# Rocking Chair Build



## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

*Stop wanting, and start doing!*

Hey gang! It's been a while, but I'm back in the shop making scrap and creating a ton of dust. Over the years I've made bookcases and tables galore, all with straight lines and square corners. Then I started making some G+G pieces with rounded edges, cloud lifts, and 'pillowed' plugs. I've been wanting to continue this progression and make something with no straight lines at all: a Maloof-style rocking chair following the steps from Hal Taylor.

Today I picked up ~50 bf of 8/4 walnut ($410 for those of you keeping score at home). The build also requires Ash, but here in SoCal that seems to be tough to find. I hope I don't end up driving a hundred miles to get $20 worth of wood…

I had purchased Hal's plans (all 262 pages of them) over a year ago, and when I finally got serious about the build, I read other reports and decided to get the templates and video as well. I'm glad I did; I probably could have scaled up the ones in the book, but there are enough of them that this made it faster and eaier.



















In addition there are two glueing forms for the lamanated parts; the rockers (back form) and the back braces (front form).









I began the layout:









I finished the evening rough cutting one back leg:









Hal recommends not getting too finicky with the shape around the seat and arm joints as I'll be taking lots more material off later.

Thanks for reading,
Topapilot


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## HalDougherty (Jul 15, 2009)

Topapilot said:


> *Stop wanting, and start doing!*
> 
> Hey gang! It's been a while, but I'm back in the shop making scrap and creating a ton of dust. Over the years I've made bookcases and tables galore, all with straight lines and square corners. Then I started making some G+G pieces with rounded edges, cloud lifts, and 'pillowed' plugs. I've been wanting to continue this progression and make something with no straight lines at all: a Maloof-style rocking chair following the steps from Hal Taylor.
> 
> ...


Thanks for posting this series. I've been interested in building a a rocking chair ever since I found Hal's website. The rockers I've seen here that other people have built using his plans have all looked fantastic. I've got some tiger maple that would make a beautiful chair.


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

Topapilot said:


> *Stop wanting, and start doing!*
> 
> Hey gang! It's been a while, but I'm back in the shop making scrap and creating a ton of dust. Over the years I've made bookcases and tables galore, all with straight lines and square corners. Then I started making some G+G pieces with rounded edges, cloud lifts, and 'pillowed' plugs. I've been wanting to continue this progression and make something with no straight lines at all: a Maloof-style rocking chair following the steps from Hal Taylor.
> 
> ...


I'm looking forward to your story! From what I have seen Hal has a great set of plans. Good luck!!


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## superstretch (Jan 10, 2011)

Topapilot said:


> *Stop wanting, and start doing!*
> 
> Hey gang! It's been a while, but I'm back in the shop making scrap and creating a ton of dust. Over the years I've made bookcases and tables galore, all with straight lines and square corners. Then I started making some G+G pieces with rounded edges, cloud lifts, and 'pillowed' plugs. I've been wanting to continue this progression and make something with no straight lines at all: a Maloof-style rocking chair following the steps from Hal Taylor.
> 
> ...


Nice looking walnut.. and at a premium! Can't wait to see how this turns out


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

*Things to remember for chair #2...*










Hey all,
I'm still going on the rocking chair. At this point I have the front and rear legs cut and shaped, the seat is glued up and the notches are cut out (I'm awaiting a router bit to cut the rabbit, and the kutzall to shape the seat), rocker and back brace lams are cut and ready, headrest billits ready, and the gluing jigs are finished.

If you are planning to try one of these, I suggest you read the book far ahead before cutting wood. I've found a few places where after I had all billits cut and ready I had to go back and make more. For example, there is an extra back brace lam that is cut 1/8", 8 back brace lams for the clamping caul, and one other I can't remember right now. Not major, but I did have to dive into the trash bin to find materials for one of the parts.

I'm gluing up the back brace caul now; I found a few issues with my implementation of the glueing jig. Hal provides a template of the curve, but the rest of the jig I came up with on my own. I used two layers of 3/4 MDF as it was inexpensive, heavy, and easy to shape to the curve. I checked the pad size on my C-clamps and used a 1" spade bit in the drill press to make the holes. The alignment brackets are 1" aluminum angle stock, 1/8" thick x 6" long, held in place with sheet metal screws in pre-drilled holes. The clamp holes were sized and placed to minimize the risk of the MDF cracking or blowing out as I applied clamp pressure.

