First Rocking Chair

[Jeff Wittrock]

First attempt at a rocking chair. I couldn't find any plans I liked very well, but after seeing the rockers made by Gary Weeks, I thought that was the rocker I would like to have, so the one I made bares a lot of resemblance to his.

Sam Maloof I ain't, but I think I leaned quite a bit in making this one. There are quite a few things I would do different on the next one, but I have to say it is pretty comfortable.

-Jeff

[Ben Cadotte]

Looks nice. Did you give it a good test? :D

Unfortunately looks a little narrow for my dimensions.

I have not attempted any kind of chair yet.

[Duncan Potter]

Very Nice

I'm a'skeert of making curvy stuff like chairs. Good on yer!

[keith ouellette]

Thats looks like a difficult project. You should be very proud.

Have you ever seen the movie " The Patriot "? There qas a seen in the beginning where Mel Gibson was trying to build a very light rocking chair and they kept breaking.

It has nothing to do with you but it just popped into my head.

[J. Z. Guest]

Very nice Jeff. My wife wants to know what kind of wood it is made of.

[Jim Becker]

Very nice, Jeff!

[Mark Singer]

Jeff,
Really nice work1

[gary Zimmel]

Jeff

Nice looking rocking chair.

For first one I think you did a great job...

[Ken Potts]

Excellent work!

[Ken Potts]

Excellent work!

Ken.

[David Sallee]

Nice rocker Jeff!

Dave

[Jeff Wittrock]

..Did you give it a good test? :D

Yeah... and I was a bit nervous, but so far it has held up to my >200lbs. and my sons 50lbs. abuse. Like I said, I'm no Sam Maloof, and I was worried about the joint between the back legs and the seat. The rest of the joints were pretty straight forward.


Very nice Jeff. My wife wants to know what kind of wood it is made of.

Its Red Oak. Its hard to tell from the pictures, but the seat is actually a bunch of 1" thick strips laminated together. I turned the strips on edge to give the seat a quarter sawed looking face. I used the strips to make the seat because my brother in law does interior work on houses, and often gives me scraps from his work. In this case, the seat is made from leftover stair treads. In fact, most of the chair parts that did not require long lengths were made from scrap.

Thanks to all for the comments.

-Jeff

[J. Z. Guest]

In this case, the seat is made from leftover stair treads. In fact, most of the chair parts that did not require long lengths were made from scrap.

This is a great way to do woodworking on the cheap. As we can tell, the results do not betray that it was made from scraps.

When you laminated the seat, did you do one board at a time, or did you use dowels, biscuits, or cauls to keep them aligned during a mass glue-up?

[Ben Cadotte]

Yeah... and I was a bit nervous, but so far it has held up to my >200lbs. and my sons 50lbs. abuse. Like I said, I'm no Sam Maloof, and I was worried about the joint between the back legs and the seat. The rest of the joints were pretty straight forward.
-Jeff


I was more hinting at, sitting back in it with a cold (insert favorite refreshment) in the man cave pondering (insert favorite immage). :D:D

[Jeff Wittrock]

When you laminated the seat, did you do one board at a time, or did you use dowels, biscuits, or cauls to keep them aligned during a mass glue-up?

I did the whole seat at once. I didn't use any kind of dowel or biscuits. I have a whole slug of cauls that I made from scrap wood and 5/16" or 3/8" threaded rod. They come in very handy when trying to glue up a large number of strips at once.

-Jeff

[Jeff Wittrock]

I was more hinting at, sitting back in it with a cold (insert favorite refreshment) in the man cave pondering (insert favorite immage). :D:D

he he... well the only problem is that the arms are too angled to act as beverage holders. I've been thinkin on a Morris chair. Those big flat arms would probably be just right.

[John Thompson]

Very nice, Jeff. You did an excellent job with the red oak as most stain it darker. I like to use it because I can afford it and I think it's looks nice in lighter colors or natural with oil as opposed to adding a coat of lip-stick so to speak..

Again.. nice job as chairs are not the easiest task unless you do them often. We won't even discuss finishing them, especially with a set of 4 or more. Very tedious work to say the least.

Regards...

Sarge..

[Brodie Brickey]

Jeff,

Beautiful work. Its a great looking chair. I'm currently working on a rocker myself and I have to say, all the plans I have always call for 8/4 stock. To see you making it out of 4/4 is clearly a bigger challenge.

Regards,

Brodie