Maple Sculpted Rocker


SeventyFix

Recommended Posts

I used the quick clamp to pull everything together at the start.  But it doesn't have the oomph that one gets with bar clamps.  I personally love bar claps: cheap and powerful, easy to clean the glue off of them.  Once close, I use a hammer to whack the bottom form so that it sits parallel to the top form.  Then come the bar clamps to drive everything home.  All gaps closed up.  I didn't add cork to my form as Marc did, though I think that it's a good idea.  I didn't have any cork in the shop and didn't want to pay another $15 to buy a roll.  I took the chance and went without cork.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, TIODS said:

Chair is looking awesome!  If the plugs are just a little too small, you can use epoxy and a little dye to install the plugs.  

Agreed - that method works.  But plugs that fit are even nicer.  I used regular Titebond to glue the plugs.  The next morning, I sanded them smooth to the chair surface.  I smudged in a small amount of glue to any gaps around the plugs (the gaps were very small) and sanded through the wet glue.  This traps sawdust in the glue and the gaps disappear.  It's similar to the epoxy method without having to make up another batch of epoxy and mixing it with dye. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, SeventyFix said:

I think that's what I bought - that's what the project called for. 

Not being a smart ass but, you did shorten the plug from the narrow end so that the wider portion would fill the hole, right?

The difference from the small tip of the plug to the large portion is only about 1/32 of an inch so they don't compensate for a lot of slop. More intended to deal with the deviation and dowel diameters, I think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, gee-dub said:

The chair is looking awesome.  These can help with your plug issue. They fit like a slightly tapered cork.

Yep they work great I just used them on a project. Truth be told I didn't realize all plug cutters weren't tapered until I saw this post.

The chair looks amazing! That first coat of finish is going to take it over the top :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update:

I provided a link to Shaney Mack's rocker chair build in the very first post for this series. I strongly recommend its use as a reference while consuming the video series and working on the project.  I wish that I had taken that advise myself.  I made the exact same mistake that he did with the rockers: I glued the blocks in the wrong place on the front of the rockers.  I'm not 100% satisfied with how one of my rockers turned out.  I did not mark the board before cutting it into strips.  As a result, I had a hard time lining up the figured grain on one rocker.  For these reasons, I decided to stop the project and remake the rockers.  I don't think that it's going to take significantly more time to make new rockers than it will to fix the existing ones. 

For those keeping track, I failed to finish the project before October 1st.  I have to start another project for work; the rocker is going to have to be fit in between when time allows.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Working in dribs and drabs as time allows.  New set of rockers.  I paid close attention to the milling process, marking each board with distinct arrows.  I forgot to do that the last time.  The arrows allow for easy reassembly on the individual boards in the same order and orientation as they existed in the original piece of lumber.  Each rocker is 1.75" wide - a quarter of an inch wider than required.  My first rocker glue-up wasn't absolutely perfect.  I made sure that the second glue-up was spot on.  I aligned the front edges of each rocker with the same spot on the bending form to make the rockers as close to identical as possible.  I drilled pilot holes and placed screws in the rockers to limit slipping between the laminate layers.  Since the wood is figured with distinct lines, I want to preserve those lines as much as possible.

20171012_183951.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Scribing the Legs to the Rockers

I bought the tool that Marc uses to scribe around each leg.  I had no luck with it.  It's not possible to scribe all around the leg with this method as the sides of the rear legs hang off the rockers in some places.  I was not able to easily get a good scribe line.  After a bunch of fiddling, I determined that my cut was too far off and I needed to scribe again - this time with the new set of rockers.

Instead of using 5 pieces in the transition block, I used 6 to make up for the second scribe and cut.  I took a short, used pencil, sharpened it and cut off the metal eraser attachment part.  Then I sanded it down along the length until  only half a pencil remained.  Imagine a pencil with one flat side instead of being completely round.  I took 2 card scrapers and stacked them together - this, plus the pencil, gave me enough height to overcome the largest gap between the rocker transition block and the chair leg.  I held the scrapers at a right angle to the leg and scribed around each leg.  Since the scrapers are decent in size, I could rest them against whatever part of the transition block was protruding from the leg and scribe right along any part of the leg.  Lay the flat side of the pencil on the scraper stack and scribe around each leg.  There's no tilting a scribe to a certain angle and no guesswork.  The pencil is flat and cannot deviate from sitting flat against the scrapers.  This gave me an incredibly accurate scribe line all around each leg. 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cutting the Rockers

With your perfect scribe line in place, cut accurately with a good saw.  Leave 1/32" to the line.  I used Marc's method of sneaking up on the line with the rasp.  Go all the way around the leg with the rasp until you're right on the cut line (good lighting is essential).  Then I departed from the plan.  I took the die grinder and dished out the inside part of each rear leg, leaving the outside 1/4" intact.  I colored the bottom of each rear leg completely with a pencil to judge my progress (and make 100% certain that I did not touch the outside edge of the leg bottoms with the die grinder).

