# Maloof Inspired rocking chair build



## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Sometimes you just want to challenge yourself. Such is the case with my latest project. A Maloof inspired rocking chair. This has been on my "bucket" list for sometime and I finally got a good reason to build one. This will be for a friends son's wedding gift in the spring. 

As with just about all my projects, I did a great deal of research. A Maloof rocker was a given, but just who's plans was I going to use? In the end it came down to 
A Charles Brock interpretation: 
MALOOF INSPIRED ROCKER Instructional DVD, Book and Rocker Patterns - Home
Between the plans, a step by step book and a couple of DVD's I should have all my bases covered as far as the basic construction of the rocker goes. Cost of the plans was about 90 bucks. Not cheap, but considering what all I got, I figure it to be a fair price to pay. I ordered em up and they arrived quickly. First thing I did was open up the paper template guides that came with the purchase. Really kinda rough was my first impression. I guess I was thinking more along the lines of blueprints. This is however a "sculptured" chair. Just about everything gets shaped to some extent. The templates are just a guide, cut em close and go from there. Read over the book and viewed the rocker DVD. All good stuff. Well written, well explained. So should be easy enough, as easy enough goes *L* to follow along with. The 2nd DVD is on shaping the rocker. That part I am really looking forward to. This is where you kinda add your own twist to the project if you like. A couple areas of the construction allow you to do that to some extent, but I"m not sure I wanna fiddle around too much. Especially considering what I paid for the lumber to do this project. 65bf of 10/4 figured cherry. I wanted some really NICE wood for this project. This one is special for a couple of reasons and wood choice was important. When I have to have the right wood for a project, I go to one place: Horizon Wood Products in Kersey Pa.. These boys are a good 3 hr drive away, but I have never been disappointed in anything I've gotten from there. Great guys to deal with. Outstanding facility that is just immaculate. I could walk around this place all day. The wood is just incredible. You'd have to see it to believe it. Pricing is a bit on the high side, however I've never had reason to complain. 
Horizon Evolutions: Unique American Hardwood For Sale 
After a couple of emails regarding the last chess table I posted, I thought maybe Ill give step by step photo shoot a try. So bear with me. If there is interest I'll keep it going throughout the entire project, if not, I'll let it fade away and just hit ya up with the end result. 
Here are a few pictures of the rough cut 10/4 after getting it home. I let it sit a few days to acclimate before I began carving it up. 4 boards, 8-9' long, 10-14"s wide. The last couple pics give you an idea of what you can expect when you go out and buy lumber like this. It may look like alot of wood when you get started, but once you start breaking it down, cutting away checks and sap wood..squaring it up, its amazing sometimes what you got left.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Bill, after seeing the chess table, I am sure the rocker will become a family heirloom in very short time.....


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

Please keep the posts coming. I'm sure you will attract a large following. I was surprised to see the wood came with bark and I noted quite a curve in one of the pieces. When I buy raw wood it is roughly squared up so it's easier to figure how much is needed and the cost. Is it common to buy wood this rough in your area or is this unique to that mill? Do they factor out the curves in pricing?
I have the same model table saw as you. I quite like it.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I certainly envy your access to wood like that Bill.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Thanks for the link Bill as I am a big fan of Sam Maloof, I will be very happy to watch your progress. Rest in Peace Sam. Neville


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Thanks James... this one ought to be alot of fun...and one heck of a challenge as for "very short time..." I dunno...with the holidays coming up, I've got several other irons in the fire sort-to-speak..I guess the good news is that the sawdust will be flying around here for at least the next several months... 



jw2170 said:


> Bill, after seeing the chess table, I am sure the rocker will become a family heirloom in very short time.....


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Dennis... good catch on the live edge wood. A good deal of the wood sold up at Horizon is sold live edge. Actually, originally this is what I wanted. My original plan was to use the sapwood on the outside edges of the armrests and headrest, then on both outter edges of the seat. Unfortunately once I started to mill things up, I began to find a good deal of hair line checks in the sapwood. So as it stands right now, I may go with a glueup between halfs with either a maple or walnut to give the rocker a little more flare. 
As for the curves, Sometimes ya gotta go with what they got *L*. All four boards had a good curve to em. All four boards were consecutive from the same tree. All of this was factored into the price of the wood when I came to terms with the seller. 
There is good and bad to buying wood like this, you can save a bit on bf costs because the mill has spent less time milling the wood square...the bad is you can run into alot of 'hidden' defects if you don't do a proper inspection of the wood. These boards have a very minimal amount of pitch, pith isn't a issue and not a knot to be found. Figure is consistent throughout the set. A good size check on one end *pictured*..and a few checks in the edges that run only a few inches, found one that ran a little under 6"s and I'll be able to work around that. 
This mill offers both live edge and milled 4S.. just depends on what you want. Live edge has become quite a popular medium to work with of late. When pricing out the boards, they take into account any defects that might appear, checks, knots, pith etc. and make allowences. Typically milled 4S is the norm. Thats what I go with,, this project was a exception. 

The old craftsman hybrid... she's been a solid performer over the years. and I do put it to the test quite often. This 10/4 cherry pushes its limits...I"ve done 12/4 maple and thought I was going to burn her up *L*...ya gotta know you limits I suppose..but all in all, for the money, a great saw. 




denniswoody said:


> Please keep the posts coming. I'm sure you will attract a large following. I was surprised to see the wood came with bark and I noted quite a curve in one of the pieces. When I buy raw wood it is roughly squared up so it's easier to figure how much is needed and the cost. Is it common to buy wood this rough in your area or is this unique to that mill? Do they factor out the curves in pricing?
> I have the same model table saw as you. I quite like it.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Hey Charles,,, its out there, you just gotta be willing to go after it..this was a good 6+ hour drive round trip.....nice thing was the wife and I both enjoy the fall and love to go and see the leaves changing. I talked her into taking the day off and go with me....so everything kinda worked out just fine...a beautiful drive into central Pa., picked up some great wood and got to see more of the mill and a fine diner to end the day... everybody was happy, happy, happy 



Cherryville Chuck said:


> I certainly envy your access to wood like that Bill.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

I'll be looking forward to your comments Neville!!! Yes, Maloof set a very high bar during his career. He created some absolutely stunning designs to say least. He was one of those guys who I would have loved to just grab a chair and sit in the back of the room and watch him work. 




neville9999 said:


> Thanks for the link Bill as I am a big fan of Sam Maloof, I will be very happy to watch your progress. Rest in Peace Sam. Neville


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

Bill, thanks for the detailed reply on my wood questions. It's interesting to see how things vary from one place to the next. Looking forward to your progress.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Hey Charles,,, its out there, you just gotta be willing to go after it..this was a good 6+ hour drive round trip.....nice thing was the wife and I both enjoy the fall and love to go and see the leaves changing. I talked her into taking the day off and go with me....so everything kinda worked out just fine...a beautiful drive into central Pa., picked up some great wood and got to see more of the mill and a fine diner to end the day... everybody was happy, happy, happy


The closest places for me would be Oregon and maybe Washington, 2 days each way.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Seriously, 2 days each way? Ghezzzz, and I thought i had made a trek for just a 6 hr. round tripper. 




Cherryville Chuck said:


> The closest places for me would be Oregon and maybe Washington, 2 days each way.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Let the fun begin 

Made some time to get to rippin. Gave the boards a good hard looking over, decided what I wanted to cut from which board and began taking em apart. First was getting the right lengths of roughcut sawn. This was accomplished with a good ole fashioned crappy handsaw. *LOL* I must say however, that since pretty at this point wasn't a real concern, the old Stanley 20" or something multipurpose handyman clearance bin ain't nuttin to brag about handsaw done a fine job!! From there I took the pieces to jointer just to get a straight edge reference on one side. Since the boards were all relatively flat <<and I use the term loosely here>> I felt it was ok to take the wood to the tablesaw and rip the other edge, again just to start getting things in the ball park. At this point I have two relatively parallel sides. Again, just ball parking it to get a reference and to have a better idea as to just how much wood I'd have to work with and from where on the piece I would layout the components to the rocker. Here I'm looking for consistency between parts. I want the arm rests to look similar and close to the headrest. I want the splines to run a consistent grain and figure pattern from one side to the other...Back legs grain runout is a concern and the 5 boards for the seat I'd like to pop a little as well.. I firmly believe that you can make or break just about any project by taking your time to select what wood is gonna go where. 
I had mentioned they were relatively flat, but there was still a little rocking when laid down on the tablesaw. So now it's time to go old school. Vised up the wood and got out the old #4 Stanley and LeeValley LA #3. The Stanley is one of the new versions (4 years old new version) and didn't work for crap'ola. Seems someone hadn't sharpened the iron in a while. DUH!!! Fortunately the LA #3 was sharp and ready for action. I won't be telling any hand tool guys anything new here, but for you folks on the fence about using hand planes, after some practice, patience and paying attention to what your doing and learning how to properly tune a hand plane, these things just fly thru the wood. A good plane, winding sticks and a straight edge and your in business!! I bet I"m not spending 5 minutes a side getting things close enough to run thru the planer. Yes, planer, I'm not a true neanderthal yet  I can't join the club until I get a couple good handsaws *L*. Some of the boards are to wide to run over my 6" jointer so into the planer they went. I like to cross-hatch the boards with a carpenters pencil to get an idea of where the equipment is taking off the wood and to let me know when its a done deal. 
From there into the drum sander to give me a better idea of grain and figure. Fact is I got an excellent idea of grain and figure after using the hand plane..Running 80 grit in the drum sander for now, does not give you much of an idea. Kinda close, but no cigar. 
Wood is cut for now oversized all the way around. I'll let it sit for a few days to settle in and then make final cuts to size...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Seat assembly*

Its been a good week in the shop. As most seem to be 

I set about getting the seat to the rocker assembled. Not necessarily a difficult part of the project, but one that requires accuracy. Since the seat is pretty much the anchor for the entire rocker, everything has to be well thought out and executed. One of the great aspects of this project is that much of it can be customized as you go. Not missing an opportunity to 'change' things I decided that the seat would be a bit too wide for the intended recipient. Instead of a designed 20" width, I went with 19 1/2". May not seem like much, and perhaps it isn't, but thats what I went with. Placement of the spindles and the width of the headrest are all affected by this change. Again, not by much, but enough that it has to be kept in mind thoughout the build. 

Seat blanks were cut and trued 4square and just oversized by 1/4". I let them sit a few days to acclimate prior to final cuts. 3 of the 5 seat planks required that a 3* bevel be sawn into the side. Two of the 3 on one side, and the middle required a bevel on both sides. The options here were to leave the seat square and flat, or include a bevel of anywhere between 0 and 5*'s. I went with the recommended 3* bevel. I thought it just added a nice sweep to the shape of the seat. Blanks were all cut down to just over the suggested width. Leaving around a 1/16" extra. Cutting thick cherry like this tends to want to burn. Leaving a bit extra prior to final passes leaves enough to make the final pass with little or no burning. 
Tablesaw was setup to 3*'s and test cuts were made to insure everything was dead on. The rest is easy peezy...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Once all of the seat blanks were cut to size and bevels cut next step was to cut biscuit slots. Here again, you've several options. Biscuits, dowels, Festool tenon's. I went with biscuits. I would have like to have gone with Festool tenons, but,, one of those rigs is a long ways down the road. Dowels would have worked, but I've always found that dowels need to be dead on. Not much in the way of wiggle room. So, I concluded for me, biscuits was the way to go. 
Since, I seldom use biscuits, I found most of what I had onhand were already a bit swollen so I went to the local big box store and picked up a jar of #20's for about 8 bucks. 
The seat is 22"S deep so I figured that 5 biscuits per side would due just fine. Position of the biscuits was laid out taking into consideration that the seat would be "shaped" later on. I went with leaving a good 5"s prior to the first biscuit from the front of the rocker. All biscuits are placed at 1/2" from the bottom, again, taking into consideration the shaping of the rocker later on. 
The inside of boards 1, 2, 4 and 5 were biscuited at 90*, nice, simple and straight forward. The outside edge of boards 2 and 4 as well as both sides of board 3 were biscuited at 3*'s. This is where having a test board handy and making several test cuts were required to zero in placement of the cut. This turned out to be a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. Using a Dewalt biscuit jointer I took my time and got em where I wanted em. I screwed up in the placement of the biscuit on the back of boards 2 and 4. I failed to raise the biscuit joint to compensate for the cutting out of the rear seat tenons. I ended up cutting, shaping and fitting 2 inserts. Glued em up and placed in the improperly located holes. Let em dry and sanded. Not a big deal, just annoying. But hey, it happens to all of us...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Seat tenons*

Now here is where some of the most enjoyable work starts. I do enjoy joinery work. When doing joinery work, I attempt to get things as close as I possibly can. 

Since keeping everything symmetrical is vital in just about any seat construction, I took extra care when measuring out placement of the tenons. Using a scalpel to mark my lines and a micrometer to take measurements. Some folks don't believe in going to those extremes feeling it doesn't make much difference, and they end up with good results. This is the way i go about it to get good results. SO it doesn't matter how ya go about it, just so you get the results you're happy with. If your not happy with the results, perhaps its time to try something else. 

Once the lines were laid out, primary cuts were made using one of my TS sleds. Test cuts again made to insure everything was cutting square. Once confirmed square, I cut out the corner blocks for the front tenons and then the dado for the back tenons. Then off to the router table to create the actual tenons. 
It is at this point it was made perfectly clear that the seat to leg joint (rabbet and roundover) had to match perfectly. The recommended bits of choice are a matched set of Whiteside bits. Which I broke down and purchased. Figuring that they will come in handy again and again. Highland Woodworking has a set of bits designed specifically for this build: 

Rabbet and roundover set: 
Whiteside Rabbet Roundover Router Bit Set

Rabbet, roundover and 2" spiral downcut set: 
Whiteside Rabbet Roundover Router Bit Set

I went with the later, thinking that the 2" spiral downcut will help make cutting out the templates much smoother and cleaner. A time saver, thus a good investment. 

In the video supplied with the plans for this rocker, Charles Brock free hand routes the tenons, I used the table. A little touchy introducing the wood to the bit in a few places, but if you take you time, it all goes rather well. The end results were 4 very nice looking joints. Using new bits sure didn't hurt, with practically tear out free cuts. 

After the tenons were cut, it was time for gluing up the seat. Here I decided to glue up boards 1 and 2 then boards 4 and 5 seperately. Let dry overnight, then gluded board 3 to 1 and 2.. dry over night, then glued boards 1,2 and 3 to 4 and 5. Doing it this way gave me a little extra time to make any adjustments necessary to the glue ups. Titebond III is my glue of choice for just about all projects.I've played with Weldbond, but find the open time window just a little to tight.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> I screwed up in the placement of the biscuit on the back of boards 2 and 4. I failed to raise the biscuit joint to compensate for the cutting out of the rear seat tenons. I ended up cutting, shaping and fitting 2 inserts. Glued em up and placed in the improperly located holes. Let em dry and sanded. Not a big deal, just annoying. But hey, it happens to all of us...


And that's why the first one is always a bit of an adventure into the unknown. It's hard to focus on the job at hand and look forward at the same time. Too often one or the other suffers.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> And that's why the first one is always a bit of an adventure into the unknown. It's hard to focus on the job at hand and look forward at the same time. Too often one or the other suffers.



And this is exactly what happened Charles.. thinking ahead, not focused on the task at hand....fortunetely the error was easily remedied. This is however, what I enjoy the most with tackling a new project/skills etc. its all a learning curve. Sometimes we just tend to forget lessons learned :sarcastic:


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I keep thinking I should be making notes or keeping journal. But I would either forget to read it or forget where I put it.


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## Fprodget (Oct 22, 2013)

Bill - Maloof's work is quite inspiring. I look forward to watching your progress.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

I've considered a journal from time to time, but hell, I have a hard time putting together these write ups in here.. I just hope I"m getting the general idea across...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

It is indeed John.... He had a very unique eye when it came to wood working. While this rocker seems to have been the 'one' piece of work that he's become widely known for, much of his work is along the same vein. Much like Greene and Greene...

any comments along the way would be well recieved...


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

Great post. I'm confused though by picture 5 that shows the "sweep" of the seat. I don't see how the 3 degree angle makes a difference given how the curve goes. I'm sure you have it right but I have studied it and I just don't get it.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Hey Dennis...

The 'sweep" as I called it, gives something of a head start for dishing out the actual seating area. Both outer boards are the 'high' parts of the seat, the middle, the lowest. 
The seating area will slope from front to back within the seating area. There will be a small pommel about 6-8"s long at the center tapering down to flush with the back portion of the shaped seating area. I'm looking to maintain at least a 1" thickness throughout the entire seating area with the exception of the very front edges. The front portion of the seat will be sculpted out for the first 4 or 5 inches, leaving the remainder of the bottom pretty much untouched except for the edges. The topside will have a slight taper as I've mentioned from front to back. The trick will be "balancing" each half of the seat attempting to create an inviting, comfortable look. My wife and my daughter both have made comments about the pommel not looking so "comfortable".. 
I've been busy looking at various techniques for hollowing out the top portion of the seat...


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Hey Dennis...
> 
> The 'sweep" as I called it, gives something of a head start for dishing out the actual seating area. Both outer boards are the 'high' parts of the seat, the middle, the lowest.
> The seating area will slope from front to back within the seating area. There will be a small pommel about 6-8"s long at the center tapering down to flush with the back portion of the shaped seating area. I'm looking to maintain at least a 1" thickness throughout the entire seating area with the exception of the very front edges. The front portion of the seat will be sculpted out for the first 4 or 5 inches, leaving the remainder of the bottom pretty much untouched except for the edges. The topside will have a slight taper as I've mentioned from front to back. The trick will be "balancing" each half of the seat attempting to create an inviting, comfortable look. My wife and my daughter both have made comments about the pommel not looking so "comfortable"..
> I've been busy looking at various techniques for hollowing out the top portion of the seat...


Thanks so much for going to the trouble of setting up that shot. Now I get it. I was focusing on the top too much, but looking at both top and bottom it makes sense. I've followed a number of Maloof builds over the years and yours is the best.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> My wife and my daughter both have made comments about the pommel not looking so "comfortable"..
> I've been busy looking at various techniques for hollowing out the top portion of the seat...


That seat sculpture has been around for hundreds of years. Things usually only endure like that if they work. I've seen the Lancelot recommended numerous times for the rough-in. Lancelot Woodcarving Tool - Lee Valley Tools


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Get yourself an Arbortech blade....

Arbortech® Power Carving Tools : CARBA-TEC

Arbortech TURBOPlaneTM


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

denniswoody said:


> Thanks so much for going to the trouble of setting up that shot. Now I get it. I was focusing on the top too much, but looking at both top and bottom it makes sense. I've followed a number of Maloof builds over the years and yours is the best.


Fortunately the pic did a much better job of explaining what was going on 

I believe given the right thickness of stock 8/4-10/4 one would be able to achieve pretty much the same results/appearance with the right amount of grinding away of material.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> That seat sculpture has been around for hundreds of years. Things usually only endure like that if they work. I've seen the Lancelot recommended numerous times for the rough-in. Lancelot Woodcarving Tool - Lee Valley Tools


Charles, for whatever reason, the picture used on the cover of the instructional guide leaves one to believe that the pommel is EXTREMELY pronounced. Both in height and in angle. I had to concede the point to the girls. Most of the rockers I've looked at, and chairs for that matter, the pommel is a very low profile, not uncomfortable looking at all. That is the route I plan on taking. 

The Lancelot tool as well as several other grinding discs made by King Author Tools is a popular choice. Charles Neil does his with a dado set and several of Author tools, I"ve also watched a video today of a tablesaw being used with a jig. Rather clever it was. And then of course there is the use of a router with a jig.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> Get yourself an Arbortech blade....
> 
> Arbortech® Power Carving Tools : CARBA-TEC
> 
> Arbortech TURBOPlaneTM


James... Thank ya Sir.. I had not run across that product yet. Most intriguing.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I think I like that tool better than the Lancelot too James.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

any of you guys have any first hand experience with either product?


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

No. Just what I've seen in ads. The Lancelot can be sharpened if needed if you know how to file saw chain. The other one wouldn't need to be very often. I ran chainsaw for 30 years and I know how fast one of those can get away from you so I'd imagine these two can too.

How were you planning on doing it?


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> No. Just what I've seen in ads. The Lancelot can be sharpened if needed if you know how to file saw chain. The other one wouldn't need to be very often. I ran chainsaw for 30 years and I know how fast one of those can get away from you so I'd imagine these two can too.
> 
> How were you planning on doing it?


Now thats the million dollar question Charles. Right now, I'm really not sure which way I want to go. I"m leaning towards the Charles Neil dado method, followed up with the Lancelot grinding wheels. Then sanding pads on the grinder. OR just go with the Lancelot grinding wheels and pad sanding. My only real concern is the "OPS" factor. The chainsaw wheel removes material quickly, but I"m thinking its one of those things that takes a bit of practice. I suppose no matter which method I decide upon, there will be a learning curve. Besides all of that, I'm going to have to do this outside. Just wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to much dust. Lastly I've got to decide on a design for the seat...The stock design is kinda too straight for my liking. I like to add a bit of a curve to both the inside and outside of the seat. 
So while I'm making up my mind, I"m going to move ahead and get started on the front legs this weekend. 
I also picked up a full size lathe last weekend and Im chaffing at the bit to play around with it a bit.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I've always suspected that there is a learning curve to the Lancelot. The one James linked doesn't look as aggressive and looks to be more controllable. I think either one will be about as bad as running a chainsaw indoors. The old school method is a type of spokeshave isn't it?

If you plan on using your skew practice on some scrap first. I still fight with mine. Practice is everything which is part of my problem.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> No. Just what I've seen in ads.


Me too....


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

I belong to another forum and there have been some similar build threads. I checked back and two tools may be of interest to you. One is an Auriou rasp for arms and similar applications. The second for is for the seat and is a Kutzall sanding disk. Not a recommendation but just passing along some info.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

denniswoody said:


> I belong to another forum and there have been some similar build threads. I checked back and two tools may be of interest to you. One is an Auriou rasp for arms and similar applications. The second for is for the seat and is a Kutzall sanding disk. Not a recommendation but just passing along some info.


Dennis...Thanks for taking the time to do a little looking. 

I already have several Auriou rasps. I pick em up about one a year and boy, they are just head and shoulders above your standard machine cut rasps. Just incredible. They are pricey to say the least, but you get what you pay for as they say. Brock recommends a min. of 3 different rasps as part of this build. One being the new combi rasp #5/#9. These rasps do little that alot of sanding wouldn't accomplish by itself. What they do offer is a level of 'control' that sanding doesnt. 

The Kutzall disc is interesting!!! If only for the pricing. Definitely the least expensive of the discs so far. Have you used one? Looking at it this morning, I wonder how well it discharges the debris it creates. Would it be prone to clogging?..I dunno..

What i am finding interesting about this particular project is that it is not to terribly demanding "skill set" wise, but it is one that requires a good bit of investment both in materials and in equipment. Material costs can vary greatly depending on choices one makes. I could have easily cut my material costs in half by going with another wood choice. AS far as tools go, I just can't imagine the 'weekend hobbyist' having everything needed in his/her shop. The good news is that for the most part, just about all of the recommended equipment can be supplemented by much less expensive tools and or techniques that will give you the same end results. 

If one is willing to trade time and elbow grease in exchange for savings on out of pocket expenses, this rocker can be built by just about anyone.


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

TwoSkies57 said:


> The Kutzall disc is interesting!!! If only for the pricing. Definitely the least expensive of the discs so far. Have you used one? Looking at it this morning, I wonder how well it discharges the debris it creates. Would it be prone to clogging?..I dunno..


No I have never used the Kutzall but my recollection is that several users have been positive about it. I have lifted one quote here from an accomplished chair maker, Canadian Woodworks -
"I use a kutzall solid carbide coarse orange one and the one lee valley sells which is silver.

I don't use and sand paper I go from grinding wheels to 150 grit, some times i'll use a 7'' angle grinder with a large 60 grit disc.

I've ground out 50+ seats now and I'm still using the original kutzall discs, think green wood working here "


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Once again, thanks for the input Dennis.

I think I"m gonna head on down to Rocklers, about a hour away and see what they might have on hand. Good excuse eh?


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Bill, if I remember correctly, if the Kutzall gets plugged up you can burn it clean with a propane torch. The burrs are carbide and the heat won't hurt them.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Well, these Kutzall carbide wheels are looking pretty slick. If my homework is right, Kutzall is now known as SaburrTooth Power carving rotary tools. 

Saburr-Tooth :: Carbide Coated Rotary Tools


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Just a quick little update... did a little shaping on the front portion of the seat this weekend and came across a small section of bad wood. DAMN....It looks to be a bug hole, little more than that <<Pic. 34>>,

I guess the good news is that the bad section is located in an area that will be shaped out. So I guess no harm, no foul.

On a better note, got the front prommel of the seat roughed in. <<<Pic 35>>>. This starts giving the seat a little personality. Pencil lines are just a rough idea of where I plan of digging out the seat pan or what ever its called. The place where your butt ends up *L*.....

I got a good bit of work done on the legs...I'll get that posted as soon as I can..


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Kutzall still seems to be available and they don't look the same but either one would do the job. It looks like the dished wheel was made for the job you're doing. http://www.olivercorp.com/kutzall_products.cfm


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Charles, you got it, the dished wheel is the one to go with. I"m surprised to see Kutzall has its own website. While first researching these grinding wheels, My search engine turned up a "Kutzall is now known as Saburr Tooth"...That certainly doesnt appear to be the case. 

I do think I'm gonna go with Saburr Tooth. Both mfg's appear to serve the same purpose with very similar results. Saburr tooth does have a nice line of burr's that I"ll need to get a few of.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Front Legs*

next up on the list is the front legs. Stock for the front legs had been previously cut oversized and let to acclimate for a while. First order of business was to mill the stock up to final dimensions and check for 4 square. A little bit of time with the joiner and planer and we were ready to move on.

Pic 40: Stock ready to go, template cut and sanded to final detail. The templates for this build are relatively straight forward. Nothing fancy. The entire build came on on large sheet of medium weight paper. I applied them to 1/2" baltic birch ply with a spray adhesive. I wanted to use something stable enough to last thru at least a couple builds. All of the templates were rough cut on the band saw and sanded down to final size on a Rigid Oscillating spindle sander. I gotta say, the Rigid has really held up well the last few years. I"m kinda hard on tools and not afraid to lean into it at times to speed things along. Dust collection off the Rigid is handled via a Dust Deputy and a shop vac. As far as bang for your buck goes, this isnt a bad setup at all for a small shop and/or a limited budget. 

