Hal Taylor Maloof Inspired rocking chair - anyone built one?

[Mike Heidrick]

We are at the end of our budget year for the woodworking club I am president of at work. We had $275 that had to be spent by today or we would loose it come Jan 1st. The money is from dues for being a member of the club.

We have been having trouble coming up with new topic ideas for our club meetings each month or more accurately having an agenda - we have plenty of time to talk unconstructively.

So I have seen Hal Taylors rocking chair site and believe I have seen some of you folks and the woodnet boys and gals with their rocking chairs.

I ordered out the book, videos and plans tonight for our club. They club does not know it yet. I spent the remaining money on a set of Thomas the train engine-like track router bit sets a couple members wanted.

I am hoping we can use 2011 to watch the chair videos and get some folks interested in making a chair or two. They seem sooo beautiful.

Anyway do you folks have any stories to share about this chair or ones similar to it?
Anyway - sharing the $ with Hal just seemed like good business.

[John Keeton]

Mike Thomas posted one in this thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?109935-Hal-Taylor-Rocking-Chair). Ray Klosek in this thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?124937-completed-Rocker/page2). Richard Dragin has done several, one of which was in this thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?69456-Some-of-my-Rocking-Chairs/page3). And, I believe Cody Colston has done two or three, but he posted one of them in this thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?138180-Bois-d-Arc-Rocker&p=1400803).

[Prashun Patel]

A few of us built one from the Charles Brock Plans. Here's a blow-by-blow of our experience. There are many differences betweent the two plans, but a lot of the shaping advice is probably similar. Many ways to skin this cat. Enjoy the process! It was extremely rewarding.

I also love the plans/videos from Scott Morrison - especially the videos.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?124002-Maloof-Inspired-Rocker-Plans/page35

[Bill Dieckman]

I was/am on the cusp of attempting one. I bought the plans this fall and was hoping to use the time after our bathroom reno to start working on the chair.
After taking a spill, casts make interesting accessories to accentuate your woodworking experience :P

Will probably have to wait for the knitting (bone), bathroom, and the other Christmas projects on hold for now to get to the chair. Hope the members
embrace the challenge.

[Mikail Khan]

I got the plans in January and completed one chair in April of this year. It took about 120 hours. At least 40 hours was spent building jigs.

I am currently working on about 5 Mahogany chairs which are all about 85% complete. My intention was to give them out as Christmas presents, but they won't be completed in time. I need about another 40 hours to finish them off.

The plans and book an very detailed. I did not buy the DVDs.

I had one question for Hal while building the first chair and he responded to my email within 12 hrs.

This was my first chair of any type and the plans and book made it very easy.

Most of the shaping and sanding is done with power tools.

Hal recommends that for your first chair you follow the build sequence in his book, but I worked on most of the parts in parallel.

The book places a lot of emphasis on grain matching and book matching - the wood grain on the left side of the chair should be close to a mirror image on the right side. Get all your lumber from one tree if possible

One of the things that Hal does not mention in his book but I found useful is the Abranet pads from Mirka. They last a lot longer than regular sandpaper and you can use an interface pad with them which is great for sanding contoured surfaces.

Apart from being nice to look at, The chairs are very comfortable. The plans come with 3 sizes and size does make a difference. The small chair I built for my wife is good for her but it is to short for me.


MK

[Mike Heidrick]

Looks like Hal shipped out everything today. Very quick turn around. I sent a note to the club and 5 folks responded with very happy notes thanking me for ordering the set. I think this will be fun.

I also found Mirka Abranet this year too. It is awesome. I will have to look into that interface pad.