Arts&Crafts Rocker in Mahogany

[tom tangie]

This is my 3rd rocker. It is inspired from an antique A&C rocker but with a steeper seat to back angle, taller back and of course mahog vs QS oak. All mortise and loose tenons.....no screws or fasteners used except for the seat blocks.

[John Keeton]

and of course mahog vs QS oak....
And, more expensive!! Very nice look, clean, and well done.

[Mike McCann]

sweet looking rocker.

[Greg Cole]

Well done Tom. Looks nice n comfy indeed.

Greg

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Nice Tom, very nice.

[glenn bradley]

That is just beautiful. Great warm color.

[Von Bickley]

Tom,

I see one major problem with that chair..... It's not at my house.

Great looking chair, I would love to see it in QSWO.

[Jason Tuinstra]

One rockn' rocker! Great job.

[Danny Thompson]

Very nice proportions. Looks solid. Beautiful finish.

[Walt Caza]

Congrats Tom!
Your rocker is a beauty...
I guess now you have to build another in QSW oak to please Von?
Just kidding...
it looks great in Mahogany, but I too would also like to see it in oak.
enjoy,
Walt

[Larry Fox]

Very nice. Much respect to anyone who can build a chair - my head hurts just thinking about the angles and such. Can you talk about the finish a bit as it looks really good?

[tom tangie]

Thanks for the inputs.
Here are the 2 oak versions requested.
Both from flat sawn red oak. Also higher rez picture of mahogany version.
#1 on left. It is a close replica of an antique.
#2 has changes to make it more comfortable, steeper back (8 deg to seat), higher front stretcher, higher back etc.
#3 is Mahogany with front stretcher moved towards middle and some aesthetics to extend sides above back. The rockers of the mahogany actually have a oak bottom lamination for durability as the mahog is very soft. Its interesting to note that the spring back of the bent lamination was much less then that of the oak resulting in a smaller radius rocker. A subtle change but very noticeable in the rocking dynamics.

There is actually a #0 which where I learned the techniques, nuances and practiced with. It has so many mistakes I never glued up and it is in the scrap bin now.

All sanded to 220 prior to assembly and after assembly a final touch up sanding.
#1 is stained with Minwax Golden Oak and finished with wipe on General Finishes oil/poly blend 3 coats. I was surprised how well it came out but still not as good as a spray on lacquer. Lacquer is a quicker, smoother and cheaper finish.
#2 is stained with Minwax Golden Oak and finished with spray on lacquer, about 6 coats. One light sanding after 3rd coat.
#3 is a tung oil based custom matched mahogany stain I used for other furniture to match the house decor. Also a spray on Lacquer....about 6 coats.
Lacquer was Deft brushing lacquer. I reapplied every .5 -1 hr. I made a lazy suzan to rotate the chair and stood up on horses about 2 feet so I got easy access to all surfaces.

Next 2 chairs will be heirloom versions (sans most of the mistakes) that I will give to my children. After that, I have a load of QS white oak that Ill make one from to enter into the county fair next year. Each chair will have subtle design differences as each evolved from comfort and aesthetics ......either by mistake or design...mostly the former. But I take credit for the former under the category of character.

[Mike Cutler]

Very nice Tom. Those are some fine looking rockers. Very inviting to sit in. A little lemonade and you're all set.;)

Nice work.

[Dave Stuve]

Hi Tom,

Beautiful chairs! After seeing #3, I've decided I'm going to try a rocking chair sometime in the future. Where did you learn how to make them?

Thanks,

Dave

[tom tangie]

Hi Tom,

Beautiful chairs! After seeing #3, I've decided I'm going to try a rocking chair sometime in the future. Where did you learn how to make them?

Thanks,

Dave

Here are the references I found and how I used them. My plan is to be proficient with these A&C designs and then attempt a Maloof style chair. Ill probably build about 10 A&C chairs morphing each one to be a little different then try a Maloof style chair.

* Wood Magazine Issue 183, May2008
I didn't care for the design (outside chair) but it got me thinking about making a rocker. Its a very dumbed down design and I did not use it at all except for the initial inspiration to build a rocker.

* Plans from American Furniture design
http://www.amazon.com/Mission-Rocking-Chair-Woodworking-Paper/dp/B00024WAX4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1219884405&sr=1-10

Large E size foldout drawing with minimal booklet of instructions. Most drawings are 2 to 1. 2 pieces like rocker and backs are shown in 1:1 which was helpful. Many dimensions on plans were wrong and even drawing itself was wrong in some places. Most of my learning came from struggling to transfer these drawinging to full size templates and forcing me to understand the geometry and joinery. Also learned from many failures trying to build the 1st chair with some failures attributed to the poor plans. Probably only should be attempted by advanced hobbiest as there were so many problems with the plans. Instructions were virtually useless.

The bent lams approach for rockers and back I learned from watching Woodworks and David Marks.
Also plans call for fixed mortise and tenon but I went with loose mortise and tenon inspired by watching David Marks do it so many times. Loose tenon approach worked out very well for me. I did invent some templates to use for the mortises and made a jig which I did not find anywhere and is of my own notions.

