Looks like a great start Rich

 

Rich, this looks like fun…very interesting. I like your rocker jig. I'll be looking for updates.

Thanks for posting it.

 

Thanks WH. I cannot take credit for the jig design, came directly from the book. You can see in the picture the paper that was the original plan that came in the mail, got glued to the form and then the whole thing cut out on a jig saw. I then melted paraffin and liberally coated the top of the form to prevent the rocker from being glued to it. The first rocker you glue up is actually part of the jig and is used to provide a more even pressure distribution. You can almost see it in the picture how the top half of the strips is actually a little smaller than the bottom half. That top half is the pressure rocker piece.

 

If anyone purchases Hal's plans based on reading these blogs I would most appreciate it if you let Hal know that these blogs helped influence your decision. Just mention Rich from NY Rocking Chairs. Thanks.

 

Like to know how this turned out, getting ready to start one.

 

Week 2, The Seat

As you all saw in Week 1, the seat started out as 5 boards glued together.

The next step is to cut the seat down to its rough dimensions on the table saw.

After that the back corners are cut out, again on the table saw. The front leg joints are cut out and then all 4 joints are rabbetted on both the top and bottom of the chair. The front curve is cut with the band saw.

Here is the seat after those steps:


Here is a close up of the back leg joint on the seat, notice the rabbit grabbed the seat and there is an oops on the bottom of the seat. I am not worried about this because after the back leg gets shaped most of the side material gets cut away and then routed over so that oops will disappear later:


Here is a close up of the front leg joint on the seat:


The front leg joint is done using a router with a sleeve to ride along a jig. Here is the jig:


Here is the jig on the seat:


Next comes carving out the seat. I like to do this outside if possible. The process throws a lot of chips and dust around in all directions. If I must do it inside I hang sheets on the sides and back of my table so most of the chips are captured there. I found a chain-saw-bladed carving disc for my right angle grinder. This carver takes a bit of practice getting used to it:


Here we are outside with the seat half-carved. The holes in the one side are depth holes so I know how much to carve. The front holes are shallower that the ones in the back.


After carving the whole seat I go to a normal grinding wheel to get the high spots out and then go to a Random Orbital Sander at 60 grit to smooth out the seat and further remove the high spots.

Here is the seat after sanding, there were some knots and voids in the wood that I choose to leave in there, the dark spots are epoxy fillings:


The next major step in the seat is to router out the back brace holes. Hal sends you this nice CNC made jig for use with a spiral up-cut bit and collar. The jig is for all three chair sizes, I tape over the holes I am not using just to be sure I don't put a back brace hole where one should not be. Would hate to get 6 hours into a seat and then ruin it with an extra hole.


Here is the seat with the holes all routed. From here I will go through the various sanding grits on the top only. Once the back legs are shaped the seat cuts more material trimmed off the sides and back so I won't sand those areas until just before assembly.


Because the seat has so much information I am breaking this week into two installments…now on to the arms.

 

Good blog thanks for sharing.

 

Week 2 continuted, the arms

The next step is for the arms to be carved out on the table saw. Building this nifty jig allows you to setup things very easily and pass the boards across the blade at the correct angle and keep your fingers out of harms way.

This picture shows the table saw setup with the guide, the jig and one of the arm blanks mounted in the jig. I have permanently marked my table saw for where the guide board goes as well as the number of turns to take on the blade height handle.

The process here is to start with the blade at zero depth and then come up 1/4 turn after each pass. The arm blanks passes over the blade at the correct angle and we slowly carve out the cup in the arm. Each arm takes 12 passes over the blade. The jig just flips over from right arm to left arm so the whole process is very easy and quick.



Here are the arms after the carving on the table saw. Notice that the process leaves a lot of ridge marks in the cupped out areas. It takes a bit of sanding and careful attention to detail to ensure you get all of those ridges sanded out.


