the leg first.

Screw and glue the brace to the seat last.

Wedges

Wedges are used to further secure the leg tenons. Run them across grain so that they don't split the rocker.

Wedge positioned and ready to be tapped.

Tapping the wedge with a dead blow mallet.

Apply clamp pressure to ensure the shoulders of the tenons meet flush with the rockers.

Cross Dowels

Use a scrap piece of wood to ensure you don't drill through the rocker.

Hole drilled for cross dowel to secure lower leg tenon. Tap in the cross dowel.

Seat Wedge

A wedge further secures the seat tenon.

Assembled

The lower half of the seat is assembled! I'm quite pleased with the way it looks. However, I will hold off on assembling the second chair until I'm sure of the fit and comfort of the first chair.

Next, I will clean up the rocker by shaping the area where the legs meet the rocker…

 

Assembling the Lower Half of the Rocking Chair

Watch This Video!

Follow this link to a 13-minute, real-time video of the glue-up of one rocker assembly. Note: I made one mistake during the assembly. I clamped the legs after having tapped wedges in place. I should have applied clamp pressure before tapping the wedges in place. The tenons made good contact, so it didn't matter.

Prepare to Assemble

I use Gorilla Glue to perform complex chair assemblies. It's quite messy, but allows more time to align parts before the glue sets.

It's good to have all the parts organized before starting the glue-up. Pre-cut the dowels, wedges, and kerfs. Have the brace holes drilled and the proper screws handy. I use a Frisbee to hold the small parts!

Apply glue to the seat hole.

Apply glue to the rocker hole.

Spray some water on the tenon. This will help activate the glue. Polyurethane glue requires moisture to cure.

Apply glue to the tenon.

Assemble Rocker

It seems unlikely that one could assemble a front leg and back leg into a rocker simultaneously when the angles are about 20 degrees different, but it works…

Push the legs into the seat first. Insert the rear rocker tenon part way. Fit the front rocker tenon. This will put up some resistance, but the kerfs provide a little bit of play.

Push the rocker the rest of the way onto the tenons.

Install Brace

Polyurethane glue allows time to twist parts into place. With the rocker assembled. The rear leg is twisted into position to line up the brace with the screw holes.

Screw and glue the brace into the leg first.

Screw and glue the brace to the seat last.

Wedges

Wedges are used to further secure the leg tenons. Run them across grain so that they don't split the rocker.

Wedge positioned and ready to be tapped.

Tapping the wedge with a dead blow mallet.

Apply clamp pressure to ensure the shoulders of the tenons meet flush with the rockers.

Cross Dowels

Use a scrap piece of wood to ensure you don't drill through the rocker.

Hole drilled for cross dowel to secure lower leg tenon. Tap in the cross dowel.

Seat Wedge

A wedge further secures the seat tenon.

Assembled

The lower half of the seat is assembled! I'm quite pleased with the way it looks. However, I will hold off on assembling the second chair until I'm sure of the fit and comfort of the first chair.

Next, I will clean up the rocker by shaping the area where the legs meet the rocker…

Nice job, but …..you forget to mention the minor cut. I also like to leave a little DNA for future furniture historians to discover.

 

Flushing the Seat Tenon

After assembling the lower half of the rocking chair, there is some clean-up work that needs to be done once the glue has cured.

Seat Tenon Before

The seat tenons and wedges stick out from above the surface of the seat. Ash is very hard and this is end grain that needs to be surfaced. These tenons come up through a curved area of the seat and eliminate the option of using a saw to flush the tenons.

Flushing Tools

These are the attachments that work on my angle grinder. I'm not sure that the shearing cut of the Arbortech would work well on end grain. I need to experiment with this on some scrap and not the real thing. I defaulted to the carbide disk pictured in the upper right of the photo. I've used this disk successfully on 40 seat tenons in the past. Newer carbide disks have cut-outs to give a better view of the progress of the grind. That would be a handy feature when trying to avoid damaging the seat.

To clean up the grinding marks, I use a 50-grit disk on my random orbit sander. I work my way up through the grits to keep removing sanding marks.

Seat Tenons After 80-Grit Sanding

The seat cleans up real nice when the tenons are ground and sanded flush.

Close-up of the front tenon. This the one where the wedge tilted to the side when driving it in as seen in my assembly video There is a 1/16" gap on the right side of the wedge which the glue filled.

Close-up of the rear tenon.