Creating a small concave void in the underside of the rear legs makes the sandpaper method (see Shane's post) much easier.  There's a lot less material to remove.  Place the chair on the rockers, secure smartly with clamps (I'll provide pictures of this later) and start sanding.  Get a new piece of 100 grit sandpaper - a whole sheet.  Work on one leg at a time.  Lift the leg, insert the sandpaper between the leg and the transition block (gritty side facing up against the chair leg) and carefully pull the sandpaper out.  Pull it out straight so that you're not sanding a small roundover into the end of the chair leg.  

I performed this sandpaper trick about 100 times per rear leg until the fit was spot on perfect.  When complete, almost all of the concave underside of each leg as ground flat.  Any uneven surface under the leg will fill with epoxy during the glue-up.

For the front legs, I did the same thing.  Grinding a concave depression in the front legs is not necessary as there is already a 1/2" hole there for the dowel.  There's not much material in the front legs - they're much smaller than the rears.  I took a piece of 100 grit sandpaper and glued it to a flexible Japanese saw using spray adhesive.  This makes the sanding super fast in the front!  About 30 seconds of back and forth sanding and each front leg was sitting perfectly.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only things left to do before the final finish is to grind the legs to the rockers and perform the final sanding of the entire chair.  I have been making pencil marks on the chair as I work on it and find any places that need extra attention.  Most of the chair is already sanded to 320 grit.  I'll document my finishing process in detail as it is completely different than the method that Marc uses (specific to the wood species that I chose).

All of the accent pieces (plugs, dowels and decorative strip in the rockers) are made from walnut.  Even when the chair is turned upside down, the viewer will see the walnut dowels in the rear legs.  I could have used another species (as I have cherry dowel in the shop) but opted to buy a walnut dowel to keep everything consistent.  I like extra attention to detail like this.

20171016_053604.jpg

20171016_053602.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, SeventyFix said:

Working in dribs and drabs as time allows.  New set of rockers.  I paid close attention to the milling process, marking each board with distinct arrows.  I forgot to do that the last time.  The arrows allow for easy reassembly on the individual boards in the same order and orientation as they existed in the original piece of lumber.  Each rocker is 1.75" wide - a quarter of an inch wider than required.  My first rocker glue-up wasn't absolutely perfect.  I made sure that the second glue-up was spot on.  I aligned the front edges of each rocker with the same spot on the bending form to make the rockers as close to identical as possible.  I drilled pilot holes and placed screws in the rockers to limit slipping between the laminate layers.  Since the wood is figured with distinct lines, I want to preserve those lines as much as possible.

BTW - I should clarify the rocker width.  I cut the wood strips to 1.75" instead of the 1.5" required.  This allowed a lot of leeway at the jointer and planer.  Some of the wood had some insect holes and discoloration.  With the extra material, I was able to remove almost all of this.  At the planer, I was able to get the rockers absolutely dead flat, straight and clean.  I took really shallow passes with the planer and had no issue at all with the rockers going through the planer (it is a funky shape).  The final width of the rockers on this chair is 1.502".

15 minutes ago, TIODS said:

Chair is looking awesome!

Thank you sir!  It has been a journey / ordeal!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use screws to limit the slipping between the laminate layers.  If you choose to do this, place the screws at the rear of the rocker, rather than the front as I did here.  There's more waste to cut off at the rear.  

Limiting slipping is not a consideration with most woods.  With this figured material, it is desirable to have the striped pattern line up between the layers as best as possible.

DSCN4875.thumb.JPG.cf77cca81b249cdca41b96effd72cbcc.JPG

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Showing the underside of one of the rear legs.  The surface is shaded with pencil and lightly dished out in the center with the die grinder.  This makes the fitting of the legs to the rockers much faster as there is less material to remove.  Once complete with the sandpaper trick mentioned previously, almost all of the dished out section is flat with the rest of the surface.  Any remaining imperfection is between the bottom of the leg and the rocker - an area filled with epoxy.

DSCN4883.thumb.JPG.782136fc8ac4680d4e1c0260fc99ce47.JPG

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Who's Online   2 Members, 0 Anonymous, 44 Guests (See full list)

  • Forum Statistics

    31.2k
    Total Topics
    421.7k
    Total Posts
  • Member Statistics

    23,756
    Total Members
    3,644
    Most Online
    FaithMoody
    Newest Member
    FaithMoody
    Joined