More Shaping

My second rocker came out just like the first.  No spring back, and they look like mirror-images.  I’m setting them both aside for now.

If you didn’t happen to catch it, Fine Woodworking had several segments on the Martha Stewart show.  One of the segments included Martha Stewart’s brother who also made a Maloof style rocker using Charles Brock’s plans.  Chuck was on the show demonstrating how to shape a spindle.  You can see all of the episodes online by following this link.

Today I did some more work on shaping the back legs into the seat.  This went much faster thanks to a new tool I bought from Woodcraft.  The tool is a Microplane.  There are several types, but the one I bought is 8” long, round, and has coarse teeth.  It works great for shaping curves.  My rasps are too big for the radius I want, and my rat tail files are tapered so I don’t get a consistent profile.  The Microplane is straight and the radius seems to be just right.  The teeth are very sharp and it cuts moderately fast.  It works much like a cheese grater.  The nice thing is the finish is smooth (unlike a file or rasp).  The Microplane was only about $17 and well worth it because it certainly reduced my work time. The metal is strong, but thin.  You have to resist the temptation to put a lot of pressure on it to take more material because the metal can bend.  You just have to let the tool do the work and take more strokes.

I added a bit more curve to the left leg joint and then finished the right leg joint.  I consider this an intermediate fit since the final smoothing will happen after the pieces get glued into place.

Once the leg joints were done, I moved onto the headrest.  This took more time since there are some tricky lines.  This project is not a “follow the pattern” project.  Much of the work (especially the shaping) has been left as an exercise for the student.  It requires more artistry than technical skill.  I just keep working on it until I like the way it looks.  I was able to finish one side of the headrest today.  I hope to do the other side tomorrow.  It’s beginning to look like the chair I want.  I just need to keep plugging away.

Rockers (Part 2) and Shaping

I finished sanding the second rocker laminations and got them glued up in the jig.  The packing tape and paste wax works great.  The glue doesn’t stick at all to the tape, so the clean-up from the first rocker glue up was very quick.  I only replaced the tape at the bottom of the jig.  I re-waxed the whole thing before putting in the second rocker.  The clamps were all tightened into place and I left everything to dry overnight.

The first rocker was run across the jointer to clean it up.  Here are some pictures.  The rocker has been sitting in my shop for a week now.  I checked the rocker against the pattern and there was no spring back at all.  I really like the maple accent strip.  The lamination lines are invisible and since I kept the strips in order it looks like a single piece of wood.  Marking the wood with a “V” before cutting the strips, and then making sure you maintain that “V” when you glue up the rocker ensures this look. 

The wood I selected has some heart wood which is lighter than the sap wood.  I’ll mount the rocker so the heart wood is on the outside so it matches the seat.  I noticed this pattern before I started on the second rocker, so I laid up the strips to mirror this pattern on the opposite side.  Be sure to label the front and back of the rocker so you remember to lay it on the jig in the correct orientation.  If you fail to pay attention to the grain and the lamination order, your rockers could come out looking random.

As I mentioned before, I used my random orbital sander (ROS) to remove the bandsaw marks on the rocker strips. This is not ideal because the strip thickness is not uniform.  A hand plane could be used, but I’m not that skilled with my plane yet.  My electric planer needed the blades changed, so I just went to work with the ROS.  After the glue up, I cut out another strip to be used for the rocker-to-leg transition.  I’ve never changed the blades on my planer, so I figured it was time to learn.  I started by RTFM (Reading the freakin’ manual).  It turns out it wasn’t hard at all.  The blades are double sided, so I just needed to flip them around.  I didn’t have much luck with planing thin strips previously, but I thought that a sharp blade might help.  It only took two quick passes and the strip was done!  There was some waviness that I could feel, but that can be sanded easily.  Live and learn.  I’ll use this method on my next chair and save some time.