Next blog will cover the shaping of the rocker/leg joint…

 

Flushing the Seat Tenon

After assembling the lower half of the rocking chair, there is some clean-up work that needs to be done once the glue has cured.

Seat Tenon Before

The seat tenons and wedges stick out from above the surface of the seat. Ash is very hard and this is end grain that needs to be surfaced. These tenons come up through a curved area of the seat and eliminate the option of using a saw to flush the tenons.

Flushing Tools

These are the attachments that work on my angle grinder. I'm not sure that the shearing cut of the Arbortech would work well on end grain. I need to experiment with this on some scrap and not the real thing. I defaulted to the carbide disk pictured in the upper right of the photo. I've used this disk successfully on 40 seat tenons in the past. Newer carbide disks have cut-outs to give a better view of the progress of the grind. That would be a handy feature when trying to avoid damaging the seat.

To clean up the grinding marks, I use a 50-grit disk on my random orbit sander. I work my way up through the grits to keep removing sanding marks.

Seat Tenons After 80-Grit Sanding

The seat cleans up real nice when the tenons are ground and sanded flush.

Close-up of the front tenon. This the one where the wedge tilted to the side when driving it in as seen in my assembly video There is a 1/16" gap on the right side of the wedge which the glue filled.

Close-up of the rear tenon.

Next blog will cover the shaping of the rocker/leg joint…

Great work Mark. The lack of stretchers really gives it a light look that adds a lot to the overall design. I love things that are built lightly but are designed to be very strong and durable.

 

Shaping the Rocker/Leg Joint

The joints where each leg meets the rocker need shaping to transition from a rectangular rocker to a round leg. I designed the rocker with built-up areas where each leg enters. This provided a means to make a more graceful transition.

Shaping Tools

I use two tools to shape this joint by hand. The Nicholson #49 Patternmaker's rasp and a fishtail gouge worked great for this task. The gouge worked well to remove wood close the leg and also for initial large removal of wood. The rasp worked well to round over the edges in the transitions.

I've owened this rasp for over 26 years. I read a blog post that the Nicholson rasps went down in quality when they moved production to Brazil. This old model has served me well for decades. Note the aggressive tooth pattern. This is called a second-cut rasp and leaves quite a smooth surface, yet removes wood quickly.

Big Picture

Transitions from the legs down into the rocker. Gradual curves are pleasing to the eye.

View from another angle.

Front Leg

Outside view of the front leg. I plan to keep square edges on the top of the rocker. The seat has square edges at the top and the top crest will also have square edges. This will tie in all of the elements. The edges transiton smoothly from round to square.

Inside view of the front leg.

Forward view of the front leg. The lower, inside edge of the rocker is profiled with a 1/2" roundover bit over its entire length. I routed the first inch or so of the lower outside edge of the rocker with the same bit and then transitioned the edge to square with the rasp. This keeps the rocker from having an unbalanced look with a rounded edge on one side and a square edge on the other.

Rear Leg

The rear leg has a similar transition to the front leg. Another consideration is the taper at the rear of the rocker. The top of the rocker, aft of the rear leg, is rounded instead of squared.

I still need to plug the screw holes in the leg braces. Note: When driving the plug into the forward portion of the brace, clamp the sides of the brace to keep the plug from blowing out the sides of the brace. (I learned this the hard way on a previous project!) The walls of the brace adjacent to the screw holes in the mortise are supported by the mortise.

View of the rear rocker taper.

Minor clean-up work remains over the entire lower assembly, but I'm most of the way there.

Next, I need to re-turn the 14 back spindles that I messed up earlier…

 

Shaping the Rocker/Leg Joint

The joints where each leg meets the rocker need shaping to transition from a rectangular rocker to a round leg. I designed the rocker with built-up areas where each leg enters. This provided a means to make a more graceful transition.

Shaping Tools

I use two tools to shape this joint by hand. The Nicholson #49 Patternmaker's rasp and a fishtail gouge worked great for this task. The gouge worked well to remove wood close the leg and also for initial large removal of wood. The rasp worked well to round over the edges in the transitions.

I've owened this rasp for over 26 years. I read a blog post that the Nicholson rasps went down in quality when they moved production to Brazil. This old model has served me well for decades. Note the aggressive tooth pattern. This is called a second-cut rasp and leaves quite a smooth surface, yet removes wood quickly.

