Blog Chair completed, Rocking Chair #8

great blog and super chair

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

great blog and super chair

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Instant classic!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Wow ! really I have to say well done you have executed this project very well indeed.Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Well done

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

That is a super duper looking chair.

That walnut looks so warm, and makes the chair inviting to sit and rock a spell.

cmon down to Texas, we can build one out of mesquite. LOL

Thanks for posting.

-- MISSION FURNITURE-My mission is to build furniture

Applause! Well done! I may have to build one out of koa. How beautiful would that be? And how expensive…

-- Jim, www.greenteawoodworking.com

I would love to do one out of mesquite. I had a couple people quote me on getting the wood up here, hopefully next year.

Oooh, I just found a local supplier for mesquite…road trip!

-- Rich, WNY, www.nyrockingchairs.com

WOW! A spectacular chair, excellant grain pattern and the craftsmanship looks supurb!

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Whew! That is a beautiful chair. I love the Walnut color. That dark chocolate is very lustrous and rich looking. You did a great job.

-- Behind the Bark is a lot of Heartwood----Charles, Centennial, CO

Hi Rich, my mother has been bugging me to build a rocker for her for years. Quite frankly some other project always gets in the way. I LOVE this chair and I have been developing a fondness of working with walnut as well. You can let Hal know I’ll be picking up his plans because of your blog. I also have a question and keep in mind I have not built a rocker before it is mearly an observation. Have you ever considered building the rockers twice as wide and then cutting them in half on the table saw? I have not done this, but I have see it done in mags, t.v. ect. I hope you don’t think I am out of line, just trying to save you some time unless their is a specific reason I am unaware of. Plus the springback of the rockers would be the same. Could you let me know? You are obviously a very talented wood artist…....Thanks for the inspiration

-- Ben Kahmann Dayton, OH

Gorgeous rocker!!

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

Interesting thought Ben. A couple other thoughts come to mind in response:
My rocker jig is made up of 2 sheets of 7/8” plywood glued and screwed together. To go twice as wide would require 4 sheets. Not sure my jig saw could go through almost 4” of plywood to cut the form. Doable on the band saw, but that is a lot of weight to hold up and cut accurately on a 18” square table.

The rockers are cut from 1 3/4” x 2” stock, cut into 1/8” strips. Doubling that plus saw kerf would be close to 4” of wood, that you have to push through the table saw cutting 1/8” strips, sounds dicey to me.

Also you need to apply even clamping pressure across the width of the rocker, going twice as wide would require twice as many clamps and to put clamps on both sides of the form.

Since the rocker takes 4-6 weeks to build, taking 2 days in week 1 or 2 to glue up the rockers is not really setting me back on the timetable any. I know Hal actually has two forms and glues his rockers up on the same day but still independently, of course he completes a chair a week.

Gluing them up as strips, there is no spring back, they do not flex without serious pressure applied. Plus if you want to create “mirror” rockers you could not do this without gluing them up separate. By mirror I mean the top few and bottom strips are consecutive strips but flipped to mirror the grain pattern, which I tend to do with both the rockers and the back-braces.

I have nothing against constructive criticism and new ideas, several of the techniques and methods in the blog are completely different from what Hal prescribes. Always looking for new ideas and better ways.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

-- Rich, WNY, www.nyrockingchairs.com

Excellent work, I agree with above, instant classic.
BTKS

Awesome rocker Rich!

-- Fred.... Poconos, PA ---- Chairwright in the making ----

Now that is one sweet rocking chair…......great job.

-- I will just keep doing it till I get it right.

Great looking chair. Great blog. I appreciate your efforts. Here’s my Hal Taylor chair, built about 3 years ago.
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/21033

-- peace