Final Post - My attempt at a Maloof style rocker

[LocoWoodWork]

The rocker is looking good.
The joinery for the arms is the easy part. You have already completed the hardest part, shaping the seat, especially with red oak. Hard the tear out using a carbide burr with oak is tough to clean up and harder woods are much more difficult to shape with rasps.
This looks like the Charles Brock design. If so, the way he attaches the rockers is the most difficult task. If you set the chair up on a flat surface and cut the legs flat to the floor then make adjustments to the risers on top of the rockers for the front to back angle, it is much easier and you will be much more satisfied with the outcome.
Are you using solid back rests or bent laminations via the Hal Taylor approach?

Not following Charles Brock design. No patterns used, only read lots of articles and watching utube vids from multiple sources. Definitely learning a lot. The back slats are laminated style, took me about six patterns/templates to get it comfortable.

 

[LocoWoodWork]

Twenty years ago, my son and I planted some live oak seedlings. One was hit a few times by weed eater, finish mower and although it kept growing it was doomed and eventually I felled it. I sawed the 14" x 4' trunk into three slabs and it has been air drying for 4+ years. Since the rocker is my daughter in laws birthday present I decided to use live oak for the back slats incorporating a tree her husband planted when he was seven. The live oak is being laminated to RO slats and be the visible layer when looking at the chair from the front. (Wasn't going to use back slats but HMerkle highly recommended them.)

Live oak to slats. Will try and provide pics next week of the jig and glue up. Forgot to take them today.


Used a copper tube to get a general idea of the slat contour before making a few wood templates which I kept modifying until my wife and daughter were comfortable with the contour.


Made a jig and drilled the headrest


Dry fit the headrest using #9 3" screws (three each side) IOT sculpt it into the legs and get slats cut, shaped and installed.


Can you say LOTS and LOTS of sanding!!!

 

[lostwarden]

Looks outstanding. Very well done.

 

[LocoWoodWork]

Been slowly working on the rocker. Got the runners glued and pegged.

This is what it looked like on the first go around. Chair was leaning way to far back once the headboard/slats added (side view pic. w/o headboard/slats). Girls (twst subjects were afraid it was going to flip over backwards during rocking trials.

After much hesitation runners were cut off, front legs shortened, angles on the rear legs modified, glued and re-pegged making chair sit up straighter. Not sure if you can tell but the side view below with headboard and slats in place sits much straighter than the pic above.


Forensic evidence of the two glue ups (screw ups).

Worked on the slats which are sanded to 280. Boy am I enjoying me some Klingspor bargain boxes!!! After sanding up to 220 with their ROS disks the bargain scraps are truly handy to get the fine finish with hand sanding.

Taking this week off, hope to finish rocker on the following week.

 

[LocoWoodWork]

Completed the rocker and finished it with a coat of rubio monocoat pure (had just enough leftover from the pedestal table build). FYI, I really like the monocoat. Easy to apply, no VOCs and one coat. I did notice that some of the hardener had evaporated which I attribute to the tin can it came in not sealing properly after the 1st opening. Next time I plan to transfer remainder to a different container and see if that helps.



Front

Sides



Back


Birthday girl gets it tomorrow.

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

Wow, that came out great. Impressive.

 

[Graywolf]

Great work Steve, thanks for sharing the process

 

[llucas]

Steve, that is beautiful!....I can't believe how fast you got it finished. A total heirloom for sure. Thanks for sharing the process and the final product

 

[Hmerkle]

WOW!
Can I say it? That thing is SEXY!
from the back it almost seems to have a waist

 

[JohnnyR]

Beautiful Steve!

 

[mdbuntyn]

Very nice

 

[chris_goris]

Beautiful!

 

[Mark Johnson]

Very nice piece!

 

[Melinapex]

Love it! Love rocking chairs and that is a beauty!

 

[Bill Kappel]

No classes, I watched quite a few vids on utube. Read a few articles. One gentleman, Mr. Bill Kappel (has a few utube vids) had a post on Lumberjocks with some measurements and offers to send you more details free if requested. I did and he did. No patterns, just his build explanation. He does offer more info for a small fee.

Thanks for the kudos. One can get full size patterns and additional text from me. see my web site at kappelusa.com.

 

[drw]

Steve, very impressive build! You did a beautiful job...congratulations, and thank you for sharing.