You may notice from the picture I have the clamps all the way out to fit the caul into the jig; that means I won't be able to fit the back brace in with the caul on top using those clamps. My larger C-clamps have a larger pad and won't fit into the hole… At this point I'm thinking harbor freight 6" clamps and a grinder to re-size the pads.

Any suggestions??


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

Topapilot said:


> *Things to remember for chair #2...*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Somehow, I missed your updates. Glad to see you are keeping us informed on your progress!


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

*Laminations and seat*

I have been busy on the rocking chair, just not busy posting updates. I've made 8 back braces two at a time on the glue up form. The back braces are walnut, ash, ash, walnut (4 layers) and are sequenced; the braces will have lams 1-8 of the same billet visable left to right as you look at the chair. From the back it will be that way as well. Here's the glue up:










The rockers are glued up one at a time, with an ash lam in the #4 position of 9 total lams. The lams are sequenced so that the left and right rockers will match; they should look like they have a book mach when theyt are carved into final shape.










Two items not clear in the instructions are the need for cauls; after cutting out all the billets and steping through the process there is a note to use an 11-lam caul for the rockers, and a thinner one for the back braces. Would have been nice to know that up front so I could have purchased materials and done the cuts at the same time.

I used johnsons paste wax on the surface of the forms to prevent the glue from sticking. Even thought the forms are MDF, the wax worked fine and the lam's popped right off.

Out of the forms:










I had some clamp issues; I over tightened a H.F. clamp turing it into a corkscrew, and snapped an old taiwan made clamp in two. I guess I have to ease up on the spinach!



















I cut out the notches and routed the rabits in the seat:










I used the rear notch cut outs clamped to the edge of the seat to prevent tear out when routing. In the video, Hal doesn't do this, but I'm glad I did.

Next up: Headrest!


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

Topapilot said:


> *Laminations and seat*
> 
> I have been busy on the rocking chair, just not busy posting updates. I've made 8 back braces two at a time on the glue up form. The back braces are walnut, ash, ash, walnut (4 layers) and are sequenced; the braces will have lams 1-8 of the same billet visable left to right as you look at the chair. From the back it will be that way as well. Here's the glue up:
> 
> ...


My son broke one of my wrenches - now it hangs on his wall. Kind of like a trophy (I think).


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

*Headrest*

The headrest is made up of 6 billets, 4.75 wide by 8 tall. They are glued together to form a curve. This means they need an angled edge to create this curve. I used a Wixey angle guage to make a pair of coopering jigs for the jointer. They are 4 and 5 degrees.










Using the cut offs from the jig I glued up pairs of billets:










With three pairs of billets glued up, they were too curved to clamp together so I used pinch dogs top and bottom. These worked great.










Finished, they matched the template very closely:










Next up: Seat shaping.


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

*Starting to shape the seat*

I threw caution to the wind and took my new Kutzall to my seat. Most of this is by eye, which is a leap of faith for me, but I think it might turn out ok in the end.










I strongly suggest doing all of this work outside! I moved in later when the sun was on me and now my shop is covered in dust.

I felt I had one "good" side, and one less good, so I made a template of the good side and transferred the shape to the other side. And I saved the template…










Much sanding, and three burns on my finger tips from sanding the curve, has left me here; I wiped on some mineral spirits and I'm thinking things might turn out ok!










Next: More seat shaping.


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## wildbill001 (Mar 2, 2011)

Topapilot said:


> *Starting to shape the seat*
> 
> I threw caution to the wind and took my new Kutzall to my seat. Most of this is by eye, which is a leap of faith for me, but I think it might turn out ok in the end.
> 
> ...


Looking awesome. I wish I had the time to tackle one of these…. Maybe one day. So, I guess I will just live vicariously thru your posts, if that's ok with you.

Bill


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## CaptainSkully (Aug 28, 2008)

Topapilot said:


> *Starting to shape the seat*
> 
> I threw caution to the wind and took my new Kutzall to my seat. Most of this is by eye, which is a leap of faith for me, but I think it might turn out ok in the end.
> 
> ...


Dude, this is awesome. I've already contacted Hal about ordering. Thanks for the inspiration and documentation.


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## Timbo (Aug 21, 2008)

Topapilot said:


> *Starting to shape the seat*
> 
> I threw caution to the wind and took my new Kutzall to my seat. Most of this is by eye, which is a leap of faith for me, but I think it might turn out ok in the end.
> 
> ...


The seat looks great. When I did my seat I also made a template to get the left and right sides to match.


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

*Update on Arm Shaping*

I just sent an email off to Hal asking questions on some of my progress, and I realized I had taken some pics that I had not posted. I built a jig to cove the arms; it is designed to hold the arm billets in place with three threaded rods, and to hold the jig at an angle to the saw blade. Here are pics:









This shows the jig in action on the table saw. The square frame holds the billet in place with three rods. the rods are epoxyed into wood handles and run through threaded inserts screwed into the frame. The frame has a triangle attached to the side to set the angle to the saw blade. That way I just instal a fence perpendicular to the blade and the jig takes care of the rest.










This shows what the cove cutting jig does from below. I make multiple passes over the blade, raising it each time a quarter turn. The blade cuts a cove on the bottom of the billet (installed upside down, so the cove is on top where your arm rests) as well as through the jig. There is a small 5/16 shim glued to the end of the billet to raise it up and give the cove cut a taper.

One corner of the jig has a triangle piece of wood glued into the corner. This is to make sure you instal the billets correctly for the right and left arm. A corrosponding notch is cut in the corner of each billet. I managed to glue the shim on the wrong side of the billet, but fortunatly the notch prevented me from cove cutting the wrong side…









This is the result on both arms.

I have fallen in love with the threaded inserts used to hold the threaded rod and the handle on this jig. They are going to be featured in future posts for fine adjustment of more jigs!


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## Timbo (Aug 21, 2008)

Topapilot said:


> *Update on Arm Shaping*
> 
> I just sent an email off to Hal asking questions on some of my progress, and I realized I had taken some pics that I had not posted. I built a jig to cove the arms; it is designed to hold the arm billets in place with three threaded rods, and to hold the jig at an angle to the saw blade. Here are pics:
> 
> ...


A new way to make large amounts a sawdust!

The arms are coming along.


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

*Fixing mistakes, or How to look like a Pro!*

Hey Kids,
I've been busy in the shop, and havn't posted an update in a while. I wanted to do one about some mistakes and how they were covered up, or, I mean, how I created an anomoly in order to demonstrate some advanced wood working skills.

First, you must realize you've messed up your project. Exibit A:









These are the rear legs of the rocker. The thick section is where the leg joins the seat. The legs are designed to tilt out at 6 degrees (narrow seat, wide headreast). The adder block is the piece glued to the leg and tapered at 6 degrees to tilt the leg out. If you look closely, you can see the taper goes partway into the joint area on the left leg, and does not enter the joint area on the right leg. My leg stock was thinner than Hal uses (he gets rough 10/4 stock, I could only get 8/4 S3S so was only 1 3/4 thick) Also, my adder did not extend out enough, hence the problem.

To fix: I plained down the adder block untill uniform thickness, then glued on another piece to bring the whole thickness way up:









With this added thickness I could clamp the leg to the 6 degree jig:









recut the joint, smoth the cut on the jointer, and make the joint correctly:










Another repair was to the slot in the leg joint that has to match the tounge on the seat. On the second leg I cut the notch too wide, so I glued in adders to both sides (only one shown here), trimmed them flush, then re-cut the notch.


















Next up: Building a rocker is 10x jig building, and 1x rocker build!


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## woodworkerscott (Sep 12, 2010)

Topapilot said:


> *Fixing mistakes, or How to look like a Pro!*
> 
> Hey Kids,
> I've been busy in the shop, and havn't posted an update in a while. I wanted to do one about some mistakes and how they were covered up, or, I mean, how I created an anomoly in order to demonstrate some advanced wood working skills.
> ...


