LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Legacy Project: The Dundas Rocking Chair

19K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  vipond33 
#1 ·
The Backstory plus Gluing Up Backslats

He promised his grandchildren, now young adults, a rocking chair. This was to be a delightful part of his retirement. He built three, all from the same plan and then, sadly, he died.

His widow commissioned me to build the fourth. She still had all the templates and plans and the build narrative, plus more of the same hard rock maple he had used before.

I opted to cut and mill two sets of parts, looking to build another in the near future, plus allowing me a little comfortable fallback if something should go awry with any of the first-run operations.

There is not much on the web about this chair. The designer's last blog post was in 2011. None of the images would transfer to this blog. Fortunately I was able to print a few and paste them in the plan book.

The narrative is properly linear and well written. However, the back slats, which are a bent lamination of two pieces, should be done first or you'll be sitting around watching glue cure. This I learned the more difficult way.
I used Franklin poly glue and let the lamination stay in the form for two days, within an hour or two. The 13 I made are all so similar I was very pleased.

Composite material Engineering Machine Electrical wiring Wood


The quarter inch bolt with the big washer goes into a teenut on the bottom of the form. The outer half of the form is screwed to the deck; the second piece is free. Once it is clamped up, tightening down the bolt makes the mating surfaces parallel.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Beige


Saw Wood Tints and shades Machine tool Hardwood


I used the halves of the forms, pocket screwed to my sanding table, to sand the slats. The horizontal light was crucial in getting all the surfaces scratchless.

Audio equipment Wood Office equipment Gas Composite material


The rockers are a much larger project, 6 pieces of 1/4" material, 49" long. They, too, came out with very little sanding to make them into twins. They didn't get photographed in the form, but you'll see them soon.
 

Attachments

See less See more
8
#2 ·
The Backstory plus Gluing Up Backslats

He promised his grandchildren, now young adults, a rocking chair. This was to be a delightful part of his retirement. He built three, all from the same plan and then, sadly, he died.

His widow commissioned me to build the fourth. She still had all the templates and plans and the build narrative, plus more of the same hard rock maple he had used before.

I opted to cut and mill two sets of parts, looking to build another in the near future, plus allowing me a little comfortable fallback if something should go awry with any of the first-run operations.

There is not much on the web about this chair. The designer's last blog post was in 2011. None of the images would transfer to this blog. Fortunately I was able to print a few and paste them in the plan book.

The narrative is properly linear and well written. However, the back slats, which are a bent lamination of two pieces, should be done first or you'll be sitting around watching glue cure. This I learned the more difficult way.
I used Franklin poly glue and let the lamination stay in the form for two days, within an hour or two. The 13 I made are all so similar I was very pleased.

Composite material Engineering Machine Electrical wiring Wood


The quarter inch bolt with the big washer goes into a teenut on the bottom of the form. The outer half of the form is screwed to the deck; the second piece is free. Once it is clamped up, tightening down the bolt makes the mating surfaces parallel.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Beige


Saw Wood Tints and shades Machine tool Hardwood


I used the halves of the forms, pocket screwed to my sanding table, to sand the slats. The horizontal light was crucial in getting all the surfaces scratchless.

Audio equipment Wood Office equipment Gas Composite material


The rockers are a much larger project, 6 pieces of 1/4" material, 49" long. They, too, came out with very little sanding to make them into twins. They didn't get photographed in the form, but you'll see them soon.
This is just wonderful, that you took on the project and that you are creating it so perfectly. I've just read up to part 5 and look forward to more!
 

Attachments

#3 ·
Pile o' Parts Plus a comparison of the Dundas to the Maloof

Table Wood Floor Flooring Cabinetry


With my limited experience in the world of rocking chairs, I'm inclined at this point to divide them into two groups: Armed and no arms.

Of those two, the first group has two subgroups: Arm integral with the front leg, and Not.

The Windsor Rocker is a fine example of the arm and leg not being integral.


The most elegant of the other subgroup is the Maloof chair. Much has been written here and elsewhere about this iconic design. Let me just add that, having built one, I can attest that it can be a spiritual experience. And there is seemingly no end to the satisfaction of creating such an honored form from a truly honorable man who blessed us all by freely sharing the work of his mind and hands.

However. As I approach final assembly of this chair, I find it to have a charm of its own. It is slightly more robust looking. Less organic, yes, but a sense of presence permeates this design. Mr. Dundas did a fine job.

