Rocker

rdesigns

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Apr 5, 2011
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This is one of two replica rockers that I just finished. The original was an old, broken-down rocker about 80-100 years old.
This was my first attempt at steam-bending and seat-scupting.
For this project, my MFT/3 and Kapex were both a great help.

[attachimg=1]
 
Building a rocker has been on my list for a while, looks great. 

Do you have any picture of your steam set up?  Did you bend the pieces then fit them, or fit them while still flexible? 
 
No picture, but a steamer set-up is simple--just a plywood box not much bigger than the pieces you want to steam.
You make a connection for the steam hose in the bottom on one end and connect a hose from there to whatever vessel you use for the boiler. I set the box on trestles with the steam connection lower than the other end.

I used a large old aluminum kettle with 3/4 i.d. vinyl hose and heated the kettle with a propane camp stove. You don't really need both an inlet and outlet connection like some how-to books or articles show. With a 3/4" hose, the steam runs up the middle of hose, and the condensate runs back down into the kettle, clinging to the walls of the hose. This is the same way old one-pipe steam radiators worked. The steam fills the box, because steam always rushes to wherever condensation is greatest, so you don't get cool spots with this method.

I'm no expert on steaming and bending wood, but I learned some valuable things.

You bend the wood as quickly as possible after removing it from the steamer. You clamp it to your form and leave it there for a day or two. It WILL spring back somewhat, so your form should be a tighter radius than the final bend. For example, the back pieces on the rocker were clamped to a form with a 19" radius, and ended up with about a 21" radius.

I fit the pieces after bending.

The tight radius needed for the knee braces had to be done in a two-step process:  first, I ripped the oak to 1/8" strips and steamed them and clamped them onto a form in the same order they came off the saw; after they cooled and dried on the form, I glued the strips together, again in the order they came off the saw, and re-clamped them onto the same form. There was virtually no springback.

 
That is a nice looking rocker.  I never thought about doing any project that requires steam bending because I thought it was complicated.  I may have to try building something after reading about your process.
 
It's not all that difficult. There are quite a few good articles on the subject that you can google, and I recommend reading as much as you can find, because you'll soon find that everybody has a little different idea about how long to steam and how to build the steaming setup, etc. All of which shows that various methods all work, so you need not be intimidated from trying it.

 
Nice finished rocking chair. I say finished because completing some things for my wifey generally get put aside, ( I gots too many irons in the fire). Did you wedge tennon the legs to the rockers? keep up the nice work. Tim
 
unityroad said:
Nice finished rocking chair. I say finished because completing some things for my wifey generally get put aside, ( I gots too many irons in the fire). Did you wedge tennon the legs to the rockers? keep up the nice work. Tim

The leg/rocker connection is simply a 3-1/2" screw driven up from the underside of the rocker, counterbored and plugged with a face-grain oak plug.
The only mortise and tenon joints are those between the seatback  rails and the back legs, also where the back slats fit into the
seatback rails. And the where the front rail joins the front legs.
The seat, being such a wide expanse of solid wood and subject to seasonal movement, is not fixed left and right to legs. Instead, its corners are housed in stopped dados that will allow shrinkage and expansion.
The seat is kept centered by a pocket screw up thru the back side of the front rail and up into the seat.

 
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