"First, you must realize you've messed up your project…." LOL. So true. Well put.
Sam Maloff has been a such strong influence in my woodworking. It was refreshing to see him make a mistake in his work, something I thought he probably did very little due to his skills and beautiful work. He made a joint too big for the rear leg of a rocker and then showed how he glued in a little thin spacer to fix it. He then joked that he did it on purpose. That made me admire him even more and it helped me not feel so bad about the goof ups I make.
Thanks for posting the solution and repair, and with great photo shots. All woodworkers fubar here and there….it is the skilled ones that can fix it and complete it. I am glad I finally got to the point I don't get my feathers ruffled when mistakes strike. I just calmly look at it and fix it. No sweat.


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

Topapilot said:


> *Fixing mistakes, or How to look like a Pro!*
> 
> Hey Kids,
> I've been busy in the shop, and havn't posted an update in a while. I wanted to do one about some mistakes and how they were covered up, or, I mean, how I created an anomoly in order to demonstrate some advanced wood working skills.
> ...


Nice display of adapting and moving on. Thanks for sharing.


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## DocK16 (Mar 18, 2007)

Topapilot said:


> *Fixing mistakes, or How to look like a Pro!*
> 
> Hey Kids,
> I've been busy in the shop, and havn't posted an update in a while. I wanted to do one about some mistakes and how they were covered up, or, I mean, how I created an anomoly in order to demonstrate some advanced wood working skills.
> ...


I just came on your blog series here at # 7 and of course had to go bach and read the first six. I recently bought Charles Brocks book, CD and plans for his Moloof-style chair and plan on it as my next project. I'm not familiar with "Hal"or his plans that you keep referring to in your blog. Could you provide a link to Hal. There are some techniques on your post that are not part of the Brock design and I may adapt some for my chair. Looking forward the the remainder of the posts.


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

Topapilot said:


> *Fixing mistakes, or How to look like a Pro!*
> 
> Hey Kids,
> I've been busy in the shop, and havn't posted an update in a while. I wanted to do one about some mistakes and how they were covered up, or, I mean, how I created an anomoly in order to demonstrate some advanced wood working skills.
> ...


DocK,
"Hal" is Hal Taylor, pretty well known in the rocking chair world, and is also a lumberjock: Hal's project page.

His website is www.haltaylor.com

Robb


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

*Router extension*

This modification to my router table allows me to use a round over bit on the legs, even though they are much wider mid-way along the length.

It consists of a riser block mounted to the table using two of the four standard mounting holes. Using all four would have been possible, but I wanted to be able to instal and remove this for normal operation. By using only two bolts, the router mount does not fall off the bottom of the table during change over.









The riser block is two pieces of 3/4 ply glued together and glued to 1/4 masonite. The four holes in the masonite are transfered from the original clear router base. The extension collet is necessary to raise the bit up to the level of the riser block.










The real trick was the hole for the bit. I wanted it to be sized for the round over bit with no extra space taking away from the surface area or for things to fall into. I intended to run the bit up from the bottom, first a bottom cutting bit to cut a hole big enough for the bearing to fit through, then a second time with the 5/8" round over bit. The problem was, the bit and standard collet was too short, but the collet extension made it too long to even start. I finally got it done, but it too all day… Now I want to make two more, one for the 3/4" round over bit, and one hand-held for the 3/16 round over bit.

As you can see, you can route really close to the seat joint.


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## HalDougherty (Jul 15, 2009)

Topapilot said:


> *Router extension*
> 
> This modification to my router table allows me to use a round over bit on the legs, even though they are much wider mid-way along the length.
> 
> ...


I like your fixture to route the roundover on a curved piece of wood. Did the plans for the chair show the jig, or did you come up with the idea? After you build all the jigs and fixtures to build a chair, you are going to have to build more of them… Looks like the start of a chair factory to me.


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

Topapilot said:


> *Router extension*
> 
> This modification to my router table allows me to use a round over bit on the legs, even though they are much wider mid-way along the length.
> 
> ...


