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Thread: Thinking of making a rocking chair

  1. #1
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    Thinking of making a rocking chair

    The title says what I'm trying to do. As for the turning part of it I was thinking about turning things like the stretchers and spindles out of multiple species. Since I don't want to compromise their strength I tried an experiment with some scrap wood over the weekend. I turned a 1 3/4" square piece of red maple down to 3/4" in diameter in the center. I then took a piece of something else (could be a different type of maple or even cherry) and make it the same size with a drilled 3/4" hole in the center. I then split it using some feathers and a wedge to split the block so I could wrap it around the other piece and then glued them together. Is there an easier way? Is there a name for doing this that I can search for? I can post a picture tomorrow if needed.

  2. #2
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    You're making an object with a round inclusion in the center. If you could tolerate a square inclusion in the center, it would be a lot easier to make, and the glue lines would be reliably thin.

    To make this, you'd glue up five pieces of wood. One would be the maple core. Call it 1x1. Around it you place two 1x1 pieces of the cladding and two 1x3 pieces of the cladding. You get a stick of cross section 3x3 with a 1x1 core.

    You can make it of any length, unlike the approach where you're drilling down the length of the stick.

  3. #3
    Alex, what exactly are you wanting to achieve with your efforts - other than "making a rocking chair"? From your post that isn't clear.

    From a chair construction perspective there are many things that could go wrong with the method you describe. Typically, one wants the mortise piece to be equilibrium moisture content (emc) and the tenon piece to be bone dry. That way the transfer of moisture will actually tighten the joint. Additionally, the growth rings of the tenon piece should be perpendicular to the grain direction of the mortise piece. To complicate things further, each specie of wood has a unique coefficient of expansion, so making a "sleeved" member of a chair would be enclosing a piece of wood that will expand and contract at a different rate than the "sleeve." And, again, the direction of the growth rings of the "sleeve" and the enclosed piece must be exactly in line with each other or the sleeve will inevitably crack.

    Not to mention the potential for an unpleasing aesthetic look with multiple species of wood in one chair. That is why Windsor chairs are typically painted - to mask or disguise the three varieties of wood that are used. If they are finished natural, contemporary Windsor's often have only two species of wood so as to not appear "busy."

    I am not trying to sound negative here, but a chair build is challenging enough without introducing non-essential complexities unless there is some structural or artistic goal. So, I am just curious as to where you want to go with this.

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  4. #4
    If you want to make a post and rung or Windsor style rocker, I’d start first with a stationary chair.

    The only rocker I’d attempt without having first built a chair is a maloof style rocker - only because it is possible from all kiln dried stock and there are at least 3 great , complete plans for them.

  5. #5
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    My idea was to make a spindle out of more than one species of wood. At the same time not to loose strength. I mentioned the rocker so that it might help make it clear what sorts of stresses are involved. I'm not worried about the mortise and tenon joint (cross spindle to chair leg). While looking around I came across a couple chairs where the craftsman made the seat out of 6" strips of a dark wood with one or two thin strips of a light wood I was thinking that if I could extend that theme to the spindles it might look nice. This isn't something I plan on making any time soon, just something I want to get the tools needed. In the mean time when I have time I'm experimenting with how to achieve a look I would like. That mans practicing each step.

    I came up with two ways of doing it. I could make the spindle out of several short pieces of wood and at each transition between the species of wood a glue joint (most likely a mortise an tenon) or I could make the spindle one long piece and where I wanted the accent pieces I would turn the spindle down and then wrap it with the other species. The second way is what I tried. I'm sure I'm not describing it very well. Here's a picture of what I did. I didn't bother making it look pleasing, I was just trying to see if it would work.

    spindle.jpg
    Last edited by Alex Zeller; 07-07-2020 at 3:34 PM.

  6. #6
    Alex, I wish you the best with it.

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