Yesterday I managed to extract myself from the busy life of Honey Do's and kids daily events and get a little time in the shop with our Claro Rocker. 

A week ago when I started laying out the arms ontop of the arm pads that are basically the top of the front legs, I realized I made a major mistake in my calculations for the arm rests to meet up at the proper height to the joint at the rear leg/backrest area. I was a full 1/4" too low, the joinery was not going to meet up where it was supposed to by my previously laid out joints. After much thinking and tinkering with ideas and layouts, I finally came to the conclusion that I'll simply increase the height of the arm rest by adding a 1/4" block to raise up the arm rest. Since this is walnut, the newly added pad will be un-noticeable. In some regards these rockers are un-forgiving in errors, but in many regards these rockers are also very forgiving in the sense that this is in essence a sculpted work, so errors and mis-steps often times can be carved, shaped, and filed away or to blend, and in this case, it is a forgiving error/

 

Images below are not exciting, they simply show my modified pad glued up to the top of the front leg pad to increase the height of the arm rest.

First image shows my pad glued up and secured with my quick grips just to get them in place.

 

One thing I like to do is save sawn cut-outs from a piece I shape so we can use them as clamping cauls, you'll notice the blocks at the bottom of the shaped arm pad, they were initially cut out for the the preliminary shaping of the arm rest block, I held on to them to use as I clamp up the arm rest to the block, but I was also able to use them in this fix for clamping cauls.

 

Next images show the clamps all in place on both arm rests pads.

 

Unrelated to the arm rest FUBAR, are more images showing the preliminary shaping of the front leg seat joints. I rough and blend the joints in with a 4.5" right angle grinder. But first I need to secure the chair to my bench.

 

Next I take to grinding the general shape of the joint.

 

As it takes shape

 

I'll then finish it up with a combination of my ROS and some files. Image below shows the joint blended and formed, no gaps in the glue joint either, this is a successful chair joint.

 

To reach the other side of the joint, I need to position the chair on the floor, and brace it with my legs and feet, and work on the joint from a comfortable height as I sit. The joint is not finished, but it's coming along. I use the same technique as I did with the other side of the joint in images above.

 

Thanks for following along, now contrary to popular propositions and laws being formed and voted on, I feel these are some "joints" we can all get behind!

That is going to be an outstanding piece when you are done, John, I love to work with Caro Walnut and it rewards you with a beautiful grain when it is done. I like your craftsman ship too.

Herb

you taken this in to a work of art by a wide margin...

nice,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Perfect fit!  Very nice.

Thanks for sharing! Glad you didn't "bogart that joint" 

Looks awesome!

Veeerry nice.

I love it when a plan comes together

Well thanks folks for the kind comments, challenges are to behold, what do they say, signs of a good worker is how well you can cover up your mistakes? Well dang, I must be a genius by now!!! Everything I make has mistakes!

Looks like the new H-F RA grinder works quite well in a craftsman's hands. My H-F RA must be defective...it doesn't turn out work like this... Fantastic job of control and blending. Just curious, what grit disc/ paper do you use for this type of work?

 

Thanks for the current chapter of PIP John...you've got us all hooked on this best seller

" Everything I make has mistakes! "

 

Yeah, but it's what you do with it that shows your skill.   Nice.

Hi John,
 how is that beautiful chair coming along?

Herb

That is going to be one beautiful showpiece! A man who makes no mistakes isn't doing anything, a man that can make them go away is a true craftsman.

7 hours ago, Dadio said:

Hi John,
 how is that beautiful chair coming along?

Herb

Since the last image Herb not much has happened, and this weekend is not looking like a very productive shop weekend either! This chair is literally a full day or two to completion, I just need to get those hours in! Thanks for checking Herb!

42 minutes ago, Joeb41 said:

That is going to be one beautiful showpiece! A man who makes no mistakes isn't doing anything, a man that can make them go away is a true craftsman.

Thanks Joeb, there are quite a few natural imperfections in this lumber that is going to be a challenge to make work, the walnut was air dried with no control methods to keep from drying to fast, so we have some voids that appear out of nowhere and they have exposed themselves in a huge way. It'll be interesting to see how we get those to kind of go away, or show up in a big way, stick around!

One expects to see flawless work in the construction of a Maloof style rocker. But often, natural voids in wood offer unique design opportunities. However, epoxy filled flaws in a Maloof would be just gauche.

It will be interesting and educational to see your solutions. 

Boy you guys don't spare the glue...

1 hour ago, Kevin Beitz said:

Boy you guys don't spare the glue...

You can't in this work Kevin, liberal amounts all over.