After marking the arms with the template from the plans they get cut out on the band saw. From here I will use the ROS with 60 grit to get them very close to final shape. A few passes over the router table with some round-over bits will see them to their final profile.


Also this week the back brace strips are cut and started glueup. Eight back braces are made even though only seven go into the chair. This gives you an extra one in case one gets messed up during fabrication. I also hang on to all the extra back braces just in case a customer ever has a broken one I have one on hand that will match the chair pretty well. It takes 4 days to glue up all the back braces, they get glued up in pairs. Very similar to the rocker jig, just a form with angle aluminum for keeping the strips aligned and lots of clamps.


Hal recommends the use of Ash for the center two strips of each back brace, claiming ash is stronger and more flexible. I have made braces using the ash, braces that were 100% walnut, 100% cherry, 100% maple, half walnut/half maple and have not found any difference in the flexibility and feel of the back brace. Nor have I ever had one reported broken or broken one myself. Maybe one day I will make up some test laminations and do some stress tests, will be an interesting experiment.

Thus ends Week 2. Next up is leg shaping, both back and front.

 

Good #2 blog very helpful

 

No update this week, Head Cold and spring planting

Sorry folks, was not able to spend any time in the shop this week. Wouldn't you know I spend 400+ hours working outside during the winter and never get sick and as soon as it turns warm I get slammed with a head cold?

So I was sick all week and this weekend is spring planting for the veggie garden. We don't do a lot but it all has to be done by hand.

Hope to get the back and front legs done this coming week. At least the chair isn't being delivered til mid-July.

 

Week 4, Leg joints and lots of sanding...

Hello again…

Due to backing up septic tanks and clogged pipes I was not able to get into the shop until Saturday. I accomplished everything on my list for the week and will continue Sunday with more sanding of the seat, leg shaping and then glue the legs and seat together by mid-week next week.

For now, on to today's progress:

Started out with a 1 1/2 hour sanding marathon. 45 minutes per arm:
Here is a picture of the 1st arm sanded next to the arm that has not been touched since it came off the table saw and band saw…


The next picture is 45 minutes later with both arms sanded. I start with 60-grit, go to 120, 220, 320, 400 and then finished up with a 500-grit abralon pad. The pads are pricey at $65 per box of 10, but well worth it, this year I even forked out more to get some 1000-grit pads, not sure it was worth it, not a huge noticeable difference between sanding to 1000 versus ending at 500.


From here I went to work on the leg joints. As you recall from working on the seat, we cut a bunch of notches, rabbits and such. To get the legs to fit these joints we start out by marking the legs for where they need to match up to the seat. Then using the table saw, we cut notches in three sides of the front leg blanks. The leg blanks were dimensioned to fit the seat gap perfectly before-hand though.


The back legs also get marked and the notches cut on the table saw. Trial fitting to the seat joints are key during the notching of both the front and back legs so that you don't remove too much material and you get a nice, tight fit.


After I am satisfied with my notches I use a round-over bit which is the same radius as the rabbit bit we used on the seat. This gives us the nice curve which is identical to the curve on the seat. Here is a picture of all four legs after being put through the router:


Here is the seat sitting on a raised toolbox with the legs all in a dry-fit:


The joints are tight enough that is takes some persuasion with the mallet to get them tight, but not too tight that you have to worry about splitting wood. With the legs in position I mark the legs where they hit the top and bottom of the seat, this gives us a guide for when we final shape the legs. I also mark the seat where the back legs hit it so I can mark and band-saw both the sides and back of the seat with a nice curve. I like to use the rocker-taper template for marking the seat, it is a nice curve and I know each side will be identical. With the sides and back of the seat band-sawn I will now proceed to sand the heck out of the seat all the way through 500-grit.

 

Looks like great progress and beautiful wood, looking forward to more photos.

 

Back and Front Legs

Seems every week there is a real life setback, this week was no exception with my wife succumbing to the head cold I had two weeks ago. She is better now.