Pic 41: just another shot of the template and stock. Giving an idea of how much oversized I left the stock prior to final milling. 

Pic 42: The top board shows the tenon cut out. This was easily accomplished on one of my smaller TS sleds. First making sure that everything was square. The bottom board has round over milled in. I went about 1-1 1/2" above and below the tenon slot with the roundover. Giving me plenty of room for shaping later on. 

Pic 55: just an arbitrary shot of the sled used to cut the tenons

Pic 43: Whiteside roundover bit 3/4". IMHO the best bits out there. 

Pic 44/45: Both legs are ready to proceed. TS blade marks were removed with a chisel. then lightly sanded down. Here again, I left things just a bit proud. Much easier to sand down to final dimensions than to add on. 

Pic 46: Little bit of tearout at the joints isnt' a concern since they will be hidden within the bridal joint itself. 

Really nothing special about any of this so far. Accurate measurements is probably the most critical and cutting of the tenon has got to be spot on for a tight joint. Making sure each leg is cut identical to the other should insure everything balances out in the end.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Front legs cont.*

ok.. now with that much done: I wanted to see just how tight things are. For me, its gotta be dead on..A nice "snug" fit. A few light taps with a mallet and it should go together and seat just fine. With everything square. 

Pic 48/49: Here we have just weeeeeeeee bit of a gap. Nothing to worry about. I took a little sandpaper and got em where I wanted em. Its really surprising at times at just how little sanding is required to make up a gap. 

Pic 50: show I'm a bit off. BUT.. not is all lost. after a little bit of sanding on the round over to get it flush with the seat, she squared up nicely. 

Pic 53: inside of the leg, square to the seat.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Front Legs cont.*

Once satisfied that the joint will be tight and look solid time to move on. Took a bit of time 'tweaking' the joint, but I finally got it where I wanted it...

Pic 52: a bit out of order, but hey, I'm trying!!! The bridal joints turned out nicely. I'm very pleased with the end results. The 'dark line' around the inside of the joint isnt a gap anymore, its just old pencil marks. The joints are super clean and once glued up, should present a minimal glue line in the end. 

Pic 57: This shows the layout lines for the the waste and lathe. Normally you'd cut the waste out with a band saw. Welp, my band saw is having a bit of a hissy fit of late. I couldn't cut a straight line with the thing if my life depended on it. Jut gonna put it on my todo list for now. Since the Rigid oscillating spindle sander is out, decided to go with it to remove the waste from the top of the leg. The sides I'll take to the router table. 

Pic 58: layout lines. Where NOT to go..You want to make sure to leave enough around the bridal joint so that when it comes time to shape the thing, there's wood to be shaped. ((It pays to view/read the entire manual/DVD before getting started )

Pic 59: Top of legs roughed out on the spindle sander. 

Pic 60: The template has been pin nailed to the outside of the leg. At this point, you dont want anything to shift during routing. 

Pic 61: This cherry is routing out beautifully. I"m very pleased. Very little burn marks to speak of. Another Whiteside bit was used. This one I had onhand so it won't go into the final cost tabulations. 

After I got this leg finished, I couldn't wait to get to the lathe and see what would happen there *L*..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Turning Front legs*

The front legs call for a slight turned taper, both top and bottom.the tips are 1 3/4" dia. and it tapers out to the bridal joint. Pic. 62 shows the end results of my first attempt at turning a spindle. The lathe was/is new to me, turning is new to me. the whole thing was a new woodworking experience. Never used a lathe before. I have to say, the thing has potential  So as to not bore the snot out of anyone, I'll skip the turning details and just say, it took a while, a couple different turning tools and a few anxious moments. The end result turned out (pardon the pun) pretty nice. At this point not very much of the project has to be dead on. Everything is roughed out. The exception being the bridal joints and both end diameters. If one were to choose to not to stay true to the plans, I don't see why one couldn't vary the front leg design somewhat. since in the end, the front legs are sculpted like everything else. From looking ahead in the plans, the turning pretty much just gives you a bit of a head start for sculpting later on. 

Pic 62: Top portion of turned front leg. I found the hardest part of turning the leg was keeping an even taper from top to mid section. I'm sure this would not have even been much of a consideration for the experienced turned. 

Pic 63: Bottom portion of leg, next to be turned down. This pic kinda of gives you an idea of where ya were and where you want to get to. 

Pic 67: Bottom portion of leg turned down. Again, keeping the taper even was the hardest part for me. I have to admit, this turning stuff is really kinda cool :dance3:
You'll note the chipout of the bottom portion of the bridal joint. Sculpting will take this out later on. 

Pic 68: Close up of the bridal joint. Not real pretty by a long shot, but fortunately it doesn't hav8 shot shows the fitted leg into the chair. I am very pleased with the fit. The point where the flare tapers into the seat bottom is cutting it close but will work out fine. This area will ultimately be sculpted into the seat. The closer you can get it, the less sculpting you have to do later on. Ideally though, I'd been happy with 1/8-1/4" above the seat just to have some wiggle room. 

Pic 70: Taking a few measurements revealed that everything is spot on at this point. Both sides are symmetrical. Its starting to look like a chair now. Looking forward to it starting to look like a rocker.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Back legs*

Now that the front legs are done for now, its time to move onto the rear legs. 9/4 stock was selected and milling begun. I always try to take the time to check for "flat" before using the planer. Since the board I picked was well over 8"s wide, it wouldn't fit on my jointer (6"s). I have in the past, just turned the stock around and jointed wide boards but with the intense curl on these boards, I didn't want to risk tear out. So far I've been quite fortunate with regards to minimal tearout.
With the back legs, a couple of things to keep in mind. The flats for both the seat joint and for the armrest joint MUST be kept parallel. The template does a good job of keeping this line relatively close. The last thing I did with this particular template was to make sure this was accurate. Sections of both legs needs to be milled out on the "inside" of each leg. Since the leg itself has a considerable curve to it, cutting this out on a small 'ish' band saw may prove to be somewhat difficult if not impossible. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how ya look at it my bandsaw has about crapped out on me. I had to resort to using a jigsaw. Which as it turned out did quite a nice job on stock this thick stock. 

Pic 71: You just can't beat a good set of winding sticks! This homemade set has never let me down. There was enough of a twist in this board that I had to flatten out on side before proceeding. 

Pic 72: Sometimes you just have to go old school on a board. Fact is, I quite actually enjoy this part. It is physical, it does get the heart pumping and its quiet as a mouse. A good plane is a nice thing to have, a properly tuned iron is a MUST! With a little more than a 1/8" twist in this board, I had it flattened out in little less than a half hour. The larger plane is a Veritas, bevel up, low angle #7 jointer, the smaller is a Veritas bevel up, low angle #3 smoother. The #3 is a work horse in my shop. Just a fantastic little plane. If I were to recommend any one plane, it would be this one. 

Pic 73: With the template copied onto the stock, the jigsaw did the rest of the work from here. Cutting was slow but with purpose. In the end, the jigsaw did a fine job. I however, could have done a much better job of keeping it 'closer' to the line. My fear was if I were to cut it too close, I'd actually undercut the stock. As it turned out, the DeWalt saw stayed relatively true and I could have moved my cut path much closer. 

Pic 74: There are 5 locations in each leg that curved out. I did find cutting this out a bit of a push for the jigsaw. So I just stopped short and came back at them from the outside.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Profiling back legs*

ok, the back legs are roughed out..ohhh yeah!! I will be the first to admit, I got a bit of a lesson profiling these back legs!!!! Brock recommends a 1/2" x 2"L spiral flush trim bit w/bottom bearings. Not an inexpensive bit, but thought a good idea and I'm sure I"ll be able to put it to good use often in the shop. So I went ahead and got one. 
I had mentioned in an earlier post that I had not cut close enough to the template line with the jigsaw. Leaving about a 1/4-3/8". I went ahead and pinned the template to the stock and off the the router table. No matter how carefully I introduced the wood to the bit (guide pin used) that damn bit would BITE and bite hard. Sorry no pics of this, I was too focused on what was happening and how to correct it, rather than taking a few pictures. It got to the point where my safety started becoming a concern. This was NOT the bits fault I'm certain. No matter how focused I was, regardless of how light a pass I attempted, she bit. Finally it got to the point that I needed a plan B before I either destroyed the stock or ended up bleeding or both. 
Plan B was easy enough and actually work perfectly. I put in the table a 3/4" x 1 3/4"L top bearing, 2 flute pattern bit (which came up a little shy) then followed up with a bottom bearing, 3/4" x 1"L pattern bit. A little more setup time was involved obviously, but well worth it IMHO. 
Once I had a setup that actually worked for 'me'. I was off to the races. The only problem I would run into was keeping in mind that I was working with a somewhat narrow piece of stock. There were a few occasions where I 'tilted' the stock just a hair. Well a little here can add up to alot there. So I ended up with a couple spot that grooved out on me. Nothing a little sanding or shaping later on won't take care of. It all worked out in the end. 
The inside of each leg has several areas that need stock removed. The preferred method as to use the bandsaw. Taking into consideration the curve the each leg has now, you'd need at least a 14" bandsaw that is well set up. Since mine is down, and the jig saw wouldn't get it done, I went back to the router table. Taking my time, just routed out these areas. This worked quite well. Leaving behind only the curved areas that would require additional work. 
The curves were taken care of by use of a die grinder and a solid carbide bit. The bit was/is intended for metal work, so it took a bit more time, but it did leave a nice finish, something that will come in handy later on. I do have a few Saburr tooth wood working burrs on the way 

Pic 75: Not alot of dust, but a whole lot of shavings from the router table. I ended up having to remove the fence due to the fact that I ended up needing to use the entire top. 

Pic 76: Once I got on the right track, routing out the template was pretty slick. This is a good pic of the lip left. The narrow stock also required extra concentration while feeding the stock. On the bottom third of the stock, you can see how just a little waiver can leave a good sized divot. 

Pic 77: Another pic of the stock. But take a look at the floor. You can be the wife was paying close attention to all of this mess *L*. 

Pic 78: Here we go, both back legs roughed out. Pleased with the results. 

Pic 79: Just kinda cool looking I tought, and even in a rough state, the grain shows through. I'm really hoping this thing really pops...

Pic 80: Up til now, the two pieces of stock were generic. Here you need to pic a right and a left. Looking over each, figuring out which leg goes where. Any little nicks or dents, maybe some bad grain or just which side has the best figure determines which side gets cut out...

Pic 82: having routed out the required areas on both insides of each leg. This is what was left. Not pretty, again, but not a big issue at this point. The rough edges at each curve will need attention. A die grinder and/or hand rasps are the way to go. 

Pic 84: Never really used a die grinder on wood like this before. I'm quite impressed at what can be accomplished. Like everything else, you need to get used to it, what it does and why.. in the end, pretty slick. I can see alot of uses for this later on down the road on other projects. 

Pic 85: there they are... Im happy..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*ADDER blocks*

First, here, let me apologize for taking up so much space on the front page. I'm trying to get all this in so other folks can get their posted pics on the page. 

The ADDER blocks sure a single purpose. They provide the 6° angle to the back legs. This angle is more or less the pitch of the legs. Narrow at the bottom, wider at the top. Giving the rocker a very nice look. 

Two pieces of 3/4 sock, cut on the table saw to 6°, What the say didn't cut, I hand sawed and planed down. Then cut each piece to length so that they were "IDENTICAL"..gluing pu with the narrow end heading towards the bottom of the chair.

Both pics 86 and 87 are just shots of the glue up...

Keep in mind, this is an important, very important step. This will keep the rocker with a balanced look. Perhaps the 6°'s isn't critical, but it is important that they be identical.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

You are really getting a flow on there, Bill.

Great progress. ( and work of course).


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I'm getting anxious to see the finished product.


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

Looking good! You are absolutely correct in worrying about precision and matching each leg for fit as you go. Legs out of alignment can't really be fixed after glue-up.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> You are really getting a flow on there, Bill.
> 
> Great progress. ( and work of course).


She's moving along at the moment James, to be sure. Worked on fitting the back legs to the seat today and it proved to be more of a challenge than expected. Still not finished but I got a good idea of what to do now. The 6° ADDER block really throws a curve ball into the scheme of things. A dry fit of the back legs showed that I had to put what I thought to be a little too much force on the joints to get the legs squared up properly. So out with the chisels and sandpaper. I'd much rather have things square up without a lot of external pressure.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> I'm getting anxious to see the finished product.


Ahhhhhhhhhhh Charles,,, thats a LONGGGGGGGGGGGG way off..  

I will say that even at 80 grit, I can see the figure in the wood. This outta be a good one me thinks.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

denniswoody said:


> Looking good! You are absolutely correct in worrying about precision and matching each leg for fit as you go. Legs out of alignment can't really be fixed after glue-up.



Dennis.. well, its good to know that I wasn't just being too picky. As I mentioned earlier to James... the back legs required a good bit of pressure to square them up so its out with the chisels and sand paper and scrapers. Being able to get it right where I want it using clamps, tells me it can be "tweaked". I just gotta remember to be patient...not one of my strong suits...


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## brucenelson (Jan 7, 2012)

*Ass shaped contour of the seat surface.*

I'm waiting to see your technique for shaping the ass-shaped contour in the seat. It would have to be something to have the Maloof reputation ascribed to it.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Bruce,,,

I completely agree. Scorping out the seat pan is going to be critical if the rocker is to look proper. I had orginally decided upon going with a "Saburr Tooth" grinding wheel, but as luck would have it, last week I was in a local tool shop who's inventory is typically more along the lines of gadgets and dodad's, BUT low and behold, they just started to carry the King Author tools grinding wheels. Inparticular the Holey Galahad version. I really liked what I saw and felt in my hands. Especially the fact that you can more or less see through the thing as your using it. I picked up a medium version. Before ripping into the seat I'll need to spend some time playing with it and getting used to what it is capable of.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*ADDER bloocks*

Moving onwards: With the ADDER blocks in place now, the notches need to be cut for the seat tenons. Placement of these notches is 9 3/4" from the bottom of the leg. Then the tenon's thickness is measured and added to the 9 3/4. Tenon's measured out at 1" thick. I made my cut lines just a hair under. Much easier to tweak the fit than to make up for an oversized cut. 
When marking out the cuts for the mortises, you need to mark off the inside of the leg or off of the adder block. This gives the 6° pitch required for the back legs. Something I failed to catch the first time around. Not thinking, I squared off the cut on the first leg. Realizing too late I screwed up, I had to fit in a filler and then resaw. It worked out fine, but its just the idea of messing up in the first place that drives me nuts at times. The good news is that unless your looking for it, you'll never notice or at best pay much attention to it since its on the rear portion of the seat. 
Just a reminder that you need to insure that the adder blocks are equally placed on both legs. While the 6° pitch remains the same, Distances will be altered if you don't. Pics 88/89 show the adder blocks and their positioning. 
Patience NOT being one of my strong suites, I did a quick dry fit up. Darn, if it isn't starting to look like a rocker 
Taking the rocker apart again, I went to removed some of the waste off of each of the adder blocks. A small apron plane and a spoke shaved hogged off the most of it, followed by a rough sanding with 80grit. 

Pics 88/89: just a quick shot of the adder blocks in place, lined up and equal to each other. 

Pic 90: A quick mock up of the chair just to see how she's coming along. so far, so good  A few quick measurements showed that everything is on the money. 

Pic 91: Two things to look at in this pic, first is just the waste that needs to be removed off of the adder blocks. Not a biggie. Secondly you will take not of the cut lines marked on the leg, and the actual cut. This gives you a pretty good idea of just how much different the 6* makes. 

Pic 92: Ohhhh yeah!! The black marker you see on the seat is the suggested outline of the seat pan. (again for lack of a better word) The curve on the back of the seat as well as the center line. The outline of the pan will change once I come up with something I like. Perhaps not original, but more appealing to the eye in my view. Center line will give me a guide for the pommel, planning on to feather it into the bottom of the seat at about the 6-8 inch mark.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Top of leg trimming*

The top of each leg is trimmed on the front and back side to a 6° angle. (The 6° angle is a common thread throughout this build) In the instructions a band saw is used to rough in the 6°'s. I used a small plane and found it easy enough to do. This angle will allow for a smooth transition from the crest (headrest) to the leg. Nothing special to see here, just have a well tuned small plane on hand. 

Pic 93: layout lines in place, shaving down the angle with a small plane. 

Pic 94: Trimmed down to the line...

Just a note here: There is a point in the leg @ about 10 1/4" down from the top that I used as a reference point and then planed down to the point at an angle. Doing this allowed for sort of a fade back into the full width of the legs.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Dishing out the seat...*

Took a deep breathe and decided to suck it up and give dishing out the seat pan a go. Never having used a grinding disc like this before, my biggest fear was the thing getting away from me and making one helluva gouge requiring years and years to make right. *L*. 
Well, I'm here to tell ya. King Author Tools "Holey Galahad" is a tungsten carbide butt kickin', wood eatin piece of work!!! Within 15 seconds of starting to play with this thing all I could say is "WOW". I went with the medium, flat version of their wheels. They come in round and flat versions, fine, medium and coarse grits. I mounted the wheel to a typical DeWalt grinder, nothing fancy. It didn't take much experimenting before I decided lets give it a try on the seat. A little over an hour and a half later, I had, what I considered a pretty good start on dishing out the bottom. The medium grit wheel didn't "hog" out the wood nor was it too delicate. You just have to take your time. The more you use it, the easier it becomes and more precise the ginding process gets. Don't get me wrong.. one silly misstep and you can end up with a really big mess. Particularly on surfaces you weren't intending to grind down. 
It was impossible to take pics and work the grinder at the same time but ya didn't miss anything you can't imagine in the first place. I began by doing a quick knock down all over the seat. Just generally getting a very, very roughing in so to speak. I then began roughing in the outter edges. Little by little worked best. I was somewhat surprised how quickly things began to take shape. 
Here I just want to say you got to stay focused on your work. My plan was to get a general depth and slope throughout the seat, rough in the edges and pommel. I had the seat sitting on one of my shop stools so I could easily work around the seat. Secondly, I worked OUTSIDE!!! This wheel does kick up the dust and alot of it. After spending a few minutes in the shop I decided for the sake of my marriage  it be best to head on outside. All of the bending over is a little hard on the back. Eye protection is a must btw and if you got a shop apron, use it. Ideally I think I'd like to have an easel to mount the work piece on. Being more upright and working at an angle I think would be much more comfortable. 
All in all I"m totally sold on this thing. After a couple hours of use, you couldn't tell the wheel had been used at all except for the dust around the arbor nut. Very impressive. I can't wait to get the tungsten carbide burrs and give them a try. 

Pic 95: This is the point I stopped for the day at. About an hour and a halfs worth of work. Had I known what I was doing, I could have gotten to this point easily in under an hour. 

Pic 96: Just a picture of the roughed in front profile of the seat. 

Pic 97: Holey Galahad mounted to the DeWalt grinder...

Pic 99: Here I tried to give an idea of the tooth configuration. 

Pic 100: The see through feature of these wheels actually works. Most usefull, especially for new users like myself. 

Pic 101: A couple of the sanding disc's to follow the Galahad wheel. 

Far from complete, but off to a noteworthy start I'd have to say. At this point, having gotten this far, I'm starting to think that the front to rear slope in the seat is going to have to be minimal.

yes, one more thing, unless your outside with a stiff breeze behind ya a dust mask is an absolute must...


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

How stiff are the discs Bill, do they flex at all? Do you think you could have avoided the scallops the edge of the wheel made if you had gone with the curved disc or do the sanding discs get rid of them so fast that it doesn't matter?


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Holey Galahad Tungsten carbide sculpting wheels*



Cherryville Chuck said:


> How stiff are the discs Bill, do they flex at all? Do you think you could have avoided the scallops the edge of the wheel made if you had gone with the curved disc or do the sanding discs get rid of them so fast that it doesn't matter?


Hey Charles...

My description of the Holey Galahad wheel characteristics and use was at best, lacking! Your request along with 3 other emails requesting additional details kinda sealed the deal. So, here ya go 

The grinding discs are 4" in diameter. The tungsten carbide teeth are bonded to a steel plate so there is no flex whatsoever. There is a very minor learning curve involved with its use. You can actually use too much pressure and bog down the grinder and in turn slow down the process. A moderate amount of pressure provides maximum cutting.With heavy pressure you leave behind more defined gouges whereas medium to light pressure can leave behind very manageable ruts. Using the medium grit wheel along with a very light touch left behind a surprisingly nice finish. Not smooth mind you but nice enough. For someone who would have considerable use for this type of wheel, the set would be a good investment. I'd really like to see how the fine and course grit wheels perform. Its not hard to see why this style of wheel is so popular with log carvers and wood sculptors.










In use, as i mentioned earlier, you have to just pay attention at all times. A lapse in concentration could easily lead to a big mistake. Just a little "dink" can easily leave a 3/4" long by 1/4" wide by a 1/32" deep mark. Not something that can easily be 'hidden' on something like highly figured wood. For first time users, I'd strongly suggest a little practice time on some scrap wood. 
Thus far in my "VERY LIMITED" experience with the wheels I've found that the most efficient removal of wood was by taking long slow strokes whenever possible. In doing so, I covered the most ground with the least amount of effort. This also gives a more consistent depth of cut. Width of cut depends entirely on the angle of approach. Anywhere from around 1/2" to an 1 1/4" give or take. In 'dishing ' out the seat I found that the dish itself presented issues. The grinders guard began to get in the way. The guard began to rub while making a flat pass. I was tempted to remove the guard, but thank goodness, common sense prevailed. 
I believe the difference between the "flat" disc and the "round" disc is that the round disc is better suited for slopping or inside curve work. The round disc would provide more contact area with the wood thus providing a more consistent grind. However, Im sure in more experienced hands, even the flat wheel can do an outstanding job. The 'scalping' you asked about is more user induced than anything else. Keep in mind, this was just a very rough, roughing out of the seat. I ended up creating the those darn things by going over and over the seat with short little strokes looking to knock down the high spots. What I didn't realize was that everytime i knocked one down, I pretty much created another. My plan was/is to get it close than later today, go back and hopefully clean it up a bit with a more consistent approach. Repeating the strokes with the grinder in the same direction paying close attention to overlapping and the amount of pressure I use. Ultimately the the goal is to minimize the amount of sanding needed afterwards. Right now, no matter how i cut it, there's gonna be alot of sanding *L*
The best "tip" I could offer at this point is the use of light of all things. As mentioned earlier, I took this outside to work on. For the first 45 minutes to an hours I just went about my business, pausing from time to time to take a look at my progress, then after about an hour I started seeing "shadows'. Very minor, almost faded looking, but they were there. The more I paid attention to them, the more they showed me where to go. As the sun got lower, the shadows become more and more prevalent revealing the high spots and low spots. On a larger, flatter surface like this, this proved to be a great aide. 
There is very little in the way of "grabbing" when using this wheel. Keeping a light to moderate amount of pressure maintained the wheel to the wood. The few times it did grab on me, where when I paused to take a look. I was keeping the grinder running while examining the work piece, then while either lightening up on the downward pressure or leaning into and touching the wood, the grinder would bite and want to take off. This was/is totally to be expected. Again, ya gotta just pay attention. 
Dust extraction. Uhhhhhhh with my grinder at least there wasn't any. The dust and the small chips just flew everywhere guided at best by the wheel guard. With the speed generate by the grinder itself, it did a good job of throwing the waste away from the work piece. There was however a good breeze blowing outside and I'm sure this helped. When working 'into' the breeze, it was another story altogether! There is no doubt in my mind that using this wheel inside can and will make a mess of things in a real big hurry. 
Finally, eye protection is a must, a dust mask is a must. wearing a hat isn't a bad idea and no slip gloves are a good idea. 

Hope this gave those interested a better idea of the performance and use of these grinding wheels. I'd be very interested in hearing other views and tips...


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Good review Bill. Where I really noticed the scallops was around the outer rim of the depression which is why I think the round wheel might be better for that job but it wouldn't be as good on a flat surface and at $70-80 dollars each you would have to have more use for them than I would to justify a selection of grits and wheels. These tools would be invaluable to someone doing chainsaw sculptures.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Charles, 

After taking a look at the seat pan this morning I decided not to hit it anymore with the wheel. I had a feeling that once I started sanding it down, I could easily go to far and regret it. So I got out my sanding blocks and paper. Couple of observations right off. 70% of the ruts/scallops were easily sanded down within a hour with 80grit paper. The sanding wheels I have just create too much dust in the shop and its too cold outside for me. The small grooves created by the wheel sand out quite easily, it's the ruts you create that cause more work. No doubt in my mind that with some practice and experience this wheel can save tons of work in the right hands. 

I agree with you, justifying a complete set is really out of the question, but having one isn't a bad idea. In fact, they make a 2" wheel I looked at yesterday. They were 34 bucks with a 1/4" arbor opening. 

You mentioned chain saw sculptors. I was ready to take a ride north to a place that carried the Saburr Tooth line of wheels and burrs. They were listed as the only nearby vendor for the product. Turned out this was a shop that specializes in chainsaw sculpting. Ive a 5 piece Saburr tooth burr set ordered for use later on. If they work as well as the wheel...i'll be a happy camper.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Roughing in the seat pan*

Been a busy couple days around here. Late start on getting to the leaves this year so that has taken up alot of my shop time this weekend. I did manage to make some progress on roughing the seat in. Thank goodness for rain  I"ll get into the details in the next day or so. but for now, a few pics...


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

I agree 'not too shabby'.

Now it looks like a seat.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Roughing in the seat pan*

As James mentioned, it is starting to look like a seat  Thus far this has been the most labor intensive portion of the build. No doubt a power sander would have made this much more manageable. Not to mention much quicker. I have the tools, but lack the ability to control the dust satisfactory. And boy, does the DeWalt grinder coupled with a 80grit sanding disc create the dust!!! My lungs and the wife both would have NOT been happy had I used the grinder in my basement shop. So, out with the sandpaper and sanding pads, flats, rounds and scrappers. For this, 80 grit Norton paper was my choice. The plan was simple, just sand down the seat pan smooth to get an idea of where I would need to go in the next step. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the 80 grit knocked down the cherry. I'd say it took a couple of hours per side to get it down relatively smooth and "close" to even. 
What was surprising is just how easily the ruts created by the grinding wheel (medium toothed) sanded down for the most part. By the most part I mean that there ended up being several areas on both sides that I went deep. As it turned out, I didn't go too deep but I did leave alot of areas of both sides that I could have taken out much more. Again, in experienced hands, the grinding wheels certainly can make quick work of it. 
After several hours of hand sanding I got things to the point where I could use a card scrapper. I actually have several different pieces on card stock in various thickness's and kinds of steel. I grabbed a piece of 1095 spring steel (I believe it to be 1095 SS) Copied the shape of the curve on the front of the seat and ground it down, Did all the routine stuff needed to put a good burr on the card and off I went. There is really nothing as slick as a card scrapper that actually works! Its taken some practice to learn how to get it right, but man, you can hog off some wood in short order with one of these. Mind you, you have to make routine trips to the burnisher and occasionally put a new edge on but its well worth it. The great thing is that with blank stock, you can create your own custom scrappers. A relatively inexpensive up front cost for the results you can obtain. 
With curved work, it seems to me that you really have to pay attention to the shadow lines. Or at least, I've found that it works great for me as it did when grinding down the seat pan. Using the shadows as a guide, I managed to get things close enough for this point in the build. I'm very happy with the front half of the seat and the pitch towards the rear, however, I think I'll need to go a bit deeper in the back half where your butts ends up. For the most part, the shape of the top of the seat, how deep you go or don't go, contours etc. are all a matter of personnel preference. Nice to be able to add a personnel touch at various points in the build. 