Big Picture

Transitions from the legs down into the rocker. Gradual curves are pleasing to the eye.

View from another angle.

Front Leg

Outside view of the front leg. I plan to keep square edges on the top of the rocker. The seat has square edges at the top and the top crest will also have square edges. This will tie in all of the elements. The edges transiton smoothly from round to square.

Inside view of the front leg.

Forward view of the front leg. The lower, inside edge of the rocker is profiled with a 1/2" roundover bit over its entire length. I routed the first inch or so of the lower outside edge of the rocker with the same bit and then transitioned the edge to square with the rasp. This keeps the rocker from having an unbalanced look with a rounded edge on one side and a square edge on the other.

Rear Leg

The rear leg has a similar transition to the front leg. Another consideration is the taper at the rear of the rocker. The top of the rocker, aft of the rear leg, is rounded instead of squared.

I still need to plug the screw holes in the leg braces. Note: When driving the plug into the forward portion of the brace, clamp the sides of the brace to keep the plug from blowing out the sides of the brace. (I learned this the hard way on a previous project!) The walls of the brace adjacent to the screw holes in the mortise are supported by the mortise.

View of the rear rocker taper.

Minor clean-up work remains over the entire lower assembly, but I'm most of the way there.

Next, I need to re-turn the 14 back spindles that I messed up earlier…

I am no rasp expert but I understand the main objection to modern rasps is that they are machine stitched. This results in "burrs" that aligned in rows and leaves behind a rough surface. Hand stitched rasps have an irregular pattern, like the picture above, and this leaves a smooth surface.

Hand stitched rasps are available from Auriou of France. I recently bought one from Lie Nielsen.

Great blog.

 

Shaping the Rocker/Leg Joint

The joints where each leg meets the rocker need shaping to transition from a rectangular rocker to a round leg. I designed the rocker with built-up areas where each leg enters. This provided a means to make a more graceful transition.

Shaping Tools

I use two tools to shape this joint by hand. The Nicholson #49 Patternmaker's rasp and a fishtail gouge worked great for this task. The gouge worked well to remove wood close the leg and also for initial large removal of wood. The rasp worked well to round over the edges in the transitions.

I've owened this rasp for over 26 years. I read a blog post that the Nicholson rasps went down in quality when they moved production to Brazil. This old model has served me well for decades. Note the aggressive tooth pattern. This is called a second-cut rasp and leaves quite a smooth surface, yet removes wood quickly.

Big Picture

Transitions from the legs down into the rocker. Gradual curves are pleasing to the eye.

View from another angle.

Front Leg

Outside view of the front leg. I plan to keep square edges on the top of the rocker. The seat has square edges at the top and the top crest will also have square edges. This will tie in all of the elements. The edges transiton smoothly from round to square.

Inside view of the front leg.

Forward view of the front leg. The lower, inside edge of the rocker is profiled with a 1/2" roundover bit over its entire length. I routed the first inch or so of the lower outside edge of the rocker with the same bit and then transitioned the edge to square with the rasp. This keeps the rocker from having an unbalanced look with a rounded edge on one side and a square edge on the other.

Rear Leg

The rear leg has a similar transition to the front leg. Another consideration is the taper at the rear of the rocker. The top of the rocker, aft of the rear leg, is rounded instead of squared.

I still need to plug the screw holes in the leg braces. Note: When driving the plug into the forward portion of the brace, clamp the sides of the brace to keep the plug from blowing out the sides of the brace. (I learned this the hard way on a previous project!) The walls of the brace adjacent to the screw holes in the mortise are supported by the mortise.

View of the rear rocker taper.

Minor clean-up work remains over the entire lower assembly, but I'm most of the way there.

Next, I need to re-turn the 14 back spindles that I messed up earlier…

The site I ran across mentioned the rasps as a modern alternative to the Nicholson #49. Here's a link to that site. Here's a link to the blog that talks about the decrease in Nicholson quality. I think that I'll buy an Auriou riffler to try out on the second rocking chair. It would be great for shaping the transition joint from the leg to the rocker.

 

Evaluating the Prototype Top Crest

Ready to Cut Final Top Crest?

