Project Information
I just put the final coat of Danish oil on this rocker/glider I built for my sister and brother-in-law to celebrate the newest member of the family, born last December. The Black Walnut came from a tree that was struck by lightning in my parents' neighbor's back yard in West Virginia. The back splats are laminated with a piece of Black Walnut sandwiched between two pieces of lightly spalted Maple. The Maple plugs and wedges for the tenons holding the arms in place serve to tie the piece together.
This was my first attempt at the sculpted style developed by Sam Maloof and imitated/replicated/renovated by a host of fellow woodworkers. As far as I can tell by a good ol' fashioned Google search, this may be the first ever gliding chair built in the sculpted style. If you know of one (or have built one yourself), please let me know.
Anyone who has taken a stab at the "Maloof rocker" could appreciate the headaches I ran into when I adapted the design to a glider base. Where the typical sculpted rocking chair has a seat that narrows in the back and back legs that are canted 5 degrees to achieve an attractive splay, these options weren't there for this design. I needed the back legs to be parallel in the back and the same distance apart as the front legs in order for the gliding mechanism to work. I tried to accomplish a bit of splay by pivoting the legs outward by 10 degrees rather than leaning them out. If I build another one, I hope to fine tune this aspect of the design. Any suggestions are welcome!
This was my first attempt at the sculpted style developed by Sam Maloof and imitated/replicated/renovated by a host of fellow woodworkers. As far as I can tell by a good ol' fashioned Google search, this may be the first ever gliding chair built in the sculpted style. If you know of one (or have built one yourself), please let me know.
Anyone who has taken a stab at the "Maloof rocker" could appreciate the headaches I ran into when I adapted the design to a glider base. Where the typical sculpted rocking chair has a seat that narrows in the back and back legs that are canted 5 degrees to achieve an attractive splay, these options weren't there for this design. I needed the back legs to be parallel in the back and the same distance apart as the front legs in order for the gliding mechanism to work. I tried to accomplish a bit of splay by pivoting the legs outward by 10 degrees rather than leaning them out. If I build another one, I hope to fine tune this aspect of the design. Any suggestions are welcome!