Still have a long way to go with the seat, but at least now, it is starting to look like a seat and the results thus far are encouraging. I guess when things start working out the way you had hoped they would, it makes ya wanna get back to it. 

Pic 102: over the years, we all accumulate various shapes and sizes of sanding blocks I'm sure. I've found for me anyways, body shop blocks are great to have around in various sizes and shapes. I've quickly become a fan of using 80 grit sandpaper for knock down work. 

Pic 103: I tried to take a picture of the 'ruts' in the seat after a brief sanding with 80 grit. The pictures really didn't show this well at all. If you can see the darker, blotchier areas, they are the low spots. Some much lower than other at this point. 

Pic 104: Pic of the card scrapper I made using onhand card stock I picked up from a member of Woodnet. I've been using them for several years now either as straight up scrappers or custom grinding them to a shape I want. Love em...

Pic 105: Pointing out where the shadows are telling me where I need to knock more wood off. Here you can see the difference between the left and right corners as well. The slope of the seat is a little much IMO. Will eventually ease that slope so that the seat pan kinda flows into the edges of the seat. 

Pic 106: After a little better than an hour with the scrapper, the divots started showing up. Rather than one big area needing attention, now the lowest of the low spots are revealed. 

Pic 107: Now were getting close..

Pic 108: finally were starting to look like a seat  wetted the area down to highlight the pan. The front corners will be shaped to my liking rather than left kinda uneventfull. 

Pic 109: Took this pic to give an idea as to just how much wood has got to be removed. 

This part of the project was all about elbow grease. The pommel was eased in quite gently. I don't care for a pommel that stands to tall in the seat, nor does my wife and daughter *LOL*.. The transition from the front of the pommel into the downward curve of the front edges of the seat ought to be interesting.


If your interested in card stock: 
http://www.tgiag.com/scrapers.html


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Filing the sweep into the front of the seat*

Havn't had much time on the rocker lately, weather broke a bit and gave me an opening to get at the leaves in the yard. The good thing about it all is that the grandkids just love being able to run and jump into a 6 foot high pile of leaves.

What I did manage to get done was to rough in the front lip on the seat. While this may not seem to terribly difficult, I found it to be a bit challenging in terms of attempting to keep a good workable balance between one side and the other. What I decided to do was work one side, get it where I wanted it and then work the other side to match. 
I first attempted to use the grinding with a 120 grit sanding wheel. While it did work nicely and certainly would have made this task much easier and quicker, it created entirely too much dust in my shop. I put it off to the side in favor of using files/rasps that I have. This proved to be a good idea in the end. (at least for me). The bad news I guess would be that using rasps did take considerably much more time, however the good news is that extra time allowed me to 'see' where I was going. Quite honestly, once I got going, I found it rather enjoyable. The idea was to give the front of the seat a pleasant to the eye slope downwards while making the seat itself much more comfortable for the part of the leg just above the back of the knee. I have no idea what the body part name is *L*..
The rasps I used are the Auriou Cabinetmakers 10" 9 grain and a Nicholsen #49 (USA made). The Nicholsen proved to be the much more agressive of the two when it came to removing wood. The Auriou was exceptional for 'tweaking' or just smoothing over what had been removed by the Nicholsen. Both were extremely controllable. By that I mean the amount of wood removed could be regulated by the amount of pressure you put on the rasp. As far as technique goes, hell, its whatever works for you. For me, I just grabbed em and had at it. It didn't take long to get a feel for what was needed to control the rasps. I began by focusing on the upper edge. Just working my way down into the wood then working at rounding over the edge. As the slope became to steep in my opinion, I would remove more wood from the top inside edge thus beginning the slope deeper or further back into the seat. 
Particular care was taken around both outside edges where the outter edge of the seat sweeps outwards and around the pommel. Around these areas a "OPS" could be a very bad thing. The last thing I want to do is have to use a filler or put in a patch. 
The underside of the outer edges was roughly filed down just to get an idea of where to proceed. Keeping in mind at all times that the theme for the rocker is to have everything just kinda 'flow'. Once the front legs are mounted I can work on the sweep from the outer edge into the front of the front leg. My thinking with the pommel is to ease the sweep into the bottom of the chair while maintaining a soft rise to the upper edge of the pommel itself. The tough part of all of this has been just attempting to keep a smooth transition from one area of the chair into the another, from one part of the seat to another area of the seat, from the seat to the leg and so on...

For the most part, the pics do a poor job of giving an idea of the sweep. My apologies, but trust me, its well worth the effort and honestly, it looks pretty darn good in person. I may be just a bit biased however.....

Pic 110: A general idea of what the sweep on the front edge looks like. The picture itself make the sweet look a bit more abrupt than what it actually is. Like so much of this project, much can be customized to ones own personnel choice and/or taste. 

Pic 111: Starting on the right side, using the left side as a visual guide. The Auriou rasp on the left of the pic, the Nicholsen on the right. 80 grit paper. I went so far as to go an try to find a courser file. The best I could find locally was a Kobalt course rasp. How well did it work,,,, well, its not in the pic!!! This pic does give a much better look at the sweep I'm going for on the left side. 

Pic 112: As filing progressed, I would pencil in a semi-circle on the seat as a guide in order to hopefully keep things balanced. Not wanting to go to far back on one side and not the other...

Pic 113: NOT a good picture, but decided to add it none the less because it does give a good view of the general shape of things..

Pic 114: Here you get another idea of the general shape of things. The pommel needs considerable work but nothing that can't be handled. In fact, I'm thinking that if done well, this area of the chair could stand out. If done poorly, there is no doubt that it will stand out!!! The lower right corner needed to be shaped down somewhat, being a bit wider (thicker) than the left. Its all about balance. 

Pic 115: This is a pic from the back of the seat looking forward giving a good idea of what I'm trying to accomplish. While not totally balanced, one side to the other, it turned out to be pleasantly surprisingly close. At this point in the build, can't ask for much more. 

Pic 112: 

W


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

If I could still run I'd be tempted to jump onto a 6' pile of leaves too. If it wasn't for the dust would you have carried on with the grinder and sanding disc?


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> If I could still run I'd be tempted to jump onto a 6' pile of leaves too.


 boy, ain't that the truth. The kids were out til way after dark, jumping into and tearing down the pile, then they were more than happy to build it back up. 



Cherryville Chuck said:


> If it wasn't for the dust would you have carried on with the grinder and sanding disc?


At this point I'd have to say probably not. I say that only because I lack the proficiency with the tool needed to NOT make a big mistake. I see it like this, You need to know what your doing in order to get where you want to go. Had I been able to spend some time outside practicing, getting a better feel for what happens when I do this or do that I would not hesitate to use the grinder. I went with the rasps only because I felt the opportunity for making a big mistake was too great using the grinder and giving my very limited hands on experience using the wheels.

Even in moderately skilled hands I have no doubt as to just how much time and effort can be saved while achieving the same results as I did with rasps. Also, for contoured surfaces there is no doubt now that the 'round' version of the Galahad wheel would have been a much wiser choice.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Now you have to wonder whether the fine rounded wheel would be worth the investment to get to close. However, you still wouldn't be able to clearly see how much material is being removed because you're looking from the wrong angle while you are using it. Like you say, with lots of experience it might be practical. But I think I would have probably done what you did and go with hand tools. It is better to take a little longer than to start over.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

The thing with the Holey Galahad wheels is that when in use, you can pretty much see through them. You have a good line of sight as you move the grinder about. Were you to get one I'd suggest the medium round. Perhaps a bit more work on flat surfaces but I think a much, much better suited wheel for anything with a curve. 
Honestly, I don't even think its a matter of lots of practice, just spending some time getting comfortable with the thing, which I didn't do. My bad...but I have no complaints at all. 
Besides, I find that using the rasps akin to using a hand plane...which I thoroughly enjoy 

She's starting to show potential now.....


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Doweling front legs*

Both the bottom and top of the front legs use dowels to support the joints between the top of the front leg and armrest as well as the bottom of the front leg and rocker. 1 1/4" deep x 1/2" dia. Nothing to terribly clever. Just a good clean and solid joint. Drilling the legs is accomplished using the lathe, and a 1/2" brad point bit drill bit. The brad point provides a very clean entry into the wood. Nary a splinter was created. The old Craftsman lathe I picked up takes a MT2, so I went an got a MT2 chuck. And of course the new chuck was 3/8" too long. So out came the cut off tool. Shaved 3/8" off the tip and she worked just fine. It's a good idea to do this part of the operation as soon as you can. Its much better to have the rocker sitting on dowels as you mock up as you go along rather sitting on the exposed ends and taking the chance of creating flat spots.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Armrests*

Moving onto the armrests. This is just another area of this build that allows the builder to add his/her own personnel touches. With the armrest, I wanted to add a bit of color contrast. I went with a simple glueup using 3/8" maple. This will also help tie in the armrests with the rockers to be built later on. I went back and forth on using a walnut/maple/walnut, maple/walnut, maple/walnut/maple glue-up. In the end, I decided in order to keep it not overly artsy to keep it simple. 
As mentioned before, my bandsaw is down so I used the tablesaw to split the blanks, then milled up the maple. I'm not sure where my brain was at during all of this, but it certainly wasn't all focused on the tasks at hand. 
First I had cut the 6* angle into the bottom front of each armrest. This should have been done after the glue-up! This was not a project ending kinda error, but just one of progression. Life goes on!  
I split each armrest using the tablesaw at a point where the maple would run down the middle of the armrest when viewed from the side and "NOT" pop through at any point of the top or bottom. As for the glue-up, it was just a simple glue up. You'll notice that there are no pictures of the glue-up. The reason for that is, this was perhaps the messiest, ugliest, sloppiest glue-up in the history of woodworking. I've done hundreds of glue-ups before and never have I made such a mess. Once clamped up it was laughable. In the end, it turned out just fine, with the exception of ALOT of cleaning of both blanks and all associated tools, benches, floor anything that even came close to being around em. :jester::jester::jester:

Ok,,, enough about the mess I made:sarcastic: From here, one can take and add yet more personnel touches if so desired. The shape/form of the armrest requires two fixed points. One at the top of the corresponding front leg and the other at the corresponding point of the rear leg. Everything in between can be shaped to what ever look the builder likes. Personally I did like the shapes that came with the plans and went with them. I'll go with the supplied templates for now and as shaping progress's, I'll add my own touches if any. I outlines the top template on each armrest. At this point, it is recommended that one use a bandsaw to cut away the vast majority of the waste before cutting out the rough form. Since my bandsaw is down I traced out the shape, used a straight edge to give myself cut lines and just used a pullsaw to cut away as much waste as possible. The Bridge City Tool Works saws are just great! The nicest, best performing saws I've had the opportunity to use. In these 2 1/2" thick armrests, I was able to split the line over the course of better than 10"s at one point. This was followed by a using a rasp to removed as much additional material as I could prior to taking to the router table. 
Templates were pin nailed to the blanks (I find for me, in most cases, using the pin nailer in place of 2 faced tape works just fine). Once on the router table, everything was pretty straight forward. Taking very shallow passes the blanks were knocked down in relatively short order. Use of a guide pin is a must and having the ability to move around the table on 3 sides certainly didn't hurt. The top bearing bit was swapped out for a bottom bearing bit and the blanks were cleaned up. here's a few pics: 

Pic 119: Blank glue-ups ready for milling. The top template outlined on the blank giving a good general idea of how things will look. Here again, one can easily customize the armrest look at this point. 

Pic 120: Another pic of the outline on the blank

Pic 121: Kind of hard to see, but the side profile of the armrest was copied onto the blank. Remember, two points that need to be kept, 1 at the front let, the 2nd at the rear leg, everything inbetween is up to you. In this pic you get a good look at the 6* angle cut into the front of each armrest. What this does is pitch the armrest upwards just a tad to where it meets the back leg in a relatively flush placement. A little tweaking will be required, but it proved to be darn close. 

Pic 122/123: cutting away the waste with a Bridge City Tool Works pullsaw. 

Pic 124/125: Using the template as a guide, routing out the shape of the armrest. Alot of material is being removed. Time MUST be taken! The armrests are wide enough that they provide good support on their own but one still needs to pay attention to what they are doing at all times. 

Pic 126/127: Finished up they are starting to look like armrests. I like the contrast in colors. Hopefully after shaping, it still looks good. No turning back at this point. 

Where the back on the armrest meets the back leg, the maple just kinda comes to an abrupt stop. So I'll take an do something with that. Not sure what. At the very least a simple inlay to run out the line of the maple into the back leg.


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## jeepered (Nov 8, 2013)

*Took a class from the Master*

Bill,
Be sure to periodically post some photos as you progress through your "Maloof" rocker project. I was fortunate to have been tutored by Sam. You're right, there is a lot of rough shaping and a lot of hand sculpting to be done in the rough stages of creating the rocker after assembly. Sam showed us some bandsaw techniques he used in order to "rough hew" the stock after it was cut from the patterns. It is somewhat "chancy" and he didn't officially recommend this technique but it is effective and it saves time. [I ask you. "Is there any one of us out there whose has never breeched precaution for the sake of expediency?"]. The purpose of this technique was to remove the gross excess material in order to begin the hand sculpting at a more refined level.
Enjoy the project. When it's finished, how are you going to wrap it?
Thanks,
ED


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Hey there Ed... if you scroll back, you'll see that this entire thread is the building of my rocker. start to finish...

You say you studied under Maloof? How cool that must have been!! That no doubt had to have been an experience of a lifetime.  The plans I am using are from a gentleman by the name of Charles Brock. He offers an excellent package which includes a book on the build, paper templates and 2 CD's. One on the build, the 2nd of shaping of the chair. Not to mention that he is readily available to answer any questions you may have during the build. Brock uses the bandsaw as well for much of the roughing in of the rocker. Were my bandsaw up and running, I wouldn't hesitate to use it for roughing out most of the waste. I have no problems doing stupid stuff like that...with a good dose of caution I must add. 

While not nearly as quick I'm finding using the rasps and grinding wheels to this point to be most enjoyable. I'm hoping, and I do mean hoping that I can wrap this project up by early Feb. of next year. Its intended as a wedding gift for a good friend of mine son. The plan is to sneak it into their house while away on the honeymoon...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Rough shaping in of armrests*

Looking forward to doing this aspect of the build for some reason. The armrest IMHO really make a impact in terms of feel/comfort. After having the general shape of each armrest cut out, I went about mounting them to their corresponding back leg. This is accomplished with a couple of 3" #10 spax screws. Pilot holes drilled it a taped drillbit. 
This is done at this point to just get a feel for alignment of each armrest and to give me an idea of where to layout the side profiles. The inside of the armrest sits at just a little over 1/2" from the outside of each leg. The armrests were clamped into position and the top of the leg was outlines on the underside of each armrest. I used a 36" straight edge draw a line across the back and front of each leg onto the armrest to insure that I have a baseline later on for shaping. Once the center of each outline was
determined "O" a 1/2" x 1 1/4" hole was drilled to accommodate the dowel. 
The rests were temporarily mounted and a little touch-up work with sandpaper and an apron plane mated the back of the armrest to the back leg flush. 

onto the shaping of each armrest: 

I started the right side armrest on kind of a whim. Once I got started, I just kept on going til I got where I needed to be. Didn't take any pictures during that time. Since dust was/is an concern I hesitated to use the Holey Galahad grinding wheel. So I got out the heavy duty rasps. Nicholsen flat rasp (I'd say a #3) a round rasp and a couple of chisels to hog out what I could. The work went smoothly, but was time consuming. After a little better than a hour and a half, I had the right side arm roughed in. Dust wasn't much of a concern, but damn, that Nicholsen rasp is rough. After about 10 minutes, I put on a pair of old gloves to save my hands. 

I had the day off today and decided to spend it in the shop. Intentions were to get the left armrest done and to get the crest started. I got down to the shop and said, what the hell, lets give the grinder a go. Turned on the overhead dust collector, set the grinder up to throw the waste towards the back of the bench and had at it. 
I took a deep breathe and started, long, slow strokes, being more aware of where I was heading with the grinder than where I've been. This seemed to help considerably. In little over 10 minutes I had the underside of the armrest completed. Gheesh. That Holey Galahad grinding wheel is amazing. Just a couple minutes more of usage, a little more confidence and I blew thru the task at hand. Knocked down the underside of the armrest in no time, then a 15 minutes with a rasp to square things up and it was done...less than 25 minutes compared to 1 1/2hr. using rasps alone. I"m sold!!! The front of the armrest was knocked down in little under a minute. The top done in 5 minutes +/-. including rasp time. Not to shabby if I do say so myself. 

Pic 128: Mounting the armrests to the back leg. Screw holes are recessed enough to allow for walnut plugs after glueup/assembly. 

Pic 129: Dowel installed, dry fit tested for depth, fit and placement. so far, so good. 

Pic 130: pulling the screws out after the dry fit and this happened. Nothing that can't be fixed, just rather annoying. 

Pic 131: RS rough shaped and dry mounted to rocker. Little by little its starting to look like something I have in mind. 

Pic 132: Outside shot of the RS armrest. The angle of the shot kinda makes the front of the armrest look outta whack, There is considerably more material that needs to be taken off up front on this one. 

Pic 133: Dust be damned!! I"m gonna use the grinder today!! I made 3 passes on the underside of the LS rest. Unfortunately, the pic didn't show well what I was trying to demonstrate. I made a light, medium and heavy pressure pass tryin to give an idea of what kinda material you might expect to be removed. Ahh well, its the thought that counts I suppose. 

Pic 134: 10 minutes grinding time. The grinding wheel itself doesn't even look like its been used. I'm very impressed with these things. You'll note a good buffer zone around the front leg mount and back leg mounting areas. This is to allow for shaping and smoothing later on after assembly. 

Pic 135: A little touchup work with the rasp to get things more or less flat.. Still roughing everything in at this point, but I figure, get it close now, less work later..

Pic 136/137: just a shot of the front of the armrest before and after grinding. Again, just roughing in the shapes for now.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Headrest/Crest*

Moving onto the headrest or crest. The blank had been cut to rough dimensions during milling of the wood. Since I narrowed the seat by a tad the crest would need to be cut down accordingly. To get it as close as possible, I just clamped the crest to the upper back legs where it will be mounted, outlined the angle of each leg onto the crest. Set up the table saw and basically just cut to fit. Worked out very well. Fits like a glove. 
The crest is another one of the features that allow the builder to add a personnel touch to the build. There is a inside curve on the front and an outside curve on the back that will required some work. Here is where it would really be nice to have a band saw capable of at least a 8" resaw capability. Up to this point, pretty much everything requiring band saw work could easily be accomplished on a 14" and possible even a 12" band saw having at least 5"s worth of resaw capacity. 
Templates are provided as part of the purchase and are usefull if you go with the OE plans. I didn't use the crest template, but did use the sweep template. I came up with a design for the lower portion of the crest using a French curve and some 1/2" mdf. Again, an area where you can do whatever floats your boat. . Since my bandsaw is on the outs, it was back to the router table. Actually not a biggie one way or the other for this operation. 

Pic 138: template in place, half of crest routed. In 10/4 stock, my bit came up short. so this will be a two phase operation. Top bit and then bottom bit to clean up.

Pic 139: A look at how the curve on the bottom of the crest will look. 

Pic 140: Routing completed. lines laid out for the 3/8" mortised to be drilled for the splines. 

Pice 141: Just an idea of how the crest is to be dished out. Not quite time to put the grinder away.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

"Pice 141: Just an idea of how the crest is to be dished out. Not quite time to put the grinder away."

You're going to pay that tool off in one job. I watched a video clip of Sam doing that and the arms on a bandsaw with (24" ?) wheels by free handing it. Sam made it look easy.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

You betcha Charles!!! The grinding wheel is definitely a must have and monies well spent on this project. 

In the DVD that comes with the package, Brock uses a monster bandsaw just about every chance he gets. And boy is it set up right! He slices both sides of the crest like 'butter'..and does it well. Now I'm sure there's alot of experience cutting those pieces but darn.... 

I've got 8 spindles to do (7 + 1 extra) that a band saw would make easy work off...I'll use the router and template but would MUCH rather use a band saw on those.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Shaping/drilling the crest*

Well... got up bright and early yesterday morning, ready to take on the world. Had my morning cup of coffee and 2 pastries (breakfast of champions don't cha know!) and headed on down to the shop. My plans were to get the crest ready for mounting and to get the spindle blanks cut and possibly start routing them out. 
I sat around, sipping my coffee deciding which course of action to take on the crest. Originally I had planned to use the grinder to rough in the inner and outer arches of the crest. Then thought to cut 'guide' grooves into the crest. Going deep enough to give me a good visual reference when using the grinder. Then I thought that if I were to leave enough to ensure that I wont go to far, that would be a great deal of sanding. So I decided to just use the table saw and using step cuts, remove the waste that way. This would leave a minimal amount of sanding/rasp work afterwards. 
After about 30 minutes or so of progress, things were coming along nicely. Actually working out better than I had expected. Then in a moment of stupidity (for lack of a better word) I was pulling the sled back to make another pass and I failed to clear the crest from the blade. In a split second I had a 6" long, 1/4" wide, 1/4" deep rip in the front edge of the crest. Rendering it pretty much unusable. Thinking too far ahead, not paying attention to what I was doing at the moment and bam, several hours worth of work down the drain in a moment. As was mentioned in another thread earlier this week, its never good to work when your pissed. SO i walked away for a couple hours. calmed down and took stock of what wood I had left. Cutting to the chase, I found a section of wood that would work out nicely and still leave me enough to cut spindles. 
I set about hand planing the stock to flat, used the planer to get to thickness and use the what is now the old crest as a template. This all went relatively quick, but what a waste of time. I salvaged what I could of the old crest leaving me with a couple of nice 5/16" thick 6"x6" squares and a really nice 1 1/2" x 6 or so by 18" block of wood which I already have plans for. Not going to let any of the beautiful figured cherry go to waste. One of the most surprising aspects of this build is the shear amount of waste or cut-offs one is left with. The plans call for 50 or so board feet of wood. I'd be willing to bet that there is nearly 25% worth of cut-offs when its all said and done. 
Cutting the arch's on the table saw wasn't so bad, just time consuming. A band saw capable of doing straight 8" resaw cuts would make quick work of this part of the project, in fact a good band saw would make quickly work of ALOT of this project. The bad news is mine is down and pretty much out, the good news is the wife see's how much having a good band saw is worth and has agreed to letting me get one after the holidays OR if a really can't pass it up deal comes along. 
After finishing up with the table saw it was just a matter of smoothing out the arches. This was accomplished first by using a rasp to rough out the ridges followed by the Nicholsen rasp then sanding blocks with 80grit paper. I'm quickly becoming a big fan of 80 grit sand paper for knocking down rough spots. 

There are 7 spindles on this rocker. 7 holes are to be drilled on the bottom of the crest, 7/16th's in, 1 1/4" deep. Before shaping the arch on the top of the crest, its a good idea to drill all 7 holes first. Spacing for the holes is given in the plans, however, since I narrowed the seat down, this in turn narrowed the space between the back legs and in turn narrowed the crest. Not a big deal at all, just takes a little math to figure out the proper spacing. YOu need to take into account the small arch on each of the back legs, where the leg meets crest at each of the bottom corners. Once you figure this out, all there is to it, is to drill em out. A brad point bit is a must here. At this point, you do not want any splintering of the wood when drilling. All 7 holes drilled out cleanly.  After the holes are drill, you can go about shaping the top of the crest. Here again, both the top and bottom of the crest can be shaped to the builders liking.

Pic 142: A few passes on the small sled and it was soon apparent that the sled wasn't going to be big enough, so I had to get out the big sled. 

Pic 143: Step cuts on the front of the crest completed. Actually worked out rather nicely. The more I could remove with the table saw, the less work with the rasps and sandpaper. 

Pic 144: Back side of the crest sawn. I left a couple ears to maintain balance while cutting. They were easily removed by a handsaw afterwards. 

Pic 145: A little out of order, (holes already been drilled in the bottom) Just a shot of what the crest looks like after a few hours of rasping and sanding. 

Pic 146: Holes for the spindles spaced and drilled

Pic 147/148: Pics of the arches in the crest, holes drilled. One of the things I look at when I'm doing a project is the details. What would someone who actually knows what went into a project notice. I want the arch to flow smoothly from one side to the other, no flat spots. Balance is important as well...All those little things that someone who doesn't know what it took to build something wouldn't even notice.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Re: wood above holes 3 and 5. Bill, have another good look at that profile. I'm not sure you need to do much of anything to it. It looks kinda interesting slightly asymmetrical.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Great progress, Bill.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Re: wood above holes 3 and 5. Bill, have another good look at that profile. I'm not sure you need to do much of anything to it. It looks kinda interesting slightly asymmetrical.



You may have a good point there Chuck... I think I'll leave well enough alone for now, then once get her together, give it another look. Alot easier taking it off than putting it back on 

thanks!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> Great progress, Bill.


slow but steady James...I'm finding all of this most enjoyable. 

Honestly,for me, putting all of this on the pc is more work than the rocker itself. 
I thought about pulling the thread, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of commentary then I noticed the views..so I figured, I've gone this far, might as well
march on as they say..hopefully someone will find it of value..


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

TwoSkies57 said:


> slow but steady James...I'm finding all of this most enjoyable.
> 
> Honestly,for me, putting all of this on the pc is more work than the rocker itself.
> I thought about pulling the thread, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of commentary then I noticed the views..so I figured, I've gone this far, might as well
> march on as they say..hopefully someone will find it of value..


