In progress pictures - Craftsman inspired rocker

[Mike Henderson]

I just wanted to share some work-in-progress pictures of a rocker that I'm building. The basic inspiration is a Craftsman style rocker, such as a Stickley rocker, but updated so that it's not so rectilinear. I especially like the way I did the side slats, flowing them into the arm. I still need to do the rockers - I'm going to do a build-up on each leg area and sculpt it so that the rocker flows into the leg, sort of Maloof-ish.

I'd appreciate your reaction to the design, including the racing stripes on the rockers. Are they too much? I just wanted to add some color to the design without making it garish.

Since there's no finish on the rocker, it looks kind of bland. The finish will help pop the grain pattern and darken the color.

Mike

[Mark Stutz]

Mike,
I really like the design of the arms and side slats and the transitions. Are the side slats steam bent or laminations?
I can't see the rocker "racing stripe" detail very well, but I wouldn't want to draw the eye away from the graceful arms and back.

Mark

[John Timberlake]

Love the way the arm support transitions into the bottom of the arm. Good design and execution. Waiting to see it finished.

[john mclane]

I like the curves on the back and sides. also agree that the curves below the arms do add a nice touch to the eye. Is this your plans. What type of wood. And a question from a novice: What is a Maloof design? I googled Maloof and looked at some of the first links and could not find anything relevant. Bear with us furniture novices

[Mike Henderson]

Thank you all for your (kind) feedback.

Mark, the bending is lamination bent. I don't have any facilities for stem bending - but maybe sometime... My shop is so small that I can't put a project in the shop - I have to use my garage when I assemble it.

John, the wood is walnut. And, yes, it is my own design, although I took pieces of the design from others. The reference to Maloof is to Sam Maloof, a well known woodworker who is 90 years old this year. He's made many things but is best known for his rocking chairs, which are very sculpted and flowing. One thing Maloof does is a build-up transition between the legs and the rocker. Just a side note, Sam charges $20K for a rocker and has a three year waiting list.

Sam recently told a story on himself. He said, "When I was young, I had a customer call me about a rocker he had ordered. He said, 'Sam, I'm 70 years old and I'd like to use that rocker before I die.' Now, I have customers call me and say 'Sam, you're almost 90 years old. I'd like to get that rocker before you die.' I liked the old complaint better."

BTW, Sam's place is here in southern California so I may know him better because of that.

Mike

[Mark Singer]

Michael,
I like the originality....new details and new forms....a feeling of comfort and very nice crafstmanship!

[Karl Laustrup]

I really want to sit in that rocker. The flowing lines are magnificent. The detail is great and from what I can see in the pictures workmanship is first class.

Not really keen on the racing stripe rockers though. By what they look like in the picture all I could think about was plywood glued and bent to form a rocker. I think the rest of the chair deserves better rockers. IMHO of course.

Karl

[tod evans]

i like it! very well done p michael !

[John Miliunas]

Mike, way cool and very, very neat joinery! Love it! But, as several others have eluded to, the rockers aren't quite making it around the track, as it were. Just MHO....

[Tom Saurer]

I think the rocker does look great overall. I really like the design and the proportions and the transitions. In my untrained eye though the racing stripes seem out of place, because they don't seem to be anywhere else in the design. I also believe that they could distract from the finer points of the piece, which I think is the arms.

[Mike Henderson]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I'm going to take your advice and re-make the rockers without the racing stripes.

As you could guess, I had decided that I didn't like them either but I wanted a "second opinion" before I scrapped them. I agree with your comments that it's an unwanted focal point.

One other point that I'd appreciate advice on is "How to shape the front of the rocker?" That is, there will be a small amount of rocker protrouding in front of the front legs. In the past, I just rounded it off to a sort of partial dome shape but I don't really like the look of that. Any suggestions for how to shape that piece? The front leg is fairly wide so the rocker has to be wide where it attaches to the leg.

On the rear of the rocker, I'm going to taper the rocker gradually from the rear legs to the rear tip of the rocker. Additionally, the taper will be cut on a slant so that the bottom of the rocker is wider than the top of the rocker. The tip will be rounded over in the traditional fashion.

Any help will be appreciated.

Mike

[john mclane]

Thanks Michael for the information on Sam Maloof. There is a lot of interesting material and beautiful pictures of his work on the web. I can see why people and especially wordworkers admire him.