Sculpted Rocker / New Workbench

The next project involves a completely different approach to rocker construction...in the style of Sam Maloof. 

Many hours of work complete.

12/17  The local supplier has enough 8/4 cherry to fill my order for 50bf.   When I go pick it up, I will look for some figured stock for the crest rail.   I expect to finish it with a wipe-on varnish and will just have to wait for ultraviolet rays to darken the cherry over the years.

First task is to transfer all the drawings to plywood template material...

12/18  I picked up the lumber last night, and one of the boards is nicely figured so I won't need to find a separate piece for the crest rail.   I had to reorganize my lumber rack to hold them.. one of the boards is 14 ft long!

templates ready to cutout

I also picked up some 2 and better, 12 ft 2x6 construction lumber.   I decided I had better get my workbench replaced before I have to do a lot of serious planing and carving work.   Making the top 24in wide and 6ft long.  It's going to be a beast, but it won't wiggle when I'm planing ;o)   I trimmed one edge on each board to remove the round-over and sawed the leg mortices in the 3rd and 14th boards.   Tonight, I will start the glue up.

I

I glued up three sections to run through the 12 inch planer  before gluing those assemblies together.  Looks like I still have a bunch of hand planing to do on the top.  Notice I cut out notches for the leg tenons before glue up.  Also made dog notches and relief for the top of the sliding deadman.   That will cut down the mortise-chopping work considerably.


While waiting for glue to set, I got all the chair templates cut to line on the bandsaw.

 The four leg sections for each workbench leg are 3, 2x6 and will make my table 36 in. high.

I have a screw for a leg vise I salvaged 20 years ago and have never used.  It got a good cleaning and I'll turn a nice cherry handle for it  to make the front vise for the bench.  














Switching back to the rocker...next job is cut 5, 41/2 x 22 x 2  cherry boards for the coopered seat.   I'll get that done tonight while gluing the bench legs.   I'd like to have as much done as possible before Christmas because I might not feel real productive after over-consumption of holiday goodness ;o)

The seat sections must be squared up then given the edge angle before glue up and carving.

5 seat boards ready to joint

And while doing that..continued on new workbench.  Legs ready to be mortised, then assembled.
Sixteen, 6 ft 2x6 for the top and legs of 3, 2x6x31 = HEAVY

  =

12/20/2012 Leg vise, sliding deadman installed and ready to work!   Honestly, the top needs to be flattened when I get back, but that will be easy with a router sled.

This is the router jig for flattening top.  A 3/4 in bit took close to 100 passes to cover the 6 feet...but at least it is done! 

All done with a coat of BLO/turp.
This is the best bench I ever made!

1 - The Seat

12/21 Back to Rocker:  Just before we got on the airplane, I jointed the 87 degree angle on  three of the seat boards so it will be time to route the notches for leg joints in the two outside seat boards --before gluing the seat.   Since the seat is coopered to a curve, it would be a pain to hold it in position while cutting the notches.

1/4  In the couple of days since we returned from Arizona I managed to cut and route the leg notches and glued the coopered seat. I began the shaping with an ArborTec mini-carver.  That tool can really pump out the sawdust.  Lots of work left but coming along nicely.

Rough out with grinder

Getting smoother with sander

 Still some sculpting to be done for the butt-pocket and front edges, however getting the tool marks smoothed down helps me determine where to continue shaping.



Jan 21...still waiting for a 3/4 roundover bit to arrive so I can put the correct radius on the front leg sections...in the meantime I got an order for a table that will take first place in the time slot for a while...I did manage to rough out the back legs, headrest and completed the rocker bending form.

2 - The Legs

Jan 23   Got the bit and now the bridle joints fit perfectly.  A little more done shaping the seat.   I was ready to turn the front legs now that the joints are done, but my midi-lathe is too small for them !   arrrgh.   I'll have to borrow some time on a friend's machine.

Back legs ready to take to the router table for pattern matching.  BTW, did you notice that cool workbench?  ;o)












Front legs given the rough lathe trim...

And the back legs were routed to pattern then trimmed the inside surface with bandsaw.   Adder blocks glued to inside of seat joint area (will get a 6 degree trim ).

Adder blocks attached

clamped to the 6 degree jig

Mortised the  seat joint connection and testing for dry fit.  Starting to look like a chair!

Used my teensy router plane to clean up mortise

The Arms

The little curved plane was terrific smoothing bandsaw marks and irregularities in top of arm.  That needs to be a fair surface before cutting the curved relief -- so there will be a nice sharp edge.

Dry fitting the arms and crestrail and getting the rough curves done.

The Spindles

All seven spindle blanks cut and ready to shape.























The Rockers

Rockers consist of laminations of cherry, maple and black walnut.

Final Steps

Crest rail just dry fit and the rest glued.

With the body of chair glued, I trimmed and sanded the crest rail to fit, unscrewed the crest rail and glued up the spindle/rail assembly with chair.

Next came the rocker attachment, which needed a little fine tuning for the leg to meet well with transition block.

Some final shaping and it is beginning to look like we are almost done.

I have to say, it is VERY comfortable to sit in!

May 24: I spent three days attending to carving/shaping the transition points and final sanding.   My quality-assurance maven has given her approval.  Now we go to finishing.