I am about to take my first stab at a chair, and am looking for suggestions on wood choice. I do not want to invest in a lathe or a lot of tools I do not already have, and found the plans and videos for Paul Seller’s “Home Rocking Chair” appealing. I like the look of a similar chair done in white oak, and am also considering cherry.
The chair has a sculpted (or “saddled” as Chris Schwarz would say) seat. I do have a nice inshave and a couple of the little curved wooden planes that I made per Paul Sellers’ instructions, and they do a nice job of refining the inshave work.
My concern is that the rocker, with the thick seat, might be a pretty heavy beast and am interested in others’ experience when choosing the species of wood (or woods) for such a chair.
Thanks.
Replies
Yes, these are heavy chairs, but the problem you face is that less dense woods are less durable and can be fiddly to work.
Cedar for instance is very lightweight, but less robust than white oak. It's a far less forgiving wood for the beginner too - White oak machines easily and is much easier to cut accurately with hand tools. It takes longer, but tends not to splinter or accumulate dings. Cherry is a nice in-between. A bit softer, lighter a bit easier to cut, but still very forgiving of error. Gaps show a little more on the lighter wood.
A chair made of cherry will weigh 75% of a chair made in White Oak and a chair made of pine will weigh about half what your Oak chair would. Cedar a further 20% or so less.
That chair (assuming you mean https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/videos/sellers-home-rocking-chair/ ) is a nice chunky design - it would cope well with being made in pine, but I think would look way too imposing in White Oak (please prove me wrong and show pics!) so I'd stick with Cherry - it's affordable (though allow 30% extra stock for defects if you like your wood clear) and would look great used that way. Pine though is a perfectly respectable choice and has the advantage of a really nice feel. It also tends to age to a golden colour rather than brown like cherry.
Different opinion:
Chairs take a beating and need to be designed to withstand stress. Paul's design looks very stout. That being said, I would not use white pine for anything except the seat. If you are considering the clear pine commonly found at big box stores, that is pretty soft stuff, not my choice. If you could get clear yellow pine, that would be a strong material. I have not worked yellow pine as a chair project.
Looking at Paul's design, you will need to cut shaped parts and scooped arm rests. Hopefully you have a band saw. The back slats will require a fair amount of hand work. I used my shave horse for similar projects which was a big help. I used spoke shaves and rasps on slats, rasps being way more efficient than files for shaping and smoothing. Sculpting the seat with hand tolls will take time and effort, I found various card scrapers to help here.
Regarding wood choice I suggest red or white oak, cherry, or walnut if you can gag down the cost. I have not used ash or maple for such projects and wonder how they would work. I a currently using hickory for coffee tables and find it, ahhh, interesting.
But woodworking for most of us is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy the trip. Good luck. Tom
Thanks for the very helpful responses---exactly the issues I was needing seeking guidance on. I do have a very well equipped shop, both power and handtools, and a goodly amount of experience and projects under my belt, but no chairs to date. I'm looking forward to this new fork in the road and appreciate what others share about their journeys.
Tim:
Go to Scott Morrison’s site “finewoodworker.com” and buy one of his how-to DVDs for his Montana rocker. For years I built and sold Scott’s Sam Maloof classic rockers using his DVD for that chair. However, I think his Montana rocker is actually more comfortable, at least to my aging back, and it’s much simpler to build and you don’t need a lathe. You will need a plunge router though. Scott’s DVD and templates are super easy to follow. He’s a great teacher and makes everything so very simple to understand.
For all the Maloof style rockers I used Walnut. However, the last Montana I built was in Cherry and it turned out great. If you use Walnut, use Minwax Tung Oil Finish as the sanding sealer and it will give you a rich, lusciously warm, brown tone to the wood. Kiln dried walnut tends to be grayish in color before finishing.
Here in central Texas the Minwax finish is hard to find. I had to order it online the last time I needed it. Also,n for your finish use the Sam Maloof oils, Poly/Oil and Oil/Wax, from Rockler.com as the wipe on finish. It buffs out beautifully. Good luck. Here are pics of the Montana rocker I built. For my website I renamed it the "Lantana", a Texas flower. The last pic is one of my Maloof rockers.
I wish there was a 'like' option on this forum...
Beautiful chairs, Jack! Thanks for sharing your advice and experience.
Walnut is one of my favorite woods. I used a wipe on poly over garnet shellac on a walnut bookcase with pleasing results.
Looks like Scott Morrison has gone to a monthly subscription to access his chair videos. I'm going to take a look.
Tim:
You can still buy his DVDs. Here's how...
Open his website
Click on "Build" in top menu
Click on the chair you want to build
Click on "Watch Video $19"
In the very top menu bar click on DVD to go to the page to buy DVDs.
The DVD is more expensive than just watching it, but if you have the DVD you can use it for future builds and you can have it on a TV in your shop to watch as you build. That's what I do and I think it helps. Whatever you do have fun and take your time. I cut out the templates and use spray adhesive to attach them to 1/4" MDF from Home Depot.
When I talked to Scott yesterday he said Covit has really impacted his business and that's why he added the ability to watch the vids for a fee. My age at 76 and Covit caused me to just shut down the chair business.
Take care and enjoy the chair you build.
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