Rockers (Part 5)

Today I finished sculpting the back legs into the rockers.

Here are some pictures before the sculpting.  You can clearly see that the legs, which are oriented straight front-to-back, are off set from the rockers, which are oriented at 8 degrees.  This makes the sculpting a bit of a challenge.

I started by using my angle grinder with a sanding disk to quickly blend the rockers and legs.  Then I used my microplane to round the corners on the outside of the legs and on the transitions.  The insides of the legs were left with hard line corners.  I finally went over everything with the random orbital sander and 60 grit paper to quickly remove the scratch marks.  Here are pictures of the final product.  The last picture clearly shows the apparent “twist” in the leg joint.

I will have to use some filler on the joints as there are still some small gaps.  However, I’m happy that I’m in the final stage of sanding.  I will go over the entire chair up to 320 grit, and then go over it again using a superfine 3M sanding pad prior to finishing.  I hope that by my next post I will be applying the finish! 

Rockers (Part 4)

Yesterday I finished shaping the rockers (with the exception of the back legs).  I started by sketching out the parts that would be sculpted into the legs and the ends of the rockers.  I did this just by eye, and then cut the patterns using the band saw.  

Once cut, I did some sanding and then routed a 1/4” radius on all edges (except where the legs meet the rocker).  I found that it took longer to do the tool setup then to actually cut the wood! 

At this point, the rockers were finally starting to look like real rockers.  I used files and a microplane to shape the ends of the rockers.  The maple laminate looks great popping through the walnut.  I used the sander to adjust the curves and make sure the figures matched on each rocker.  The cyma curves make the rockers look like a pair of snakes.

I took a 1/2" dowel and sanded it to a smaller diameter.  The dowel was used to hold the rocker in place so that I could shape the rocker to the front leg.  The smaller diameter prevents it from sticking in the hole.   I also used a clamp to hold the back leg in place.  Again using files, microplane, and sandpaper, I sculpted the front leg transition.  There is a hard line that starts on the inside of the leg and then spirals around the front towards the bottom-outside edge.  The hard line then softens into the curve of the rocker.  This is all a matter of taste and you can make the design however you want.  Again, my goal was to make the chair as close to the Maloof design as possible.

I wanted the back legs to be joined before I started the sculpting.  That is to ensure that the transitions are in the correct orientation.  To install the rockers, I turned the chair upside down on my bench.  I used an old towel to pad the bench and avoid scratching the arms.  My workmate bench turns out to be the perfect height because the ears of the chair do not touch the floor.  I clamped the rockers to the legs, again using the small dowels on the front legs.  Then I used an 8 degree jig to properly align the rockers and to make sure they are centered.  The jig is simple to make and explained in the Brock instructions.  I ran into a problem here because the back legs were not parallel with the rocker transitions. This created gaps in the joint.  It’s not an easy thing to correct because the leg is at a compound angle with respect to the transitions, and the transitions have a slight curve.  It took quite some time to file and sand the leg to the point where it mated correctly

Once the rockers were correctly oriented, I marked a line along the side of the rocker and back leg to show where the connecting dowel should go.  I used my Dowel-It tool to guide the 1/2" drill through the rocker and into the back leg.  Note that Maloof did not drill through the rocker.  He somehow managed to install the rockers onto dowels even though they are at different angles.  The Brock method is easier.  The next step was to mix up some epoxy, insert the dowels, and then clamp the rockers into place.  The dowels were made from 1/2" oak stock.  I fluted and chamfered the front leg dowels. The back leg dowels were not fluted on the ends that stick out of the rockers.  I did this because I wanted the dowel to be perfectly flush with the hole where it exits the rocker.  The back leg dowels were cut extra-long so they stick out during gluing.  After the epoxy dried, I sawed them off flush and sanded.

Now the chair is essentially complete!  I brought the chair inside and took it for a test drive.  It rocks just fine!  No creaks or pops.  It feels very nice to the touch.  Today I plan to complete the sculpting of the back leg transitions.  Next week I will continue to sand the whole chair, and next weekend I hope to start applying the finish.

Lesson Learned:  During all my shaping and sanding yesterday, I neglected to wear a mask.  This was a big mistake as the walnut dust caused severe irritation of my sinuses.  Always wear a mask!

Rockers (Part 3)

This weekend I finished shaping and sanding the headrest.  That was the last step in completing the main portion of the chair.  Then I moved on to the rockers. 