Don't be discouraged by the lack of commentary. It's the views that count. This is a great build and thread and there is a ton of good information for everyone. Please keep it up.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

denniswoody said:


> Don't be discouraged by the lack of commentary. It's the views that count. This is a great build and thread and there is a ton of good information for everyone. Please keep it up.


Thank you Dennis, much appreciated


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*I'd say half way there...or abouts*

threw the crest on tonight to get a feel for how she's looking..

The spindles are next and without a bandsaw, they are gonna take some 
gettin' clever...


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Sweet. It's definitely starting to take shape.
You could make some stopped cuts on the TS if they are dog-legged shape and finish with handsaw on inside corner. If they are curved, you can gnaw away at the outside edge with small slices and save quite a bit of work on one side at least.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Spindles*

With having gone as far as I can go with the headrest, its time to move onto the spindles. As is a good idea with most stock, blanks were cut a few days prior to shaping. If there is any internal stress locked up this gives it time to work its way out and your less likely to have your finished piece move on ya. 

The blanks were laid out as numbered. Starting with blank #1, which will be the first spindle on the left I place the template onto the blank and traced it out. Here is another time when having a working bandsaw would have been fantastic. However, plan "B" was envoked once more. *L* Got the ole jig saw out, clamped down the blank in the vise and started cutting. Trying to stay close to the line proved to be a little toughed than expected cutting through the 1 1/2" side of the blank. For some reason this time around, the jig saw's blade was kicking to the left on the down stroke, creating a less then straight up and down cut. While at 1/8" to 3/16" from the line on the top of the blank, I was a good 1/4 to 5'16" out on the bottom. Not something that couldn't be worked with, just had to keep it in mind, when doing the opposite side. Needed to make sure the blade was kicking out, towards the outside of the blank. Otherwise, I would have ended up undercutting the blank. Once one side was cut, I saved the cutoff and used it to fill in the void for the pass on the other side. Man oh man, do I miss the band saw!!!!

Needing to compensate for the blade kicking out the way it did, after having made the rough cut with the jig saw, I pinned the template back into the blanks, put em in the vise and took a rasp to them. This turned out to be surprisingly effective. Not to terribly time consuming and actually did a nice job. The first couple of spindles I didn't do this first and found that routing was way more difficult. There is no doubt that keeping a nice even 1/8" or so outside of the line makes the whole process much easier and considerably safer. The ability to make one continuous smooth pass with the bit left behind a very nice surface requiring minimal sanding afterwards.

At this point, there really isn't any need for much in the way of sanding, since everything will pretty much be gone over once the front profile is shaped into each spindle. But,,I figured having things as evenly shaped as possible from here on in, can't be a bad thing. I lined up the spindles and a block sander and just gave the front a rough sanding, taking down any high spots or sand down to any low spots across bunch of em. It really didn't take a whole lot of time, but now have the peace of mind that starting out from rough the spindles are relatively true from one to the other. 

Once that was done, took the front template and traced the shape onto each spindle. Doing this made a huge impact on the feeling of "progress"...just seeing the front laid out, giving something of a 3rd deminsion to them. I'm likin it. 

Pic 150: Looking to lay out the templates onto the rough cut stock. 

Pic 151; If your dealing with figured or highly grained wood and want to keep the flow of the grain/figure from one spindle to the next make sure to sequence the blanks.

Pic 152: Laying out the spindle sides on the blanks first was the way to go. There is much less labor involved with shaping the front profiles than there is the sides. 

Pic 153: After making rough cuts with the jig saw. 

Pic 154: Using the pin nailer to attach the template to the stock. 3/4" pins used. You just gotta love these pinners. 

Pic 155: I made a 4 side square to contain the stock in. Screwed at both ends, this help secure the stock nice and steady. With the template being so narrow, I was concerned with the stock 'tilting' one way or the other while routing. 

Pic 156: Stock, screwed, secured and ready to be routed

Pic 157: AFter having completed routing a couple of the spindles and having realized that I was having to remove what seemed like much more waste than I expected I found that the jig saw blade was kicking out on me during the rough cuts, leaving behind way more material to remove than what I was comfortable with. From that point on, I took the blank with the template attached and filed down the stock to a point where it was much easier to cut. 

Pic 158: I picked up a set of Microplane files a while back and this is the first chance I've had to really give them a work out. I gotta say, for the money, not a bad deal at all. Comfortable in the hand, very easy to control and they remove a reasonable amount of stock. There is a bit of 'technique' involved in their use, not unlike any other file/rasp. I like em, I'll continue to use em, but I still much rather go with the good ole fashioned style. That darn Nicholsen rasp is a beast. I'd love to find one of them in a half circle..

Pic 159: side profiles are all done at this point. The ends all look a bit different, but that because they are *L*.. just how the ends were filed down after removal from the router. 

Pic 160: here we go, squaring up the ends...Now things look much more consistant between each spindle. 

Pic 161: Believing that if just one of the spindles profile was different than the others in any way, it could easily stick out like a sore thumb in use. With that in mind, I clamped em up and took a block sander to them. Spent 20-30 minutes just going over them top to bottom getting everything nice and even. The angle that I cut the bottoms at is the reason for the uneven looking bottoms. 

Pic 162/163: Kinda of hard to tell with these pics, but center lines drawn for reference later on, front profiles traced on front and back. Not done with the rasps yet...The top of each spindle will require a 3/8" dowel but shaped out of them, the bottoms will require a 1/2 dowel shaped out of them.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

I can see a chair....


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

This Carbide-Tipped Dowel, Plug & Tenon Cutters - Lee Valley Tools or this Veritas® Power Tenon Cutters - Lee Valley Tools ? Also, how are you going to cut them, drill press or handheld, and how to get the tenon aligned right?


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> I can see a chair....


She's starting to take shape James  Whenever I do a big project (at least for me) there always comes a point where it just hits me. Either its going to turn out well, or I need to makes some changes before I go any further. Today I shaped the spindles and clamped em in place. Then took one an sanded it down to where it was pretty close to what I'm looking for. Thats when it hit me...I think she's gonna turn out pretty nice 

I took some more pics, but the cable for the camera is down in the shop and I'm just to darn lazy to go down and get it *L*...to be continued as they say..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> This Carbide-Tipped Dowel, Plug & Tenon Cutters - Lee Valley Tools or this Veritas® Power Tenon Cutters - Lee Valley Tools ? Also, how are you going to cut them, drill press or handheld, and how to get the tenon aligned right?


Hey Charles... nope and ummmmmmmm nope :stop:

The tool that Brock suggests for the job is: Veritas® Dowel and Tenon Cutters - Lee Valley Tools Pretty much an oversized pencel sharpener. I need to order them ASAP. They appear pretty easy to use, just twist them onto the end of your work piece and work your way down. In the case of this rocker, I'll need to have 1 1/4" shaved into a dowel. 

Now, aligning them is another question altogether. I've already drilled the holes in the crest and according to Brock, you need to get the spindles mounted to the seat prior to mounting in the headrest. What he does is drill a 1/2" hole in the seat, then takes and using a reamer bit and brace, he take a small swipe out of one side of the already drilled hole. This allows a bit of swing fore and aft in the seat socket. Essentially what gets done is that once all the holes are drilled, the bottoms are placed into the seat, the crest is mounted and the assembly is swung forward between the rockers back legs and mounted into position with 3 3" #10 spax screws. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo problems says I. :moil::moil::moil:


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I have at least one of those cutters but still haven't used it yet. I bought it/them to make arrows with and haven't need to make more arrows since I bought it/them (can't remember which is correct). I bought the square drive socket(s) to drive them with through the cutter. How were you planning on driving them through? That is why I thought you would be using one of the other two methods. If you were to use that tool I suspect that the tenon should have been put on before the curves were cut unless the ends are linear and all the curves are in between.


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

Here's a link to a genuine Maloof rocker on sale for $40,000. Some good close-up photos. I picked this up from another site I belong to and it seems timely.
Sam Maloof Rocking Chair Leather Seat Vintage 1972 | eBay


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Charles.... you nailed it as far as what I perceive being the most 'technically' demanding part of this build. Getting the angles right for the spindles. Honestly, I took a good long look yesterday at it, and still not sure what I want to do now. In the DVD Brock makes it sound pretty simple and straight forward, and perhaps it is, and I"m making much ado about nothing. Secondly and almost as importantly would be getting the "dowel" on the ends to be true, not only to the center line on both ends of the spindle, but to one another. Now, granted, there is a certain amount of flex in the design but I would much rather have them mounted 'at rest" and in doing this, they would be more inclined to resist outside forces that might otherwise give them cause to fail. Here again, perhaps, much ado about nothing. 

I went to order the cutters about an hour ago, and the 3/8" was out of stock til the end of January. This ain't gonna cut it... Gonna either have to find em elsewheres, or go to plan "B"...The small tenon cutters look as though they would do a good job, expecially in a drill press with a jig. This way I could at the very minimum make a consistent cut on each spindle. A good friend has a set of tenon cutters, but he's not sure which ones, so I'll stop by and check em out.. maybe borrow one and give it a go. 

The bottoms have a bit of a curve to them, whereas the tops are relatively straight. One of the first things I will do is square the bottom of each spindle with the seat bottom. This will be my starting point.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Hey Dennis... 

I've been following the Maloof chairs on the bay for a while now.. 40K  Mostly for the pictures. Just some beautiful works out there. I pretty much have a end design in mind, now its just a matter of deciding on a finish.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Charles.... you nailed it as far as what I perceive being the most 'technically' demanding part of this build. Getting the angles right for the spindles. Honestly, I took a good long look yesterday at it, and still not sure what I want to do now. In the DVD Brock makes it sound pretty simple and straight forward, and perhaps it is, and I"m making much ado about nothing. Secondly and almost as importantly would be getting the "dowel" on the ends to be true, not only to the center line on both ends of the spindle, but to one another. Now, granted, there is a certain amount of flex in the design but I would much rather have them mounted 'at rest" and in doing this, they would be more inclined to resist outside forces that might otherwise give them cause to fail. Here again, perhaps, much ado about nothing.
> 
> I went to order the cutters about an hour ago, and the 3/8" was out of stock til the end of January. This ain't gonna cut it... Gonna either have to find em elsewheres, or go to plan "B"...The small tenon cutters look as though they would do a good job, expecially in a drill press with a jig. This way I could at the very minimum make a consistent cut on each spindle. A good friend has a set of tenon cutters, but he's not sure which ones, so I'll stop by and check em out.. maybe borrow one and give it a go.
> 
> The bottoms have a bit of a curve to them, whereas the tops are relatively straight. One of the first things I will do is square the bottom of each spindle with the seat bottom. This will be my starting point.


I suppose that the cutter you showed could be used by hand and the dowel turned or the cutter turned since it is mostly just a pencil sharpener. But I don't know if you can keep the angle you want using it by hand with either method. That's why I thought you might be using one of the other two tools. With them you could build a jig to hold them and then drill with the drill press which would give identical results, that is if they are all supposed to be identical and not change angle from back out to the sides. I agree that this could be the trickiest part of the chair.


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

This may be out to lunch, but here's a suggestion on alignment. Since you have the crest holes drilled you could take a straight dowel of that diameter and insert it into the crest. If it it is long enough to meet the seat you then have your angle for drilling the seat. Clamp a block on the seat and hand drill a hole at that proper angle. Then remove the block, put it in the proper spot and use it for a drilling guide.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Charles/Dennis, the cutter that has been suggested is used by hand. From the design, it appears to be pretty much self centering. However, since one of the two won't be available until late Jan. I'll need an alternative. I've ordered this set from Japan Woodworker: Buy Set of 3 - 3/8", 1/2', & 5/8" Tenon Cutters in a Wooden Case at Japan Woodworker I thought it to be affordable and at the very least, I'll have use for it later on in other projects because of the sizes and use. PLug cutter/tenon cutters. I also ran across this style of cutter: Buy 1/2" Dowel Rounding Planes- at Japan Woodworker
I actually like this one, if only because of its simplicity of design. However, maintaining a consistent and/or repeatable angle would be a little tricky me thinks. Regardless of the method, nothing is 'undoable' just a matter of how practical and a matter of time and investment. 
As Dennis mentioned, I've already taken a dowel and placed it in the crest to give me an idea of the exact angle's required. Since both the seat and the crest have the mounting holes laid out on both a curve and in the case of the seat, a bit of a dish and the crest has a curve there would be 4 different layouts. One side will mirror the other plus a single center spindle. 

I'm sure to some, this may all be a bit confusing and possibly a deterrent to making the rocker. Don't let it be. My apologies if it is, I tend at times to over think things by a country mile  My approach has always been to learn to do it right, first and foremost, then learn to do it fast. In doing this, I find what is and isn't necessary, what does and doesn't work for me. I have to say, I'm finding all of this quite enjoyable. I was looking for a challenge and believe I've found it. I always find new skills and techniques rewarding. 
So, anyways,, heres the plan for today. Find my centerlines on each of the spindles, both top and bottom. Get the corresponding angles for each . Since the crest has already been drilled out, this will be the starting point for the angles. Then do a little more shaping of the spindles. I've done 2 already, rounding over both the front and back sides. 

let the adventure continue.............


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Shaping the spindles*

Not wanting to get to far ahead of build. After having gotten the spindles cut out of the blanks, next step was to give them a little more shape. Once again, this is an area where the builder can pretty much do things to taste. I'm sure that one must make sure to NOT remove too much material so as to render the spindles weak or vulnerable to breaking. Liking the original look, thats what I went with. Nothing fancy, just a couple of clean lines with an arch upper and lower. Here again, a band saw would be the preferred method to cut away the waste..but..a pullsaw was the tool used.

Pic 164: All lines laid out and cuts made. The 1 1/4" dowel line is laid out as well. 

Pic 165: Waste cut away, a combination of spokeshaves used, then taken to the oscillating spindle sander to smooth things over a bit. 

Pic 166: Same process on the top end of the spindles. When tracking properly, this Bridge City Tool works pullsaw is a pleasure to use. Cut thru this cherry like "butta"

Pic 167: With the general shape of the spindles cut in, this is the point where the rocker really started taking on a look of its own. Sorry about all of the background noise, things kinda get lost. Need to put a blanket or something behind the rocker


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I didn't notice the background clutter, the chair held my attention. It really is starting to look good. 

I don't know how you would get the dowel rounder started on the slats, it doesn't appear to have the ability to start a dowel, just perfect it.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

I believe you start off by squaring the stock a little over sized. For a 1/2" dowel, perhaps a 9/16" square. That way, you'd be taking off even amounts are you spun the tool around the wood. Once the dowel has started to take shape, it looks like its self centering The opening where you insert the piece is around a 1" round. As was mentioned earlier, this is all well and good for stock that is linear. The bottom of the spindles has a slight curve to em while the tops will have enough straight line to work with easily enough. Were I to go with the cutters recommended I'd be inclined to find a repeatable center line, mark off 9/16" on each of the four sides, then chisel the end down to size prior to making the dowel. 

Earlier today, I finished up rounding over the front and back sides to the fat portion of the spindles. I did one top and liked the way it turned out, a bit of an oval would be the best way to explain it. But I'm thinking it best to leave well enough alone until I get the dowels cut. 
Once done sanding for now, I laid out the center lines on each of the spindles bottoms. Once I had a center line, I marked off a 9/16" square on all found sides. Next I want to make a mock up and of the spindles top and bottom and play with the cutters i did order. According to UPS, they were delivered today and dropped off on my porch. Welp, they arn't there... I hope the neighbor got em...

Vid. of the cutters recommended by Charles Brock: 
Using the Veritas Dowel and Tenon Cutter - YouTube
Veritas Dowel and Tenon Cutter - YouTube

Vid. of the cutters I ordered: 
Plug and Tenon Cutter Sets with Charles Neil Presented by Woodcraft - YouTube


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I'm glad you posted those videos of the Veritas tool Bill. I had only planned on using it to make arrows so far.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> I'm glad you posted those videos of the Veritas tool Bill. I had only planned on using it to make arrows so far.



If you do a search in Youtube for "Dowel and Tenon cutter".. alot of video's come up for making arrow shafts..................


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I'll have a look for them. I have made shafts before by using a 3/8" bullnose bit in 2 passes but it was very labor intensive. Then Lee Valley came out with that tool. Then, of course, after I bought mine Lee Valley came out with extra guide bushings for that tool in arrow shaft sizes (11/32, and 23/64).


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Shaping and sanding the spindles*

After having rough cut the spindles, next was to start shaping. Most of this can be and most likely "should" be done prior to assembly. Doing any shaping once the rocker is assembled would prove to be most difficult. This is yet another area where the builder can shape things to their eye. I like a soft gentle curve on the front and a bit more aggressive curve on the back side. For me, this just seems a bit more comfortable on the back. The contours move with the small of the back, up to the shoulders. The rounded edges won't press hard into the body and the swing from one side to the next
just kinda wraps around ya. Or I hope thats how it'll work out :wacko:
After a little toying around with a piece of scrap, I decided on going with 3/16" off the front sides and 1/4" off of the back side, The top of the spindles I'll go with 1/8" to start with, see how that looks, then either go with it, or perhaps run a consistent taper from the doweled ends back to the main body. 
As I've mentioned often, one of the great parts of this build is the ability to customize just about all aspects of the rocker. One could easily go with the guidelines as demonstrated in the instructions and DVD or tweak the hell out of it. Another area to consider is for whom the rocker is intended. The rocker can be made to order so to speak. Legs can be lengthened or shortened, seat can be made to order  I'm not sure exactly how one might go about asking a prospective owner to stop by and have their butt fitted for the rocker. But its certainly something you could do. Spindles/crest can be made to fit..armrest can be shaped to what might be a more comfortable position. All of this just adds to the personalization of the rocker. In this case, the rocker is a gift, and I"m winging alot of it. Fortunately the recipient is of average height and build. Leaving a little room for her to 'grow' into it 

Shaping the spindles was pretty straight forward. While doing the shaping I decided to try a couple different techniques just to see what worked best for me. First I went with straight sandpaper and quickly found that while effective, just waaaaaaay to time consuming:no::no: Next I went and got out the rasps. Once again, I found working and shaping with the rasps quite enjoyable. Results are relatively quick, once you get the hang of it, it almost becomes second nature. I have become quite pleasantly surprised at how much can be accomplished in such a short amount of time with a good rasp! They are good, but not the best:no::no::no: Third I got out the spokeshave. Holds your cards ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. The spokeshave just plowed thru the job. In no time, I had the general shape in place and with just a little follow up with a #9 rasp which leaves an amazingly smooth surface. All three methods were followed by a quick going over with 80grit sandpaper. Almost hated to do it with the 3rd method, but I wanted to round over all the edges, get a smooth flow to the wood etc. A body work soft sanding pad works great here, contours nicely to the work piece. Knocked off all of the high spots and deeper scratches in no time. Once I get the dowels cut in place, I'll go back over each spindle with sandpaper, ending up at 400 just prior to assembly. 

Pic 169: contour layout lines in place...

Pic 170: after bout a half hour with the rasp, this is where I was at. Taking a moment and walking away, I came back and thought that the top portion of the body looked a little too bulky. Another 10/15 minutes with the rasps I had her narrowed down to where I was happy with the look. 

Pic 171: After settling in on using a spokeshave, everything progressed nicely. What I did was to get the 1st spindle pretty much exactly how I like it, then used that as a visual template for the remaining spindles. It was at this point I began to think that a little string work or even a delicate inlay would look really fine....

Pic 172: All spindles are done for now, nice and even when laid out, no noticeable high spots. There is one flare out that sits a bit higher than the others for some reason. What I'll do is wait til I can do a dry fit and decide if I want the flares to run horizontal from side to side or work in a bit of a 'swing'. High on one side, to low in the middle, then back to high on the other side...

The dowel cutters showed up today.. things are lookin up. A quick tryout showed they might just work out fine. I do see a jig needing to be fabricated..these things will put an angled down on a straight piece of wood if everything isn't lined up...

ohhhhh decisions, decisions....whats a guy to do....


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Bill, just saw this from FWW. I don't know if it will be in time or be helpful but it is an interesting solution for drilling angled holes for chair slats. How to Drill Windsor Chair Mortises - Fine Woodworking Video


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Bill, just saw this from FWW. I don't know if it will be in time or be helpful but it is an interesting solution for drilling angled holes for chair slats. How to Drill Windsor Chair Mortises - Fine Woodworking Video


Thanks Charles, but I caught this a day too late. I don't think I would have gone this route anyways since there is a bit of wiggle room built into the spindles. With the Windsor chairs, I can see where you "have to" an exact angle. The legs are fixed without any play. I bookmarked the link none the less since a Windsor chair was on my bucket list until recently in favor of another style chair along the lines of the rocker. I've been playing with the idea of a matching 2 chair and chess table set.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Spindle dowel/tenon cutters*

Once the cutters arrived from Japan Woodworker Buy Set of 3 - 3/8", 1/2', & 5/8" Tenon Cutters in a Wooden Case at Japan Woodworker it became time to stop procrastinating and just have at it. 
A quick word about the cutters. Delivery from where ever JW is located to SW Pa. was amazingly quick. Even with them getting delivered to the wrong address for a day. The box they came in is just your typical cheapo wood box. The cutters themselves look to be very well made. Machine work is nice and clean, no burrs, shanks are nicely tooled. The cutting spurs and rakers are sharp (resharpening will be a task unto itself!!!) Finish on the cutters is nothing special, but well done none the less,. 
My preference for these cutters was the Veritas versions. However, they were out of stock and no availability date was given by Lee Valley. My preference is based solely on my history with the Veritas product line. Always top shelf, always great product and performance. At almost half the cost of the Veritas cutters, the Japan Woodworker cutters arn't too shabby. Retail for a set of 3 (3/8", 1/2", 5/8": which just happened to include the 2 sizes needed for the build 3/8" and 1/2") at time of purchase was $31.55 and shipping was $11.00 vs. around $18.00 per bit at Lee Valley


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Cutting the tenons*

First thing I set about doing is taking a look at each of the 7 spindles and attempt to pick out a single consistent point from which to draw a center line down thru the bottoms of each spindle. Fortunately when laying out the spindles, I drew a center line down the length of each spindle on the front and back. Since roughing out the spindles was less than dead on, the old center lines proved most useful. The ends of the spindles were pretty consistent at about 20/32" thick. This was due to having laid out the spindles, then using a carpenters square, drawing a line across the bottoms. This gave a single, consistent reference point. I used an awl to punch in a center point. Off of the center line I measure out 1/4" left and right for a 1/2" dia. dowel. These lines were carried over to the top and bottom of the spindle and to one side. Now I had a line of sight as to where the dowel would hopefully end up. A 1 1/4" cutoff point was drawn for where to stop drilling out the dowel. 
From here, I took a 1/2" brad point drill bit and "lightly" drilled in the outline of where the 1/2" dowel would start. Just enough to leave behind a circle to be used as a reference point. Ok, now I have things laid out to the point where I"m comfortable. Rather than go directly to the drill and risk blowing out the bottom of the spindle when introducing the bit to the wood I decided to file down the ends. This would allow for the introduction of the bit gradually into the wood. Not giving the bit an area to 'bite' into. I filed down to the outline left by the brad point bit or just inside of the line. Now the bit would just fit overtop as a starting point. 
Not wanting to leave well enough alone, I thought to make a nipple using the bit itself. This way, aligning the bit to the wood on the vertical would be possible. Now this was kind of surprising. The Japan Woodworker cutters, using only hand pressure were capable of cutting into the wood and leaving behind a very nice nipple. Took very little effort just patience to get things as lined up properly as I could. Ok, now the spindles are ready for the drill press. 
I needed a jig to hold the spindles in place and be able to line up the spindle on 2 axis's. Both vertical and horizontal. You can see in the pictures that what I came up with WON'T make the cover on Fine Wood Working, :laugh: but it did prove to be most effective. it held the pieces in place, allowed for me to move then enough to get them lined up and held them tight for cutting. I used the center lines drawn onto the spindles and the opening in the cutting to line things up. I'm sure not 100% dead nuts on, but hey, it worked well enough. Just proves, it don't have to be pretty, just effective. 
A pleasant surprise was just how nicely these cutters worked. Cutting action was exceptionally smooth, very, very little in the way of burns. The wood shavings were very smooth and light weight. Just proves there is always more than one way to skin a cat. I just hope that I don't run out of cats before this project is over:sarcastic:

Pic 173: laying out the 1/2" dia. on the bottom of each spindle

Pic 174: Filing down the end of the spindle to more readily accept the cutting head

Pic 175: spindle bottom, filed down to just under 1/2"

Pic 178: Used the cutter to give a small nipple for starting the cut on the drill press

Pic 179: Clamping the jig to the drill press, then the spindle clamped in place to the jig. Not pretty I'll readily admit, but dang, it worked nicely. 

Pic 180: The end result. Dowel cut and should work nicely.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Bottom of spindles in place*

Cutting the dowels into the bottom of the spindles proved to be more stressfull than difficult. This is just one of those things that comes with experience I suppose. So I got em all cut and ready for the seat bottom. 
Taking a small metal square I eyeballed the angles needed which turned out to be pretty consistent from one spindle to the next. I'd say 10* pitched towards the front of the rocker would about do it. Since, I've used drills for as long as I can remember, I had no issues going about this by hand. So, using a 1/2" brad point bit, I drilled out the 7 required holes in the seat. In the end, 5 out of the 7 holes were dead on, requiring just a minimum of flex from the spindle, 2 of the 7 were off a bit, the #2 and #4 holes were too upright. So I had to "tweak em" a little. Barely noticeable and easily fixed, I'm not going to sweat it. 
The big thing here for me, was to just keep everything running smoothing. I want a nice smooth, even swing from left to right. I wanted the lines when looking at the spindles to be nice and even and the shoulders both top and bottom to flow from one side to the other. 

Pic 181: just a big sign of relief when once mounted to the seat, everything looked good. 

Pic 182; A look at things from the rear of the rocker

Pic 183; YEAH!!:sold:

Pic 184: Its all about balance...

Pic 185: You can see where holes 2 & 4 will require a little touchup.. nothing I cant live with or hide easy enough. 

