Rocking Chair - very hard or hard? How long? For our first pregnancy.

[Prashun Patel]

Also, thinking about this further, buy a gliding rocker for your wife. You will stress out finishing this on time , and honestly it won’t be as comfortable as an upholstered rocker that glides.

These wood rockers are beautiful and fun to make, but probably not ideal for nursing moms.

[Adam Grund]

If you need a rocking chair, buy it. If you want a project to distract you from the stress, then it makes sense. Just be prepared to drop it at some point if necessary. 15 weeks turns into almost 40 in no time

FYI, if you need a chair for nursing and rocking the baby to sleep, you want a nice, soft, comfortable one you can spend a lot of time in. And one with arms far enough apart to comfortably hold your little bundle of joy but still be able to rest one arm on for feeding (at 2AM )

after buying literally the most uncomfortable upholstered rocker for our daughter, for our sons room we just bought a recliner.
Don’t know about all of you, but if I had a more comfortable and reclining chair in our daughters room, I might have gladly spent more nights sleeping in there to get her through the night. A- she had lots of eating problems and was a very fussy baby throughout the night, and b- I just enjoyed- and still enjoy with my son now- spending the night with the babies. I usually take the nights if there’s problems since my wife gets to spend all day with the holy terrors!

[Larry Frank]

There is nothing like a comfortable recliner to hold a young one at night. It has been awhile but still remember long nights rocking in my LazyBoy with a fussy baby or one with a cold. My wife and I would trade off in the night.

[Thomas McCurnin]

I think chairs are the most challenging woodworking project out there. Presently above my skill level. I have started and stopped a Craftsman Stickley type chair a couple of times over the last five years.

You’ll need specialized tools (plunge router, mortiser, router table) and specialized jigs (large shop made bevel square, mortise and tenon jig) and full sized paper plans to get angles off of and to make templates. Many of the joints are compound angles. Or go full Neanderthal.

I’m re-starting this project again. I think I’ll make multiple parts to cover my ass when I screw up a piece. I may also take a class and here are two I am looking at:

https://www.sustainlife.org/shop/cra...rocking-chair/. This class is in Waco and builds a traditional Craftsman rocker, but I caution you is 100% Neanderthal. It is 6 days and $1,850. You walk away with a white oak rocker.

https://wnwoodworkingschool.com/clas...nspired-chair/. This class is put on by William Ng and builds a Green and Green Blacker House chair with ebony inlays. It is $1,650 and you walk away with the chair. It is also 6 days. Ng uses power tools supplemented by hand tools where needed.

Here is a link to a neat Craftsman chair article with down-loadable full size plans from Fine Woodworking.
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2018...-rocking-chair

I was designing my own, based off an actual Stickley chair. It’s really hard.

All I can say is good luck, be patient, make multiple parts, and consider a school.

[Mike Henderson]

I haven't found chairs to be an overwhelming challenge. A woodworking instructor once told me - "Any project is just a sequence of steps. If you can do each step, you can string them together to make the most complex project."

My advice to an aspiring chairmaker is to start with a fairly simple chair - a dining room style chair is a good starter project. You'll learn what you need to know about the required dimensions and joinery in building such a chair.

The process is that you build the back, then the front, then hook them together with the sides. Making the mortise and tenons to attach the sides to the rear requires you to figure out the angle. What I do it make the mortise square into the back and then make the tenon at an angle to fit. If you make a piece from scrap first you can get everything straightened out before you cut the good wood.

Many woodworkers have the idea that chairs are difficult but they're really no more difficult than many of the other furniture projects we build every day.

There was a good book on chairs by Miller? (don't remember and don't still have a copy). If I find it I'll post the name here.

Mike

[I found it. It's "Chairmaking and Design" by Jeff Miller.]

[Prashun Patel]

Chairs by virtue of their function really don't have as much design flexibility as other types of woodworking; that is, you can't really stray too far from the several tried and true designs out there, and most of those are incredibly well documented in books, videos and plans.

They're really not as hard as non-chairmakers think. While they have many steps, each step is straightforward.

[Erik Loza]

My neighbors across the street have a BEAUTIFUL cherry rocker in the Maloof style. I don't remember if a family member made it or what the story was but they sort of treat like an Ikea chair. "Nothing special, just some vintage chair". It's what you get when all the kitchen tables are being occupied. I always try to claim it when we go over.

Erik

[Thomas McCurnin]

Jeff Miller is a superstar. He has a couple of sections in that book on shop made jigs for chairs including an easy to understand tenon jig and mortise jig. He also has some articles in Fine Woodworking on the subject.

I’ve never had a day of instruction, just learned on the job as a union carpenter and restoring a very old Los Angeles home, with a small garage shop.

I got as far as the back legs and screwed those up with a flush trimming router operation. I have all the full size drawings on 1/4 mdf, most of the jigs and wedges and the stock. So I’m the process of renewing this project. I need to start again with those rear legs and this time make multiple parts to account for my screw ups.

Like I said, I may also have to sit down with a chairmaker like William Ng and get some face time instruction.

[Tony Latham]

I don't have any advice other but I think you've already let the bullet out of the barrel and there's no putting it back in. That chair is gorgeous.

Please start a another photo-heavy thread when you start cutting.

Tony

[lowell holmes]

I took these classes, all of them.
I built all of the chairs and have made eight chairs for my children, grand children, and friends.
Eight chairs in all. I am thinking about making another and donating it to a charity.

[Jeffrey Martel]

Being in the thick of things now with an 8-month old, I would also agree with buying a glider, and an ottoman for a foot stool. I can recommend the one we bought from crate and barrel. Super comfortable. I spent many many nights and days sitting in that when my little one was 2-6 months and not sleeping unless she was laying on one of us.

By all means build one because they are awesome, but for the nursery a glider or recliner works better. I even took a hit to my pride and bought some ikea furniture for the nursery so everything could be done and ready in time. Turned out to be the best call since she was 5 weeks early. She'll get handmade stuff when she is older.