Maloof Inspired rocker


AndyG

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G’day WTO,

I thought I’d post a project journal of my Maloof rocker that I started building a while ago. I initially posted a thread in the guild area with some questions on the build, and somehow that turned into a journal. I received some great advice but thought others might benefit from seeing my build so far, including my stuff ups and what I’ll do next time. I’m by no means an expert, I’m just a hobby woodworker who took the plunge building one of my bucket lists projects. 

I’ll have to post my work so far over a few posts as I have shocking internet coverage in my area, so I won’t push my luck.

First of all the rocker was intended to be completed before the arrival of our first child, I was cutting it fine as it was and didn’t get close to finishing it. As you can imagine, once she was born, workshop time was somewhat limited, so progress certainly slowed down.

So here it goes. I decided on US (I’m an Aussie), partly because it seems to be the traditional wood choice for rockers, but I also really like it. I purchased more than I needed so I can be picky with grain selection, which I think makes a significant difference. 

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I spent an embarrassingly long time deciding on the pieces for the seat. I ended up deciding on this layout.

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Then the 3 degree bevels, I used my jointer for this. I used my domino to join the boards also, this makes it so much easier to glue up.

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Pre sculpting was done on he bandsaw. Upon reflection, I was a bit conservative with this. Next time, and there will definitely be a next time because I’m having a blast building this, I’ll remove more material. It’s not a big issue, but it would certainly help.

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I cut the joinery on all four corners then glued up the seat. I was pretty excited at this stage!

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Front leg joinery. 

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More to come.....

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After all four legs were fitted, I did as much preliminary sculpting with the bandsaw as I could then glued them up.

At this point, I had already made and fitted two arms (pre glue up). They were a nice fit and had quite a bit of sculpting already competed. After the glue up I went to fit the arms back on, and this happened. Somehow during the glue up I pulled one of the rear legs slightly out of it’s original alignment, so the arms no longer fit. I came up with a few different ways of fixing the issue, including making a wedge and planing some material away. But I knew whatever I did I wouldn’t be completely happy with, so I started over again and made new arms.

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The second set of arms blanks.

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At least I had a bit of practice.... the second set of arms turned out better than the first set, so I guess it was a blessing in disguise.

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The arms glued up. I guess I could have sculpted more material before I glued up, but I wanted to see how they looked in proportion to the rest of the chair. 

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I was aiming for thinner looking arms, and I think I got the look I was after. Still a bit of rasp and scraper work to do, but I’m on my way.

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Concurrently I was doing other work on the chair like removing excess material from around the legs, finessing the front curves etc. 

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I also added the Festool RAS 115 to my arsenal of sanders. I must say, I absolutely love it. The galahad wheels are excellent, but they throw around quite a bit of dust. The RAS collects around 70%, with the remainder just falling at my feet where I’m working. 3802D5D4-8877-4AD1-B800-90A6F5830D70.thumb.jpeg.a0d88a29ae1d57c668021ff2a249a318.jpeg

 

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10 hours ago, pkinneb said:

The chair is looking great! The perfect tool arsenal there for sculpted work! FWIW I found the RO90 very useful when I made my sculpted bar stools last year :o 

I agree, the RO90 would be super handy. I’m looking at getting one in the next few weeks. What pads did you use? 

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16 minutes ago, pkinneb said:

I really like the interface pads ($22) for this type of work.

X2 on the interface pads! A must in my opinion. 

They are not incredibly durable, but if you are careful taking the sandpaper pads off than you should get a good amount of sanding out of them. The pad that is on my RO90 has been with me for 6 sculptured chairs and still going strong.

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So this is where I’m up to. I’ve been slowly working on the back slats for a while now, been doing a bit of work on them then changing to something else. I’ll be honest, they are ALOT of work, and I’m finding the 1/2” round tenons to be a bit frustrating to do. I’ve finished them now, but it got me thinking about doing bent laminated back slats for my next one. Maybe a cross between a Hal Taylor and Charles Brock?

Anyway, I’ve started on the 3/8” tenons for the top and they are very easy to do compared to the 1/2” tenons. I’ve committed myself to finishing the back slats, and do nothing else!

On the topic of the RO90, which Festool abrasives did you use? Eg rubin, brilliant etc. And  besides the interface pads, what other must have accessories should I get? I’ve seen others buff their chairs before applying finish. What’s the go with this, is it just to enhance the sheen?

 

Cheers

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The back slats are the killer on this project. I'm in the middle of my second rocker and it took a lot of time to do the slats. Slats went more quickly for me the second time around and I think when I do future chairs I'll stick to basically the same technique, but do a few tweaks to save more time. But, you will find out it is the slats that make this chair so comfortable!

On my chairs I've used the granat up to 220 on the RO90, then hand sanded with 320 and 400. Hand sanding with the 320 will show you areas that need work, so I keep the 220 on the RO90 close by. So it goes like this; sand the whole chair with the RO90 using the 220,  hand sand with 320, wipe the chair down, look for scratches, use the 220 on the RO90 in those areas, go back to the 320 sanding by hand over problem area.

Key that I've found in finish sanding is hand sanding the chair with 320 lets you find the areas that need more sanding and I find it is much more efficient to clean up the areas with the 220 on the RO90, as long as I can get to them with the RO90. I hope this makes sense.

After sanding with the 320 and cleaning up all the scratches, I do a once over with 400. This is quick since I should have everything cleaned up before this round of sanding. If you want to go further you can use 0000 steel wool.

Finally, I use 0000 steel wool to apply my finish, works wonders.

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Thanks for the reply Bmac. It certainly makes sense, and I had planned to finish to 400 also. So you reckon granat is the way to go with the RO90? And do you just use the interface pad? I’m also interested to know what finish you use? I was initially going to make up the maloof finish, but recently I’m thinking Osmo polyx.

As for the back slats, I reckon second time around I’ll be more efficient. This goes for the whole rocker build. I found even after relieving the back and front of the 1/2” tenons, there still wasn’t enough movement to get the 3/8” tenons to fit in the headrest. I ended up moving material around the sides as well and eventually was able to fit the top tenons in. 

 

Next up I’ll finish sculpting the back slats. Once they’re sorted, it’s time to start refining the chair with rasps, scrapers and of course sanding. 

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I don't think granat is the only way to go, but just works for me in the last few sanding grits. But for more aggressive shaping or reducing in the coarser grits I like the rubin paper.

I like the Maloof finish, easy and looks good but it is a little expensive. If I was doing production work I'd mix it myself. I'd be interested in what others used for their finish.

One other point, do not glue up slats and backrest until you have the chair sanded to at least 320, it becomes too hard and awkward to sand after this glue up. There will be sanding of the backrest after glueup esp at the joint, but that goes quickly.

 

PS- I use the interface pad for all the sanding with the RO90.

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