Overall for me, a challenging aspect of this build and its not over yet, there is still 7 tops to do...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Spindle tops*

Completing the spindle tops are done in relatively the same manner as the bottoms. Only difference, which is a positive one is that for the most part, the top portion of the spindles are straight. This made setting up for drilling much simpler and quicker. 
After drilling out the tenons the spindles were placed in the vise for shaping. Here again the builder and pretty much do whatever suits his/her fancy. When I do another rocker, I've already got plans I'd like to incorporate. Anyhooooo...
A spokeshave makes quick work of the shaping. Keeping it simple and clean I went with a slight taper from the upper shoulders to the tenon. Leaving a small flat above the shoulders then finishing up with rounding off at the tenon. The spokeshave will leave behind a flat so once the general shape is roughed in I grabbed the #9 Auriou rasp to 
smooth things over. 
Once finished with the rasp, all that is left for now was to go over the entire spindle with 80 and 150 grit sandpaper. Taking out the scratches and doing a little touch up here and there. 
One of my objectives with regards to the spindle/crest assembly was to minimize the stress put onto the spindles when the crest in placed into position. When it was all said and done I have just a hair over 3/8" to move the crest back into its mounted position. I'm most pleased with that!!!!!!! In fact, I can tip the rocker backwards and the crest falls into place. Cool!

Pic 186: Cutting the tenon is about the same as with the bottom tenons. 1/8" layout lines marked onto the spindle as a guide for rounding over the edges. 

Pic 187: Spokeshave used to get the create the overall taper from the upper shoulders to the tenon. 

Pic 188: Gone as far as i could go with the spokeshave. From here its the #9 Auriou rasp (comparable to the #50 Nicholsen)

Pic 189: picture of the finished taper. Nothing fancy, just a nice clean easy on the eye line. 

Pic 190: This is all the more the crest will need to be moved to place it in its mounting position. 

Pic 191: At this point, one might think that there is a rocker in there somewhere 

Pic 192: LIFE IS GOOD!!


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

A fine job, Bill......


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## Larkan (Apr 13, 2012)

What a beautiful job....... well done Bill


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

James/Kerry... thank you both... she's coming along nicely...but still a good ways to go.


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

Looking great. Your helper is a real cutie too!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

denniswoody said:


> Looking great. Your helper is a real cutie too!



Thank you Dennis...little by little...

The cutie  is my grand daughter..right now, she's more of a handfull than a helper *L*
The night I took that picture, was the first night I actually let her loose in the shop to walk around. I swear I heard "whats this" at least a thousand times....


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Trimming down the legs*

With the holiday and all that goes along with it, its been a busy week or so, but I still managed to find time for the shop and the rocker. After getting the spindles where I wanted em, I thought to just step back a day or two and just sorta recharge the batteries. Work has been brutal and the holiday hetic. The last thing I wanted to do was to go down and make a "tired" or "just not focused" kind of mistake. 
With the exception of the rockers themselves, all of the major components are now cut, generally fitted and in good shape. One thing I did do over the holiday was to take and dish out the seat pan a little more. Not much mind you, but just enough that it looked more inviting to sit in. I also even out'd the lip of the pan. Now the shadow lines are nice and consistent and the shadow flows around the inside edge. I also spent a little time on the pommel and the front lip of the seat. At this point I'm not very happy with the overall look of the front lip. To me, it just looks kinda bulky. I'm going to need to spend some time looking at other rockers to get an idea of how to take care of this issue. 
The side and back edges (upper and lower) needed to be rounded off. I figured the quickest and best way to accomplish this would be to just use the router with a round over bit. On the top side edges I used a 1/2" round over and on the bottom side and back bottom edge I used a 3/4" round over. Each of the passes started just shy of the leg joints and finished just short. This will allow me to evenly feather in the leg joints later on. There remains something of a "flat" spot on the sides even with rounding them over. I'll spend a little time with rasp and sand paper and create an ever so slight outside curve on the sides. Right now, I"m shooting for no flat surfaces. Everything is to have at least something of a soft sweep to it, at a minimum. 
As I said earlier, I want to do as much as I can to each individual piece prior to assembly as I possibly can. This includes shaping and sanding. With that in mind and the next thing on the list was to begin shaping the front legs I thought I'd make a jig to hold the leg in the vise while I worked on it. First thing was to attach the legs back to the seat and cut a even line along the chair edge into the inside of the bridal joint. Everything outside of the cut line would be waste and need to be removed and rounded over. So, leg was screwed back into position and a flush cut pull saw was used to make the cuts. This worked out extremely well. No problems at all. Now, onto the jig...
The jig itself was easy enough, just a block of wood that I could screw the leg onto. It worked well enough, held the legs steady, allowed me to work on em with the rasp and sand paper. I used this for the first leg. With the cut lines done, I grabbed a sharp chisel and knocked off as much of the waste as I could. Then I pared off even more. Leaving as little as I could for the rasp and sanding. The rest was just a matter of filing away and sanding. Keeping the sweep of the outside of the leg in mind. Filing down around the knuckle was a bit tricky. In so much as you need to be very careful not to nick the knuckles with the file. Its those little nicks and scuffs that can be a bugger to fix and make look right. 
Moving onto the second leg. Made the cuts with the flush cut saw and then decided I'd give it a go while still mounted to the seat. All I can say to this is that I really shouldn't have bothered with the jig *LOL*.. what a waste of time. Working with the leg mounted to the seat was quick, easy and for whatever reason, just seemed to make the job smoother. DUH.. ohh well, live and learn  I did remove the leg for touch up with the rasp and sanding. I just didn't want to be stressing the seat while in a vise and grinding down on it while sanding. 
The back legs were just as straight forward with the exception of having to draw in some layout lines for the sweeps down into the chair. Here, its up to the builder once again. What ever floats your boat goes here. The only thing I would caution here is that, keep in mind what you may want to do later on when deciding on what your going to do now. The other difference was that to remove the bulk of the wood used the Galahad grinding wheel. That darn wheel is just a termite on steroids! WOW does it remove the wood and remove it fast. If you use one, just be careful. It will leave one helluva nasty mark in the wood if your not paying attention. I would suggest you think out every sweep with the thing, don't go randomly and don't try to get it as close as possible. Give yourself some wiggle room. And finish your filing and sanding just shy of the line. I think it will be alot easier to just feather the legs into the seat after final assembly. I left somewhere between 1/16 and 1/8". I've got some carbide burrs for this purpose, just not sure if I"ll use them or just continue on with the rasps since they do such a nice job.

Pic 193: 1/2 & 3/4" round over bits used for rounding over the edges of the top and bottom side and the bottom of the back portions of the seat

Pic 194: Not the best of pictures, but you get the idea. Edges rounded over. I began and stopped the passes just shy of the legs. This way, I can go and hand file/sand up to the legs without feat of blowout. 

Pic 195: Before and after the removal of the bridal joint outside knuckle. Not necessarily the most difficult of tasks, but one where there are plenty of opportunities to make a mistake that would be difficult to easily overcome. 

Pic 196: Just a side view of the before and after. 

Pic 197/198: cutting the flush kerf down into the bottom of the bridal joint. 

Pic 199: I used a sharp chisel to knock off as much of the waste as possible. 

Pic 200: Once as much wood is removed from the knuckle as possible using a chisel, the next step was to use a rasp to file the knuckle down even further. 

Pic 201: The whole process moves along quickly while hogging off the wood. Once you start to get down to where you want to be, things slow down a bit and more emphasis is put on technique and where you're going. 

Pic 202: Pic of both front legs shaped and in place. 

Pic 203: Lines laid out on the back legs. Giving an idea of where to file down to. The Galahad grinding wheel removed most of the waste in quick order. 

Pic 204: Leg in the back ground has been filed down, the leg in the foreground has the cut lines marked and ready for removal of waste

Pic 205, 06 & 07: All the legs have had the knuckles/joints shaped. Now you begin to get an idea of the whole thinking behind this type of build.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

That is some inspiring work, Bill.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Thank you sir!! 

The rocker ain't nothing compared to the mess I'm making in the shop  man, I've never created so much sawdust during a project in my life.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*wood doughnut?*

Came across this video this morning while doing a little research. What I found especially interesting is the use of what he referees to as a "wood doughnut" at about the 2:30 mark. This is the first time I've seen such a jig in use and found it quite interesting and in the right hands, extremely useful. However, in the wrong hands, it looks to be an accident waiting to happen. Both to the user as well as to the material. :yes4: :nono: 

Shaping chair legs with router table - YouTube

I've also concluded the reason the seat looks too bulky is because it is too bulky. I've failed to remove enough material from the seat pan. Hmmmmmmmmmm Having looked at quite a few other renditions of the rocker and the seat in general I'm probably half way to where I want to be in the back where you put your butt and sloping that area to the front, should aide in the flow considerably.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

The doughnut is interesting. I don't know if it is any more dangerous than using the round over bit without a fence of starting pin. You would want to be careful about dropping anything into the center with the router going. I noticed he had something like a musclechuck on the router and I don't know if you would have enough reach without it.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

I completely agree with "interesting"!!! i just finished a general rounding over of the back legs using just a couple of rasps. Worked plenty good enough for me. But, if one were to go into a production mode, I can see where the wood doughnut would be of worth.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Hi Bill, I trust you are keeping all your templates and jigs on the wall like in the video.

You may end up making more than one......


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> Hi Bill, I trust you are keeping all your templates and jigs on the wall like in the video.
> 
> You may end up making more than one......


Howdy James... 

You betcha bud!!! All templates were fabricated out of 1/2" baltic birch with the exception of the rockers template which I'm using 3/4" mdf. All done with the intentions of making at least one more somewhere down the road.
I've actually have had several inquires. One is kinda up in the air and the others all jumped ship once we got to the cost.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

The first one is the hardest one. I bet yours will sell for a lot cheaper than one of Sam's, at least now while you're still alive. I've heard his are selling for collector's prices.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Charles...
Maloof's rockers are quite the collectors item of late. A documented build of one by him went for over 40k recently. Others for even more. Buids like mine are going for anywhere from around 2500 to well over 10,000. For those rockers that are well made the big differences seem to be the wood or combination of woods used and the builder. big name, big bucks. 
My rocker is going to be a wedding gift so I don't have to worry about even trying to sell it  I do have an idea I'm toying with that would be for sale........I just have to decide if I want to start down that slippery slope....


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Rounding over the back legs*

Now the rocker is starting to take shape, bit by bit. Next on the list was to round over the majority of the back legs. One of the key elements to this rocker is no hard edges save 2. This is not a requirement for the build, just a personnel choice I've gone with. Over the weekend I must have looked at over 100 builds. Some were along my lines, others with lots of hard edges, and some with a combination of both. Once again, its all about whatever floats your boat, or the boat of whomever you may be commissioned to build one for. 
There is only one edge on each back leg that I could run thru the router table and with the rocker looking just a little bland when viewed from the back in terms of lines I took advantage of it and used a 3/8" bead bit. This left a nice line running the length of each back leg. Maybe 1/16" or so. Just enough to leave a nice shadow line and add a little something extra. 
The remaining edges are all done by hand, Using the #49 Nicholsen and a combination of Auriou rasps. A 10" 11g and a 10" modelers 10g. While the rasps do a fantastic job, you gotta be carefull when using em. A errant pass with the rasp can leave behind a nasty scratch which will require a good deal of work to sand out. I learned this the hard way in a few places. Fortunately the scratches were in spots where sanding em out wasn't a problem and didn't affect the look at all. 
A marking gauge was used to layout the lines, then I went over each line with a pencil, pressing hard to get the lead into the cut. This gave me a 'target' to go after when roughing in the edges. One the line disappeared, time to move on. Once again, you just need to find a rhythm when using the rasp. I'd start slow and pick up speed once I got the feel for it. Constantly keeping an eye on the line I was working and constantly rolling the rasp over on the arch so as to not create any flat spots. I used the 49 to rough em in, then the Auriou's to tweak the edges. When I got to where I wanted to be, I grabbed a small card scrapper and went over each edge. This helped point out any low spots and deep scratches that needed to be touched up. Finishing up with 150 to just smooth over the edge. 
I will say this about using a rasp for major shaping. If I were to do this for a living, day in and day out, I'd actually have a wasit line 
I did the same thing with the crest, nice and quick and for now, looks nice. Once she's together after glue up I can go over as needed. I'm still trying to do as much of the shaping and sanding as I can before final assembly. Just seems easier this way. If you take a look at the headrest, you get a feel for the figure of this cherry.

Pic 208: bead profile on back leg. Nothing over the top and just adds a nice little touch I felt. 

Pic 209: Laying out the remainder of the round overs'

Pic 210: One leg rounded over compared to the one that hasn't been yet

Pic 211: Closed up of the left back leg to seat joint. You can see why I left a little wiggle room with the round overs. Now, once assembled, I can easily pull the pieces together. Hopefully..easily.. :yes2:

Pic 212: Inside edges of right leg.

Pic 213: Crest has been rounded over. Surprised at how it made the piece look so much smaller. This pic gives ya a feel for the figure in this cherry... sweet!!!


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Charles...
> Maloof's rockers are quite the collectors item of late. A documented build of one by him went for over 40k recently. Others for even more. Buids like mine are going for anywhere from around 2500 to well over 10,000. For those rockers that are well made the big differences seem to be the wood or combination of woods used and the builder. big name, big bucks.
> My rocker is going to be a wedding gift so I don't have to worry about even trying to sell it  I do have an idea I'm toying with that would be for sale........I just have to decide if I want to start down that slippery slope....


You have to decide if you want to do woodworking as a job or a hobby. As a job it may not be nearly as much fun. On a recent post a number of members commented that they rarely do the same project twice nor do they want to. I think I heard in a video interview of Sam that he was able to produce a chair in 3 or 4 days, probably with some help. Even if I were able to do one in say 3 weeks, I don't think I would want to make more than 3 or 4 in a year. To me that would be enough.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

You nailed it Chuck.. as a job, it would not be nearly as much fun. For me, its all about just relaxing, enjoying what I'm doing and if I'm fortunate enough to turn out something nice while doing it, thats just icing on the cake. On the rare occasion that I do take on a job for someone, its always on my terms. I'll work with someone to get a feel for what they want, then its my design, my choice of wood(s) and you get it, when you get it. Cost will usually be around 20% over my costs just to cover odds and ends. And boy do they add up at times. If that doesn't work for em, no hard feelings, I"m just not the guy they want for the build. 
These rockers have become quite a popular build, with several folks offering full week classes on building one. Even at that, most are you build it then take it home for final fit and finish. Not counting materials, these classes alone are a couple thousand. The unique design aspects of this rocker are what made it so impressive. But with hundreds of folks building them and others doing production runs on em...the uniqueness surely wont' last forever. Along with Greene and Greene, its kinda like the design De jour. 
I have some ideas for a 2nd rocker that I'd love to use, its just finding someone who likes em well enough to pay for it. 
I will say that after this, I'm going to price out materials for a chess table with matching chairs build that I've dreamed up. This one, I'm sure I can make a few bucks on... its the up front costs that'll hold me back...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Rockers glue up jig.*

Welp, another weekend in the books and another step hopefully in the right direction with this build. I decided to give the top of the rocker a bit of a rest and focus on the rockers this weekend. At this point, there were two objectives. To get the glue up form for the rockers fabricated and to mill the wood. Neither of which is difficult but like everything else, just requires a bit of time. 
I began by deciding to go with 3/4" MDF for the glue up jig. Mostly because I've had good luck with it in the past and its what I had on hand. The template package included a paper template which I glued onto the first piece of 3/4" mdf. A Everyday spray on adhesive was used. just keeping in mind to maintain a straight line/edge between the paper template and the bottom edge of the mdf. After leaving the glue setup and dry for a while, I took a jig saw and cut as close as I possibly could to the line. From there it was just a matter of using the rasps and sandpaper to smooth things out nice and even. Now I had a working template for the bottom half of the bottom half. I roughed out the bottom half, of the bottom half, then glue and screwed it to the top half of the bottom half. (ya'll following this?  ) I mounted a top bearing pattern bit in the router table and proceeded to route using the top half of the bottom half as a guide. Ok, now, if you havn't got a headache by now, I'm not through yet!!!
Using the bottom half as a guide, I placed and clamped down another piece of MDF under the bottom half, making sure to square up the sides. I then mounted a 3/4" x 1 1/2" top bearing pattern maker bit into the handheld router. Using the bottom half as a guide, I routed a mating curve into the mdf below. The bit was not long enough to make a thru cut which was fine. I removed the mdf that I had just routed the mating curve into, took a jig saw and cut it out. Again, using a file and rasp, smoothed over the remainder. Now I had a working template for the bottom half of the top half. Traced out the pattern, jig sawed it close, glued and screwed it to the top half of the top half and then routed it out..ok..ok...
Next I mounted the bottom half to a platform using Titebond II and screws. Lastly, I took the top half, placed it next to the bottom half and 'tweaked' the fit to the point where I felt I'd get good even clamping pressure during the glue up of the rockers.

Pic 214: finished glue up jig for the rockers. Here is where a few good pics is well worth a few thousand words and a bottle of aspirin. 

Pic 215: This pic should give you a good idea of how it will all pull together. Nothing fancy, but effective. The 'bottom half' is screwed to the platform, the 'top half' slides into position. 

Pic 216: Entire jig was made using a little better than a half sheet of 3/4" mdf.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Rockers: Prepping the laminates.*

Each of the two rockers is made up of multiple pieces of stock. The thickness of the stock can vary depending on your choices. It is recommended that when glued up the stock winds up at a full 1" thickness. How you get there, is entirely up to you. Brock recommends that you go with a heavy 1/8" or a heavy 3/16". As long as you can get it to bend and hold its shape after glueup, you can go with whatever ya like. 
I ended up going with a heavy 1/8" (.150). I had milled up a heavy 1/8" and a heavy 3/16". I was surprised to find how much more flexible the 1/8" was when compared to the 3/16" stock. For only a 1/16 of an inch difference in all three woods I used, it was quite noticeable. 
I decided to go with three woods. Cherry, walnut and maple. I will build each laminate going with: 2 cherry, 1 walnut, 1 maple (white), 1 walnut and finally 2 more cherry. A total of 7 pieces. Once stacked and glued, I'll be just a hair over 1". That'll work! Each piece of the laminate is milled out to 1 1/2" wide x a heavy 1/8" (.150 +/-) x 51" long. 
I tried out 3 pieces of the walnut in the jig to see how much effort would be required to pull the two half together. With 3 pieces, it was noooooooooo problem at all. In fact, when I tried 7, it was very easy to bend things into shape. The glueup itself should prove to be quite easy after all. 6 or 7 12"-24" clamps ought to do it. 
I just need to come up with something to put down onto the MDF prior to glue up. I dont' want the glue up itself to be glued to the jig. I"m thinking of just smearing some parafin wax over the surfaces? I may even have some UHMW plastic tape left over...anyways..
I'll be using an Urea Resin glue for the rockers. Temps in the basement have been hovering around the bottom end of the mfg's. recommended usage tables. So I'll just wait til things warm up a bit. If not by the end of the week, I might just have to use the kitchen as a make shift shop while the wife is at work...shhhhhhhh:nono::nono:

Pic 217: Sampling of the laminates cut up for the rockers. When it was all said and down, I ended up cutting up about 3 times what you see in the pictures. Mostly for use on other projects. Something about mill work, I just enjoy the hell out of? I also wanted to get as much straight grain as i could in each rocker. 

Pic 218: Trying out the jig with just 3 pieces of walnut. Also wanted to get an idea of the number of clamps I'll need and which ones. Nice thing is that I can use 12" clamps on this jig. So 4 12's and 3 24"s is what I'll use. 

Pic 219: All 7 pieces in place. this is what the rockers will look like in terms of how the wood will be laid out.


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

Another good post. Before going on let me say I have no experience with laminate glue-ups, but I am planning on a curved front project in the near future so I've been doing some reading. First question is whether the plan allows for spring back after release from the form. Spring back is apparently common to some degree and I'm wondering about differences between the two rockers. I will face this issue with my project. Second question is about the glue. Why this glue and could you provide a brand name if possible.
I'm looking forward to how you go about positioning the rocker supports.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Dennis...

Laminate glue ups are no big deal by themselves in so much as long as your doing a flat surface. The fun begins when you start adding curves/bends! When you start doing that the whole process takes on a new complexion. Everything comes into play. Type of wood or woods being used. Just how tight an arc? How thick to cut the wood to be bent. How best to bend the wood if in fact the wood is agreeable to being bent n the first place. What kind of glue to use. How much spring back to expect etc.... 
To answer your first question, No, there are no allowances in the plans for spring back. But I have a few things going in my favor. First is the fact I'm going with cherry as a primary wood in the rockers. Cherry is a great wood to bend in most cases. Walnut, not so much and maple if cut thin enough will bend ok. This is the reason behind going with the thinner cuts. It just bends easier. 
Secondly, the curves are not that severe. 
Third, and perhaps most importantly in my case is that I built a "heat gun bender"..for lack of a better way of describing it. Prior to glue up I'll use the heat gun bender to "shape the wood close to where it will be when finished. This loosens up the lignin in the wood (lignin holds the wood in shape) Once heated, the lignin can be flexed or stretched. As the wood cools back to normal, to a large extent the lignin will retain its new shape. The ability of the lignin in the wood to do this varies greatly between species. Ideally with the heat gun bender, I'll get the wood darn close to where it needs to be and let the Urea Resin do the rest during glue up. 
You could also use a "steam box" to help bend the wood, in addition to having a form or template to place the wood in right after taking it out of the box, or you could go with what's called "cold" bending which is basically using very thin strips to make up your laminate. 
The choice of a Pre-catalyzed Powered UP Resin was one made while talking with my veneer guy. Up to that point, I've always used Titebond II (extended open time). The UP Resin has a longer open time and dries harder than your typical wood glue. The product that was suggested and that I used is Custom Bond Powder Plastic Resin. I picked up a cheapo kitchen scale at Kmart and mix with water by weight, NOT by volume. I did a bit of a write up on doing curved drawer fronts for a chess table I built. Take a look, I'd be happy to try and answer any questions you might have. 

Router Forums - View Single Post - Chess Table II


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

While my preference in general for wood glues is for them to have an element of elasticity, it isn't desirable in this situation where there will be some stress between the laminations, possibly for quite a while. Most common woodworking glues would fall into this category. The reason is that they may allow some creep in the joint due to the stress. The UF glue should be ridged enough to prevent this. It is one of the few glues that is allowed by building codes to use to laminate lumber together to make beams or arches. 

Bill, I got the part about the top half of the top part and the bottom half of the bottom part but I missed any mention about the middle part of the middle part. Does the top half of the bottom part become the bottom half of the middle part and the bottom half of the top part become the top part of the middle part?
Sorry, I couldn't resist doing that.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Charles...

:dance3::dance3::dance3::dance3:

I'm glad at least someone got it..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Ok, I'm done laughing 

Charles,,, It appears were on the same page with the resin glue and glues in general. I've always known there is a certain amount of "give" with most wood glues and felt that it was minimal but useful especially with regards to wood movement. Brock in his video uses a OTC wood glue, Titebond II I believe. Having built quite a few of these things and overseeing lord knows how many more, I suspect he would have modified his approach if there was a problem. Having said that, I am sold on the properties of UR resins and how hard and how stiff they dry. To my way of thinking, I don't want any movement. Just want a solid, reliable assembly and I think the resin is the way to go. But that is just my opinion. The spindles and crest will get Titebond II, the arms and and legs will get a 24 hr. two part epoxy glueup A 24hr. epoxy is for the open time. I'd just as soon have it and not need it as opposed to needing it and not having it.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I think in most woodworking situations the elasticity of the glue works in your favor because of wood movement as you said, and racking and general force stress such as moving a chest or even opening a door on a carcass. 
Where you are using epoxy, I used fiberglass resin and hardener in roughly the same application on a glider rocker I made. Roughly the same chemicals. I read once that epoxy has about 5 times the holding power as regular wood glue but I also needed some gap filling capability as the joint had come apart after using regular wood glue. It hasn't come apart since.
One other glue that has no creep is hide glue. The hot melt would cure too fast for your job but the liquid stuff might be good. It is water soluble but the finish would protect it against anything short of leaving it outside. I remember trying to take apart an old stereo cabinet when I was a teen that had been hide glued together and it came apart in shards and splinters.


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

Good info on laminates and glues. Thanks guys.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Dennis, it is an often overlooked subject that is more important than most woodworkers give it credit for. They all have their strong points and weak points and while it is possible to get by just using one (almost all the time) some work better than others in specific situations.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Glues/adhesives in general are becoming more confusing than my explanation of building the template for this rocker!!! Cost, application, mfg., open time, precautions, temperature ranges to name a few, and not the least of which is "shelf life"!! The resin I"m going to use has an advertised shelf life of 1 year. It was suggested to me that I take the unused powder and place it in an air tight baggy and it will good for 3-4 years. 

Personally I'm looking forward for an excuse to tryout hide glue..just for the sake of saying I've tried it and to be able to speak to it with at least a little bit of experience.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Glues/adhesives in general are becoming more confusing than my explanation of building the template for this rocker!!! Cost, application, mfg., open time, precautions, temperature ranges to name a few, and not the least of which is "shelf life"!! The resin I"m going to use has an advertised shelf life of 1 year. It was suggested to me that I take the unused powder and place it in an air tight baggy and it will good for 3-4 years.
> 
> Personally I'm looking forward for an excuse to tryout hide glue..just for the sake of saying I've tried it and to be able to speak to it with at least a little bit of experience.


Very true. I have tended to overdo it in the past with trying different glues to see which ones I liked better and wound up throwing some out. But I did find some gems along the way and I have narrowed my requirements down some. There are 3 which I don't like being without now and a few others I may buy and use in specific situations.