I finished turning the 14 back spindles on the first rocking chair over the past three days. As I finished each spindle, I inserted it into the seat. Once I had the middle four spindles completed, I began inserting them into the top crest as well. The prototype top crest is only 1 1/2" tall. The final top crest is 2 5/8" tall and will be cut from some scraps of 12/4 cherry that I had saved since completing my pencil post bed almost 20 years ago. I made a ball and claw foot coffee table from the initial scraps. I used some more to make top crests for a pair of bar stools. I only have enough 12/4 remaining to make three top crests. With two rocking chairs in the works, I want to get this right the first time.

Various Views

This is the third prototype top crest and I think that the angles are sound. This picture gives an idea of how the ash spindles are forced to bend, based on the angles of the holes in the seat and the top crest. These forced curves are pleasing to the eye, but more importantly, provide strength and rigidity to the back assembly. The path of least resistance would be to drill holes that corresponded to straight entries from the seat to the top crest. However, this would yield a back assembly ill-equipped to resist the force of an adult leaning against these 25" long spindles. By forcing curves in the spindles, tension is created within the assembly that helps it flex a little and yet finally hold against the forces of an adult's upper body in the rocking chair.

This view from the top shows the relationship of the spindle holes as they come through the top crest. The outermost spindles are a compound angle and enter the crest at a 15 degree angle from vertical. As seen by the cut line, I must limit the depth of these holes to 3/4" or possibly 1" to avoid the spindle coming out the back of the top crest. The second outermost spindle enters at a 10 degree angle. The third outermost spindle enters at a 5 degree angle and the rest of the spindles are veritcal.

The spindles are all slanted back to acheive a comfortable reclined seating position. They are drilled at 90 degrees in the seat and then at various angles in the crest to form pleasing curves as viewed from the front.

As viewed from a slightly different angle. I'm very happy with the lines of this chair.

This spindle blank shows how much the spindle is forced into position. I'm surprised at how far ash will bend. I'm careful to keep the straight grain portion of the spindle to the inside and outside of the curve. If you oriented the wavy grain portion to the inside or outside, it might break during assembly or use.

How Do I Assemble 14 Spindles Simultaneously???

I'm able to insert one spindle at a time in the prototype by pushing the spindle up through the top crest and then dropping back down to the seat blank. All of the holes in the final top crest are stopped tenons. That means I'll need to assemble 14 spindles at the same time. I assembled 7 spindles in a similar top crest for my bar stools last summer and my wife and I were able to handle it.

The trick I used on the bar stools was to insert the spindles in the top crest first and then fit the assembly into the seat. I'm thinking that with three people, we might be able to accomplish the same thing. Here are some other steps I'll take:

1. Drill all of the top crest holes to specific depths and custom cut the mating spindles to the correct length.
2. Predrill some cross dowel holes into the top crest and the seat to hold the assembly together as we finally get things into place.
3. Use Gorilla glue since it allows easy repositioning and give quite a bit of assembly time.
4. Glue spindles into top crest first.
5. Use blue painters tape to minimize Gorilla glue mess. Tape seat blank and cut through spindle holes with Exacto knife. Do same to underside of top crest. Tape spindles outside joint line.
6. Considering drilling a number of the center spindle holes in the top crest deeper so that I can bring them down into the seat after getting more difficult spindles into place. That would leave less spindles to deal with at once. However, it would be a disaster if they stuck high and I couldn't get them back down to contact the seat.

I welcome any thoughts or suggestions on this…

Next Steps

Next steps are to cut the back spindles to length and make the final top crest…

 

Evaluating the Prototype Top Crest

Ready to Cut Final Top Crest?

I finished turning the 14 back spindles on the first rocking chair over the past three days. As I finished each spindle, I inserted it into the seat. Once I had the middle four spindles completed, I began inserting them into the top crest as well. The prototype top crest is only 1 1/2" tall. The final top crest is 2 5/8" tall and will be cut from some scraps of 12/4 cherry that I had saved since completing my pencil post bed almost 20 years ago. I made a ball and claw foot coffee table from the initial scraps. I used some more to make top crests for a pair of bar stools. I only have enough 12/4 remaining to make three top crests. With two rocking chairs in the works, I want to get this right the first time.

Various Views

This is the third prototype top crest and I think that the angles are sound. This picture gives an idea of how the ash spindles are forced to bend, based on the angles of the holes in the seat and the top crest. These forced curves are pleasing to the eye, but more importantly, provide strength and rigidity to the back assembly. The path of least resistance would be to drill holes that corresponded to straight entries from the seat to the top crest. However, this would yield a back assembly ill-equipped to resist the force of an adult leaning against these 25" long spindles. By forcing curves in the spindles, tension is created within the assembly that helps it flex a little and yet finally hold against the forces of an adult's upper body in the rocking chair.

