How We Make a Rocking Chair
We describe and illustrate a few of the steps to make each part.
You can follow the steps in order by clicking the button at the bottom of this and each page, and also, you can see all the steps in the navigation menu.
Scale
We typically cut out the parts for ten or twelve rocking chairs and work them until they are ready to assemble. Then we spread them out and match them into chairs, number them, and put them in a rack.
We assemble a couple of rockers a day (or other items) from matched and numbered parts on the rack as we cut out another batch of rocking chairs, dining chairs, or whatever.
Order of Operations
We have a ring binder entitled, "Rocking Chair Shop Notes." Each rocking chair part has a section: seats, back legs, arms, and so forth. We refer to this notebook for essential dimensions and settings and to keep the chair making steps in order. There are 178 steps in this book--the assembly, sculpting, sanding, and finishing steps are not included.
May the World be Blessed by the Work of Our Hands
(Our shop's variation on a Unitarian Welcome.)
