Resources (Part 2)

The references I cited in the last post provided chair making wisdom directly from the master himself.   In this post, I want to look at helpful information from others who have followed in his footsteps.

I initially (and naively) thought that I would just use pictures of the Maloof rocking chair and create my own patterns from scratch.  That idea was quickly crushed once I realized the time and effort required.  This is a fairly complex project and I did not want to spend half of my time experimenting with patterns when there were some readily available.  Sure there is some cost involved, but the savings in hassle more than outweigh the expense.  Commercial patterns can be purchased from several sources over a wide price range.  I'll discuss some of those options here:

The first hit on a Google search of “Maloof rocking chair patterns” leads to the Scott Morrison website.  Morrison makes chairs for sale from his shop in Montana.  There are several different Maloof style furniture pieces for sale here as well as DIY patterns.  The DVD and patterns can be purchased for $129.98.  There is no book in the package, but the DVD does have 6 hours of instruction.  The gallery shows some beautiful chairs.  The only differences I see between Morrison’s chair style and Maloof’s are the back legs that don’t extend up past the headrest (crestrail).  Not a big deal since this can easily be customized.

Another chair design that is referenced quite often in newsgroups comes from Hal Taylor of Virginia.  He has chairs for sale, but also sells the plans.  A book on chair building runs $50.00, a 3 DVD set for $90.00, and patterns are $50.00. The Taylor rocking chair also has the rear legs that do not extend above the headrest.  I noticed that the rockers tend to have a simple curve as opposed to the S-curve (a.k.a. cyma curve) on the Maloof rocker.

Another major chair website is owned by Charles Brock who sells a bundle through Highland Woodworking.  The bundle includes a 90 minute DVD, booklet, and full-sized patterns for $89.99.  Brock started a new woodworking school in Georgia just to train how to build this type of rocker.  He now offers a kit with precut wood pieces for $1,499.99. That would definitely speed up the process, but where’s the fun in that?  I enjoy woodworking because I get to WORK THE WOOD.  The Brock rocker is described as “Maloof inspired” and is not 100% the same as an original Maloof, but it sure looks like the most accurate copy to me.

There are other sites out there, but I saw these three referred to over and over again.  I spent quite awhile thinking about which plans would provide me with the chair I wanted, and I finally decided on the Brock bundle.  The chair style closely matches the look I want, and the bundle was the least expensive.  I ordered and received the plans about a month ago.  The quality of the materials is quite good.  The booklet doesn’t just echo the DVD, but rather compliments it with more detailed information.  I believe that these materials, together with the references I listed in the previous post, will allow me to be true to the Maloof style, yet still tweak the design to be my own.