Shaping the Back Legs
The back legs are initially cut to rough shape on the band saw, using lines transferred from the back leg template as a guide. I then used the template as a pattern to refine the shape of the legs on the router table. Note: this method deviates from Woodguy’s class – he uses a grinder to do this shaping. I figured since I spent so much time “perfecting” the curves on the template, why not use it to shape the legs? The template is attached to one of the legs using double-stick tape, being very careful to line up the front face of the template correctly with the flat surfaces on the front of the leg. These flat surfaces are the location of the joinery with the seat and the arms, so obviously any mistake here could lead to serious trouble later. The leg can then be shaped with a pattern bit on the router table. Once one of the legs is done this way, it can then be used as a template for shaping the other leg:
The template is not used to shape the second leg. The reason for this is so the seat and arm joinery will line up perfectly on both legs. A couple of pieces of 3/4″ MDF can be placed in the dadoes to “lock” the two legs together, with a little piece of carpet tape out at the top and bottom ends of the legs to keep them from swinging around. Then the shaped leg can be used as a pattern for the rough leg. The only “gotcha” is to make sure the bearing is set high enough to clear the dado gap on the back of the legs (see the last pic on right).
6 responses so far ↓
1 sean de queiroz // Jan 6, 2008 at 2:15 am
i noticed that while the back legs on your rocker are pretty much straight up and down, maloof’s rocker has legs that are substantially splayed at the top crest. do you know how he does this. is the joinery at the seat done at an angle? i’m baffled.
2 Monty // Jan 6, 2008 at 6:47 am
Maloof uses custom router bits to achieve that splayed look on the back legs. I used a simple rabbeting bit to join the back legs to the seat, resulting in a 90˚ angle. The bits like Maloof uses can be found at Woodline. Read more about these bits here.
3 sean de queiroz // Apr 22, 2008 at 9:10 am
i’m wondering what kind of joint you used to join the rockers to the legs. if i’m not mistaken maloof dowels the arms to the leg posts–at least i can’t see a plug on the arm where he would use a screw like on some of his other joints. did you use a dowel to attach the rockers. i was thinking one way to use a screw would be to cover the screw with a final lamination after the rocker is already attached to the chair.
oh, thanks for the info on the maloof router bits. i went ahead and bought them because i really like the splay. it took me quite a while to figure out just how to make that joint with the other tools i have however. the people at woodline couldn’t help–strange to sell a product you don’t know how to use–i even wrote to sam maloof but got no response. i now think that maloof must have a specially ground stacked dado set for making the leg part of the joint. he can’t use hand tools to make the joint like i had to..
thanks
sean de queiroz
4 Monty // Apr 22, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I am using dowels (5/8″) to join the rockers to the legs. I would not want to attempt to plug a screw hole, since any slight irregularity in the finished surface would be detected as a “bumpy” rocking motion. Dowels should be strong enough – much better than a screw threaded into end grain.
5 Essen // Sep 30, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Could you not just cut the mortise in the front face of the back leg on a crossslide tablesaw jig with spacers on one side of the back fence to keep it from moving during the cut. Then for the inside face prop the leg up on a spacer on one side to make the proper 5 degree cut in? I would imagine that everything could be done with power tools, but the spot that mates with the roundover would be very close, but not exact in the seat-side of the joint. epoxy mixed with sawdust could hide this one little flaw. I have actually made this joint before in a different way… without any $75 special bits… but this seems easier than what I did. I made a right and left jig that held a router at an angle to the cutting surface. This is not how maloof does it , because his chairs don’t have that slightly narrower spot and “shelf” under the chair that mine did. The next time I do it, I’ll be adding a 5 degree wedge that terminates it’s point at the bottom of the joint to get rid of that shelf and allow some material for a nice contour on the inside edge of the joint on the topside. This is hard to describe without pictures, but I hope this makes sense and helps someone.
6 Graeme Smith // Feb 14, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Charles Brock glues additional thickness to the inside of the back legs, rips it at 6 degrees to a taper and then can dado the resulting surface with normal square dadoes to achieve an angled splay. The additional material is almost invisible once the job is done as it is nearly all carved away.
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