* Chair Making and Design, Jeff Miller, 1-933502-06-9
I thought it was a very generalist book and didn't provide much help but got good reviews. I bought for the good reviews but was dissapointed in it. I got it when I began to seem so many problems with the American Furniture plans described above, but at this point since I was so into it, (probably completed first glue up chair) I didnt find it so helpful for me.

* Wood Magazine, Issue 146, Dec 2002
I had already well into the first chair when I got this mag but its pretty close to what I did. I did follow their instructions for making the cushioned seat. And by this time I was pretty happy with the approach I did, having gone through the trial and errors with the plans. It would be a good one to use I think. Someone here in the forum referred me to it. I bought it from their website http://www.woodstore.net/2002.html but it looks like its sold out. Private message me if your interested in the chair section. They cut the curved back and rocker from solid but bent lam'd the rockers exactly like I did.

*WoodWork Magazine, 90 and 91, Dec 2004, Feb 2005
I had completed two chairs by the time I got these. Good instructions but all hand tools. Not much help to me at this point. But probably good ones to get if started afresh. the instructions are in 2 different issues. I ordered from their back issue stock. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.woodwork-mag.com/images/cover.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.woodwork-mag.com/&h=523&w=400&sz=161&hl=en&start=1&usg=___-ypltSz3RhSfaW2PXbvC86yp90=&tbnid=qqExHMhRCmJYjM:&tbnh=131&tbnw=100&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwoodwork%2Bmagazine%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3D en%26sa%3DG

* Maloof Plans
I looked into some of the available classes and plans for a Maloof style chair. There are classes you can take for several grand, e.g. William NG in Socal http://www.wnwoodworks.com/ offers 7 day class for several thousand and I found one in Idaho I think for even more. The most reasonable are the plans from D.D. Dundas, http://www.dldundas.com/ for about $50. Other plans I saw were several hundred. DL Dundas plans appear very complete with picture and even plans for making the necessary jigs.


For these chairs I used:


Table saw



Miter saw to make compound miters
Band saw to rough cut curves and resaw laminations.(I could never get a good resaw and ended up using a thin curve blade to slice 1/2 material in half for the lams)



Drum Sander. (I think this is important to get good seamless lams after rough cuts of table or bandsaw for backs and rockers. I tried the planer but the thin material got chewed up on the ends so I invested in the DS).
Thickness planer/jointer (chair legs are 1 1/8 and 1 3/8 and need to be trimmed from 6/4 or 4/4 glue ups.)
Table router to finish trim curves with following bit on template
Hand router for mortises
Mortise templates for various mortise lengths ( made from 3/4 MDF)
Spiral upcut bit, 3/8 for mortises
RO Sander
Drill for dowls
I Used TitebondIII and in one case where I had made a lousy mortise and it was too loose I used slow set epoxy.
lots and lots of clamps for bent lams and Bessey K bodies for chair glue up (8)

[Dewey Torres]

Very comprehensive post Tom. I will tuck this way for later. Thanks!

[John Thompson]

They look great but you need to get them out of the shop an on the porch. That way I can drop by and sit a spell. :)

Sarge..

[Robin Cruz]

id like to get the plans. thanks

[tom tangie]

i emailed the plans. Im working on the next three right now. I batch produced the parts yet still making design changes among them. For example, instead of 3 back slats, one of the 3 will have 6 skinnier slates. Now that i got the jigs and processes down, its easier for me to make subtle changes from chair to chair to keep it fun.

[julie Graf]

nice chairs, tom.
i made a similar chair out of qs redoak with a walnut back, and it was my hardest project to date. but turned out nice.
i now wish i would have made 2 at the same time, because i want one for myself!

[tom tangie]

Thanks for that. I looked for qs red oak in socal but no one carried it. Even as rough sawn. I did find white oak qs so I bought some stock. After I finish chairs 4 through 6, I'll make one out of the white oak qs to enter in the county fair next year. Hopefully it will have nice joints and I can figure out how to best stain and finish it.

Its such an investment in jigs for bending and mortising......and simply the learning techniques etc its makes sense to make several. It seems to keep fun for me as I make each new chair a little different, for example one of the next batch will have 6 narrower slats vs 3 wide, different woods. Another difference on this next batch is Im using 6/4 stock to make the legs from solid so I dont have to glue 4/4 together. Im also trying to be careful with wood selection and grain matching. For the arms on this batch, Im book matching the grain from the same 6/4 stock. I like the idea of mixing species as you have in some way, maybe even as inlay. On this current lot, the joints are tigher fitting as Im taking the time during dry fit to clean up the fit.

My master plan is to morph into a Maloof style chair and eventually make a complete arts and crafts dining set with table, chairs and dish cabinet. My neighbor loves the rocker but has back problems and I might be try something with a inflatable upholstered lumbar support.