It is inevitable to compare the leg to seat joint when you're talking about these two chairs. Nothing will ever approach the Maloof design for elegance, repeatability, strength and brilliance. The Dundas is a mere lap joint, but it's still right.

It's hard to see, but the side rails have a facet cut on them which better integrates the angle of their offset from the sloping back leg.

I hadn't noted this previously, and should have: The Maloof, with the wooden seat, is a better showman for the wood you choose. The Dundas, as designed, will have an upholstered seat. I am contemplating tanned elk hide for my version; this one's material selection will be made by others.

Next, subassemblies, and another key difference between the M and the D.
 

Attachments

#4 ·
Building the Halves

In the Maloof construction process one attaches the front legs to the seat and builds from there.

In the Dundas instructions, the sides are assembled: Back leg, front leg, side rail and rocker. (The arm is added after the first part is set up.) The construction narrative image showed this section clamped up and laying on the floor.

This gave me the willies. What if the angles differed? After considerable pondering I ended up clamping the two rockers onto the edge of my work table (a convenient 8 feet long) making sure that the tips were identical in height. Then I dry fit on that. It became clear that I could eyeball the results, compare them, and make adjustments to get them exact. It worked very well. In fact I made a little tourniquet of light string to pull the top of one of the back legs a little bit east to make it identical to the other. The tourniquet went across to a screw on the far edge of the work table.

Back to the Maloof for a minute: I had my greatest difficulty in that build in establishing the placement of the feet on the rockers. It affects tilt and aesthetics and was very hard to mock up.

The Dundas was a cinch. The riser blocks are glued on the rockers at specified intervals. There is fudge room built into their length. Clamp the other parts together and set the front leg centered on the front block and clamp that, and you've got your starting place. Scribing the back leg to drop down on its block, flush, was quite simple.

Then, before drilling for dowels and all that, you can rough shape the riser blocks with the rest of the chair off them-bandsaw the curves and then rasp and microplane away. The images below are all pre-glue: I took everything apart and did as much fairing and shaping as I could, and rounded all the edges (with a 1/2" R router bit) that hadn't been shaped.

Wood Gas Composite material Auto part Pipe


Wood Engineering Building Machine Retail


Wood Engineering Gas Machine Factory


Drilling the rocker to receive the front leg:

Wood Floor Flooring Gas Hardwood


Next: Glimpses at shaping
 

Attachments

#5 ·
Shaping

Principal shaping tools: air powered carbide burr and electric sanders, both orbital and RO.

Hand tools: half round Microplane, two Nicholson files (49 and 50) and a fine, round file.

Discoveries: Only one, really, Where the back leg meets the block there is, before shaping, an acute angle. Next time I will add a piece to the leg there so I'll have a smoother transition to the block. Small item, but it may become a signature feature which you can copy all you want! (In the spirit of Sam.)

Adhesive is quality epoxy. I wiped it down with lacquer thinner after discovering that I had no acetone. Next time I'll be properly solventized.

Random shots of this stage:

Wood Human leg Flooring Chair Hardwood


Wood Flooring Gas Human leg Beige


Wood Hardwood Human leg Chair Plywood


I made a note to self: Make sure the riser blocks have nice horizontal grain patterns. I got lucky on these.

Wood Human leg Terrestrial plant Plywood Foot


Next: The Arms
 

Attachments

#6 ·
"Two Arms! Two Arms!"

The spots where the arms drop onto the front legs are subject to any tuning that must be done at the joint to the back leg, so they are not selected until that work is complete. I tried to get them as symmetrical as possible before glueup. It turns out I could have done more shaping where underarm meets leg (imagine that! No, don't!).

Here I was careful to select similar grain patterns on the top (not shown).

Sleeve Wood Tool Fashion accessory Blade


Automotive exterior Service Carmine Rectangle


Mockup with back parts:

Furniture Wood Gas Machine Hardwood


It looks to sit properly vertical at rest and the back slats have delightful springiness. Note also that there is an even number of slats, meaning that your spine does not fall right on a hard surface. That's a nice feature, clearly putting comfort above aesthetics.

From the assembly narrative, I learned a new word: arris. It is the point, usually on moulding profiles, where two surfaces meet. The instruction was to "remove the arris where the back rail and side rail meet the back leg."

Next: some more assembly.
 

