Its been a while since I've had a chance to participate in forum threads and post any progress on my woodworking projects, life has kept me pretty busy.. but I've finally found away to ensure some woodworking is scheduled each week in my life.. I signed up for a class at an area community college.. something about paying tuition and that mandatory weekly attendance thing, and to top it off peer pressure to motivate a guy to stay with the class.

Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, CO has a pretty impressive woodworking program. I attended open houses over the past two years and finally took the plunge with another woodworking buddy. To be honest he talked me into the Maloof Rocker class.. a pretty intimidating project to say the least.. but I couldn't imagine a better project to push my bounds and keep me moving forward with the progressive growth of my overall woodworking skill set. This project incorporates organic joinery, chair oriented ergonomics, sculpted surfaces and a serious emphasis on wood selection and orientation of grain and materials.. the latter being something I really love.

The first decision was the choice of lumber to use for this chair.. there are 7 people taking the class and student #1 through #6 were using Walnut.. all but one using Black Walnut, the lone Walnut decenter decided to go with some amazing Claro Walnut stock from nwtimber.com. Primo stock to say the least. Now it was my turn, I had to decide, the class was given a week to get our stock after the first class. Luckily the timing was a bit serendipitous, I had been probing a lead on some 8/4 Birdseye Maple for a long time and that had just worked out. The gentleman from Wisconsin that runs a first class hardwood business contacted me, he had come into 6 pieces of nice 8/4 birdseye.


After reviewing a few pictures.. going from left #1 to right #6 ..I chose #3 - 8 1/4" x 105" and #5 - 9 1/4" x 106" long.. gorgeous stock, no heartwood on either..

Now the hard part.. given my cutlist for the chairs.. and the rarity of this 8/4 stock.. I had one chance to cut it right and try to minimize shipping costs as much as possible. The seller agreed to take some pictures of both sides of the boards and forward them to me. After an hour in photoshop stitching them together.. I had some accurate pictures to lay out my cut-list of parts to see how they would fit on the board.. and get them in the mail ASAP.


The boards provided enough stock for the seat boards, arms, front and back legs given the few visible defects such as wane, bark inclusions and two small knots. All those parts required 8/4 stock which I now have. Next, to find the last two pieces of lumber for the chair, a chunk of 10/4 stock 8"-7" x 25" for the crest rail and some 6/4 stock 6"-8" x 60" for the spindles.

The seller cut the two boards as to instructions and shipped them to me UPS. Very pleased all the way around with the 8/4 material.

Subsequently I looked and looked for four weeks trying to find the thicker crest rail piece. I swear it must be easier to find an honest politician than trying to locate a thick piece of BEM. As luck will have it after following some random articles located while goggling BEM I contacted a wood turner in New Brunswick, Canada that just so happened to have a nice piece of BEM with a medium density of eyes that is 4" x 8 1/4" x 36" behind his workshop door air drying for 10 yrs.

I can happily say that that chunk of BEM is en route to me from Canada via Airmail.

My search for the 6/4 spindle material will have to continue as the build progresses.

I'm heading to Boston tomorrow to hang out with Tommy and the rest of the 207 gang at the N.E. Home Show.. and will be postings some pictures of my progress once I return. Hope you enjoy this project.. it will be challenging and totally new for me. My goal with this post is to provide enough details for any average woodworker to build one of these chairs or at least get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for reading.

Good luck to you on this one. I will be watching with great interested. Chairs are always difficult and when you add 'Maloof Inspired' to the mix you are talking real tough stuff. I was thinking about Maloof today and how hard it is to replicate his work. He did so much freehand stuff and had a really great eye for flowing shapes. That kind of feel is not something that is easy to teach.

Can't wait to see your progress.

Steve

Thanks Steve, feel free to ask me any questions about aspects of the build that I may overlook.. sometimes its easy to forget different details that at the moment of posting this appear to be simple at one point or another.

I just wanted to quickly post a picture of the seat which is nearing completion.. I'll come back and edit this post giving details about the 5 glued up boards.. the angles used to create a gull-wing layout w/ the set to maximize the use of the materials and support deeper hollowing of the seat area.. the joints rabbited for the front and back legs...