On a shop note I have another commissioned job that is due the same time as this, so instead of having a nice 6 week buffer on the chair, I now have 6 weeks to finish the chair and complete the other project, time to kick it into high gear.

So this entry concerns the front and back legs, their shaping and gluing to the seat.

Started out today by sanding the bottom and top of the seat through to 500. Someone questioned the sanding technique last week. I came up with some more explanation. The chair is so complex when assembled that to try and sand the completed chair from 220 to 500 would be a real PIA. So I sand every piece as much as I can before assembly. There will be some re-shaping and re-sanding as assembly progresses, but those areas are limited.

Seat sanded up through 500-grit:


Last week at the end of the day I glued the adder piece (3rd front leg blank) to the two front legs that had their seat joints shaped:


The next step is to cut them apart. There is a front leg sweep template that lays out the outside curve of the front leg, then the two legs get bandsawn apart:


Using the front leg template, the shape of the leg is traced and then they go to the bandsaw again:


Then a marking tool is used to mark the width of the front legs and transition curves are laid out, back to the bandsaw:


Due to the weird shape of the front and back legs, they cannot go through a table mounted router easily. So a riser pyramid is built. I bought some extra inserts for my router plate and have a couple different sized pyramids that I can easily pop in and out of the router plate:


The front legs are then run through the router to round over all corners, followed by sanding to get rid of the band-saw lines and smooth it all out. Then set them aside.

The back legs start out by having the transition curves cut where the seat joint is, less sanding after the legs and seat are assembled:


Next step is to bandsaw the tops of the legs at the same angle the head rest curve will be at. This creates a smooth transition from the legs to the head rest:


Certain corners are then run through the same round-over router jig as the front legs. Then the legs are sanded to remove band-saw lines, smooth out the transitions and cleaned up. After the rough sanding I then drill the head-rest screw holes. First a forstner bit to create a pocket for the wood plug to occupy, then the through hole. You want these to be straight so clamping in a vice on the drill press is pretty essential:


I then sand the legs through to 500-grit and they get glued to the seat:


Followed by the front legs getting glued to the seat:


After this sits over night I will finish shaping the front leg joints and sand the seat and legs flush to each other. The arms will be mounted after that. After that I will start shaping the back braces for when the head rest gets finished.

 

Looks like you are doing a fine job.

 

Front leg joints and arms attached

Ok. So on Friday I glued the four legs to the seat. Now it is time to clean up all the joints and make them look great.

So after glue up, our front leg to seat joint looks like:




So I break out my trusty Lancelot carving disc on the right angle grinder (see seat carving) and ever so gently get rid of the excess material, not trying to get perfect, just close.


On the top and bottom of the seat where the leg needs to flow into the seat I use a spindle sander on the power-drill to get close and then finished up all aspect of the joint with the ROS:


The same treatment is applied to the back leg joints. The sides and back of the seat are also sanded flush with the back legs so everything is smooth and flowing.

The arms are attached next. This is a deviation from Hal's order who attaches the headrest next. I like to attach the arms because shaping the arm-to-leg joints is much more easily accomplished without back-braces in the way.

 

Looking good! Thanks for the step by step with pictures.

 

Week 6 - Back Braces and Head Rest

Welcome again to another edition of Hal Taylor Rocking Chair building…

After attaching the arms and shaping their joints I flip the chair over and sand out the leg-seat joints on the bottom. This way even when the customer flips the chair over or is laying on the floor looking up at the bottom of their chair, everything looks spectacular.

I keep some 1" thick styrofoam pads that I can put work on without worrying about scratching or marring it on my work surface…


During the week I cut all the back braces to line up the bottoms. Essentially you line them up, clamp them together and run them through the band saw to make all the bottoms even. Then adder pieces are glued to the back side of all the bottoms:


Hal included a CNC'd wood template for both the bottom and top of the back braces. You trace the template to the back brace band saw the shape and then use the oscillating spindle sander to both feather in the adder piece so there is a smooth transition to the rest of the back brace, and you round over the end of the back brace so it fits in the seat holes.

