Two summers ago, a lady brought me an old spring rocker she had saved from going to the dump and asked me if I could fix it.

She wanted all the upholstery removed and she wanted to paint the whole thing.  (Prep for paint)

There was 4 layers of upholstery on it , which meant hundreds of tacks. (fill all the tack holes )

When the upholstery was removed there was no seat or back. (Make a new seat and back)

The little steel casters she wanted removed,so as not to damage her laminate floors. (Remove casters and replace with something floor friendly )

One spring has a screw broken off, the other was stretched out of shape from using it that way. (Replace the springs)

I think I can do that. Here are some pictures of the start.

Herb

Wow. Looks like a real job, Herb. Just sourcing the springs would be a chore.

Assuming you gotter done, though.

I know you will succeed,,,

First thing was to make a new wooden seat for it. I had never done this before so looked around on the internet and settled on Mario Rodreguz method   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SveP71RLs4

I bought a couple of 2X8X 8' KD hemlock from the big box store. I tried to pick thru and get some knot free straight boards.

After they were cut 30" long and jointed I glued them up ,they warped a little so I ripped them into narrow pieces and reglued them together flat and ran them thru the planer.

I made 2 blanks in case I screwed ou the first one.

Then made Mario's jig. I revised his design by doing a full cut out around the blade to get better dust collection.

The first thing I did was drop the nut and washer down the hole while putting on a sharp blade. Have a long magnetic retriever for solving that problem,thanks to HF.

I did the first seat blank, it came out w/o a pummel in it and was flat front to back. wanted to improve that so I moved the starting point one notch on the top guide beyond center. Also attached a couple of 3/8" blocks on the front corners of the down side of the blank, this raised it up off the table 3/8". By doing this It cut deeper on the back than the front leaving a butt cheek depression in the back of the seat.

Herb

 

 

Glad Mario's technique worked for you.   I posted this on WOOD forums a while back and Matt Seiler used it successfully on a set of chairs with good results, too.

That seat looks very good

It only takes about 20 minutes to make a seat including cutting the outline and finish sanding after the prep work is done,(making jig,making blank,etc.)

Herb

Edited November 30, 20169 yr by Dadio

Since she was going to paint it, I thought I better make the new wood look like the old wood. Sometimes new wood finishes different and being side by side, it might show through.

So I had some Mahogany stain that I applied to the seat and when it was dry , I sprayed it with a couple of coats of  lacquer to seal it . for some reason the lacquer had ghosts in it,as you can see in the picture. It didn't make any difference, since she is going to paint it, but I was thinking ,what if that had been a clear coat on some nice wood?

Then I installed it on the chair frame.

Next will be building the back.

Herb

"Ghosts" appear to be blush.  Happens when moisture can't escape from the wet finish in humid and/or cold weather.    A quick spray with blush remover will take care of it.

 

This also happens when the humidity is high , which is the reason many will not spray lacquer on high humidity days

Thanks, I thought it was a bad can or that there was an additive that some how separated form the lacquer.

Nope.  One of my retail customers had overgrown their warehouse space where I did repairs.  Until they moved, they had furniture stored in a rented semi trailer at their loading dock.   I think I spent as much time getting rid of blush as I did fixing stuff that summer.

Since the rocker had two round rungs where the fabric wrapped around top and bottom, I came up with the idea to make a channel that was concave on the back and slotted on the front to accept the slats, This would allow the channel to adjust to the contour of the back and also to the chair. The channel and slats were made out of maple as that is what I have the most of around my shop. I made one long piece and cut it in two to make them match. The slats were band sawed from a 2" thick plank of maple and then ripped in two on the band saw.

After the assembly was made, fitted and glued into place ,I stained it and as an after thought I installed some small blocks between the slats top and bottom.

Next will be working on the bottom legs.

Herb

admire yur talent...

That turned out very well! Great Job

I can understand why the wood was not free, because you had to pay for it. If the leg was already 30" long, why did you have to joint and then glue it back together and then cut it in strips and glue them back together? Just kidding my friend, looks like a great job.

37 minutes ago, Ralph Allen Jones said:

I can understand why the wood was not free, because you had to pay for it. If the leg was already 30" long, why did you have to joint and then glue it back together and then cut it in strips and glue them back together? Just kidding my friend, looks like a great job.

Ralph, the construction grade hemlock material I bought seemed flatter before I cut into 30 lengths. it sat in my shop full length for a couple of days while I built the Mario Jig.  Then it took 3 widths to make the seat blank. After I took it out of the clamps and set it on the bench,I found it had a rock from corner to corner. So I ripped it into strips and reglued them to make the blank. I was originally only going to use these for a mock up and practice run,then use some hardwood for the seat, but it turned out so good, i just went ahead and used them, it was a free gratis project anyway.

Herb

Acording to the research I did, these rockers were of a 1890 vintage line of furniture.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Antique-Furniture/2012/1/plank-rocking-chair-coil.htm

 

http://www.bringfull.com/antique-rocking-chairs-classic-details-that-deliver-vintage-touch.html/prices-for-antique-rocking-chairs

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Platform-Spring-Wood-Rocking-Chair-Mid-Century-Tapestry-Chair-Wheels/262734285974?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38530%26meid%3De407a35ac4b943e49ea549005a689ca6%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D3%26sd%3D251336032715

Tip of my hat to you Herb. You are a true craftsman. I love seeing your PIP's. Genuinely inspiring and great learning aids for wanna' be's like me.