Hey Hal,
There was a picture of the riser in the manual, but no details. He also shows it in his video, but like the modification to the band saw to allow the table to tilt right and left, there is no detail.

I've had to find/make storage for the templates, jigs, and fixtures I've already made, and I can see at least a half-dozen more in my future. I figure I'm going to need to make at least 5 chairs to feel like I got my jig investment back, and to feel like I really know how to make this rocking chair.
Robb


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## fernandoindia (May 5, 2010)

Topapilot said:


> *Router extension*
> 
> This modification to my router table allows me to use a round over bit on the legs, even though they are much wider mid-way along the length.
> 
> ...


Hi Robb. Good decision of starting this building. Thanks for posting.
I am also wanting one. Be watching the series.


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

*An hour of prep, 10 minutes of panic...*

We've all been there: you do the dry fit, you set up your clamps and cauls, you clamp it up dry, you remake your cauls and clamping blocks. Then you do it again. Then one more time, just to make sure. You clear everything from the area but the tools and parts you need. You go through the steps in your mind for the 20th time. Then you open the glue, and it all goes to sh!t…

If you've been following along, you know I've spent the last two months building this rocking chair. Well, really it's been equal parts rocking chair, and jigs to build the rocking chair, but you get the picture. Up till now I've been shaping and fitting parts. And remaking and shaping and fitting parts. And re-remaking parts.

Today was the day I took the first step I couldn't undo or redo: glueing the rear legs to the seat. One of the things Hal stressed was to use lots of glue. Lots and lots of glue, so the joint dosen't seize up as you're assembling it. A thin film of glue can cure quickly, I deep puddle takes forever to cure. I thought I was using lots. I wasn't.










I had the second leg dry fitted just in case I needed to use the clamps to pull the joint closed. It worked! I cranked on those pipe clamps until I heard wood crack then let off and pulled the legs tight to the sides of the joint. Then I used the verticle clamps to pull the legs tight to the front of the joint. Then I took them off and glued up the second joint. Lots of glue. Lots and lots of glue. It slid right into place and I clamped it tight to the sides of the joint. Then the front clamps.










Somehow in all this, with glue squeeze out running down my seat and clamps slipping that hadn't slipped in the dry fit and realizing my clamp blocks should have been waxed and and and… I didn't get the joint tight to the front of the joint.

I won't show you the pictures, but the joint I spent so much time and effort on making it flow out of the seat has a gap. A gully. A chasem even. It looks to me to be about the width of the Mississippi. Or maybe the Amazon. I havn't been to the Amazon, but I bet it's as wide as the gap in my leg joints.

All right; I'll figure it out. The joint seems rock solid, so it's just cosmetic. Maybe no one will notice.

After all that, I built jig #73, the front-leg-riser-block-marking jig:









I also started on jig #74, the cut-the-headrest-on-the-bandsaw jig. But that will have to be another post…


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## lorna (Nov 6, 2011)

Topapilot said:


> *An hour of prep, 10 minutes of panic...*
> 
> We've all been there: you do the dry fit, you set up your clamps and cauls, you clamp it up dry, you remake your cauls and clamping blocks. Then you do it again. Then one more time, just to make sure. You clear everything from the area but the tools and parts you need. You go through the steps in your mind for the 20th time. Then you open the glue, and it all goes to sh!t…
> 
> ...


Oh Topapilot, I know that heart sinking feeling, but you walk away to give your head some rest and come back to it fresh and find a way of making a feature out of that mistake!


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## CaptainSkully (Aug 28, 2008)

Topapilot said:


> *An hour of prep, 10 minutes of panic...*
> 
> We've all been there: you do the dry fit, you set up your clamps and cauls, you clamp it up dry, you remake your cauls and clamping blocks. Then you do it again. Then one more time, just to make sure. You clear everything from the area but the tools and parts you need. You go through the steps in your mind for the 20th time. Then you open the glue, and it all goes to sh!t…
> 
> ...