Here is the bottom shape:


Here are all the back braces fit to their respective holes (ignore the clamps and strap for now):


For the tops, again use the template provided, then use the spindle sander to shape and round over the ends. I have a block of wood drilled the same way the head rest holes get drilled so I can sit it next to the sander and trial fit the tops as I go.

Then I sand all 7 back braces with 60-grit. They then go through the router to round over the sides of the braces and then I finish sanding all 7 through to 500-grit. Both ends of the back braces are then dipped in paraffin wax so the finish does not make then stick to the chair. The back braces are free-floating and allowed to rotate a little bit in the finished chair.

Starting with the head rest we made during week one, the inner radius is band-sawn and sanded and then the outer radius is band sawn and sanded:


The ends are then cut on the table saw using an angle jig. This matches the ends of the head rest to the back legs of the chair. I cut the head rest within 1" of its final length and then start taking 1/8" to 1/4" strips off each end, adjusting the angle each time to ensure I get the perfect fit:


Once the perfect fit is achieved, the 3 screw holes per side are drilled and the head rest is screwed to the legs. This way when we mark it, we know it will go back in the same location.

Now that we have the head rest fit perfectly to the legs we can mark where the top of the headrest meets the tops of the legs. Then the top and bottom curves are marked and cut on the band saw:


Now the head rest almost looks like it belongs with the rest of the chair:


The 7 back brace hole locations are then marked on the bottom of the head rest. Then with the head rest set between the legs a marking guide is used to mark the head rest for how the back braces will align to it. This way when we drill the back brace holes we know what angle to make them. I have a bench top Grizzly drill press and this 7" head rest barely fits. Hal tells you to use a 10mm bit, I was using a 5/8" bit until I got the 10mm because I was turning pens and this worked out just fine.

The holes are drilled both straight into the back brace and then at an angle so the than back braces can flex and the tops can move back and forth in the hole. This may sound complicated and difficult. Personally after drilling each straight hole I just hold the head rest, slip it onto the drill bit (while it is turning in the press) and rotate the head rest and mill out the hole. If you are not comfortable doing this, Hal shows you a jig to make.

Now we have 7 holes in the head rest bottom:


Now that the head rest holes are drilled, the back braces are shaped, sanded and waxed, we can assemble the top of the chair. The headrest is glued to the back legs, the six 4" screws are driven in and plugs are glued into the screw holes:


Since the head rest is screwed into place I sanded and final shaped the headrest to back leg joints. Tomorrow I will round over the top of the head rest and final sand the head rest and tops of the back legs.

Tomorrow will also see the rockers final shaped and attached to the chair, essentially completing the chair except for final sanding and finishing.

 

Great blog, great chair.

 

Rockers shaped and attached...

So today is the last day of assembly. After the epoxy sets up overnight, the leg/rocker joints gets sanded and then the chair gets final sanded and finished…

Starting out I took my belt sander to the top of the back legs to give them the same slope as the head rest:


After that I proceeded to sand the head rest through to 500-grit along with the tops of the back legs.

For the rockers, the rockers are placed in their position on the legs and we mark where the legs hit the rockers. Then we glue on stack pieces that will give us the transition from rocker to legs:


So after both rockers have their stacks glued on we then take a final measurement and trace where the legs hit the rockers. We draw lines that tell us the angles the screws will take through the rockers into the legs. The rockers then get drilled out on the drill press and the bottoms get touched with a countersink. Then we mark the curves on the rocker stacks and band saw the transitions:


After that the rockers go through the router to round over both the top and bottom. The bottoms need to be rounded over so that as the chair rocks on a hard surface the rockers are not splitting and cracking. Then the tips get cut to profile on the band saw. Then I sand the rockers through to 500-grit.