This view from the top shows the relationship of the spindle holes as they come through the top crest. The outermost spindles are a compound angle and enter the crest at a 15 degree angle from vertical. As seen by the cut line, I must limit the depth of these holes to 3/4" or possibly 1" to avoid the spindle coming out the back of the top crest. The second outermost spindle enters at a 10 degree angle. The third outermost spindle enters at a 5 degree angle and the rest of the spindles are veritcal.

The spindles are all slanted back to acheive a comfortable reclined seating position. They are drilled at 90 degrees in the seat and then at various angles in the crest to form pleasing curves as viewed from the front.

As viewed from a slightly different angle. I'm very happy with the lines of this chair.

This spindle blank shows how much the spindle is forced into position. I'm surprised at how far ash will bend. I'm careful to keep the straight grain portion of the spindle to the inside and outside of the curve. If you oriented the wavy grain portion to the inside or outside, it might break during assembly or use.

How Do I Assemble 14 Spindles Simultaneously???

I'm able to insert one spindle at a time in the prototype by pushing the spindle up through the top crest and then dropping back down to the seat blank. All of the holes in the final top crest are stopped tenons. That means I'll need to assemble 14 spindles at the same time. I assembled 7 spindles in a similar top crest for my bar stools last summer and my wife and I were able to handle it.

The trick I used on the bar stools was to insert the spindles in the top crest first and then fit the assembly into the seat. I'm thinking that with three people, we might be able to accomplish the same thing. Here are some other steps I'll take:

1. Drill all of the top crest holes to specific depths and custom cut the mating spindles to the correct length.
2. Predrill some cross dowel holes into the top crest and the seat to hold the assembly together as we finally get things into place.
3. Use Gorilla glue since it allows easy repositioning and give quite a bit of assembly time.
4. Glue spindles into top crest first.
5. Use blue painters tape to minimize Gorilla glue mess. Tape seat blank and cut through spindle holes with Exacto knife. Do same to underside of top crest. Tape spindles outside joint line.
6. Considering drilling a number of the center spindle holes in the top crest deeper so that I can bring them down into the seat after getting more difficult spindles into place. That would leave less spindles to deal with at once. However, it would be a disaster if they stuck high and I couldn't get them back down to contact the seat.

I welcome any thoughts or suggestions on this…

Next Steps

Next steps are to cut the back spindles to length and make the final top crest…

Looks fantastic.

If I had to fight a long glue up that had potential for re-work, it would be liquid hide glue, all the way. And the more hands, the merrier.

 

Rum's Brilliant Solution for Lining Up 14 Spindles for Glue-Up

Vexing Problem

In my last blog, I wondered how I could possibly line up 14 spindles under tension and force them down into their corresponding seat holes. I posted the question to the forum and Rum came up with the following solution.

Brilliant Solution

Build an alignment jig that fits just below the final crest. Drill down from the top of the top crest prototype into another piece of wood. This ensures that the compound angle holes continued in perfect alignment from one piece to the other. Cut the lower piece in half right down the holes. Shim the resulting kerf with playing card shims folded into four layers. Reassemble the new piece with 5 screws. Redrill the spindle holes since the jig probably didn't mate perfectly. The alignment jig is ready for use.

The entire back is dry assembled through the alignment jig one spindle at a time. The spindles are popping through in perfect alignment to receive the actual top crest.

Here the top crest is postioned on top of the exposed spindles. Push down on the top crest to insert 14 spindles simultaneously into the top crest. This worked so well that I didn't even need to use the dead-blow mallet!

The top crest is in position. The alignment jig is unscrewed to remove it from the assembly.

Evaluation

Rum's alignment jig will remove the drama from assembling the upper half of the rocking chair. I could assemble it by myself now, but will ask my wife to help with handing the spindles to me in sequence and gluing the wedges. It seems that the easiest strategy during glue-up will be to use liquid hide glue and insert it in the spindle holes. That will allow me to keep a fast pace. That's really the only option for the top crest since the spindles are inserted simultaneously.

 

Rum's Brilliant Solution for Lining Up 14 Spindles for Glue-Up

Vexing Problem

In my last blog, I wondered how I could possibly line up 14 spindles under tension and force them down into their corresponding seat holes. I posted the question to the forum and Rum came up with the following solution.

