Final Pictures

I haven't had time to get professional pictures taken yet, but here are some better pictures from my living room.  The 6 coats of finish came out looking very good.  After waiting several days, I also applied some paste wax.  I'm very happy with the result.

More Lessons Learned

I’ve applied the four coats of satin finish and one coat of the wax finish.  As I was working on the finish, I thought of some more lessons learned that I should share.

Although the sanding was tedious, it was worth every minute.  You might feel like giving up at this point, or cutting corners on the sanding, but don’t.  The first thing people say when they see my chair is, “Can I touch it?”  The finish won’t cover up all of your sins, so take your time and sand the chair well.

I realized (too late) that I messed up on my leg-to-rocker transitions.  I should have started with a block of wood and cut the laminations so that when it is glued up, it would look like a single block of wood again.  Instead, I used a long strip that I had cut for the rockers and cut that into smaller pieces.  This resulted in a stack of laminations with the grain staggered.  It creates an interesting effect, but it doesn’t look like one piece of wood.  I didn’t even realize what I had done until I started sanding.  I also didn’t choose wood that blended well into the leg grain color.

This leads me to my final suggestion: plan everything before you start.  Take some time before each shop session to think through your next steps.  Review the instructions, watch the DVD, and walk through the steps in your head before you start cutting wood.  Just five minutes spent in planning can save you hours of re-work.  The forum on Charles Brock’s website is also full of good information that isn’t found in the book or DVD.

I received my completion certificate from Charles Brock yesterday.  I’m now an official “Rock’n Chairman”!  It feels good to be a member of this club.

My chair is full of flaws, but I’m proud of the result just the same.  As my first attempt at fine furniture, I think I did ok.  This blog has helped me to document my mistakes, so (hopefully) I won’t repeat them on my next chair.  I hope it will also help you to avoid mistakes on your projects too. 

Once again, I would like to thank Charles Brock for his fine instructional materials without which this project never would have happened.  He was always very responsive to my e-mails and encouraging.  I’m also grateful for the link he provided from his website to my blog.

I also have to thank my wife for her patience in letting me spend the money and hours on this project.  My plan was to sell this first chair, but she has talked me into keeping it because she likes it so much.  That’s a big testament to her support. 

The Finish Line

The last week was spent doing more sanding.  I went over every inch of the chair and continued to find more nicks and small scratches.  It was as if there were gremlins in my shop adding scratches when I wasn’t looking.  By the time I got down to 320 grit, the wood was silky smooth.  This morning I finally completed the sanding to a point I was happy with.  Here's a picture of it fully sanded.

I wanted to mark my chair before I applied the finish, so I branded the bottom of the seat with my name.  (The brand was a Christmas present.)  I also wanted to date the chair, so I embedded a new penny.  I used a 0.75” forstner bit to sink a shallow hole, and then I epoxied the penny into the hole.  I think this makes for a nice decoration and helps to date the chair for future generations.

I made a stop by Rockler and purchased the Sam Maloof signature finish.  It’s composed of 1/3 tung oil, 1/3 linseed oil, and 1/3 poly varnish.  The instructions recommend 4 coats.  It is wiped on liberally, and then wiped off.  I have to wait 24 hours between coats.  For the top coat, I will use the Sam Maloof finish that is tung oil, linseed oil, and carnuba wax.  I will apply one or two coats of this and then buff it to a glossy shine.

I applied the first finish coat today.  The grain darkened nicely and really popped!  It looks great.  I can’t wait to get the remaining coats on.  Here is what it looks like.

 This has been an amazing learning process.  My rocking chair project has taken me almost 10 months to complete (I’m sure most people can do it in far less).  Many people have asked me how many total hours I have spent.  I never kept track, but I estimate somewhere between 300 and 400.  Now that I have all of the patterns and jigs completed, and I know what I’m doing, I’m sure the next one will take much less time.

Once I have all of the finish applied, I plan to get some professional pictures taken of the chair.  I will post them as soon as I can.   Rock on…