Attachments

#7 ·
Glued Up! plus a couple of Process Suggestions

Just a little pruning of a loose tenon or two and epoxy part A met epoxy part B and I was ready to put it all together. The plan narrative says to leave the back slats loose. I was nervous about that, but I feel I need to trust the designer. He obviously made many of these in order to refine the design and the construction as he did. I felt the slats were too loose so I just inserted some space balls in the bottom mortises. Viola! Free to move, but no sloppiness permitted.

I used the plastic wrap to hold the back section together in the gluing up process, thinking that I could release it once all was together and tap the lower back rail to level if need be. It came in right on the money, so there it is.

Every angle on this chair is 5o one way or the other. One would think such a pleasing organic shape would have a more complex array of diversions. The beauty of this simplicity continues to this gluing process: All you need is six blocks cut at 85o!

Going back to earlier tasks on the chair: the other process suggestion is this: When you're gluing up multiple bent pieces in a form, mark each one against the fixed portion of the form, both ends. This makes cutting them all to identical length MUCH easier. I wrote a reminder right on the form, once I figured this out.

Wood Hardwood Engineering Machine Toolroom


Wood Floor Chair Outdoor furniture Armrest


Product Wood Chair Outdoor furniture Gas


It sits a little rocked back with the heavy clamp on the crest rail. I'll post more images in these last laps. Today the task is inserting the diagonal blocks in the seat area and they, too, are epoxied so they'll have to cure overnight. Then I can get serious about the final shaping of the 6 joints which were glued late yesterday. Today I'll also fit the upholstery frame so it can go get purtied up.

Oh and the ears. I don't know what I'm going to do with the ears yet. Please keep me away from air-powered cutting tools until I get a vision.
 

Attachments

#8 ·
Glued Up! plus a couple of Process Suggestions

Just a little pruning of a loose tenon or two and epoxy part A met epoxy part B and I was ready to put it all together. The plan narrative says to leave the back slats loose. I was nervous about that, but I feel I need to trust the designer. He obviously made many of these in order to refine the design and the construction as he did. I felt the slats were too loose so I just inserted some space balls in the bottom mortises. Viola! Free to move, but no sloppiness permitted.

I used the plastic wrap to hold the back section together in the gluing up process, thinking that I could release it once all was together and tap the lower back rail to level if need be. It came in right on the money, so there it is.

Every angle on this chair is 5o one way or the other. One would think such a pleasing organic shape would have a more complex array of diversions. The beauty of this simplicity continues to this gluing process: All you need is six blocks cut at 85o!

Going back to earlier tasks on the chair: the other process suggestion is this: When you're gluing up multiple bent pieces in a form, mark each one against the fixed portion of the form, both ends. This makes cutting them all to identical length MUCH easier. I wrote a reminder right on the form, once I figured this out.

Wood Hardwood Engineering Machine Toolroom


Wood Floor Chair Outdoor furniture Armrest


Product Wood Chair Outdoor furniture Gas


It sits a little rocked back with the heavy clamp on the crest rail. I'll post more images in these last laps. Today the task is inserting the diagonal blocks in the seat area and they, too, are epoxied so they'll have to cure overnight. Then I can get serious about the final shaping of the 6 joints which were glued late yesterday. Today I'll also fit the upholstery frame so it can go get purtied up.

Oh and the ears. I don't know what I'm going to do with the ears yet. Please keep me away from air-powered cutting tools until I get a vision.
looking good
 

Attachments

#14 ·
Drilling Corner Blocks and the Beginning of the Finish

An engineer friend once told me that the best angle for the screw through a corner block is 90o from the back (mating) surface, not the front surface of the block. That makes sense to me, but it certainly is easier to predrill and countersink these holes the latter way, especially before the angles are cut. Attempting to drill on that ramp usually results in the bit skating downhill-not a desirable result!

Because joint stresses in a rocker are greater than in a foursquare chair, I wanted the holes the "right" way. Here's a technique I developed to make that predrilling pretty simple. I clamped the block to the drill press table and dimpled it where the hole goes.

Next a bradpoint bit in a handheld drill makes a little horizontal shelf for the DP bit to land on.

Voila. The pictures say it better and I'm not even at 1000 words on this:

Wood Floor Flooring Tints and shades Hardwood


Brown Wood Hardwood Tints and shades Beige


Saw Wood Drill Pneumatic tool Handheld power drill


Wood Tints and shades Gas Beige Metal


With other projects under way in the shop there was only one place left for the finish process (wipe on poly, MW brand): The office.