Brilliant Solution

Build an alignment jig that fits just below the final crest. Drill down from the top of the top crest prototype into another piece of wood. This ensures that the compound angle holes continued in perfect alignment from one piece to the other. Cut the lower piece in half right down the holes. Shim the resulting kerf with playing card shims folded into four layers. Reassemble the new piece with 5 screws. Redrill the spindle holes since the jig probably didn't mate perfectly. The alignment jig is ready for use.

The entire back is dry assembled through the alignment jig one spindle at a time. The spindles are popping through in perfect alignment to receive the actual top crest.

Here the top crest is postioned on top of the exposed spindles. Push down on the top crest to insert 14 spindles simultaneously into the top crest. This worked so well that I didn't even need to use the dead-blow mallet!

The top crest is in position. The alignment jig is unscrewed to remove it from the assembly.

Evaluation

Rum's alignment jig will remove the drama from assembling the upper half of the rocking chair. I could assemble it by myself now, but will ask my wife to help with handing the spindles to me in sequence and gluing the wedges. It seems that the easiest strategy during glue-up will be to use liquid hide glue and insert it in the spindle holes. That will allow me to keep a fast pace. That's really the only option for the top crest since the spindles are inserted simultaneously.

... looking forward to seeing the finished project!! Here you might leave a bit more space in the alignment rail which will enable you to coax the spindles into the crest. Here at the shop we place the spindles between pins so that we can access them from the front and fit them into the crest.

 

Making the Final Top Crest

With Rum's assembly jig complete, I was free to make the actual top crest. I realized that this particular piece of 12/4 cherry is from an old friend who had been a P-40 pilot in WWII. He officiated my promotion ceremony to Lt Col before he passed over a decade ago.

Layout

Holes are drilled and the curve is marked.

Cutting

Making the cut. I should have cut more to the outside the line on the inside curve. I dipped in with the cut at one point and by the time I cleaned it up, I was close to one of the spindle holes…oops!

Smoothing

I've got a shop full of power tools, but often the best tool for the job is a hand tool. I like to use a freshly sharpened smoothing plane to take out bandsaw marks on the outside of a curve. I use a sharp spoke shave on the inside of the curve. The spokeshave was just a little dull and wouldn't cut the difficult grain closest to me. A little work on the diamond stone and it cut even the difficult grain with only minimal chatter.

This shows some of the progress at truing up the curve and removing the bandsaw marks. Some sort of sander would work, but a blade keeps the surface truer.

Here's the final surface. I spokeshaved the bandsaw marks and then used the extra blade from my cabinet scraper to remove the spokeshave chatter marks. No sandpaper has touched this surface at this point.

Dry Assembly

I dry assembled the upper assembly to make sure I had full contact with all of my spindles. I had marked the proper height of the all the spindles using my prototype top crest. I marked the outermost spindles on the top and the bottom since I hadn't decided if I was going to make them 1/4" shorter to keep them from pooping out the back side of the top crest. My intent was to use the bottom mark as a reference to measure up from for a final cut . I was explaining some nuance of woodworking while cutting one of those outer spindles. You guessed it, I cut at the bottom reference line! Oops, I had to turn another spindle to replace that one.

Note: I opted to swing the outside curve out an extra 1/8" to provide more room for the outermost spindles, which enter the top crest at 15 degrees.

Close up of front of top crest.

Close-up of back of top crest.

Dry assembled. This chair is really taking shape!

It not only looks good, it's also very comfortable. Even without glue or pins, I can lean most of my weight against the back without too much "creaking." The forced bends in the back spindles provide rigidity to the back assembly.

I've predrilled the holes for pinning the spindles and will cut some 3/16" dowels for the cross pins. Then it's on to gluing the upper assembly…

 

Making the Final Top Crest

With Rum's assembly jig complete, I was free to make the actual top crest. I realized that this particular piece of 12/4 cherry is from an old friend who had been a P-40 pilot in WWII. He officiated my promotion ceremony to Lt Col before he passed over a decade ago.

Layout

Holes are drilled and the curve is marked.

Cutting

Making the cut. I should have cut more to the outside the line on the inside curve. I dipped in with the cut at one point and by the time I cleaned it up, I was close to one of the spindle holes…oops!