Dude, we all only see our flaws. Everyone else sees the beauty. At worst, you'll figure out a way to fix it to be happy with it yourself. At best, you've warned the rest of us, which is why LJ's and your posts are so invaluable. Thanks, sorry, good luck, and keep on keeping on…


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

*Headrest cutting jig*

Hey team,
I've behind in my project updates, so I'll try to put up a few short posts covering what I've done in the last few weeks.

With front and rear legs attached to the chair seat, it's time to cut out the curved headrest. If you remember, I glued up 6 pieces 8" tall with a 5 degree bevel on the edges to create a arc of wood. We want the finished headrest to be a smooth curve front and back on a 28.5 inch radius.

Naturally, I built a jig:



















In the top photo you can see a secondary table (rectangle plywood) holding a swinging arm that has attachment points for the headrest. The swinging arm pivots on a dowel 28.5 inches from the band saw blade. There are two dowel holes on the secondary table that allow you to shift the whole swing arm 1.25 inches towards the blade. This way the first pass cuts the back curve of the head rest, the second pass cuts the front curve, and cuts the headrest free from the jig.

The second photo shows how the headrest attaches to the swing arm on adjustable mounts. This way I should be able to use the same jig for many, many headrests.

To mount the secondary table to the saw, I removed the resaw fence attachments from front and back and used the bolt holes to attach the table.










The astute woodworker will have noted from the first picture the stock 14" Delta does not have clearance for an 8" tall workpiece. On to Amazon I go and 24 hours later (seriously, no extra shipping charge either. They are great!) I have the riser kit for my saw. Unfortunatly, a new blade took three more days from Highland Hardware.










In the picture above you can see the new, improved clearance with my new woodslicer blade installed. The white tape on the jig attachment points is the cover on VHB tape. VHB stands for Very High Bond, and it's no joke. I used this last year on a project and once it sets up, it's not comming off. Fortunatly, permanent set takes a bit longer than the time to cut a headrest, so it worked great in this application.

Unfortunatly, the cutting of the headrest did not go so well….


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## HalDougherty (Jul 15, 2009)

Topapilot said:


> *Headrest cutting jig*
> 
> Hey team,
> I've behind in my project updates, so I'll try to put up a few short posts covering what I've done in the last few weeks.
> ...


You've got a great looking jig and I'm sure you are going to have more than one rocker project to post after building all these jigs. How did the crack turn out?


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

Topapilot said:


> *Headrest cutting jig*
> 
> Hey team,
> I've behind in my project updates, so I'll try to put up a few short posts covering what I've done in the last few weeks.
> ...


Hal,
Hal Taylor told me that if I used glue and sawdust he was going to come to my house and let the air out of my tires! He said to fill the small gaps with Tite bond III, and the large with a piece of wood sanded flush. I tried the glue on the bottom of the seat, but have not filled the larger gaps with wood yet. That would be good to do today…


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## Topapilot (Nov 20, 2007)

*Cutting the Head Rest*

In the last post you saw my fancy-schmancy headrest cutting jig. Well, I couldn't come up with any reasons not to use it, so I loaded up my one and only headrest blank, fired up the saw, and started cutting…










Here you see the back side of the headrest after the first cut. As you can see, the blade blew out the back side as I went along, but I figured I could sand it out…










It's a bit hard to see, but this picture shows the blade position just after exiting the wood. Yes, it did jump to the right 1/4", and it did leave a serious barrel cut (wide at the middle, less wide top and bottom).

When I made the second cut for the front of the headrest, the blade exited the wood before it got to the last board.


















So I've done three things:

Aligned the top and bottom wheel better by adding a shim behind the top wheel to move it out ~1mm.
Re-set the attachment points to insure the head rest blank sits evenly on the swing arm.
Ordered a band saw blade from Hal Taylor. It's been a week, but I finally got notice the blade is to ship today.

Let's hope I can salvage this headrest in the do-over attempt!!


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## IrreverentJack (Aug 13, 2010)

Topapilot said:


> *Cutting the Head Rest*
> 
> In the last post you saw my fancy-schmancy headrest cutting jig. Well, I couldn't come up with any reasons not to use it, so I loaded up my one and only headrest blank, fired up the saw, and started cutting…
> 
> ...


That is some pretty wood. I hope you can save it. -Jack


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