Category: BUILDING CHAIRS

ROCKER JOINERY

T" he greatest stresses in a rocking chair occur where the legs meet the rock­ers. These joints need to be strong and solid, otherwise the seemingly gentle act of rocking will eventually pull the chair apart. There are several effective meth­ods for attaching legs to rockers. The simplest way is to turn a blind or […]

ROCKER DESIGN

W hile the balance of a rocking chair can be fine-tuned at the assem­bly stage (page 132), a few key principles and dimensions are worth noting before you begin. As shown in the illustration below, these include the height of the seat off the floor, the angle between the seat and the backrest, and the […]

ROCKING CHAIRS

  Glued to the rockers, platforms are a way of fine-tuning the balance of a rocking chair before installing the rockers. In the photo at left, waste wood is removed with a rasp, smoothing the transition between the rockers and the legs.   ANATOMY OF A ROCKING CHAIR t

BACKS

  Caned and panel backs are two pop­ular and attractive options for frame chairs. To make a caned back (below), all you need is some stock for the rails and mullions and a piece of prewoven cane. You can weave the back from individual strands of cane, fol­lowing instructions starting on page 83. Cut tenons […]

STRETCHERS

Turned stretchers span the gap between the legs of the rocking chair shown at left. Apart from enhancing the appearance of a chair, stretchers provide structural support and can occasionally be designed to serve as footrests. Stretchers are usually made in the same way as the legs; in the example shown, the legs and stretchers […]

LEGS

  Three different leg styles; (from left to right) a tapered leg, with two adjacent sides sawn on a table saw; a cabriole leg cut on a band saw and shaped with a spokeshave; and a turned leg fashioned on a lathe.   CABRIOLE LEG Designing the leg For a template, cut a piece of […]

RUSH SEATS

Traditionally, rush for chair seats was made of twisted cattail leaves. Nowadays, it is more common to use a tough-grade, fiber paper twisted into long strands, known as “fiber rush.” It is sold by the pound and comes in three sizes: %i inch for fine work, inch for most chairs, and %: inch for larger […]

SCULPTED SEATS

Begin by making a seat blank that is a few inches larger than the seat frame by edge-gluing pieces of 1-to 1 ^-inch-thick solid stock; for a typical chair, a 20-inch – squarc blank should be sufficient. Arrange the boards so that the grain of the scat will run from front to back. A sculpted […]