Maloof style lounge chair

[MikeW]

I thought that it might be interesting to view my latest project, a Maloof styled lounge chair.  Honestly, I embarked on this project after reviewing the thread by Bmac posted in the Advanced Woodworking forum, but I cannot post there probably due to my newness to this site.  If someone has a better idea where my thread should go, the I’m open to suggestions.  It might sound crazy, but I spent about 10 hours to get my design exactly the way I wanted.  At the bottom, you can see that I tilted the chair back 1/2”.

 

[wtnhighlander]

I like the looks of this design, and would love to follow a build journal. I the project journals section would be appropriate. If you want to just continue this thread, we can move it later.

[Chestnut]

This looks familiar. I really like the look of these chairs. I hope you bring us along on your build.

[MikeW]

Okay, great.  I’ll post here and then move it later if that seems reasonable.  It has been over 10 years since I finished my Maloof rocker after attending a 1 week session at the Marc Adams school.  That school assisted getting the basic form connected with all the joints, but I had another 100 hours in sculpting to complete at home.  Here’s a few more to get you up to speed.

I created all of the templates out of 1/2 ply and then I could start on the final shapes after I roughed them out on the bandsaw.

 

[MikeW]

Where I did a considerable amount of reasearch was on the leg joints.  Again, it was about 15 years since I did my last Maloof joint, so I didn’t want to screw it up.  How was I going to run a 1/2” rabbet on these joints with curved rockers and also avoiding tear-out?  This is what I did and the bearing of the bit just barely fit inside.

[MikeW]

Got the legs connected and next I need to take them to my Jet mini lathe.  The last picture of the turned leg was a rough spindle and I got them to where I now like them and they match.  I will post another picture of the matched set.

 

[MikeW]

Next, I did the narrow and taper the back legs and trim back the inside seat sides about 5/16” so that the corners may be rounded and flow into the front and back rails.  I took them to my band saw, but there was a lot of hand work with chisels, rasps, gouges, and sanding.  I haven’t found any other wood that I can shape by hand like I can with walnut.  Tedious work, but a pleasure.

 

[MikeW]

Blending the front rail into the sides this morning and now you are pretty much caught up.  

[Mark J]

3 hours ago, MikeW said:

 It might sound crazy, but I spent about 10 hours to get my design exactly the way I wanted.

Not to me.

[pkinneb]

Subscribed

[gee-dub]

On 12/9/2021 at 6:41 AM, MikeW said:

It might sound crazy, but I spent about 10 hours to get my design exactly the way I wanted.

Perfectly sane.  Well worth the investment.

[Coop]

What size stock were the bottom legs made from? 

[MikeW]

“What size stock were the bottom legs made from?”

8/4”

[Coop]

What was the width of the piece before cutting? 

[MikeW]

On 12/11/2021 at 11:07 PM, Coop said:

What was the width of the piece before cutting?

I bought it S2S.  Here is the thickest part next to the backrest.

[MikeW]

Other than roughing out the arms, lots of sculpting ahead.  It took quite a while to get all the legs sitting on the same plane.  

 

[Bmac]

Looking very nice!!  Following this one!

[MikeW]

Need to take a lot of material out of the headrest and rasps and sanders in the shop we’re slow and creating a lot of unwanted dust.  Weather for the Buffalo area wasn’t too bad yesterday, so I pulled out my Bosch angle grinder with an aggressive grit disc.  This made quick work, but need to be careful here.  This is where chairmaking turns from construction to art in my opinion.  Not quite there yet, but quite a bit of progress.  Again, much appreciation to Bmac for his thread and all of the pictures.

 

[Bmac]

You are correct, this is the part of the build that can be so rewarding- sculpting the shape, the lines, the contours, it's always the most rewarding part of the build. 

Your design looks very good and I love that you are old school like me with the graph paper. I think this chair will sit really well. You've got a bigger drop from the front of the seat to the back of the seat than I did, I tried to lessen that drop and in the end I think I lessened it too much. I actually went back after the fact and cut 1.5" off my back legs on my finished car to increase the drop. It helped with the comfort of the seat. 

Keep up the good work!

[MikeW]

Seems like a lot of work, but not a lot of progress.  I used epoxy to adhere the front legs to the seat rail.  I will also use epoxy for the joint where the back rail meets the seat/back legs too because that will be a high stress joint as well.  Screws will be inserted into the headrest and a single screw into the front legs joints.  I have some leftover ebony that I plan to use as plugs.  More sanding on the headrest and it is now more to my liking.  I also tried a new product, Starbond medium thick cyanoacrylate.  This was used to fill some of the voids I had due to natural checking and where the grain tore out in a few spots.  I bought the brown version and it’s supposed to match walnut fairway well.  It is dark, but it seems like it will blend in.  Supposed to build up deeper voids in layers and you can see in one of my pictures where it has been filled, but there still was a section I needed to touch up.  Two pictures show completed areas.

I reached out to three local upholsterers, but only one contacted me.  I sent pictures and they are considering.  Not sure what I will do if I cannot find a professional upholsterer to help me with this project.

 

[wtnhighlander]

A question for those having experience with the 'Maloof' leg to seat joint: Does the screw add significant strength, compared to a dowel or loose tenon? Or is it just a lot simpler to execute?

[Bmac]

Maloof always said a screw is nothing more than a metal dowel or tenon and he believed it was better than a wood dowel or tenon. He did get some grief at the time by other woodworkers who were more "purists", but he nevertheless felt comfortable including screws in his work. 

As for the Maloof joint itself, if done well it's a very stable joint, but the screw does help reinforce it, esp when dealing with chairs that receive a lot of force. I'm sure a loose tenon or dowel would work for the joint, but the screw is very fast and easy here, and Maloof believed it was the strongest option. I for one won't argue with him. 

[wtnhighlander]

Thanks, @Bmac. I have no compulsion against using hardware, but I NEVER hide a screw behind a plug. Repairs will be inevitable, and I have been unpleasantly surprised by steel buried in the wood, so I don't want to leave such surprises for others.

[MikeW]

Here’s an update:  Blended the legs into the rails with a lot of craving and sanding.  Again, I don’t have a power carver like a foredom, so this is a bit laborious, but still effective.  It was mostly accomplished with a Flexcut carving tool, a saddle rasp, and good old fashioned sandpaper.

 

[MikeW]

Next up, I need to rough out the arms.  After roughing it out on my bandsaw, I used my Bosch right angle grinder/sander with 50 grit to do most of the work.  Also, my mini Porter Cable belt sander, various rasps, and my Festool orbital sander.

i have a lot more rasping and sanding ahead of me to get these into their final shape.