Current Work - Rocking chair

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Chris,

You're going great guns with your daughter's chair - very nice work indeed. I'm cringing at the gloat-fest - I can't keep count of all your LN tools, and what a great project for justifying as many more as you could want too! Interesting that the Clifton spokeshave is a fine tool too, I'd have thought it would be good for roughing out. I quite fancy a Boggs shave too after your waxing lyrical. I think spokeshaves are becoming a bit of a habit-forming tool for me - there's something very satisfying about smoothing a curve with one of these beauties :oops:

Thanks for putting your project up for all to see - it's got me drooling. I've got a real thing about the Maloof style rockers too. If only my woodworking talents were up to the job. Ah well, perhaps in another 20 years when I'll perhaps be blessed with some grandchildren of my own :shock:

AG
 
Hi Chris,

Seen your progress so far - my compliments sir! I think you have done a beautiful job with the seat, it looks fantastic. I loved the detail on the front edge.
It struck me that having read countless project sequences in magazines, yours is head and shoulders above them.
I'm looking forward to the next instalments!

Inspiring!

Steve

(PS - WALNUT? So what are you spending the rest of your lottery win on? :lol: )
 
i could`nt agree more! congratulations must be had for a well presented and excellent project diary.

The chair looks beautiful , well done that man! :lol:
 
Chris

Your work-in-progress looks absolutely wonderful. It must be giving you so much pleasure.

I noticed that your bought your timber at Colsterworth. As it is only about thirty miles away from me it is obviously well worth a visit. How did you find the people and the prices?

Thank you for giving me such a wonderful start to the day.

Cheers
Neil
 
Thank you all very much for your generous compliments, I am blushing! :oops:

Neil, re your question on ATS as a supplier. Yes, definitely worth a visit I should say. It is a very large yard with a timber stocks on one side of the A1 and some processing facility (which I did not visit) on the other side. It was one of the owners who showed me round himself. He was a very pleasant and knowledgable guy - sorry to say I have forgotten his name - who started the business a bit less than 20 years ago (having been a labourer in a woodyard) so he has done extremely well to build up such a substantial business in this relatively short time.

All the timber is under cover in large airy sheds with concrete floors. The road between the sheds is unmade and the offices are a couple of portacabins but the wood itself is stored as well as one could wish. ATS were one of only two suppliers I found who could supply English walnut to the dimensions I needed (2 inches thick after planing), the other was Whitmores and having found what I needed at ATS I did not go there.

Prices were middle of the road compared with what I had been quoted by all suppliers I had contacted for any dimensions of timber and although I feel I could have done a better job selecting my wood, I don't think that I was getting anything that was really poor quality. The wood was surprisingly dry (I took a moisture meter with me and it showed 12% for wood that was said to have been kilned 2 years ago) and after acclimatising in my shop for a month I was able to start work with wood that was now as dry as stuff that has been in the shop for years.
 
Awesome. Looking forward to seeing the finished article. The Story Time Rocker on Hal Taylor's site took my eye. With twins on the way I can see myself in it now.
Somehow I do not think I yet have the skills nor the time - something for my grandchildren perhaps.



Andy
 
Chris,

It occurred to me this morning that you've maybe missed out on a thick seam of tool-buying justification for shaping the seat. I'm not 100% sure of all the tools, but arcane names like scorp and drawknives come to mind for starters. And these big old tools always look like being a lot of fun to use too!

On a more serious note, did you consider using a router and template for initial hollowing out of the seat?

AG
 
Chris,

Fascinating stuff; looking forward to the next installment already. :D Looking at the shots of routing out the notches in the seat for the front legs it strikes me that it would be a job for the WoodRat; something I've missed? Or we're you just keeping exactly to the instructions to avoid errors? (understandable!) How d'you find the Titemark btw? Rob Cosman was so enthusiastic about it last year that I probably would have succumbed if the funds had been available; but then he does work for L-N... :?

Cheers, Alf
 
Hi Chris.......Is it possible to ask what make of router table you have there or did you make your own?

Chairs looking good and can't wait for the next chapter!!

Simona
 
chris > which wood yard was it that you sourced the green oak from that you used in your rustic bench?

I`m in rochester (on the medway) and am interested to know which yard you used, was it morisons??
 
Hi Chris

Impressive stuff :) . Thanks for sharing it with us.

Yours

Gill
 
Chris,

Noticed that Hal Taylor is coming over to the UK in May. Wonder if the chair will be finished by then?
Will enjoy following each installment.

Rgds

Noel
 
Chris,

superb, wish there was a smiley for
Im not worthy.

Good luck with the rest of the project

Signal
 
Thanks again folk for your kind words - I shall probably bore you to death in due course with progress reports! At present I am ripping lots of thin strips and laminating the back braces and with only one former and 24 hours per brace, it will take a while before any new pictures.

Alf, I did consider the 'Rat but the seat blank was rather heavy and I worried about holding it firm in the clamps - also, the corner notches are three inches on a side and I don't have a router bit that big (sigh). The titemark is great - I have the LV wheel type marking gauge but adjusting it is a real fiddle, it always seems to be a little off and with the Titemark there is no such problem.

SimonA, I made my own router table after I had used one of those awful pressed metal thingies and after one prior wooden one I built. This one incorporates nearly all that I regard as important in a router table although I would revise my specs somewhat were I to build a new one- mainly in the area of storage for stuff under the table - there is just to much wasted space under the table at present.

kityuser, I got the green oak from Morgans a very good yard I thought (http://www.morgantimber.co.uk/). Even though they were very large and obviously geared up for large customers, they provided a knowledgeable yard hand to sort through the stacks with me and it was a real help and a useful education to chat with him at the time.

AG, yes scorps and travishers did come to mind but in the end, it was modern technology, that well known woodworking accessory, the angle grinder, that carried the day. Hal says he now uses a router copier for initial shaping of his seats but not having the machine or anything for it to copy, this was not really an option. I suppose I could have made up a carriage and a template of the cross sections for the router to follow but I suspect the angle grinder worked out a lot quicker and ultimately more accurate. I did use the router to plunge some holes at different depths on a sparse grid in the seat area to give me a total of eight reference points for the carving out operation. This allowed me to make flat bottomed, clean holes rather than a hole made by a drill (even a Forstner bit with its point) that would not have been perfectly clean and flat.
 
I have to agree with everyone and pass my compliments on about that chair - nice work.
Nice w/shop too btw.

Yawn
 
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