Rocking Chair- Part 1

 

Last year my daughter Sarah suggested I make a rocking chair for her own daughter - my 9 year old grand daughter Kate. In Googling around for examples of suitable chairs I soon came to realise that rocking chairs were not that straightforward and that there was a considerable amount of art as well as science involved if it was to look good and rock like a rocking chair should.. It also became apparent that making a rocker for a growing child was a lost cause inasmuch a really good rocker is built for a specific size of person and as my grand daughter got older, the rocker would cease to perform properly. I then proposed to Sarah that I should build a rocker for her and in all likelihood, by the time I finished it, her daughter Kate would probably fit it!

 

I looked at many chairs, mostly on the internet and when I came across Hal Taylor's chairs and saw that he sold plans, I decided that this was the way forward for me. The chairs are beautiful in themselves and have the lovely Sam Maloof character that I admire but most important, Hal would sell me plans and help me build the thing. See "The Inspiration"

 

I corresponded with Hal by email, asking him a load of questions and finally ordered the plans in mid- December 2003. They come in two parts - templates which are made on a big (A0 plotter) and a 140 pages of instructions including many photographs. The templates cover three sizes of chair (small, medium and large) Hal makes chairs outside these standards and will advise how the plans should be altered if you need to make a chair for someone who is very large or small. He can also advise on modifications to cover eg. long legs, short trunks, fat and thin folk etc. but suggests that for a first chair one should stick with a standard - there are enough things to go wrong without complicating the issue! I have accordingly gone with a medium size chair that should fit my daughter reasonably well.