So far the tools used to shape the seat have been a 4" Typhoon Carbide Burr grinder bit, 6" random orbital sander using 80 grit paper, 1 1/4" dowel wrapped with sandpaper to sand the the edge profile and a set of curve shaped hand scrapers.

I love Birdseye Maple! More to come after I return from Boston..

Seat shape looks good and seems very 'Maloof-y' to me. That seems like a major milestone to me.

Good luck

Steve

Ok Scott, you 've been back from Boston for almost 2 weeks.. Let's see an update pal! By the way, that birdseye maple is sooooooooo nice.

I've finally had a chance to put some time into my play-by-play. Basic information about the Maloof inspired rocking chair..

Materials
The overall project doesn't use a lot of material..
Here is the rough dimensions for the chair parts:
Back legs: 1 board of 8/4 - 8" x 60"
Front legs: 1 board of 8/4 - 6" x 20" or 3" x 40"
Arms: 1 board of 8/4 - 5" x 44"
Rockers: 1 board of 8/4 - 6" x 48"
Spindles: 1 board of 6/4 - 6" to 8" x 60"
Crest Rail: 1 board of 10/4 - 7" to 8" x 25"
Seat: 5 boards of 8/4 - 5" x 22"

The Seat
The one that I'm building uses 5 boards glued up to construct the seat. There are some photos which show that Sam used a three board glue up on a few of this seats but those appear to be rare. The seat material in its rough form needs to be 5 boards around 5" wide x 22" long x 8/4.. final dimension of the seat needs to be 20 1/2" square so 21" long boards will work just fine and once you clean up your material for the seat try to preserve as much thickness as possible. I started with full 8/4 material and drum sanded them quickly to clean-up tear out and my final width is 1 15/16" thick.

When selecting material for your seats makes sure to take the time to get some primo material if possible.. the seat is the largest surface area in the chair and visually had a lot of importance to how it looks. Orienting your material try to match the grain and color of the wood as good as possible to avoid awkward contrast transitions that will function as a point of tension and really take away from the seats aesthetics. As a rule I tried to put the best board in the middle of the seat and from there just keep the boards well matched.

After you find an orientation or layout of your seat boards that work best go ahead and number them from left to right 1 to 5. This is important since long before the seat is glued up there will be many times when each board is being shaped and worked with.

The next step is to rip your seat boards in a manor which allows the seat to be sculpted out as deep as possible.


Due to the expense associated with the maple being used for my chair I picked up some 8/4 Poplar material to be used to make prototype pieces throughout the construction to work out the kinks. The picture above is my practice seat after the boards were dimensioned and ripped at the appropriate angles.

Now that's what I'm talking about.. Good recovery Scott. You deserve a break now. Why don't you go get some KC Style BBQ and get ready to work on your next update.

Ok Scotty... What's the status now? We need an update on your chair.

Bruce

Update
Its been a long time since I've posted any updates to this play-by-play. . to tell you the truth I haven't actually touched the chair for 8 months but recently picked it back up again due to some good old honest peer pressure. I need to save face, get this chair off my "unfinished" project list and get it completed for an upcoming deadline.. A woodworking open house mid-May.

On a positive note, I managed to take numerous photos along the way and documented the major steps taken since my last updates.. If there is anything folks have questions on please feel free to ask.. I'll answer if possible.

Shaping the seat boards
Now back to some background on how the seat boards were sculpted out to remove as much material as possible before the glue up.


After the 3 degree gull wing pattern is ripped and the seat is the width and length as specified. A template pattern was transferred to create the overall layout of the seat. This can only be done when the boards are temporarily clamped together. After the pattern is on the seat, you will notice the are a series of staggered marks across the boards at the front and back.. this is to plan the layout of some floating domino tenons that will add some strength and rigidity to the seat.. and also aid with the glue up. I personally only used the domino on the back of the seat where it is much thicker, the front was ruled out since I heard some horror stories of past students hitting and exposing the tenons while carving the seat. Remember when cutting the domino holes that the sides of the seat boards have a opposite 3 degree angles, so once you plan out your cuts.. two setting for the face plate will be required..