The Brock instructions and video get a bit sketchy at this point.  The instructions simply point to the video for a construction step that I feel is critical to the project: the balancing of the chair.  But the video lacks detail.  In fact, much of the video goes on with no narration at all, so it’s assumed that you can follow what he is doing.  I had to watch the video several times to understand the transition locations, and even then some of what I did was a guess.  There is a new version of the video out now, so perhaps more detail has been added.

Brock sets the chair and rockers on a table saw.  I assume this is because the saw provides a smooth and level surface, but the video doesn’t give a reason.  I used my portable bench and adjusted the table to ensure it was level.  The instructions say to balance the rockers at 2.5” forward of the rear legs.  I found that I could not get my chair’s balance point to go that far forward.  The headrest may be too heavy, but I was not willing to take more material off at this point.  Instead, when I made up the rocker-to-leg transition laminations (see below) I used 5 for the back legs and only 3 on the front legs.  This helped to tilt the chair forward, but I still ended up with a balance point just 1.5” in front of the rear legs.

The transition pieces were created using the same process as the rocker laminations.  I jointed a 1.5” board, cut a thin strip on the band saw, and then planed the strip to size.  The strips were then cut in 6” lengths.  The front rocker transition can be mounted starting right at the front of the rocker.  The rear rocker transition begins at the balance point and goes back from there (see photos).  Once these locations were determined, I glued them up and clamped them using the rocker lamination jig. Don’t for get to wax the jig and use wax paper under the laminations.  I let them sit over night to dry.  Finally, I jointed the sides to ensure the transitions were aligned flat with the rocker.

Earlier in the instructions, it says to cut the bottom of the back legs off at 6 degrees.  But 6 degrees in which direction?  Now that the legs are sitting on the transitions, it is clear to see which way the legs need to be cut.  Here’s a picture of a leg before the cut.  I drew a line parallel to the transition to mark where the leg should be cut and then used a dozuki saw for the cut.  The front legs also required some work to make them flush with the transtion blocks.

The last step I did was to drill the dowel holes for the front legs.  I did this using a Dowel-It jig.  Because I decreased the number of laminations on the front, I had to also decrease the drill depth.  I normally use a brad point drill bit, but this might have poked through the bottom of the rocker, so I used a regular 0.5” drill bit instead.  I created dowels using oak stock.  I fluted the dowels to allow the glue to move around it.

My next steps will be to saw the transitions so they flow into the legs, shape the rockers, and then permanently install them.  The end is getting close!

Completing the main chair

I finally made some progress today!  I sanded the leg and arm joints (again).  Then I moved on to sanding the remaining spindles.  I did the gross shaping using 60 grit, then moved on to 120, 220, and 320.  Since I don’t have a spindle sander, I used a Dremel sanding drum on my cordless drill to better define the spindle shoulders.  I also made sure that the shoulders were aligned on each side.  On this chair I cut the spindles roughly thinking that I would shape and sand them later.  Now I realize that I could have saved time by cutting the spindles with more care earlier.  Next time, I will switch to a small bandsaw blade and cut the spindle shoulders exactly to the pattern.

After a lot of sanding, I dove in and glued the spindles in place.  This is like a point of no return and a bit scary.  Plan this glue-up carefully because there are seven spindles (two ends each) and the headrest to glue in place.  You need to work fairly quickly.  Brock suggests using a hide glue for the spindles.  This is in case a spindle breaks.  The hide glue can be heated (using a heat gun) to remove the spindle.  I chose to go all in and use the standard Titebond II.  If a spindle breaks now…

Here’s a picture of the chair just sitting on the rockers.

After getting the headrest glued and screwed, I started work on the screw plugs.  Brock uses the dowel makers to make his plugs from ebony.  Ebony is crazy expensive, so I opted to use some black wood I found at Woodcraft.  It’s quite hard and dark, so that’s good enough for me.  The piece of wood I had was perfectly sized to be cut into quarters and then turned to create the plugs.  I only needed one stick (about 12” long) to make all of the plugs.  I surprised myself by turning the piece to the perfect diameter on the first try!  The plugs were glued into place and then sawed off using a flexible pull saw.  Here’s a close picture of the headrest plug, and some shots from the side. 

I’m getting very excited as it really looks like a chair now.  The next step will be to finish shaping the headrest into the back legs with more sanding.  The last construction stage will be to install and shape the rockers. Then I can start the finishing.  The end is in sight!  I’m hoping I will only need a few more weekends.  Let me know if I can answer and questions for you.