Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: sam maloof crib

  1. #1

    sam maloof crib

    35 years ago I saw this piece on display in Honolulu on my honeymoon. To this day I think it's one of the most interesting pieces of woodworking I've encountered. Question to you furniture makers out there: How did Sam construct the pivoting points in the "davits" that allows the crib to swing back and forth?


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    442
    I don't know about the pivots, but it reminds me of a story I read about Sam. It was later in his career, so had a huge backlog of projects as usual. A woman who was expecting her first child came to him to order a rocking chair (or maybe it was a crib?). Becuase of the long wait she would not receive until the child was at least 1 or 2 years old, but Sam put her order to the top of the list.

  3. #3
    My guess, would be it's way more conventional that it looks. I'd guess just a steel pin

    After reviewing the chair construstion, the confusing butterfly leg joint is actuall pretty simple when everything is square and it held in plade by a "metal dowel" or simply put a screw.
    Last edited by brian c miller; 12-20-2012 at 12:03 PM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Trinidad, West Indies
    Posts
    458
    Suspect that there are metal pins in one end that pivot on brass bushings epoxied into the other side of the joint.

  5. #5
    I found this old blog entery by Brock:


    "In the Maloof tradition, the hardware used for hanging the swinging cradle should be durable but not visable. I hung the cradle on steel pins that were epoxied into the frame arms. They mate with bronze bushings in the cradle's extended arms."

    http://www.charlesbrock.blogspot.com...s-grisham.html

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Scott View Post
    I don't know about the pivots, but it reminds me of a story I read about Sam. It was later in his career, so had a huge backlog of projects as usual. A woman who was expecting her first child came to him to order a rocking chair (or maybe it was a crib?). Becuase of the long wait she would not receive until the child was at least 1 or 2 years old, but Sam put her order to the top of the list.
    All items for babies went to the top of the list. "Babies don't wait," was his adage (from his book).

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Phil Thien View Post
    All items for babies went to the top of the list. "Babies don't wait," was his adage (from his book).
    Phil is correct. I asked Sam about this during one of my visits and that's what he said. But you paid for the priority. I don't remember the exact price of one of those cradles but they were expensive (very expensive).

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    St. Louis
    Posts
    3,349
    Yeah, but even as a woodworker, if I had enough to comfortably afford one of his rockers, I'd have one.

    I'll just have to make one of my own though.
    Where did I put that tape measure...

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    SoCal
    Posts
    22,492
    Blog Entries
    1
    I got to see that one up close at a show at our local museum (Sam was a bit of a local hero). Steel pins. There was a sign hanging next to it with a quote from Sam; "Babies don't wait."
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Pacific, Mo.
    Posts
    2,835
    Quote Originally Posted by Gary Herrmann View Post
    Yeah, but even as a woodworker, if I had enough to comfortably afford one of his rockers, I'd have one.

    I'll just have to make one of my own though.
    Get with it Gary
    Making new friends on SMC each and every day

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •