Rocking Chair Finale

Last week I made a concerted push to finish the rocking chair.  After gluing the arms I cleaned up any glue at the joints and then sanded everything one more time.  The finish is the same as is applied to the stool.  Vintage maple transtint, oil then shellac.  I wiped on the dye and oil.  

The oil really made the figure in the arms pop.

Set up for shellac

Then I decided to spray the first coats of shellac and just wipe on the top coat to even things out.  This greatly reduced the time spent applying, and I still ended up with a smooth finish.  While applying the finish to the chair I wove the seat of the stool.  Which is the same process but much less complicated than the chair described below.

Completed stool

I put on the last coat of shellac Saturday afternoon, and then decided to finish a bowl I started a few months ago.

Just starting the inside, hopefully the bark inclusion is stable.

I also found some time to brew a beer.

Belhaven 60 clone

I also started milling the wood for the sideboard/changing table.  For rough sawn wood from a store my process is similar to the reclaimed process except its faster and easier on the tools.  First cut to rough length.  Using a jack then a jointer plane get one face to sit flat on the bench.  Joint an edge, then head to the planer and table saw to bring to ~1/8" of final dimensions.  I don't worry about thickness, just send it through the planer till both sides are planed everywhere.

Cherry prepped for sideboard

Sunday morning I waxed the chair and started weaving.  Trim the foam to fit inside the chair frame, and nip the corners to make sure they don't show.  The first part is called the warp.  This runs front to back, and should be the dark colored tape since it will look less dirty.  The main thing here is to keep it nice and firm, but not so taught it bends the front rail.  I also checked to make sure the top was square to the chair.  Try to fit as many rows as possible without overlapping the tape.  To fill in the triangular corners use some small pieces and tack them as far back on the underside of the rail as possible.  Insert the foam.  Now its time to weave the woof.  Tack one end in the middle of the back rail under the warp.  By putting it in the middle you account for the slant that is required to advance to the next row.  The bottom of both the warp and the woof are tilted slightly but the top (show side) is square.  I wove the woof all the way through to the end, and then I realized that it was starting to slide toward the back of the chair.  To remedy this I added some double stick tape to the sides of the rails, to prevent the woof from sliding back.  I loosened all the rows enough to get the (sticky) tape in, then pulled the woof tightly securing it against the tape.  Don't forget to use your fingers to push/pull each row of the woof tight against previous row before sticking it to the tape.  Again this should be really tight, and towards the end is pretty difficult to pull through, and tighten.  I ended up using surgical clamps to help weave the tape.  This makes a nice firm seat, that I am sure will sag slightly over time.  Finally at the end make sure the woof is tight, and its not possible to get one more row in....and tack the woof under the warp on the bottom of the front rail.  Here is a bunch of photos showing the process

Sizing the foam

Tacking the warp

Wrap the warp

I used vice grips (lightly) to hold the warp in place as I tacked it in

Squaring up the warp before adding the filler strips

Add filler strips to each side (and trim)

Top view of the seat with filler strips

Don't forget to add the foam

Separate the warp and tack the woof under the back rail

Using a needle made from splat scrap.

Halfway there

Adding tape to reduce the sliding.

By the end of Sunday I had completed the chair, and bowl, and got a good start on the sideboard

Ready to use

Showing off the arms

This chair rocks!(...really can't believe I waited to say that till the end)
(also not a hipster haircut...sweaty from weaving, cause that sounds better)

Completed maple bowl (a well used cutoff from my workbench)