Same here. It has some interesting properties and is supposed to hold extremely well. Were you thinking the hot melt or the new liquid version? I'm not sure how much they differ other than in ease of use.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Definitely the hot melt. If only for the history and steps for application. One down side is the cost of a hot pot. But even they can be obtained at a reasonable price. I do understand that the smell can be somewhat offensive  not so sure I want to wife who has a sniffer like you would not believe dealing with that...*L*


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Rockers glue up*

Now that everyone understands how to make the jig  I figure might as well put it to use. Temps around here were -14 early in the week and mid 50's yesterday. The shop was around 55-60. Still a little on the chilly side. So its up to the kitchen we go. Of course the wife isn't around and a good thing. I cant say that I would blame her. 
Having used the PPR resin several times before, I pretty much know what is needed. Having everything on hand and ready to go prior to starting the process is a good idea. The only "special" tool needed is a means by which to measure out your resin and water. The Mfg. and everything I've read strongly suggests that you mix the resin with water by 'weight' and not by volume. With that in mind, I needed an inexpensive means to do so. A quick trip to a local Kmart and I found one for about 15 bucks I think it was. The ratio's of resin to water are given in an online PDF and uses 1/10's as opposed to oz's. A little math will get ya close enough without any worries. 1/10oz equals .100 and an 1/8oz equals .125. A little heavy or little light one way or the other in my experience hasn't made much of a difference at all. I would suggest one makes every effort to get it as close as you can. 
A good nice to have is a small sponge roller. I used a 4" version. A smaller 2"r would have even been better. The sponge roller allows for a nice even application of the mix. It also helps keep squeeze out to a minimum. A couple of small plastic measuring cups are nice for weighing and mixing. A paint stick if ya got one, a small plastic paint tray that fits your roller, disposal gloves are a good idea. 
A bucket of water and an old rag to clean up the kitchen floor when your done is a very good idea. Trust me on this one :yes4:

Doing these rockers one at a time, I went with a minimal mix. 3.4oz of resin and 2.1oz of water. Which I figured out to be a heavy 3 3/8th oz of mix and 2 1/8oz of water. This mix turned out to be just barely enough, but it worked out ok. 
Get out the scale place your mixing container on top and dont forget to zero out the scale. Weigh out the resin and then move on to doing the same with the water. Move onto adding about 2/3rds of the water to the dry resin and mix thoroughly!! When you think you've mixed it well, mix it a little longer, then add the remainder of the water and repeat. Pour the now ready mix into the paint tray. Consistency for this mix is somewhere between a good gravy and warm pudding. Open time is reasonable at about 30-40 minutes at 70*, but don't fart around too much. You can see the mix slowly thicken as you progress in the glue up. 
At this point you should have your stock laid out in order of assembly, jig ready to go, gloves on and eye protection probably isn't a bad idea either. A quick note on prepping the jig. In order to help prevent the rocker from sticking to the jig after glueup and took some parafin wax and rubbed it all over the jig. Everywhere the the laminates might come in contact with the MDF. This worked out very well. After removing the clamps, just a couple taps with a rubber mallet and the rocker came free. Noooooooooooo problems at all. :sold:

Applying the adhesive to the wood is no big deal. Just take your time, apply a even thin coat and stack as you go along. Keeping in mind that the top and bottom pieces only get glued on one side. the INSIDE...Good thing I always make a spare or two..geesh!!!! Got em glued, got em stacked so just place em in the jig. Pull it all together and lightly clamp the center clamp. Tap down the laminates as you proceed to lightly clamp down the remaining clamps. Once everything looks good, clamp her down good. Only thing left to do now is just wait. Cure times vary with temps. At 70*, you'll be looking at 4-6 hrs.. Personally I just let it sit overnight. 

OHhh,, yes,, don't forget to clean up the kitchen floor!!!!!!!!!!

Pic 221; Pretty much everything needed for this lamination. Missing are a couple of small glue cups used for dishing out the material and water. 

Pic 222: Inexpensive digital scale works just fine. 

Pic 223: Just a few of the items needed for mixing up the resin.. small chunk of parafin wax used to prevent the laminate from sticking to the MDF.

Pic 224: Precatalyzed Powdered Plastic Uria Resin in its dry state. Off the shelf it comes in just the pale. Its a good idea to put the unused resin in an air tight plastic baggy and store in a cool place. This will help extend shelf life considerably. 

Pic 225, 226 and 227: Weighing out the mix. Do not forget to zero out your scale prior to weighing out materials. 

Pic 228: It don't take much to go a long way. This small amount proved to be just enough. Consistency was somewhere between gravy and pudding...

Pic 230: The sponge roller works perfectly. Just a smooth even application is all that is needed. The stock on the left has been glued, the one on the right not...

Pic 231: Using the roller to apply the resin. Take your time. Going to fast tends to cause the roller to spit the stray drop of resin. Usually landing on the kitchen floor. *S*

Pic 232: Once you got resin on everything that needs it, just stack it, place it and clamp it up. For this project, this assembly pulled together beautifully. A very easy one man job. 

Pic 233: Using the roller really helps keep squeeze out to a minimum. 

Pic 234: Here ya go. One down, one to go. Next will be to glue on the risers and then start shaping. That light at the end of the tunnel is slowly getting bigger..


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Definitely the hot melt. If only for the history and steps for application. One down side is the cost of a hot pot. But even they can be obtained at a reasonable price. I do understand that the smell can be somewhat offensive  not so sure I want to wife who has a sniffer like you would not believe dealing with that...*L*


I've been reading a book called Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking and there is a bit in it about hide glue. He says you just need a double boiler which you can make by putting one very cheap pot inside another with some spacers under to keep it up off the bottom.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Charles... now that you mention that, I do recall having either having read or seen the use of a double boiler. When the time comes, definitely something to consider. And the time may come sooner than later. Cleaning up a little in the shop I came across some beautiful walnut burl left over from another build and somewhere down there is a large compass inlay I did, just waiting for a home. hmmmmmmmmmmmmm..

First the kitchen and now her pots and pans...I dunno, my future in woodworking might be short lived


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I was thinking Dollar Store or Thrift Store but if you're feeling really brave...or lucky...

Where is the closest hospital, in case I need to send a get well card?


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

So you have this big glue-up in the kitchen and you want 24 hours for it to set. Just where did you take the wife for dinner?


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Charles.. I'd need more than a card bud!!! Something along the lines of a warmer climate!!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

denniswoody said:


> So you have this big glue-up in the kitchen and you want 24 hours for it to set. Just where did you take the wife for dinner?



welp, yesterday the wife worked.. whew... got away with it.. Today she was busy with church and the kid. then she asks If I'd like a roast for diner. I looked at the table and then to her and suggested French bread pizza... sometimes it pays to be lucky..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Rockers....cont.*

Popped the second rocker out of the jig first thing this morning. This one took a couple more taps with the mallet to break free than the first, but no worries. Shoud have gone back over the jig with wax again prior to assembly. 
Very happy with the results. Springback on both rockers is for all intents and purposes identical. When set side by side they are darn near a perfect match. I'll put some photo's up later today.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Was there very much spring back?


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Was there very much spring back?


Both rockers had a minimal amount of spring back. Both, at the bottom outside of the arch, when place against the bottom half of the jig was no more than 3/16". With one compared against the other,,, they are visually identical in terms of amount of spirngback. I musta done something right


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Rockers cont.*

Thought I'd best put in a couple pics of the rockers now that they have been glued up. Nothing much to add. The glue up went well... Let both sit 24 hrs or close to it. The big concern was would they be even. Turned out that they ended up just fine. I can't say that they are "exactly" the same, but they are damn close and will serve this build well. You have to sit the rocker itself on the rockers to lay out the locations for the risers. Specs for this are all provided in the build plans. What was kinda surprising is just how little of the rockers protrude beyond the front legs. Barely 3/4". 
Once I sat the rocker on the rockers, it all fell together. The stubby front will look great. Not to mention, this is another milestone in the build. Actually seeing it with the rockers was cool. 

Pic 235: When you sit the rockers side by side. you'd be hard pressed to see any difference between the two. About 1" will be knocked off the fronts and about 2 1/2"s off the back. Both are rigid as all get out. 

Pic 236: This is a shot to give an idea of the amount of springback. The gap you see between the two in the pic is the same as the gap off of the jig. Spring back was darn near identical for both.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Shaping and sanding*

Everything is now nearly ready for assembly. The risers for the rockers are drying up tonight. Today I began grinding and sanding for final shaping. Yesterday I epoxied the legs on. Today I took the Saburr Tooth grinding burrs for a spin. Just like the grinding wheels, I'd strongly suggest that you take and play with them before you actually put them to use on a project. They can do alot of damage in a short period of time. 
I picked up a small assortment. Couple of each in each grit. Fine/medium/coarse. I found that there isn't a HUGE difference between the grits but just enough the warrant specific grits for specific applications. 
The burrs I picked up are in the 1/4" shank. Thinking the heavier shaft will obviously withstand my heavy hands. Surprisingly you really dont' need to apply much pressure. This is another one of those tools where you let the tool do the work. You just guide it. If a 1/8th grinder is what you got, go for it and dont' give it a second thought. 
I used a Chicago Pneumatics 1/4" air grinder. Great little tool. A smallish tool with a stubby shaft. RPM range up to 15,000. Ideally, a longer shaft would have been nicer. The body of the small grinder occasionally got in the way. For air, I've a twin cylinder, 2hp Ingersol Rand with a 30 gal. tank. The unit supplied enough air, but ran most of the time when using the grinder. 
The burrs themselves are really cool. AFter playing with them for a while and then in use, they showed absolutely no signs of wear. I suspect these things will last a good long time. They don't throw up sawdust all of the place. They are very 'controllable'. By that I mean, they don't tend to bite and want to take off on you when you make first contact with the wood. How you introduce the bit to the wood is pretty much the same between all three bits. For general wood removal, I found that you just introduce the bit to the wood and then work it back and forth, up and down, side to side. For final shaping, taking small steady swipes worked best. 
To give you an idea of the grits, my best guess estimate and an estimate it is would be that the course burrs are comparable to 40-60 grit sandpaper. the mediums would be 80-100 grit and the fine something along the lines of a 120-150. In something like a Foredom these things would be just awesome. 
Anyways,,, I began general shaping of the legs today. A combination of burrs, rasps and sandpaper is what it takes. There's no getting around it. Being more adept with the burrs would certainly speed things up. But that comes with time and use. The leg joints are all tight but the expoxy left more of a glue line than I had thought it might. Not a deal breaker or anything like that, just something to keep in mind. I roughed in the general shape of things with the burrs, then filed where need and finished up with 80 and 150 grit sand paper. No where near finished, but now I have a general over all look going on and can stand back and see where I need to make adjustments. Right off the plans, everything really flows together nicely after a short period of shaping. I do have several hollows that I need to follow up on. These seem to be located just about the sweep at the joints in the back legs. Nothing major, but it served notice of having to take a very carefull look at things as you go along. I've decided to go with a poly/oil finish in a satin. Even at that..someone with a knowing eye would pick these kinda things out. In terms of difficulty, not really as hard as I hard thought it might be. Actually, I found it rather enjoyable. Then again, I've never had a problem with sanding. 

I'll be sure to get a couple pics of the burrs and grinder in the next edition 

Pic 237: Inside of left front leg. Things are standing to take shape. (pardon the pun) Transitions from leg to seat looks good. Joints are tight. At thing point, I've sanded down to 150. Even at 150, it looks good. Just need to be careful to not take too much. The transition of the seat edge radius to the leg worked out beautifully. A little time with the rasp and I"m almost there...

Pic 238: Outside of left front leg. Walnut dowels in place. I think they will add a nice visual contrast. Here you get a good look at the glue lines in the joint. I'm thinking that once finish is applied, it will all but hide em. 

Pic 239: Outside of back left leg. Still need to rough in the underside of the seat/leg joint. The top though, looks good. If you look hard, at about 2 1/4"s up on the inside top of the joint, you can see the 'hollow' I referred to earlier. 

Pic 240: Inside of back left. You get a feel for the overall look of the transition from leg to seat. Still a little tweaking left, but overall, I'm quite please with the progress and the look.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Rocker risers:*

All that was left for the rockers was to get the risers glued up to them. The most difficult decision here was which woods to use in what order. It all should be so easy eh? The one decision I did make that may be of interest is that I went with a walnut for the top layer. In doing so, I'm hoping this will help 'hide' any epoxy/glue lines between the legs and the risers. 
Basically here your looking at 4 risers, each 6"s long, 1 1/2" wide by 1" thick. The combination of woods used to make up the risers is up to the builder just so you end up at 1" thick. Placement of the risers on the rocker is important and needs to be laid out prior to glue up. The biggest problem I had with this was just keeping the laminates squared up during clamping. If thats the worst of it, I can't complain! 

Pic 241: 4 clamps, stock and a kitchen table and your in business. The wife gets her kitchen table back today. She's been a very good sport about this. I owe her one.

Pic 242: There they are, glued up and ready for cleaning up and shaping. Prior to gluing on the risers, both rockers were pretty much identical. I was a bit surprised to find afterwards that the arch had changed just a hair in one or the other. This won't make a difference in assembly, just something to keep in mind later on down the road when doing other laminates.


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

It's coming together now! A couple of brads with the ends nipped off will help hold a glue-up in place. But you know that don't you.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

denniswoody said:


> It's coming together now! A couple of brads with the ends nipped off will help hold a glue-up in place. But you know that don't you.


Dennis...  yeah, I thought about a couple pins however, I thought that by doing so, I"d create alot of unwanted resistance since the risers were going to be clamped onto a somewhat concave surface.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Lil dis, lil dat kinda day*

After reclaiming the kitchen table for the wife, priorities ya know.. went down into the shop. First thing was to clean up the rockers after glue up. I made a couple quick passes with my beater block plane to knock down the squeeze out and high spots. Mostly from the risers shifting during clamping were the bad guys. Two passes on the jointer was all it took to clean up one side then 2 passes thru the drum sander and they were good to go. AT this point I thought it be a good idea to just clean up the bottoms a bit with a good sanding to knock out any high/low spots. I wanted to make sure the rocker, rocked smoothly. To my surprise all it took was 15-20 minutes. The bottom arc on both rockers was relatively consistent I took em over the the tablesaw and tried them out..Nice and smooth...no bumps or lumps.. Life is good 
The rest of the day was spent sanding. Lord knows, if you dont like sanding, you might want to reconsider this project.. I previously knocked down the bulk of the waste with the grinding wheel. I tried several of the Saburr Tooth spurs and ended up using the 2" fine the most. It removed the wood nicely. At one point I must not have been paying attention because I left behind a uneven mess on one of the back legs. Nothing an hours worth of sanding didn't take care of but just goes to show, you got to keep your eye on the ball. 
Pretty much the day was spent sanding and grinding. shaping the back legs top and underside as well as the back of the seat. Like Dennis mentioned earlier.. its all starting to come together now..

Pic 243: Smoothing over the bottom of the rockers. Having a smooth rocking action is what I'm after..

Pic 244: Chicago Pneumatics 1/4" grinder and my collection of Saburr Tooth wood working burrs in 1/4" shaft. I can see where these guys will open a few design doors down the road. Monies well spent...

Pic 245: Scratch pattern left behind by the 1/4" x 2" fine burr. 

Pic 246: The slope or angle of the transitions is entirely up to the builder. What I found challenging was to not put a divot or trough at the bottom where the legs meet the seat. If the burr would touch the seat, it left a good mark. Feathering these out is a must. A couple of dowel, flat stock and some body shop sponge pads cut up to different sizes works nicely. 

Pic 245: We might just have something here


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Good to see progress still being made, Bill.


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## phillip.c (Aug 9, 2012)

Bill, I am quietly watching from the background. I intently await your next move.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

"Pic 245: We might just have something here"

Usually by this point, luck has very little influence anymore.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> Good to see progress still being made, Bill.


Thanks James.. at this point, alot of the progress will be measured one sheet of sandpaper at a time...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

phillipdanbury said:


> Bill, I am quietly watching from the background. I intently await your next move.


Phillip.... 

Using the number of views as a guide, I'm happy I was convinced to follow thru with the build. It would appear you are not alone 
I'm pleased that your enjoying the build....

I've never done a "build" blog like this before, it is considerable in size and scope. No doubt it could be better done but I am trying to 
keep it informative and cover all the bases as it goes along. Whats confusing is the number of emails I've received regarding the build vs. the comments
in here. 
Its kind of like the build itself, as it goes along, it keeps getting better


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> "Pic 245: We might just have something here"
> 
> Usually by this point, luck has very little influence anymore.



:stop: SHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I need all the luck I can muster up. 

So far, so good. Where we stand now on the build, this is where I start sweating the details.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Shaping, sandpaper, rasps and sawdust*

Spent the better part of the last several days working on shaping the rocker. This is, no doubt one of those projects that if you take the time to get this far, you had best be sure to take the time to do the sanding and shaping right. Half ass'n just isn't going to cut it. 
It took only a half hour or so with the die grinder to pretty much finish roughing in the sweeps and curves and so on. The rest of the time has been spent with 80/150 grit sand paper and 3 rasps. I had assumed early on that this would be the most difficult part of the build. In fact while not easy, it wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated. Time consuming to be sure. The most difficult for me was getting the sweeps nice and even. Balancing one side to the other was challenging. The armrests while not finished were perhaps the single areas where I spent the most time. They are big and clunky to begin with and need to be stream lined and appealing. Comfortable looking and oh yes, they got to look like they belong on this chair. 
As part of the package purchased for this build, Charles Brock provides an entire DVD dedicated to the shaping of the chair. I found it to be most useful and practical however, you don't know what your getting into until you grab that file and start having at it. 

Front legs to seat: The sweep from the leg into the seat is relatively shallow. Not much room here to speak of. I found the pattern makers rasp to be most useful here. I think? mine is a 9 or 10 grain, which worked well for getting in close. A 13-15 grain would have been real nice to have to finish it off. Since I don't have one, getting it close would have to do. The rest of the joint was done with 150g sandpaper and a chuck of body shop sponge pad. ((these body shop pads are great to have around, you can cut them to size and shape...flexible enough to work the sweeps but rigid enough to maintain shape)) I worked the sand paper until I got rid of the scratches and any divots I may have created. Making sure to feather out any low spots as I went along. 

Back legs to seat: Here you're given a little more latitude with regards to the sweep. On mine, I started the sweep at 3-4" above the seat. The next one, I'll start a bit lower. In doing so, I'll have created more of an sweep 'into' the seat. The higher up you begin, the steeper the slope into the seat. Shaping involved keeping the center inside edge even as it sweeps down into the seat. From there, you're just concerned with smoothing out both sweeps down into the seat. Keeping both relatively even. Sounds easy enough, but it does take some time and you need to take your time. Taking too much off of one side, means you have to take an equal amount off of the other. There are 4 of these to work with and in the end, you really don't want to be able to tell one from the other. Being a bit larger than the front leg to seat joint, a small card scrapper worked nicely in helping clean these joints up. One thing the card scrapper does is highlight the low spots if you take the time to look for. This proved most useful in getting all 4 sweeps to look alike. 

Front leg to armrest: This joint, while not terribly technically demanding sure did take alot of time to get right, or at least my version of right. The inside sweep of the joint is much steeper than the remaining 3/4 of the joint so you have to kinda feather all of this together. Roughing the joint on the armrest portion was just a matter of using the grinding wheel and getting it close to where you think you want it. DO NOT go to far....you go to far, and you'll end up having to put together another armrest. Mount the armrest to the chair and just layout where the armrest and leg meet. Using that as a reference, you can grind away the waste when you remove the armrest from the chair. I hogged out what I thought was a reasonable amount and then roughed it in from there with the Nicholsen #49 rasp. Making sure to not push my luck by getting to close to my layout lines. 
I epoxied the armrest to the chair and from there..just filed and sanded away. To the point where close was good enough for the time being. You have to keep in mind that by this point you have the underside of the armrest roughed in as well. Here, once again, its all up to the eye of the builder. This is all rather generic in description, but if you've gotten this far, no doubt you get the idea. If not, let me know. 

Armrest to back leg: This entire area of the chair is all about contours and sweeps and making the armrest look like it just kind of flows into or from the back legs. I'm hoping to have accomplished this. More time was spent on these areas of the chair than any of the others combined. Still a little tweaking remains, but for the most part it is what it is. This was actually the most fun to do to be honest. 
The die grinder was used to remove most of the waste from the inside flanges. The ridge I put on both inside legs is a nice touch used on the original build. Something I'd like to carry over onto the headrest in some fashion. 
The outside of each joint is just a matter of sanding down to where your happy AND that both sides are done in the same fashion and are even to the eye when looking at the chair from head on. 
The insides are a bit of another story. Requiring considerably more sanding and feathering. The ridge was done with the die grinder and sanded over. I worked hard at feathering in the look from well down and up the leg into the joint. And the same for feathering the inside of the armrest into the leg.

At this point, the only thing I'm not happy with, and I"m really NOT happy with it at all, is where the maple just kind of come to and end at the back legs. I really don't know what I was thinking..
This series of pics is just an idea of what I've done and what another builder might look for.....

Pic 248: The back right inside leg. I wet everything down to raise the grain as well as give me an idea as to how things are looking. Wet highlights the scratches as well as the low spots

Pic 249: Back left leg joints. 

Pic 250: Right rear armrest to back leg joint. Not much I'm going to be able to do about the glue joints, hopefully the finish will mask alot of it. Where the maple abruptly ends is the area that bothers me the most right now. This needs to be addressed in some fashion, how I'm not sure...

Pic 251: Left outside armrest to back leg. This picture, for whatever reason turned out nicely. The color is pretty true to the wood itself. Gives a good idea of the contour sanding required. 

Pic 252: Right front leg to seat joint. Not sure why, but dang, this looks awfully FAT.. *L* I'll be looking at these areas again tomorrow. 

Pic 253: Left front inside leg joints. This is a good pic. Gives a good idea of how I shaped and sanded the joints. 

Pic 254: Just a top view, looking down into the rocker. I referenced this look often to get an idea of symmetry. 

Pic 255: The back leg to seat joints turned out well.. Nice and crisp glue lines. I guess I'd have to say they look good with the build. 

Pic 256: I"m not sure what exactly this kind of ridge is called, but I thought it added a nice touch to the chair. Kind of breaks up the long inside edge of the back legs. I'd like to do something similar with the headrest. 

Pic 257: The underside of the armrest to back leg joints proved quite difficult. One of the smallest areas of the chair, yet required alot of going back and forth and touching up. 

Pic 258: underside of the left armrest. Trying to give an idea of the sweep from the armrest going into the front leg. 

Pic 259: very front outside seat to leg joint. Big thing I noticed about this pic is that I still have a ways to go with shaping the front corners of the seat....

Pic 260: Still got a ways to go, and ALOT of sanding ahead of me...but she's looking good...I have to say, I'm beginning to get anxious about putting a finish on.


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

You are doing an excellent job of staying patient and disciplined on these final stages. Wetting it down really helps identify areas for more fine tuning.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Bill, the time and effort put in will show on the end product.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

denniswoody said:


> You are doing an excellent job of staying patient and disciplined on these final stages. Wetting it down really helps identify areas for more fine tuning.


Thanks Dennis... Patience and discipline are more a matter of necessity than anything else. Planning has alot to do with it as well. Today was spent between tweaking here and there and doing a final fitup of the spindles before mounting. Also shaped the top and bottom side edges of the rockers.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> Bill, the time and effort put in will show on the end product.



I sure hope so James!!!!!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Sometimes lucky beats good....*

WHEW... what a weekend with most of it being spent in the shop. Started out the day Saturday by wanting to get the spindles a final fit before glue-up. All was going well until I twisted one to line it up.. CRACK...I"m telling ya, when these things are in, they are IN. Not much in the way of wiggle room. A clean break at the bottom, top of the hole to about an 1 3/4" up. Fortuitously it was a clean break, no splinters or shards. A good gluing up with Weld Bond, some sawdust and you'd never know it was broken. Darn near perfect repair. While waiting for the repair to dry, I went about sanding and started on rounding over the edges of the rockers. 
Vised up a rocker, layed out my lines, grabbed a rasp and started at it. Bout 15 minutes into it, it dawned on me. Hey, You built a router table dummy, why not use it.   Sometimes you spend so much time looking at the details you over look the obvious. So anyways, set up the router table with a bottom bearing 5/8" rounder over and knocked out both rockers in 20 minutes. 
I gave the glue-up a little better than 3 hrs to set up, then pulled the clamps and hit it with a couple shots from the pin nailer. A little sanding and it looked as good as any of the others. I also oblonged the hole it goes into to give it a little more latitude when mounting. OK says I, lets try this again...DAMN if I didn't do the exact same thing with another spindle. seriously....At this point I walked away for a while. 

Came back couple hours later, this break wasn't as clean as the first, but repairable non the less and it turned out well also. Here, the headrest was pitched to far back when I was making the twists. Rather than pivot in their mounting holes, they were fighting the headrest above. Today, I took another stab at it and everything lined up beautifully. Difference this time.. headrest was in position. Both breakers were on the backside of the spindles, both repaired nicely and I don't see any problems with using them.. just one of those things I suppose, live and learn.. LESSON LEARNED!

Today, took another deep breathe and dished out the seat some more. Grabbed the grinder and grinding wheel and dished it out nearly another 3/4" at the back lip. What a huge difference this made to the overall look of the seat. It was just what the doctor ordered. My fears, turned out to be much ado about nothing. Alot of sanding to do, but I"m really happy now with the look of the seat. I also decided to round over and down the front lips. Doing this, took 30 pounds off the looks of the chair. I had said I thought it look just kinda heavy, to thick,,etc.. by rounding down the front edges, this took care of the whole problem. Still a good bit of shaping and sanding left to be done, but now I feel I"m on the right track.

LIFE IS GOOD

Pic 261: Rocker on left has been rounded over, one on right not yet. I left a little less than a 1" flat footprint on the bottoms. I want to make sure the rocker has a good sturdy foundation. 

Pic 262: The rocker laminates cleaned up nicely...I tell ya, I really do like that UR resin. Good stuff!

Pic 263: Gives you an idea of the additional amount of material removed from the seat pan. This made a huge difference in appearances. 

Pic 264: Front lip rounded over and down. Not the best of pics but really made a big difference in the overall look of the seat.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

How did you go about sanding the seat pan to seat transition Bill? I'm looking at that wondering if a sanding mop on a drill would work?


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> How did you go about sanding the seat pan to seat transition Bill? I'm looking at that wondering if a sanding mop on a drill would work?



Charles... I used the grinding wheel to ballpark the radius, leaving about a 1/8" buffer between the old and the new. From there, just a matter of grabbing a few sheets of 80 and 150 grit sandpaper along with a couple of pieces of bodywork pads cut to various sizes, nothing much bigger than 1" x 2 1/2". Soft enough to conform to the curves yet rigid enough to maintain contact. 
Keeping the dust down is another concern. The grinding wheel doesn't throw out a whole lot of air borne sawdust. The consistency of the sawdust from the grinder is more like that of a fine sand. Most of it goes to the ground within 3-4' of where your working. Now thats with a medium grit wheel, I'm sure a fine wheel would be different.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Mounting spindles and crest*

Mounting the spindles and crest may not seem like a big deal, but it turned out to be more technical than I anticipated. Technical in so much that I had to figure out how to get the spindles in position and angled correctly and then hope that the crest would
mount without a fight and in the correction position. 
What I came up with was to take and put blue painters tape down on the seat, covering all of the mounting holes and extending out about 3"s. I then cut the holes out with a scalpel. I then loosely mounted each of the spindles into postion, mounted the crest atop of the spindles and moved everything to where it belonged. Then I referenced marked the bottom of each spindle at two locations to the tape. 
I pulled the assembly (spindles and crest) off as one piece. Each hole was then filled half way with glue. I grabbed the crest and spindle assembly (still loosely assembled) and placed to the chair. Each spindle was then worked into its respective hole and worked gently downwards until it seated. As I was seating each spindle, a certain amount of glue would squeeze out, on a couple alot of glue squeezed out . Using the reference marks I made sure each of the spindles was seated and place. I then tapped down the crest into position and clamp the assembly up to dry. I grabbed the paper towels and cleaned up all of the squeeze out. The tape kept the glue from getting on the rocker very well. Cleanup wasn't to bad. I then finished cleaning up the glue with a lightly dampened towel. 
I went down today and the glue up worked well. Spindles are in postion, crest is where I wanted it (about a half inch lower than specs). Everything looks good to go. I have a couple gaps to fill but other than than,, I'm a happy camper. 