Smoothing

I've got a shop full of power tools, but often the best tool for the job is a hand tool. I like to use a freshly sharpened smoothing plane to take out bandsaw marks on the outside of a curve. I use a sharp spoke shave on the inside of the curve. The spokeshave was just a little dull and wouldn't cut the difficult grain closest to me. A little work on the diamond stone and it cut even the difficult grain with only minimal chatter.

This shows some of the progress at truing up the curve and removing the bandsaw marks. Some sort of sander would work, but a blade keeps the surface truer.

Here's the final surface. I spokeshaved the bandsaw marks and then used the extra blade from my cabinet scraper to remove the spokeshave chatter marks. No sandpaper has touched this surface at this point.

Dry Assembly

I dry assembled the upper assembly to make sure I had full contact with all of my spindles. I had marked the proper height of the all the spindles using my prototype top crest. I marked the outermost spindles on the top and the bottom since I hadn't decided if I was going to make them 1/4" shorter to keep them from pooping out the back side of the top crest. My intent was to use the bottom mark as a reference to measure up from for a final cut . I was explaining some nuance of woodworking while cutting one of those outer spindles. You guessed it, I cut at the bottom reference line! Oops, I had to turn another spindle to replace that one.

Note: I opted to swing the outside curve out an extra 1/8" to provide more room for the outermost spindles, which enter the top crest at 15 degrees.

Close up of front of top crest.

Close-up of back of top crest.

Dry assembled. This chair is really taking shape!

It not only looks good, it's also very comfortable. Even without glue or pins, I can lean most of my weight against the back without too much "creaking." The forced bends in the back spindles provide rigidity to the back assembly.

I've predrilled the holes for pinning the spindles and will cut some 3/16" dowels for the cross pins. Then it's on to gluing the upper assembly…

It looks beautiful and comfortable as well. l'm really looking forward to see how the arms will look on it. I love the shape on the crest rail, it's very graceful and suitable to the overall design.

 

Glue the Upper Assembly

Today we glued the upper assembly. Everything went smooth with the Rum's alignment jig and liquid hide glue. My wife helped with glue-up and photographed as well.

The spindles are lined up at their base. This photo shows the 1 5/8" spread in lengths from the outside to the inside spindles.

Applied glue to the seat holes with a syringe.

Applied glue to seat tenons with a brush.

Insert four center spindles.

Fit the alignment jig.

Add spindles by inserting into jig and then dropping into the seat.

All spindles inserted and ready to receive the top crest.

Top crest aligned to start on 14 spindles at compound angles simultaneously.

Work the jig and the top crest down.

Making some progress.

Measuring the progress. The spindle tenons are 1 1/4".

Remove alignment jig.

Outer half of alignment jig before removal.

Pound top crest the rest of the way with dead blow mallet. There is a balance between applying enough glue for good bond and too much glue that must find a way out of the joint. Clamp pressure usually has enough steady force to squeeze the glue out, but it would be a bit difficult to clamp this assembly. Perhaps a you could cut a relief groove in the top of the spindle with a carver's V-gouge. It went in, so I probably won't worry about that on the second chair.

Next, I pin the top crest spindles…

 

Glue the Upper Assembly

Today we glued the upper assembly. Everything went smooth with the Rum's alignment jig and liquid hide glue. My wife helped with glue-up and photographed as well.

The spindles are lined up at their base. This photo shows the 1 5/8" spread in lengths from the outside to the inside spindles.

Applied glue to the seat holes with a syringe.

Applied glue to seat tenons with a brush.

Insert four center spindles.

Fit the alignment jig.

Add spindles by inserting into jig and then dropping into the seat.

All spindles inserted and ready to receive the top crest.

Top crest aligned to start on 14 spindles at compound angles simultaneously.

Work the jig and the top crest down.

Making some progress.

Measuring the progress. The spindle tenons are 1 1/4".

Remove alignment jig.

Outer half of alignment jig before removal.

Pound top crest the rest of the way with dead blow mallet. There is a balance between applying enough glue for good bond and too much glue that must find a way out of the joint. Clamp pressure usually has enough steady force to squeeze the glue out, but it would be a bit difficult to clamp this assembly. Perhaps a you could cut a relief groove in the top of the spindle with a carver's V-gouge. It went in, so I probably won't worry about that on the second chair.

Next, I pin the top crest spindles…

Good description of a somewhat complex process. I'm enjoying your blog…