Last June I came across a post on another woodworking forum from a guy who made some knock down rocking chairs for his grandkids. He did CAD drawing of his plans and offered them for sale to those who wanted them, so I contacted him and bought a set. My wife is a Special Educator dealing with Preschool thru 1st grade moderate to sever Autistic kids and she has a smaller knock down rocking chair in her class that the kids love as they have a thing for movement. So I made up a prototype up using his plans and then did a number of changes to make it work out better for my wife's kid's needs. So after going through 3/4's of a sheet of 1/4" hardboard for templates and 3/4's of a sheet of lower grade 1/2" baltic birch plywood, I came up with a final design that I am happy with. So next week I will stop by the lumber yard and get some better plywood and make up a few more. This prototype will get primed and painted but with better wood I will do a film finish.

 

 

 

That is an excellent job Allen. I bet your wife is very pleased. I'll be looking for some pictures of the new ones when you get them done. What type of finish will you be putting on them? bob

Since this is the prototype, I have not done any finish as of yet. The guy I got the original plans from says that he uses "Minwax Polycrylic" which is a clear finish which dries very quickly so that you can put on 3 coats in a day. I have a can of that on my shelf and will give it test run. I used it for a protective finish for some yard art and it held up well. So we will see. I will also look to a paint finish as folks do like to get personal and colorful with these things. I know that I will be making a number of them for the other teachers at my wife'e school and parents once they see it. Once you get your templates the way that you want them, it is easy to get a few of these all cut out and done in a day. The hardest part is all the edge sanding.

Bob Kloes said:

That is an excellent job Allen. I bet your wife is very pleased. I'll be looking for some pictures of the new ones when you get them done. What type of finish will you be putting on them? bob

This is way cool Allen, and the cause is awesome. I remember this chair, was it on WOOD? On a less honorable note for making them, I thought they would sale great at craft fairs.

Just a thought, you could also leave them bare and let the kids paint them.

Way to go Allen.

John,

 

This was from Wood Magazine from a gentleman with the screen name "Gldnbrew"

 

http://community.woodmagazine.com/t5/General-Woodworking/Granddaughters-take-apart-Rocking-Chair/td-p/492

 

According to his profile he hasn't been on the Wood Forums since September. I sent him an email with the photos of my chair with it's modifications but I haven't heard back from him yet. He had gotten the plans from a realitive and he got them from another realitive down the line. He did copyright his plans when he made up a CAD drawing of the templates for sale and I wanted to check with him before I started making more of these as I know a number of teachers and parents of Autistic kids at my wife's school will be wanting one. I have been looking for something fairly easy to make that I could sell here and there to help with my ever dwindling wood working budget.

John Morris said:

This is way cool Allen, and the cause is awesome. I remember this chair, was it on WOOD? On a less honorable note for making them, I thought they would sale great at craft fairs.

Just a thought, you could also leave them bare and let the kids paint them.

Way to go Allen.

 

Wow, Allen that is very neat. I am sure your wife and the other teachers will love those.