The plans call for the crest to be mounted with 3 #10 3" screws. Instead I went with 4 #10 2 1/2" screws. Only reason for 4 instead of 3 is personnel preference. The fit between the crest and back legs is dead nuts on. I was a bit surprised at this. But pleasantly surprised none the less. Mounting holes were all countersunk and walnut plugs will be used to fill em in. Horns, at the top of each leg was been laid out and roughed in as well as additional sweeps located at the bottom inside corners where the crest meets the leg. Again, just a personnel touch. 
One unplanned thing that came up was that the crest now leans back a tad. About 3/16th's from bottom to top. Which actually works out quite well. Not sure where this came from because initial dry runs were pretty much flush top to bottom. Sometimes you just got to go with the flow. 

Pic 266: Spindles glued up in place. 

Pic 267: You need to make sure that the spindles are all angled correctly. Spacing turned out well and the angles are fine. This is why I tried to get as much sanding done as possible prior to assembly. 

Pic 268: Just a view of the back of the chair. The 2nd and 3rd spindle from the right are the two that snapped and had to be repaired. 

Pic 269: Horns are roughed in and shapping the sweep from crest to back leg begins. I got a little ahead of myself (excited) and began shaping before permanently mounting the crest. After this pic was taken, holes were all drilled and screws installed

Pic 270: Just a pic of the roughed in left side horn. 

Pic 272: Progress...


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

You're getting close Bill. Just curious though, did you feel it would be easier to match the bottom corners of the crest after glue-up than before? You have quite a bit to take off the right hand side yet.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Charles, 6 of one, half dozen of the other. I used a 1/2" x 2" coarse burr with the 1/4" die grinder. The burr worked very nicely. Removed the wood quickly and for the most part evenly. You can actually achieve a relatively smooth finish by using a light hand, even with the coarse burrs.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Sanding muscles*

Not much in the way of pictures to offer for today's efforts. It was basically get up, go get my coffee and donuts and come back home and start filing and sanding. What I am finding interesting and to be honest, kind of enjoyable is working with something other than right angles. Sanding and filing all of these curves and sweeps and so on has been the learning curve on this project. I'd assume like most, we've all done curved worked before as 'part' of a project. But when the project itself is pretty much one big curve, it takes on a whole new light. Which rasp to start out with, which one to finish with, which sandpaper grit, sponge pads, hard rubber pads, riflers, burrs and grinding wheels...one could easily build an arsenal of sanding tools alone. Each with distinctive and specific task. Learning how to get from point A to point B while shaping continues to be a surprising experience. I will say this, I'll never look at another piece of "sculpted" wood work the same.....

Pic 273: The crest looks kind of "flat in this pic, but trust me, it does have a nice gentle curve to it. Joints all turned out nice and tight. At this point, the crest was sanded down to 220...and the curly cherry is becoming much more prominent. 

Pic 275: Shot of the back left of the crest. The horns are kind of uneventfull at this point. I may have to do something with them, what exactly, I dunno..


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Nice job of matching the curves on the bottom of the crest. What is it that's bothering you about the horns?


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Charles... Its kind of like what bothered me with the armrests. Maloof's rockers call for a armrest that is somewhat sharply angled side to side, front to back the armrests are gently curved and fit the theme well. I went with a more rounded over armrest, just cuz thats what I like. Even the tips of the rockers themselves are rounded over. I think its the fact that the two horns come to a 'point'...yet, I think rounding the tips over more would not look good at all. 
Probably just over thinking it, which I do alot at times...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Rockers and legs*

Fine turning the look of the rockers was a breeze. A good sharp flat spokeshave takes care of 90% of the work. Rasps do the rest. Again, another area of the build where you can do whatever floats your boat. The bottoms of the rockers I left alone. I like the idea of a good size flat for the rocker to rock on. I also think this gives the rocker a bit more lateral stability? Don't know that to be a fact, but works for me... 
The tops I tapered a good bit to take advantage of the laminate buildup. Starting out slowly and then working into a groove, the rockers shaped up in no time. I just love the sound of a sharp iron cutting thru the wood. Curly little shavings all over the floor. Ahhh ya gotta love it  Using the maple portion of the laminate as a reference, it wasn't hard to keep both sides balanced
I shaved the back tips down to a nice taper and rounded off the ends. A nice clean look. Visually, this is or can be a very important part of the build. I was pleasantly taken aback by just how much of an impact the rockers have on the over all look. The wife came down to see how things were going and first thing she said was "Wow".."that really looks nice. And you all know when the wife approves, your in good shape...*L* I shaved off as much as I could for now. The remainder will be cleaned up as part of the shaping of the risers. 

Next was to set the chair to the rockers. This part of the build is perhaps the most demanding in terms of having to get it right. There isn't much room for OOOPPPSS. 
First off, I'm setting the rocker back further than plans dictate by 1". I'm doing this to get more of the laminate to pop on the front tips. Not a big deal.. just another personnel preference thing. Setting the rocker atop of the rockers can be a little trickly. You just got to be careful to not tip the rocker. At this point, the rocker has a bit of weight to it. You also want to do this part of the assembly on a "flat" surface. Since my workbench is anything but flat it pays to have a nice sized piece of MDF sitting around. Usually I'd use my router table as an assembly table, but the rocker sits too high. 
Long story short, put the MDF on the workbench, laid out the rockers and got the chair atop of them. I then ran a piece of wood overtop of the rockers to secure then down. Got the chair positioned where I want her and laid out a few lines. Laying out the position of the leg is important. In doing so, you can then take the rockers back to the vise or the bandsaw and remove most of the waste from the risers as needed. 
Next is to get the legs to sit flush atop of the risers. The front legs had about a 1/8" gap on the back side and the back legs had a little less than 3/32" gap in the front/sides. Now at this point you could take a scribe and mark out each leg to riser joint, remove the chair and clean things up like that. Or you can take a piece of low grit sandpaper (preferably cloth backed, which I didn't have any of), place the sandpaper face up between the leg and the rise, and pull the sand paper thru. By doing this repeatedly, you sand down the leg and eventually end up with a perfect fit. Keeping in mind, that while you are doing this, to pull downwards on the sandpaper as you pull it thru. Otherwise, you'll crown the bottom of the leg. 15 minutes or so with each front leg and I was walkin' in tall cotton.  This little sand paper trick worked beautifully. I'll do the same with the back legs, then go over all 4 once more just to tweak things out. 

Pic 276: Rear tips of the rockers. Rocker on the right is done. This is the beauty of doing laminate work. Now, with this maple showing as it does, it helps pull in the maple from the armrests a little.. not much. .but a little...

Pic 277: Side view of the rear tips

Pic 278: Rear tips again.. a little finish work and these ought to pop nicely. 

Pic 279: Beginning the laying out of the legs to the rocker/risers. Take time here and get it right. By laying out now, you can remove the rockers to the bench or band saw and remove most of the riser waste ahead of mounting permanently. 

Pic 280: Laying out the rear leg. The angle of the legs to the risers is a bit skewed by design. Shaping of the leg/riser joint should (?) take care of any visual issues...

Pic 281: By placing a piece of sand paper face up, under the leg, then repeatedly pulling the sand paper thru the joint, you get a flush joint. Sweet!!! I came across this idea doing research work on this build and couldn't wait to give it a try. Dang if it didn't work ;0

Pic 282: This pic gives you an idea of the gap in the back of the front legs. About a full 1/8". 

Pic 283: This is the joint after doing the sand paper trick. I'll do this to all four legs, then go back and do them once more for a fine tuning. Changing the mounting angles on the back legs will change the angles on the front legs by just a hair. Might as well take a few extra minutes and do them again and move on from there..


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Or you can take a piece of low grit sandpaper (preferably cloth backed, which I didn't have any of), place the sandpaper face up between the leg and the rise, and pull the sand paper thru.


At one place I worked we took sanding belts and cut them up and glued them to mdf for sanding blocks. They last a long time and the belts are cheap. For your applicationI would sandwich the end of the belt between two pieces of wood to grip on. If I try to hang on to something thin like sand paper for too long my hands start cramping up. I've used a similar method for leveling out chair legs where I glued sandpaper onto a piece of mdf and pushed the chair back and forth until all the legs sat flat. Crude but it works.

Gluing contrasting wood into the rocker and using it for a visual reference is a good idea. Did you plan it that way?


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Keep going, Bill. You're nearly there......VBG


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> At one place I worked we took sanding belts and cut them up and glued them to mdf for sanding blocks. They last a long time and the belts are cheap. For your applicationI would sandwich the end of the belt between two pieces of wood to grip on. If I try to hang on to something thin like sand paper for too long my hands start cramping up. I've used a similar method for leveling out chair legs where I glued sandpaper onto a piece of mdf and pushed the chair back and forth until all the legs sat flat. Crude but it works.
> 
> Gluing contrasting wood into the rocker and using it for a visual reference is a good idea. Did you plan it that way?


Charles... I've done the MDF thing before with great success however since the risers on the rockers are curved MDF was out of the question. I did think of trying a very thin piece of veneer, that might have worked ok. But I just went with 80grit sand paper. The paper turned out to be heavy enough that tearing was not an issue. In the YouTube video and old sanding belt with cloth backing is suggested. 

I did plan out the contrasting woods ahead of time, but only for the effect that they would provide. Using them as a reference when shaping turned out to be a nice bonus. Even if the laminates were of a similar wood, the glue lines would provide a reference point as well.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> Keep going, Bill. You're nearly there......VBG


James, I have a little under two weeks to finish her up. However, If she runs long, then so be it. I"m not going to hurry things up and take a chance of screwing something up. If its a couple days late, its a couple days late. 

I figure 3-4 hrs. of shaping is left, then a good 4-5 hrs of sanding then a week to apply the finish... We're nearing the home stretch..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Mounting the rockers*

Today was pretty much spent getting the rockers mounted to the chair. I had previously spent a good bit of time getting everything lined up the way wanted. So all that was left to do was to mark the two front leg locations for the dowels and dowel the two back legs. 
I used a couple of 1/2" dowel centers to locate the position of the dowel on the rockers. Once this was established, I drew a center line down the side of front leg thru the side of the rocker. This gave me a good reference point from which to drill the riser out a good 1 1/4". It all sounds easy enough and for the most part it is. However, get it wrong and the leg will not mount flush to the riser. Once my drill line was laid out, I clamped down the front of the rocker and to my surprise, the drill line was almost perfectly straight up and down which made drilling alot easier. I chucked up a 1/2" bit and drilled out the riser. Then I grabbed the 2 2 1/4" dowels and proceed to do a dry fit. Darn if everything wasnt spot on. *WHEW*... 
I'd like to apologize for not having any pics of all of this, but honestly, I was too busy to even give it a thought. by the time I realized I hadn't taken any photo's, it was too late. 
Once I knew the front dowels were going to work, I decided to go with a 5 minute epoxy instead of the 24hr. stuff. Since the dowels dictated where the front legs were going to go and the back legs were just going to sit on the riser for now, I mixed up a batch of epoxy and glued one side up at a time. Doing the front legs first, getting the dowels seated and then clamped loosely. I quicky then spread some epoxy over the top of the corresponding rear riser and sat the back leg on top. Firmly clamped down the front leg, then tweaked the back leg into position and clamped her down tight. I let everything sit for an hour and she's rock solid. I still need to drill 1/2" dowels into the back legs which I"ll do tomorrow. Honestly, I was in too big a hurry to see what the front riser/leg joint looked like once shaped. you can judge for yourselves. 

Pic 284: RR leg/riser joint epoxied in postion. A 4-5" 1/2" dowel remains to be drilled and glued into place. I tried not making too much of a mess with the epoxy and ending up making more of a mess while trying to clean up the excess. 

Pic 285: LR leg/riser joint. The front of the joint has been roughed in with the grinding wheel. the back of the joint has been roughed in with the grinding wheel and then touched up with grinding burrs. I've concluded that the grinding burrs and not necessarily that much faster than a rasp when it comes to removing material. They are however much, much more controllable. 

Pic 286: The LF leg joint. This joint has been sanded down to 150 for now and doesn't look half bad.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Rocker to leg dowels*

Last few days have been spent knocking out some odds and ends. 4 walnut plugs on each side of the upper arm to crest joints have been installed. Alot of time sanding and spending time on the shaping of the rocker/riser to leg joints. With a little bit of luck, I"ll be starting the finish schedule this weekend. 
Build wise, both rear legs sit atop the rear risers mounted on the rockers. Once mounted a 1/2" hole is drilled up thru the rocker, thru the riser and into the bottoms of the rear legs. I believe this serves two purposes. 1st and foremost it reenforces the joint itself and 2ndly I believe it also adds additional strength to the leg itself. Keeping this in mind, I choose some very straight grained walnut dowels I had on hand. 
Drilling the holes isn't terribly difficult, you just got to make certain to drill thru the center of the rocker/rise and into the center of the bottom of the leg. If your off by a couple of degrees you got a mess on your hands and a great deal of work fixin things up. I used epoxy as the adhesive. Once the epoxy had set up, the rest was easy/peasy, flush cut sawed off the ends of the dowels and did a little sanding. Did the same with the walnut dowels on the back leg to crest joints. The walnut provides a nice little contrast with the cherry. 
One riser left to shape, a little finish work on the front lip of the seat and the rest is sanding in prep for finish....

life is good 

Pic 287: 1/2" hole drilled and walnut dowels installed into the bottom of the rocker/riser to leg joint. 

Pic 288: After setup, flush cut saw and a little sanding is all it takes.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Finished up the risers this evening and started tweaking the front lip on the seat. A couple little blems to take care of and surprisingly, not as much sanding as I had thought. I suppose that my efforts to get as much of the sanding done prior to assembly is going to pay off. 
One issue I do have is that it appears that I have something of a flat spot on the rockers. Nothing you'd notice on a carpet, but on a hardwood floor, you can feel the "bump"......I took a quick look and couldn't see anything, couldn't feel anything either. So I tried a couple different locations. Same bump, same spot on the rockers..ahh well, if this is the biggest problem I run into, I can't complain..


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

I'm looking forward to a pic or two of the finished rocker before you start finishing.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Dennis... 

I'll take several for ya tomorrow and get them posted tomorrow night.. I gotta say, she don't look to bad  Where I've wet the rocker down so far,,its been a deep rich color. I'm going to be curious to see how the top of the crest looks. I purposely used a piece of wood with about 1 1/2" worth of sap wood and place the sap wood at the very top.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Assembled and ready for final sanding....*

Here are just a couple of pictures of the rocker as she stands now. Completely assembled, 99% of the shaping is completed. Next couple of days will be spent sanding and preparing for the finish. Going to go with a poly/oil blend in a satin. 
I got the 'bump' out of the rockers by block sanding the bottoms. I put her on a 3/4" sheet of MDF and she's smooth as silk now. 

Pics 289 thru 292: These are just the rocker as she sits now.


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

A work of art - you should be very proud of this chair. The pics have a blue cast when opened, but clicking on the Actual Size option fixes that.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Thank you Dennis.. your too kind.. Its been work alright  
It'll all come down to the finish. If I get that right, I think we'll have a winner, if not............I don't even wanna go there. 

Decided to go with a poly/oil blend of 3-4 coats followed with a oil/wax blend 2-3 coats. 24hr. rest between coats. I think that'll be the best way to pop the grain and still give the rocker a durable top coat.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

I'll have one when you finish that one........VBG...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> I'll have one when you finish that one........VBG...


Certainly James, do you have a wood preference?


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

Hey let's get a group of members together and go for a quantity discount!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

denniswoody said:


> Hey let's get a group of members together and go for a quantity discount!


Excellent idea Dennis.... give me a minute to get the calculator out :sold:

Lets see now.. to start I'll need 50-60 BF of thick 8-10/4 stock...
I'd love to do one of these in a Western Big Leaf Quilted Maple and Walnut...
ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching$$$$$$$$$$$


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

I was just kidding, I was just kidding.......ROTFL


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> I was just kidding, I was just kidding.......ROTFL



Head hangs low, hands in pockets, kicks an imaginary cat and walks away all dejected
*sighs*:cray:


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Applying blotch control*

You know your coming down the home stretch when you get to the point of applying blotch control on cherry woods. Couple of years ago, I gave Charles Neils product a try and havn't looked back since. The stuff just works. Period. 
The rocker was wet down and sanded to 320 grit. One final going over while sanding identified a few spots that needed attention. It seems you never catch everything first go around on a big build like this. So with that in mind, I did a little touching up and began applying the blotch control. You can use either a rag or brush. I'll typically go with a brush, but its really 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Typically this is a 2 coat process. 1st coat is applied and let to dry for an hour or so, sanded down to 400 and then a 2nd coat is applied and let sit for at least 6 hours. I like to let it go overnight. 
While still wet, the blotch control provides you with an excellent idea of what the grain patterns are going to look like. What a tease!!!! 
An alternitive to this product is simply a dewaxed shellac. 

Pics 293-295: just a couple of shots of the rocker after have applied the blotch control along with a few comments.

Pic 296: shot of the underside of the armrest to front leg joint. This joint inparticular seems to stand out just cuz its in front. Also, made note of the additional sanding of the front legs to slim them down just a tad. Sometimes less is more. Didn't remove much, but what I did take off, made a nice visual difference


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Finish...*

ohhhhh yeah!!!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Finishing schedule*

ok, I"m over it now *L*.... just a bit of an update for those interested...

For me the most anxious moments on a project come right at the beginning of a finish schedule. Will it work, what will it look like, did I make the right choices, blah, blah, blah.... 

What I was looking for in a finish for this project was something that would bring out the grain, have a soft satin sheen and add a bit of 'age' to the look of the rocker. I also was concerned about giving it a bit of wear resistance. Lacquer is my top coat of choice but for this rocker, not the best one. So poly it is. Did a little homework and came up with a "name" appropriate product. Sam Maloof's poly/oil blend. Sold by Rockler. Now as I understand it, this is NOT Sam Maloofs own personnel recipe, rather a product developed for Rocker that Maloof was fond enough of that he ok'd the use of his name on it. In fact, he used this stuff on alot of his later work. Essentially its a very old recipe. 1/3 Boiled Linseed oil or tung oil-1/3 thinner and 1/3 vanish. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the original recipe and the Maloof blend is that the Maloof blend comes with a hefty price tag!!! Which is really the only negative about it. Reviews on the product and conversations in various other forums is for the most part very positive. The negatives were price, why buy when you can blend it yourself and it does not offer enough in the way of wear protection. I"m not exactly sure why I didn't blend my own and give it a try but I didn't and that'll be something for another time. This go round, I went and bought the product as well as the oil/wax blend to put on as a finish coat. 

First things first. You gotta sand it brother, you gotta sand it and sand it good!! I tried a couple scraps and a couple different schedules, and found that going to 400 is about the minimum. Anything less and you leave behind alot of grain definition. 600 is an excellent dropping off point and anything above is alot of extra work for a nominal gain. At 400 I wet down the rocker, raised what little grain was left to raise and knocked that down with 600. 

Application of the poly/oil blend is straight forward with a couple things to keep in mind. Have plenty of clean, lint free rags handy (I use old tee shirts for the most part) I'm applying the blend with rags. You got to hustle while putting this stuff on. The idea it to not really let it start setting up. Apply it, and then wipe the wood down thoroughly. Removing all the excess and then let dry for 24 hrs. Depending on the wood, the first couple coats get soaked up pretty good. On this rocker, the 1st coat got pulled in pretty good, the second coat started the building up process. I figure two more coats of the poly/oil blend and then 2 coats of the oil/wax. 
After two coats, the look of the rocker is outstanding. The cherry wood is a warm reddish brown with the grain and figure just starting to pop. One of the nice things about this blend I found is that it really shows up any areas that may need a little more sanding attention. After the first coat, I found 4 smallish areas that I had to go back over.
The smell of this stuff certainly one you can live with. Not to bad at all. Wiping it down after application is pretty easy but you do go thru several rags in the process. 
The end result is most pleasing not only to the eye, but to the touch. Or at least to this point of the schedule anyways. I"m looking forward to seeing just how this all works out not..


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

TwoSkies57 said:


> ohhhhh yeah!!!



Phew....I'm glad that's all over.....VBG

Very interesting build and commentary, Thanks, but I will stick to my coin trays until I get them right.....LOL.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> Phew....I'm glad that's all over.....VBG
> 
> Very interesting build and commentary, Thanks, but I will stick to my coin trays until I get them right.....LOL.



not quite over,, still a bit of finishing to do, but darn close now. Should be done Friday and no later than Sunday. 

Honestly, rockers, coin trays, boxes, chess tables...its all good, just so long as you enjoy doing it.....


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*She's all but done*

Well,,, it took a while, and I certainly cut it down to the wire, but the rocker is completed with the exception of one coat of wax and a little buffing down which I'll do tomorrow morning before heading off to the wedding. The color in natural lighting turned out lighter than I expected. Which isn't a good or bad thing. The curl is just fantastic (however, it really does not come across in the pics). The wife and daughter love it. The rocker is exceptionally comfortable, rocks smoothly and has a bit of an aged look that I was hoping for. The Maloof poly/oil finish was a perfect choice. It doesn't have that plastic look. Rather the chair is warm and inviting with just a warm glow to it, and I dare ya to not want to touch it. 

At first blush, I'd have to say I'm just tickled to death with how she turned out. There are no doubt a couple of nit-picky things that I'll be concerned with later on. For now, I"m just going to enjoy what I consider a project well done... 

Thanks to everyone who followed this thread as long and drawn out as it might have been. If it were not for you guys and the well over 200 emails I got on it,,,,I would have ended the thread long ago. So here ya go, hope you all feel that your patience and interest in the build worth while...

I'll let the pictures speak to the build on their own..


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

Outstanding Bill! Your talents and patience far exceed mine. Thanks for starting and finishing the build with its many pic's and comments. I can now use this thread for some future reference and if I decide I need help in pulling out the few remaining hairs on my head then I will attempt the Maloof inspired rocking chair build.


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

Outstanding job Bill! You are right, the finish is perfect with that nice sheen to it. As the wood ages it will only get better. The joinery is spot on and that is critical in Maloof chairs as we all know. I think my favourite bit is the extra detail in the crest rail - that's a really nice touch. Thanks for the detail in the post, it has been a real learning experience.
And so, for your next project?


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## HoweA (Jul 31, 2013)

Not sure where the nit-picking would be but it certainly a beautiful end project.
Congratulations! Pure beauty!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Marco said:


> Outstanding Bill! Your talents and patience far exceed mine. Thanks for starting and finishing the build with its many pic's and comments. I can now use this thread for some future reference and if I decide I need help in pulling out the few remaining hairs on my head then I will attempt the Maloof inspired rocking chair build.



Thank you Jim... I could not agree more about taking bits and pieces learned from a build and applying them to another. This one was chuck full of learning experiences. But
Patience I got , talent?? well..dont' know about that. But I do got a full head of hair *L*

Thanks for the kind words
bill


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

denniswoody said:


> Outstanding job Bill! You are right, the finish is perfect with that nice sheen to it. As the wood ages it will only get better. The joinery is spot on and that is critical in Maloof chairs as we all know. I think my favourite bit is the extra detail in the crest rail - that's a really nice touch. Thanks for the detail in the post, it has been a real learning experience.
> And so, for your next project?


Dennis... agreed, the joinery portion of this build turned out quite well. And indeed, that is what sets the Maloof builds apart. She should age well and last long enough to do so. She is surprisingly solid. I think using the epoxy contributed to that. You can try to twist and turn her while seated, and not a bit of give to be found. I'm with you on the crest, the little touch did make a big difference. I'd like to have taken the time to add a small inlay in the center, perhaps on the next one.. 

Next project??? well, I've several boxes and picture frames to catch up on, 1 bird house and I"m trying to convince the wife that a Maloof inspired set of chairs w/matching chess board would actually have a market. 

life is good!! 

bill


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

HoweA said:


> Not sure where the nit-picking would be but it certainly a beautiful end project.
> Congratulations! Pure beauty!



Thank you Al... kind words indeed 

Nit picky... yeah... there are some. the most noticeable is on the crest where one of the screws came too close to the outside of the board. Close enough that I had to cut a small section and put in a patch. The patch fit beautifully, but the glue is/was too dark and the wood I used for the patch actually got put in upside down. The patch, reflects the wood backwards from what it should.. . At some angles, you can't even see it, looking for it, at others, its easily seen. There there are 2 or 3 small spots where I could have spent more time sanding. There are at the undersides of the joints, pretty much out of site, but you know how that goes...


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Bill, another exceptional project. When you announced you were starting on this I knew it would be a work of art... and it is. My hat is off to you!

A couple of months before you started this project I spoke at length with Charles Brock about this type of chair building. I think Charles would love to see the photos of your finished project. With your permission I am going to call him and ask him to look in on this thread. Getting this kind of results on your first effort doesn't surprise me; it is typical of the craftsmanship in all your projects. Well done!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Thank you for the kind words Mike.... 

Chuck is welcome to use anything he'd like...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Moving on to the next project...*

Just a few odds and ends I'd like to add to finish up this build. First and foremost I'd like to once again say thanks to guys who followed this thread from the start thru the finish and to all of those who took the time to send emails. Thank you...

Looking back over the build, I thought perhaps a summary of sorts might be in order. With that in mind: 

Skill level for build. 
I find it very difficult to define a level of ability one should have before attempting anything. Obviously this is not a project a novice would typically tackle nor is it one that a seasoned craftsman would have trouble with. If I had to pick a range of ability one should have before attempting this type of rocker build, I'd say 'moderate'. 