My final task for the day was to start shaping one of the back legs.  I made pretty good progress on the leg-to-seat joint.  I also made some executive design decisions on where I wanted hard lines and soft lines. The soft lines were marked with chalk.  I then used my router to round over some of the soft corners.   Here’s a picture showing the differences between the shaped leg and the rough one.  I spent about 3 hours on just this today and there is still plenty more to do.

Rockers

I stopped by Crosscut Woods this week and purchased another stick of 8/4 walnut for the rockers.  Today I cut out all of the strips.  Mr. Brock suggests six 3/16”+ strips or eight 1/8”+ strips.  I opted for the 1/8” strips because Brock says this will cause less springback.  The design calls for 50” strips, but I want a bit more material on the front of my rockers so I cut mine to 52”. 

The strips were cut using the bandsaw instead of my TSFH (table saw from hell).  This is safer and more controllable for thin strips.  I started by squaring the stock on the jointer and planer.  The stock thickness is 1-1/2”.  (Note to self:  time to change blades on the planer.)  I cut the strips 1/32” thicker so I had room to sand off the saw marks.  The board edge was jointed after each cut to ensure a smooth side to run against the fence.  This was a laborious process with my small shop because I had to swap the shop vac and power between bandsaw and jointer for each piece!  Whew. 

I laid out the pieces on the floor and used my random orbital sander to clean them up.  Laying the strips side-by-side keeps the thickness fairly uniform.  I found this sanding to be hard even with 60 grit sandpaper.  With just 1/32” added to each piece (maybe a bit more), this results in a total rocker height of 1-1/4”+, but the goal is 1”.  For some reason, getting that small amount of wood sanded off was really difficult.  Eventually, I grew tired of sanding and decided to just use 7 strips.  This brought the total height to 1”+.  As the Marines say, “Improvise, adapt, and overcome.”   Oh, by the way, I cut one strip of maple as an accent to the walnut.

With the sanding completed for the first rocker, I prepared for the glue up.  I chose to use Titebond III glue due to its longer open time (drying time).  I covered the surfaces of the jig with clear packing tape, and then applied paste wax to ensure the rocker did not stick to the jig.  The glue up process needs to happen quickly, so I preset the clamps close to the required opening.  This reduced the time needed to tighten each clamp.  I used old business cards to spread the glue since I seem to have a never ending supply of them.  I paid attention to covering the entire surface of each piece.  Once the pieces were all glued, I started clamping the stack in the center.  The pieces are much more slippery then when doing the dry fit, so be careful that some pieces don’t slide too far out of alignment.  Keep a soft hammer close to adjust the stack as necessary.  The c-clamps were applied from the center outward.  I clamped the reverse curve side first since it is the most complex.  Once all clamps were in place, I went back and re-tightened each one for maximum pressure.  This is a messy process.  Plan to have glue all over your hands and the jig.  I learned that c-clamps can’t be placed too close to each other or the handles will interfere with each other.  Also, do the glue up in a place where you can leave the jig overnight.  Once the clamps are in place, the entire assembly is very heavy.   I can’t wait to see how the rocker turns out!  If I get time this week, I’ll sand and glue up the second rocker.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

My day job is putting a crimp into my woodworking productivity.  Last weekend I spent shaping the front legs into the seat.  I used the bandsaw to round off the joint first.  Then I refined it with a rasp.  The smooth blend of the joint into the seat was made with a rotary rasp in my dremel tool, followed by a 1/2" sanding wheel in the dremel, and finally by some hand sanding using a dowel wrapped in 100 grit sandpaper.  This is a painstaking process because I was afraid of taking off too much material.  Overall, I spent about 3 hours per leg.  Here are some pictures of the result.  Obviously there is still more work to do.

This weekend I started shaping the headrest.  I tilted the bandsaw table and cut the top and bottom of the headrest to form a rough curve.  A rasp and file were used to continue the shaping.  I used the random orbital sander to clean it up.  Notice that the sides of the headrest that meet the back legs were not shaped.  That will be done once the pieces are screwed together to make sure the joints blend together correctly.