I opted to do the rockers first, all the way.

Wood Gas Engineering Hardwood Machine


Picture frame Wood Hardwood Engineering Machine


Getting closer!
 

Attachments

#15 ·
Drilling Corner Blocks and the Beginning of the Finish

An engineer friend once told me that the best angle for the screw through a corner block is 90o from the back (mating) surface, not the front surface of the block. That makes sense to me, but it certainly is easier to predrill and countersink these holes the latter way, especially before the angles are cut. Attempting to drill on that ramp usually results in the bit skating downhill-not a desirable result!

Because joint stresses in a rocker are greater than in a foursquare chair, I wanted the holes the "right" way. Here's a technique I developed to make that predrilling pretty simple. I clamped the block to the drill press table and dimpled it where the hole goes.

Next a bradpoint bit in a handheld drill makes a little horizontal shelf for the DP bit to land on.

Voila. The pictures say it better and I'm not even at 1000 words on this:

Wood Floor Flooring Tints and shades Hardwood


Brown Wood Hardwood Tints and shades Beige


Saw Wood Drill Pneumatic tool Handheld power drill


Wood Tints and shades Gas Beige Metal


With other projects under way in the shop there was only one place left for the finish process (wipe on poly, MW brand): The office.

I opted to do the rockers first, all the way.

Wood Gas Engineering Hardwood Machine


Picture frame Wood Hardwood Engineering Machine


Getting closer!
That drilling technique is useful info! Stuff like that is why I hang around here so much.
 

Attachments

#16 ·
The Graduation Photos and Final Reflections

Furniture Wood Hardwood Chair Flooring


Wood Loom Hardwood Engineering Composite material


Wood Chair Hardwood Flooring Outdoor furniture


Wood Chair Hardwood Flooring Outdoor furniture


Wood Engineering Hardwood Art Urban design


My first impression of the finished chair was from the picture here. It appears to lean back in an uninviting, even risky way. That feeling left my enthusiasm for the project carefully metered. I couldn't even get past that to appreciate other parts of it that, in isolation, are quite pleasant.

Now when I look at the chair I am totally smitten.

Minwax Wipe On Poly: six coats on the rockers, 5 on the rest of the chair. Final finish: Watco Satin Wax. It is a joy to touch.

I may end up shipping this, I am not sure. But for now I'm treating this as the cast party, where we grieve the characters who are no longer with us.

The pictures are all taken from the table, artificial I know, but in a way they're accurate if you're sitting in another chair and looking at this one.

I just can't find an angle which isn't pleasing to my eye. Thank you Mr. Dundas, for your superb design and excellent plans and narrative. And thank you, Mrs. S., for giving me the opportunity to be a surrogate woodworker for your departed husband and, for a while feeling as if I am part of your family. The privilege is mine.
 

Attachments

#17 ·
The Graduation Photos and Final Reflections

Furniture Wood Hardwood Chair Flooring


Wood Loom Hardwood Engineering Composite material


Wood Chair Hardwood Flooring Outdoor furniture


Wood Chair Hardwood Flooring Outdoor furniture


Wood Engineering Hardwood Art Urban design


My first impression of the finished chair was from the picture here. It appears to lean back in an uninviting, even risky way. That feeling left my enthusiasm for the project carefully metered. I couldn't even get past that to appreciate other parts of it that, in isolation, are quite pleasant.

Now when I look at the chair I am totally smitten.

Minwax Wipe On Poly: six coats on the rockers, 5 on the rest of the chair. Final finish: Watco Satin Wax. It is a joy to touch.

I may end up shipping this, I am not sure. But for now I'm treating this as the cast party, where we grieve the characters who are no longer with us.

The pictures are all taken from the table, artificial I know, but in a way they're accurate if you're sitting in another chair and looking at this one.

I just can't find an angle which isn't pleasing to my eye. Thank you Mr. Dundas, for your superb design and excellent plans and narrative. And thank you, Mrs. S., for giving me the opportunity to be a surrogate woodworker for your departed husband and, for a while feeling as if I am part of your family. The privilege is mine.
I concur Lee. A pleasure to look at and I can only imagine that it is equally pleasurable to touch the graceful curves and transitions. My congratulations to both the designer and the builder. Magnifique.
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top