Investment.
This build requires a substantial investment. Both in terms of money and time. This is NOT a cheap build. The wood alone can run upwards of 1K and up, depending on the wood chosen. I put a little over 600 into the wood alone. approx. 60bf of 10/4 highly figured premium cherry. And that was with getting a more than fair price for the quality of the wood. Savings can be had various ways. Purchase specific thickness's as per the plan (8,9 & 10/4), Staying away from figured woods, builds with less popular spieces of wood. 
Equipment: the list of tools needed to complete this build can vary greatly depending on one's willingness to put in a little extra effort. In some cases, alot of extra effort. You don't need a complete set of rasps, but a couple well chosen ones will do fine. You don't need a complete set of burrs, a couple will do fine. A Med. grit grinding wheel IMHO is a must. A jigsaw will do in place of a bandsaw, a few well tuned card scrappers are good to have. A router plane is nice, but not required. I guess the bottom line is depending on how well equipped your shop is to begin with determines to a great extent the additional investment needed. Ones ability and willingness to make due with what they already got will go along ways as well. The burr's and grinding wheel are things that might just sit around after the build unless you decided to do similar builds later on. But be prepared to layout some money for tools. 
Time: I'd say I have somewhere between 175 & 200 hrs. in the build. A good bit of that was time spent practicing on scraps shaping and getting used to using the various rasps, burr's and grinding wheel. Still more time was spent just farting around with "what if I do this, what if I did that kinda stuff". But thats just me, I enjoy that part of a build. If you're a wheel to the grindstone kinda guy, you can easily knock of a substantial amount of time on the build.

Wood: 
My opinion is that any good hardwood would do. This is just a fantastic looking piece of furniture by design regardless of materials used to build it. Just make sure the wood is sound, dried properly and if at all possible, of the same boule/flitch. One of the things that surprised me was the amount of cut off's generated by this build. It is substantial. I Kept all of the cut offs (see pic) I"m sure you'd find use for yours as I will for mine. 

Plans: 
I picked up Charles Brocks plans for this chair for something like 90 bucks. This included full size templates, instruction manual on the process of the build and 2 DVD's. One on construction of the rocker and the second on the "Shaping" of the rocker. In my opinion, a very fair price!!

Finish: 
What ever suits your eye. I found the Maloof oi/poly finish by Rockler to be an excellent choice. 

Dust...
There was ALOT of it!!! Good dust collection is a MUST. Dust masks are a MUST. 

Use of burr's/grinding wheel: 
These things are fantastic tools to have, period! BUT they will bite ya! Trust me, I found out.  Just be careful! Thats all, be careful, pay attention to what your doing. Be prepared for the occasional "bite" when you put the bit to wood. If you've never used a grinding wheel before, take the time to practice with it. It will be time well spent. One can quite easily set a project by hours if not days if you let the grinding wheels get away. ALWAYS maintain complete control! Work your way to where you want to get slowly. Step back often to check out your progress. Plan where you want to go! Just 'having at it'...not such a good idea. 

This proved to be an exceptional learning experience. I have a new found respect for the use of rasps!!! The burr's and grinding wheels have opened up new aspects of wood working that otherwise would be difficult if not impossible to duplicate. I came up with ways/methods for sanding that I"ve never used before. I found that body shop sanding pads/sponges a huge asset. 
The actual "shaping" of the rocker proved to be the most rewarding! Spend time with it, Practice, play, pay attention to what you can do, what works and what don't. Pay attention to the scratch patterns left by the rasps. If you can get your hands on a good "Made in the USA" set of Nicholsen's 49 & 50 rasps, by all means do so! The Auriou rasps were/are just a joy to work with. Amazing what a hand stitched rasp can do. There are several high quality hand stitched rasp mfg.s out there so shop around. 

So, the bottom line is, if you got the means, the time and are up for a great challenge, GO FOR IT!!


Pic 308: This one is for James  This is how I plan on keeping everything together while waiting for the next one. 

Pic 309: The cut off's in totol from 60bf of 10/4 stock (+/-)

Pic 001: Where it all started

Pic 298: Where it all ended


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Congratulations, Bill...[all that needs to be said]..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

James: 

A gentlemanly nod....

Thank you sir!!


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I got a chance to catch up with the end of the rocking chair build Bill and it turned out to be a work of art as I suspected it would be. Well done. What's next for you? You did such a good job of this maybe a Roentgen reproduction? https://www.google.ca/search?q=roen...KENKgogT2zYHQDA&ved=0CC4QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=861


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> I got a chance to catch up with the end of the rocking chair build Bill and it turned out to be a work of art as I suspected it would be. Well done. What's next for you? You did such a good job of this maybe a Roentgen reproduction? https://www.google.ca/search?q=roen...KENKgogT2zYHQDA&ved=0CC4QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=861


Kind of you to say Charles, and much appreciated  I'm very pleased with how the rocker turned out. The new owners are absolutely delighted. And that my friend, is what it was all about. 

Moving forward, I"d love to do another rocker with my own personnel twist..but they are not cheap to build so I'll have to wait. Til then..several requested boxes and pictures frames and I want to tinker around a bit more with inlay design. I really need to make use of some of my leftovers in the shop so perhaps another chess table. Who knows *L* I'd love to have the resources to tackle one of dem dare Roentgen reproductions...ohhh yes I would.. :yes4:


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

hahaha, if I could do that I would not be on the pension.......ROTFLAO.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Recently got a couple emails asking now that the rocker build has been over for a while, looking back, what would, if anything, would I have done differently...

Couple things actually... first I would include more features to the crest, especially the front. Nothing to over the top, but just enough to add a little relief so to speak...perhaps just a simple sweep, similar to the sweep at the arm rest/back leg joint 

Definitely would have either featured more maple as in the arm rests or eliminated it all together. 

and perhaps most importantly, I would have done a much better job of developing a cut sheet. Just sooooo much waste. Sometimes I guess you have to make a call between the wood you want to use and the wood that will give you the most bang for your buck.
NO regrets mind you, the cherry I used was/is just spectacular..


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Bill it looks really good just the way it is. I can see an option to mirror the curves on the bottom side of the crest on the top as well but then I think you would have to chop the horns off the sides to get the right balance.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Bill it looks really good just the way it is. I can see an option to mirror the curves on the bottom side of the crest on the top as well but then I think you would have to chop the horns off the sides to get the right balance.


Charles, your absolutely dead on about the horns...I just can't leave well enough alone sometimes *L*... FWW has a nice small Shaker style table as this months project and If I have enough leftovers, I may just try and make an accompanying side table with similar Maloof style lines...then I can start second guessing that *L*:fie::fie::fie:


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## bkapp (Dec 24, 2013)

*Maloof style rockers*

Bill, I like that name, you chose a good project. For some ideas go to my web site at kappelusa.com for some style changes. Also FREE text on how to build the Maloof style ocker


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

> Also FREE text on how to build the Maloof style _ocker_


We all have our own style down under, Bill.........LOL


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

billkappel said:


> Bill, I like that name, you chose a good project. For some ideas go to my web site at kappelusa.com for some style changes. Also FREE text on how to build the Maloof style ocker


That's beautiful work Bill and some nice variations in the design.


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## bkapp (Dec 24, 2013)

Good project choice Bill. The Maloof style rocker is a fun woodworking experience as well as satisfying to the ego. I have made a few myself and am working on three just now. I meet Sam years ago and set in one of this rockers. Although I am a little big for his rockers, 6'3 at 250lbs, his style impressed me to make my own variation so they would last as heirloom items even after all the grandchildren got through with them. I got so involved in making these rocker I started giving classes and published a FREE text on how to make them. I have had a good thirty years making these rocking chairs loving every minute of it. One can see some of my work at kappelusa.com where they can also get the FREE text in addition to patterns.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Thanks Bill... this was indeed one of the most challenging and most rewarding projects I've taken on.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Beautiful work, Bill.

Better than any 'ocker' I have met....VBG...


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## mdj53546 (Mar 2, 2011)

A few week ago I visited the Maloof foundation in California. Had a guided tour of the shop by Larry. I was impressed by the number of patterns hanging on the walls. Major power tools were jointer, plane, large band saw, and table saw. They use routers a lot, and not to many hand planes.

Furniture is woodworking according to Maloof.

I did get to touch every piece in the museum that I wanted. So smooth and artfully crafted. Got to sit in a maloof chair but alas not a rocker. Most comfortable chair I have sat in ever.

Joe


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

mdj53546 said:


> I did get to touch every piece in the museum that I wanted. So smooth and artfully crafted. Got to sit in a maloof chair but alas not a rocker. Most comfortable chair I have sat in ever.
> 
> Joe


Hey Joe.... 
Touch was/is a fundamental ingredient to Maloofs work. He wanted a visual appeal that made the viewer want to touch his work. The rocker with its smooth flowing lines and lack of right angles certainly accomplishes that. He managed to bring it all together with
his finishes. The finish I used, was an over the counter product that Maloof signed off on. I do believe he used it on some of his later production work. 
I'd like to think my rocker held true to his vision. It currently sits in a 3rd floor loft in front of a full length window overlooking the city. When you walk up the stairs and make a turn, its the first thing you see. From what I understand, its like a magnet..
Then two things happen. First it gets touched... then it gets sat on. From there, I'm told it makes for some great conversations...


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## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

Bill
that's exquisite have no idea how you'll ever top that project, I would have to build a new house just to put it in, I would've had a really hard time giving that away must be a very special friend. I absolutely love it!
You are very talented.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Thank you very much for the kind words John....very much appreciated 
Ohhh I have several ideas, just need to find a way to fund them! I usually don't get attached to a project, but this one I did. This was indeed a special project for a dear friend whom has helped me out over the last 35 years. His son's marriage was a special event for a number of reasons and gave me the perfect opportunity to just show my appreciation and to say thanks. With the lords blessings, it'll be used to rock many a grandchild to sleep...

I do appreciate your thoughtful comments.

bill




Semipro said:


> Bill
> that's exquisite have no idea how you'll ever top that project, I would have to build a new house just to put it in, I would've had a really hard time giving that away must be a very special friend. I absolutely love it!
> You are very talented.


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## xplorx4 (Dec 1, 2008)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Well,,, it took a while, and I certainly cut it down to the wire, but the rocker is completed with the exception of one coat of wax and a little buffing down which I'll do tomorrow morning before heading off to the wedding. The color in natural lighting turned out lighter than I expected. Which isn't a good or bad thing. The curl is just fantastic (however, it really does not come across in the pics). The wife and daughter love it. The rocker is exceptionally comfortable, rocks smoothly and has a bit of an aged look that I was hoping for. The Maloof poly/oil finish was a perfect choice. It doesn't have that plastic look. Rather the chair is warm and inviting with just a warm glow to it, and I dare ya to not want to touch it.
> 
> At first blush, I'd have to say I'm just tickled to death with how she turned out. There are no doubt a couple of nit-picky things that I'll be concerned with later on. For now, I"m just going to enjoy what I consider a project well done...
> 
> ...


Bill it is rewarding to me to see the finish work of a true craftsman that is outstanding, I can only hope to aspire to one day reach your level, excellent to be sure.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Jerry... Thank you for the most kind words... I only wish I were worthy of the accolades. Like most of the hobbyist in here, I think it safe to say, its a combination of a little bit of skill and a little bit of luck and a whole lot of sweating the details and learning new skills. Which I find to be the most fun..
I will say that I'm really looking forward to doing another one of these rockers in walnut..but the wife says, there HAS to be a price tag on it... uttt ohhh


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I see price tags of $10,000 for chairs like Sam's and there could be $1000 of that in materials, maybe more where I live. It isn't easy to find the clientele who are willing and able to pay that.


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Jerry... Thank you for the most kind words... I only wish I were worthy of the accolades. Like most of the hobbyist in here, I think it safe to say, its a combination of a little bit of skill and a little bit of luck and a whole lot of sweating the details and learning new skills. Which I find to be the most fun..
> I will say that I'm really looking forward to doing another one of these rockers in walnut..but the wife says, there HAS to be a price tag on it... uttt ohhh


Bill,
I had just read Charles' post about not being able to fine many folks that will step up to the price of such beautiful piece of work, as is the rocking chair. Then I re-read your post about what it took to build it. Within that description is a real truism that I am learning about and coming to appreciate very much. That issue is about the enjoyment of learning, and how one lesson learned opens the doors to other issues or challenges that had never been thought of earlier. This is or seems to be an endless chain of events which, to me anyway, is the icing on the cake with woodworking. The things that we actually make in the shop are great, but almost secondary to to the thrill of learning and figuring out how to do things.

Maybe finding how to find the buyers for your work is one of the things that you need to think about which would change Linda's thinking about your talent and really enhance your retirement years both in enjoyment and income. Just a thought, but I have no doubt that there is a market for your work, it's a matter of finding it, and then there is of course, the issue of how interested you are in doing production work, ummm, that's a real issue too as we both know and have talked about.

One way or another I feel so fortunate to have met you on the forum and and need to tell you how much I admire your skills and your willingness to be of help to me with your encouragement and never insisting that you know of better ways to do things which I know you could if I were to ask. In my case, as I said, figuring it out for myself is where I get my enjoyment. I wonder to what degree I am unique in that regard.

I sure hope that the word doesn't get out about your rocking chairs and that the orders don't start flooding in before you chew on the issue of being in production or not. Just kidding of course.

Jerry B.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Hey Charles... I've kept an eye on pricing of these rockers for the last year. Pricing ranges from around 2000 for a poorly made knock off to well over 40K for a documented Maloof original. There are a couple of guys who commercially produce these rockers and sell em for 5-10K+ depending on the wood chosen. 
I've had 3 what I might call 'serious" inquires about a rocker. 1 himmed and hawwed then backed out, the other two were professional women, who I thought might actually go for it. I priced the rocker out at 3500 plus cost of materials for anything over 8 bucks a board foot. It took em both a couple of weeks, but they eventually backed out. I wasn't really happy they did, nor was I disappointed. 
As you said, this is ALOT of money for a rocking chair. Definately not a 'must have' home item. I know I couldn't afford to buy one *L*...



Cherryville Chuck said:


> I see price tags of $10,000 for chairs like Sam's and there could be $1000 of that in materials, maybe more where I live. It isn't easy to find the clientele who are willing and able to pay that.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Some people do not appreciate the time and materials that go into 'bespoke' furniture.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Jerry.... 

I couldn't agree with you more when it comes to enjoying the challenges a new project or technique offer. The end result is just a measure of how well those challenges were meet. With this rocker for example, the build was all about learning a little something about shaping and contouring. Very little of this rocker isn't touched at one point or another by a file or rotary rasp. This was something I found very intriguing and thought that if I could get the hang of it, it would open other doors to other types of projects. Ultimately its all tied together, one way or another. And for me, thats the fun of it..
I have no problems admitting Im no where near as skilled or as talented as many of our members. But I'll stand my ground when it comes to saying I have as much fun as anyone in here when it comes to wood working...
And that my friend kinda lends itself to the whole making and selling of stuff I make. I"m afraid that if I attempt to try and start selling stuff i make, the fun of it will fade away. 
I do woodworking for the enjoyment I get out of it, the satisfaction of a job well done. There's nothing quite like handing over a project someone may have requested or as a gift and seeing how well it is received. and then of course, there is always the next challenge, the next technique to give a go or the next jig to build to solve a problem. I figure there's enough out there to keep me busy for a good long time without having to bother myself with selling stuff. 
There very well may come a day when I'll need to supplement my income, and Lord willing, I'll still be able to turn out some nice stuff. Til that day come though, I'm content to just go about things the way I do.  
Now I will say this...should someone come by and say, OK to what I want for one of these rockers, I wouldn't hesitate to take em up on it. This was one of the most enjoyable and challenging builds I've ever taken on...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Boy James, Isn't that the truth of it!!! 




jw2170 said:


> Some people do not appreciate the time and materials that go into 'bespoke' furniture.


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## bkapp (Dec 24, 2013)

Right-on
Who, in this life, doesn't make mistakes?


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## bkapp (Dec 24, 2013)

Look associate woodworkers: 
Let’s get rid of all the hype about this project; any of you can make the Maloof style rocking chair. It is no different than any other wood venture. Just go step by step. It all starts off with dimensioned lumber just like most endeavors. The only perplexing parts are the leg joints. These joints can be solved and made with a perfect pressure fit by using a simple procedure. 

Anyone serious about making your own Maloof style rocker contact me and I will help you for "free" nothing to buy. I love making these rockers and don't mind helping other serious woodworkers.


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

jw2170 said:


> Some people do not appreciate the time and materials that go into 'bespoke' furniture.




Uaaaaa, what is "bespoke" furniture?

Jerry B.


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## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

Jerry Bowen said:


> Uaaaaa, what is "bespoke" furniture?
> 
> Jerry B.


Bespoke= ( made to order) furniture


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## bkapp (Dec 24, 2013)

Colleague woodworkers!!!!
Ever interested in making the Maloof style rocking chairs?
Any woodworker can do it; it’s simple not easy, it does take a considerable amount of work although I have made them in one week, but it is simple if you follow step by step. 
Let me dispel some of the hype associated with this labor. If you can make almost any woodworking project you can make a Maloof style rocker. You start with dimensioned lumber just like most projects. The contours are easy if you let your tools do the work for you. You don’t even need patterns, I can show you why. 
The leg joints are the only nemesis and they can be easily made with perfect pressure fit joints.
I would be glad to help you make these rockers for free, nothing to buy. Just contact me and I will give you all the help you need. I love making these rockers and have made a few, see some pictures at kappelusa.com. 
My health won’t let me give classes any longer so this is the next best solution for me; and you. In my neighborhood I have helped a number of my friends make their rockers. 
Your wood will cost you, but the instructions are free, even the text is free and the patterns are easy to make. The only patterns needed are the back legs, back-braces and seat cutout and these I can show you how to easily make.
You can email me at [email protected] or telephone me at 435-283-3193, just ask for the Rockingchairguy.


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Bill haven't posted on this but have followed it all along. What a beautiful chair and absolute craftsmanship. Bill you can be proud of that piece. I love it.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Bernie..

thank you for the kind words my friend....


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Damn Bill...
this rocker is a premium show case and the tutorial is 1st rate...
got other projects???

but....
why didn't you spline the seat???

note to self...
complain, whine and whimper @Cricket that there are projects posted that need more allowable hits on the ''like button''....


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## Admin (Feb 13, 2012)

Stick486 said:


> Damn Bill...
> this rocker is a premium show case and the tutorial is 1st rate...
> got other projects???
> 
> ...


Let me figure out where the limit is set.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Cricket said:


> Let me figure out where the limit is set.


one each...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> Damn Bill...
> this rocker is a premium show case and the tutorial is 1st rate...
> got other projects???
> 
> ...


Thank you sir!!! Much appreciated indeed. 

seat blanks were cut at a 3* angle to get a head start on the sweep of the seat itself. going with bisquits seemed like the thing to do. Splines were considered but I wasn't comfortable with making or I should say "executing" the spline well enough. 

couple other projects odds/ends in the members galley

TwoSkies57 Gallery - Router Forums


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

don't thank me.. it's all your fault...
and thanks for the link....

as far as executing the splines on 3° edges.... tilt base routers work wonders.... 
then again I've never did your ''get a jump'' method....
never used mechanization either...
consider pull and round shaves... round planes are a big plus too... 
there is a shave that is bent into the shape of a ''*U'' but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called...
sand w/ a RTA grinder and flap disks... (not wheels)... grits go down to 24 or 36 grit and up to 220...*


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

so I went to your gallery...
I'm impressed across the board...

I hope others go to it and enjoy...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

once again, Thank you for the kind words...

Scorp?

I've got the spoke shaves you mentioned, Lee Valley versions, love em. Used quite a bit on the rocker build. 
Don't know that a round plane would have worked to any real extent on the seat since it was basically "dug" 
out at an angle from front to back with an upsweep around the edges. 

Not familiar with RTA Grinder?

The burred wheels worked very well, Very controllable, lots of removal quickly, LOTS of what you might call a 
gritty sawdust byproduct. Detail work and delicate work took some practice with the Saburr Tooth burrs. I've
no doubt that given enough hands on with the burrs, one could quite easily become adept with detail work. To
the point of just a minimal sanding required.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Scorp - typonese for something...

RTA grinder - Right Angle grinder.. ain't'cha glad I didn't call it a RTAG???

let's call that ''U'' shaped shave a draw knife instead...
still can't remember it's name...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Travisher? Inshave?


seems I can't get a pic to drag and drop... drags fine, then drops outta site?


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Scorp it is.... http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/barr6-12chairmakersscorp.aspx
DUH...
haven't a Travisher... Travisher and Travishers made by James Mursell


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> Scorp it is....
> DUH...
> haven't a Travisher... Travisher and Travishers made by James Mursell


you check out the video of that guy using that thing? Dang!!! 

I really hate discovering new tools I think are cool ..


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

TwoSkies57 said:


> you check out the video of that guy using that thing? Dang!!!
> 
> I really hate discovering new tools I think are cool ..


another video...
in the opening of the video the rough blank I'm WTB was done w/ a scorp.. 
my method was scorp > shaves > sanding.....
where have those Travisters been all my life...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> my method was scorp > shaves > sanding.....
> where have those Travisters been all my life...


Windsor chairs?

always check out all the videos :wink:


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Lee Valley used to sell that chair makers scorp but they must have quit carrying it. I couldn't find iron their site last night.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Windsor chairs?


upholstered bent wood colonial captain w/ and w/o arms... chairs and rockers...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Lee Valley used to sell that chair makers scorp but they must have quit carrying it. I couldn't find iron their site last night.


mine were shop made splayed handle hand me downs made from curved draw knives...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

FWIW...
top bevel dug right in...
bottom bevel shaved and scraped really well...


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I was wondering about that. Just looking at it it appeared the angle between the handles and the cutting edge would be wrong. Too much leverage from the edge to keep the handles in the right position. I would have thought that it should be in more of a drag position like a drawknife to work well and be controllable.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> I was wondering about that. Just looking at it it appeared the angle between the handles and the cutting edge would be wrong. Too much leverage from the edge to keep the handles in the right position. I would have thought that it should be in more of a drag position like a draw knife to work well and be controllable.


it's a combination of setting the elevation of the piece you are working on in relation to how you hold the tool...
it's setting up the angle to the dangle that is all you and works the easiest...
a scorp is a draw knife..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Never having used one, but I would suspect that grain direction plays a huge factor in just how aggressive one gets with these things? I would think
that just a slight misjudgement and one could easily lay waste to a perfectly fine piece of wood and a whole lot of effort. This is one of those tools that
that scrap pile would be getting a work out first...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Never having used one, but I would suspect that grain direction plays a huge factor in just how aggressive one gets with these things? I would think
> that just a slight misjudgement and one could easily lay waste to a perfectly fine piece of wood and a whole lot of effort. This is one of those tools that
> that scrap pile would be getting a work out first...


exactly and when to use bevel up or bevel down... and also not to try and do too much all at once...
lots of shaves will get you there faster than digging in...
tear outs suck...
in line grain or cross grain skew cuts and cross grain scrapes...
practice on split firewood... flatten it with the scorp then go to shaping..
practice cleaning up the ummmmms... 

try these...
note: I prefer spoke shave over draw knife for rim and out line..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> and also not to try and do too much all at once...
> ..


and there in lies the rub. my Achilles heal :frown::no:


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## bkapp (Dec 24, 2013)

*Maloof rocker*

The Maloof rocker is not a difficult project, as some suppose. If almost any woodworker will follow, step by step, instructions it becomes a pleasant and satisfying experience. The detailed text and full size patterns need not cost more than twenty dollars US.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

TwoSkies57 said:


> and there in lies the rub. my Achilles heal :frown::no:


Not to take anything away from the way you do it, but I don't think I could do that hard work anymore. I envy the job you did on the rocker, beyond my job description.

Here is the method I use to scoop a chair seat, it takes about 20 min to rough out and sand with an ROS and 60 grit, then with 100 & 120 grit.






The TS jig is simple to make too.

Herb


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> exactly and when to use bevel up or bevel down... and also not to try and do too much all at once...
> lots of shaves will get you there faster than digging in...
> tear outs suck...
> in line grain or cross grain skew cuts and cross grain scrapes...
> ...


great couple of videos Stick, thank you sir!!!!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Herb Stoops said:


> Not to take anything away from the way you do it, but I don't think I could do that hard work anymore. I envy the job you did on the rocker, beyond my job description.
> 
> Here is the method I use to scoop a chair seat, it takes about 20 min to rough out and sand with an ROS and 60 grit, then with 100 & 120 grit.
> 
> ...


Herb... nothing taken  I choose the methods I choose, only to either learn a few new skills or at least improve upon em. Lots of ways to skin that ole cat as they say. 

I can't tell you how many times I watched that video when I was doing my homework for the rocker. *L* Giving the method serious consideration.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Herb... nothing taken  I choose the methods I choose, only to either learn a few new skills or at least improve upon em. Lots of ways to skin that ole cat as they say.
> 
> I can't tell you how many times I watched that video when I was doing my homework for the rocker. *L* Giving the method serious consideration.


I watched the Charles Neil TS/Dado then RA grinders with chainsaw cutters method and thought that boy I could really mess up with those. 

Then I saw Mario Rodriguez's video and it looked like good results with a lot less effort. 
I did use Charles Neil method of raising the front edge 3/8" to cut deeper on the back of the seat than the front.
But you did a wonderful job using the old tried and true methods, if I was younger I would do it too. 
And I like the way you posted the build step by step, it was easy to follow if someone wants to attempt to make such a beautiful piece.
Herb


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Herb Stoops said:


> I watched the Charles Neil TS/Dado then RA grinders with chainsaw cutters method and thought that boy I could really mess up with those.
> 
> Then I saw Mario Rodriguez's video and it looked like good results with a lot less effort.
> I did use Charles Neil method of raising the front edge 3/8" to cut deeper on the back of the seat than the front.
> ...


Thank you for the far to kind words Herb!!! 

Not unlike Frankj3 latest sign, its as much about the challenge as anything else. its really about pushing our limits I think. Just wanting to get better. Sometimes we miss the mark and have to give it another go, sometimes we hit the mark.. I always find it intriguing how others may go about the same task, ending with similar if not identical results using what at first might appear to be dissimilar techniques. 

when it comes to posting the build,,,there were times when keeping the thread up to date was more work than the rocker itself *L*


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Thank you for the far to kind words Herb!!!
> 
> 
> when it comes to posting the build,,,there were times when keeping the thread up to date was more work than the rocker itself *L*


That is so true, when a person is making something they become so engrossed in what they are doing they forget to take pictures and document each step,and when they get done and look back and think that ,Darn , I didn't show that step, and it is too late.
But you did lead a good path for us mortals to follow.

Herb


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Sometimes we miss the mark and have to give it another go, sometimes we hit the mark..
> *L*


Either way, you learn something new in the process. For some of us that's what matters most. I'd still rather hit the mark than miss it though.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Either way, you learn something new in the process. For some of us that's what matters most. I'd still rather hit the mark than miss it though.


No better feeling than hitting the mark.. the deeper I got into this build that ole mark keep getting smaller and smaller. *L*..


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