Next we clamp the rockers to the bottom of the chair and drill the screw holes into the legs, when the drills get done a piece of stock is actually clamped to the rockers to "pull" them flat to mimic them rocking on a flat surface:


After that comes the trial fit to the chair. The rockers are set on the table and the chair is set to rest on the rockers. At this point the leg to rocker joints need to be made perfect. Hal's book talks about passing a sheet of sandpaper between the leg and rocker to sand the legs til they are perfectly flat and matched to the rockers. Personally I am able to use the ROS and in about one to two minutes per joint achieve a perfect match-up, this is the joint with the chair just resting on the rocker:


So after I am satisfied with all 4 joints we flip the chair over on the work surface. I mix some epoxy and "prime" the leg joints. Being end-grain they tend to suck up the epoxy. I keep the legs well epoxied for about 15-20 minutes, then scrape off the excess. I then let the chair rest for an hour while the epoxy starts to cure. Then I mix some fresh epoxy, apply some to the joints and drive the 4" screws through the rockers and into the legs:


After the epoxy sets up over night I will use the ROS to finish sanding out the leg to rocker joints and then final sand the whole chair and apply the first coat of finish. I use Deft Danish Oil, the first application I use paper towels and apply liberal amounts to the chair, keeping the whole thing looking wet for about 15 minutes, then I wipe it down with fresh paper towels. I let the chair rest a week and then hit it once with a 1000-grit sanding and then do a quick wipe wet and wipe dry with paper towels. After the second application the chair is done.

Thanks for reading and I will post another entry with the final chair pics after the finish process is done next weekend.

Here is the project link for the completed chair.

 

Unbelievable rocker Rich. I've been wanting to build one of these for the last few years but want to get a few more projects under my belt for the experience. Plus I need to get a band saw.

I have a quick question about the finish. Is there a reason you use Deft Danish oil as apposed to Watco?

Thank you.

 

New book and toys, err I mean tools

Hal's new book and plan templates arrived the other week. Since I am gearing up to complete two customer chairs by xmas this was a welcome change. The book is longer, contains some new hints, details and is actually simpler in many ways than the original plans and book. A couple of problems I ran into is that some of my original jigs and fixtures were changed in the new book and I had to refer to the older book in a couple of places for setting them up, or make new jigs. Since I am pressed for time on these two chairs I am going to hold off making new jigs til after the new year.

A new tool that Hal recommended is the Kutzall carving disk. It is a tungsten carbide 4" wheel for the right angle grinder. I found them on clearance at my local Woodcraft, bought all they had and love them. I carved one seat so far, it was safer, cleaner and actually quicker than using the Lancelot chainsaw carving wheel. The teeth showed no wear and I have a feeling these are going to hold up for a long time. For some reason the coarse models were marked as discontinued so I got them on clearance, but I hope they bring them back.

Carving Wheel

I will post another entry after completing this first chair using the new book.

 

Thanks for the link

 

New book and design chair completed

I finally completed my first chair using Hal's updated plans and book. Having already built 8 other chairs I did not read the new book cover to cover so I cannot comment on the contents of the book. There is a lot more detail and some of the hazy areas from the first book were definitely cleared up with better description and more pictures.

The primary design differences are the arm shape, the arm to front leg joint now gets an adder piece that needs to be carved down and shaped and the front leg shape is different. It might just be me but it looks like the front leg sits farther out from the seat and more transition joint exists now.

I found that I did not want to take the time to redo any of my jigs and referred back to the original book for using my arm carving jig, the new jig just requires a guide fence perpendicular to the saw blade while the old design has a guide fence at a different angle. Maybe when I have some free time I will modify my existing jigs to the new style.

There are more glue-ups required so if you were in a time crunch then more planning must be taken into what is done each day in case a filler piece must be added (filler pieces are now added to the arm joint on the back leg and the top of the front leg where the arm attaches).

All-in-all I liked the new design and will continue with it as a baseline for all my future chairs.

Here is the project of the completed chair.