Next draw a line down the top of the middle board.. this will function as the ridge of the seat.. The next step as the following three photos show the process of using the bandsaw to carve out as much waste as possible without compromising the strength of the seat. Transfer the outline of the seat layout down the sides of the three center seat boards.



Now bandsaw out material from the three boards as shown. Make sure to cut away from the center ridge line in the middle board to preserve that reference point and to also keep it as high as possible depending on how dramatic the desired end shaping will be. The general rule I use was to stay about an 1/8" from the pencil lines.



Notice that the two end boards are not touched during this removal of material exercise due to the awkward angle required to cut. Be careful when making these long sweeping bandsaw cuts, keep the boards on the table as much to support the boards. Sudden movement while making these cuts can lead to catching the blade or slamming it down and risk cutting outside the desired layout lines. So, don't risk ruining your expensive material, it is recommended that you use some spare wood to practice your cuts before making the final one.

Laying out the leg joinery
The next step is drawing the leg joinery on the the two end seat boards. This is actually pretty simple so follow along with the pictures and the description. It might be useful as well to reference the pictures from the prior post showing all the seat boards next to each other.



Back Legs
To layout the back leg joint just draw a 3" x 3" square on the back of the two end boards. Make sure to "X" out that box to remind you that will be cut out. Notice the overlap of the square in relation to the seat outline layout. That is just how you want it since the outside of your back leg will be flush w/ the sides of the seat. If the layout is too shallow the leg will stick out and if too deep the leg will be inset and mess up attaching the arms.



Front Legs
Now from the outside front edge(s) of the two side boards you will layout the front leg joinery. Using your straightedge, make a mark 1 1/2" inches back from the front. Now make a second mark a further 2 1/4" inches back. As the picture shows, make two more marks when coming in a 1/2" from the first two marks. Draw three lines connecting the four points.



Cut out the joints
Using your miter gauge on your tablesaw, sneak up on the joint layout lines and cut out the slots. It will be easier if you have access to a high quality dado blade setup which cuts perfectly flat dado surfaces. If not, cut it a little bit proud of the line and use a router plane to cleanup the surface of the cut.



Routing the leg joints
The next step is routing out around the two leg joint slots using a 1" rabbiting bit with a 1/2" bearing. It is really important the exact size bits are used to ensure the legs will have a tight fit to the seat. Make sure that extra effort is put into not blowing out the front leg joint when entering or exiting the cut. Orient the cuts so the wood fibers are supported. Routing the back leg rabbits are not as big of a deal since there is waste material surround those joints which will eventually be cut off once the seat is close to completion. This joint requires rabbits to be cut on both the top and bottom of the seat boards.



One technique used to get those rounded corners just perfect was to apply a layer or two of blue tape on the inside surfaces of the leg slots for the initial pass and remove the tape on the final pass to eliminate burning. Hard maple burns pretty easily, so I was paying close attention to try and avoid it.. Gluing burnt surfaces together can compromise the strength of the joint.

Looking good Scott!

OK Scotty.. YOU have 48 hours to post some updates or its back to Single A ball for you.

I know you can do it!

Bruce

Damn Bruce your like a wood Nazi...

You keep riding Scott's back he might have to change his name to Swedish Seabiscuit

Rockers looking good Scott.

Okay, Okay.. here are a few pictures of the rocking chair which I finally finished late Friday morning just in time for the woodworking open-house at Redrocks Community College.






I'll post more about it tomorrow and see if I can wrap up this play-by-play.

Scotty,

SENTENCE COMMUTED: YOU WILL REMAIN ON THE MAJOR LEAGUE ROSTER.
However, you have been charged with the woodworking misdemeanor of SANDBAGGING!

The chair looks awesome. I love that birdseye maple. Is it as comfortable as it is pretty?

Bruce

Wow you got a lot done in 48 hours

I saw this chair in person on Saturday, and pictures don't do it justice. This piece is amazing! If you know the complexities of Maloof's chairs, Scott nailed it. The chair is honestly mind blowing to see. Well done Scott!

Scott,
The chair looks amazing. The wood, shaping and finished product, well done.

I was wondering how the crest rail and arms are attached. I know there are screws holding it together, but what else does the joint consist of?