The next parts I attacked were the spindles.  I’m choosing not to crown the front of the spindles. I think that the additional surface area will add more support.  Crowning the back of the spindles was no problem.  Again, I used just a rasp and file, followed by sanding.

 My 1/2" and 3/8” Veritas dowel makers (a.k.a. pencil sharpeners) arrived this week.  I was anxious to try them.  I started with the spare spindle that I nearly cut in half so that I could practice.  The corners at each end were rounded using a rasp, and then I twisted on the dowel tool.  My first attempt ended in a huge chip out.  I eased up on my pressure to take just light cuts and got better results.  I had to be very careful to avoid the tool really digging into the wood and tearing out the corners.  I found that a combination of filing the piece close to the correct size and then using the dowel tool worked best.  On the 1/2" end, I noticed that the dowel created was not aligned with the curve of the spindle.  The tool also started hitting the bottom edge of the wider spindle shoulder preventing me from cutting the full length of the dowel.  After spending the money for these tools, I’m frustrated with the poor results.  I think I can do better shaping the dowel by hand.  Maybe I’m doing something wrong, or I just need more practice…I don’t know.  If anybody out there has suggestions, please leave me a comment.

There may be a problem with the spindles.  I just blindly followed the pattern when cutting out the parts.  Now, some of the spindle ends may be too thin.  Especially on the 1/2" end.  If I cut off some of the end, I might be able to recover and get a 1/2" dowel that completely fills the hole in the seat.  This would have the effect of lowering the wider portion of the spindle and I’m concerned about how that will look.  I will just have to try it and see.  I can’t complete the spindles until I have the rest of the chair assembled with the headrest in place, so I’ll just think about it some more.

Shaping the seat

Happy New Year!

Over the past few days, I’ve only been doing some minor work on my chair.  I used the Miller 1X drill bit to drill all of the seat, arm, and headrest holes.  It’s nice being able to screw the chair together without requiring clamps.  I used my router with the 3/4" roundover bit to shape the bottom of the seat, but was careful to stay away from the legs.  Those transitions will be shaped by hand.  I did some work on the left front leg joint, but there is much more to do.

I also made some mods to my rocker lamination jig.  After reading the Sawmill Creek forum, and looking at pictures of others jigs, the consensus seems to be clamping should be perpendicular to the curves.  I re-cut my cauls so they are parallel with the curves.  Then I drilled some holes to accommodate the c-clamps.  I started with a 1-3/8” forstner bit and chiseled one side flat to give the clamp more surface area.  The body of the clamp sticks out a bit, so I had to drill a second hole using a 3/4" forstner bit to prevent it from hitting the jig.  Here’s a picture of what it looks like now.

With the legs screwed into place, I marked the curve on the back of the seat using the headrest pattern.  I drew the curves on the sides of the seat freehand. Then, I used the band saw to cut out those curves.  Small curves were cut on the seat just forward of the front legs because I like that look.  The spindle holes were already marked, so I drilled those using a 1/2" bit to 1-1/4” depth.

Today it was a cold, but sunny day here in Seattle, so once again I moved my seat outside to do more shaping using the Holey Galahad wheel in the angle grinder.  I’m still very impressed with this tool. It’s aggressive, but also easy to control.  With a light touch, you can take off a thin layer exactly where you want it.  The seat had been roughed out before, but I wanted to make it deeper.  I also needed to shape the front of the seat.  It took very little time to get it where I wanted it.  I ground it down close, and then used rasps to get the shape detailed.  I sanded the whole thing using 60 grit disks in my random orbital sander.  I’m very happy with the shape now and the grain pattern.

There is just no short-cut for the shaping by rasp or file (I wish there was).  It goes pretty fast, but it takes some muscle.  If you are planning to make a chair like this, be prepared to spend a significant amount of time and effort in hand shaping and hand sanding.  I have only one day of vacation left before returning to my day job.  My goal is to get the front legs smoothed into the seat tomorrow.