Build A Maloof Inspired Class at Highland Woodworking was a Blast!

July 11-13 at Highland Woodworking in Atlanta, Georgia students came from all over the U.S. to study the Maloof rocker design and learn to build their own version. It was a delight to see all of the interest and to experience the enthusiasm for the chair.

Cecil Cheves not only superbly assisted me during the workshop, he loaned one of the chairs I built for his family so all could see, touch and rock. I must admit that the greatest thrill I get from making the chairs is the smile I see when someone sits in it and rocks.

Friday night we spent three hours studying the chairs' function and appearance. We analyzed the joinery, hard and soft lines, finish and critical elements that cause the Maloof Inspired rocker to exceed all requirements of function and appearance. A student described the spindle support system as "Recaro" (Italian designer's term), meaning curved support around thelumbar area of your back.

The Saturday and Sunday demos centered on the construction of a coopered seat, seat joinery, gluing the sled laminations on the form, bandsawing the arms, etc. It was a busy time.

I have attached some pictures from the classes for all to enjoy. I made some great new friends, learned a lot and in general had a blast working with people who have the same passion for this craft.

Thanks to all who attended along with the outstanding staff at Highland Woodworking.

Maloof Inspired Rocking Chair News

I am teaching a workshop on designing and building a Maloof Inspired rocking Chair at Highland Woodworking on July 11,12,13. Building this chair is a great joy and being able to share it with my woodworking friends will be, as always, a rewarding experience.



The rocker requires a lot of thought and work, but I think most woodworkers can handle this project with a thoughtful presentation of the knowledge and skills required. This workshop is not about me. I am no guru but I am an educator with almost thirty years experience and a furniture maker/designer with in excess of 200 commissions over the last 28 years. I want to teach you how to make the chair. If you are interested you will also learn how to publicize your talents for profit.



The greatest obstacle to making the chair is the intricate seat to leg joinery. I can teach you to make the joints without special router bits using a table saw and router w/ regular rabbet and round-over bits.



You will also learn what tools to buy and how to use them. You don't need a huge bandsaw. I built a lot of chairs and furniture using a Jet 14 inch saw and the correct blades. About two years ago I finally purchased a 20" Agazzani because I started working with a lot of walnut slabs, but I could build the chair with a 12" saw and the right blades.



Check out my chair pictures and posts and I will try to add to this sight weekly.

To register for the class call Highland Woodworking

(404) 872-4466 or register online at

www.highlandwoodworking.com

Layout and Rough Cut the Parts

I layout the plywood templates on the slabs and look for grain orientation and color. The trick is to balance color, figure and grain continuity from part to part. For example, the backlegs should match and grain should flow nicely into the parts

the with which theyare joined. This is very evident in the flow of the back legs into the crest rail. In the end you must use every board foot to its best advantage.

When working with slabs you have more choices to make over working with boards which can be very advantageous. The only drawback is the slabs usually are not graded and splits are more common.

To analyze the color and grain from rough slabs, you have to sometimes scrape, plane or sand to remove enough of the surface to make decisions concerning its use. Another trick is to mist water or dentured alcohol to see the wood to its advantage.

As you see I have rough cut a lot of parts.

Tune in for the next post which I will title "Saddling Up."

With Great Anticipation, I Start Designing the Chair

This wood is just beautiful! I am in awe and grateful of the opportunity to craft five Maloof inspired rocking chairs from this English walnut. Today's blog post concerns design and developing templates.

First a chair should provide an invitation for a safe, comfortable sitting experience. The dimensions should look and be appropriate to accomplishment of this goal. Although I am from the South where bigger is better, I have never thought canon ball bedposts and non functioning ornamentation were pleasing to my eye. I think less is more. This should be designed as a chair of lines. The chair lines should be flowing and beautiful even if (heaven forbid) it was painted black.

This chair sould be constructed of a premium hardwood variety. Walnut, figured Maple Rosewood or Zircote' are perfect for this chair. Cherry might be considered as too pedestrian for this chair. The wood doesn't have to be curly or heavily figured or to make a great chair. To create interest I have used one board seats to place a crotch and feather in the middle of a saddle (seat). One board seats are a little risky, but an artistic chance is sometimes worth taking.

When I finish the set of five rockers that I am currently commissioned to craft I want to experiment with building the seat out of 5 to 7 pieces cut at 3 to 3 degrees on their joining edges. This should yield a more inviting saddle or seat with a slight concave quality.

I am conbstantly making changes both small and large. Since this ends up being a carving or sculpting project I read the wood and many times the grain and figure will give me direction as to round off, bring to a hard line or to soften the arm or seat lines, etc.

The Great Wood Safari

I am always asked, "Where do you get your wood?" Well, Columbus, Georgia does not have wood I would use for fine furniture. Red oak and yellow pine are available. This was once a major source for heart pine which makes great flooring and reproductions, but it is still pine. Once you work with great hardwoods, it's hard to settle for anything else.

When a client placed an order for two of my rockers , I asked him if he would like to have an adventure finding some beautifully figured 8/4 English or Claro Walnut. This idea appealed to him, so I planned what I called the Great Wood Safari. We flew to Baltimore and drove to visit three Pennsylvannia hardwood dealers of considerable reputation.

Our first stop was Hearne Hardwoods. What an amazing operation! Their warehouses are full of great hardwoods both domestic and exotic hardwoods. They also have a massive bandsaw mill cutting huge slabs which are inventoried and their pictures uploaded to the internet immediately. Their staff pulled a few slabs of Circassian Walnut which were very beautiful. Of course the slabs were in the rough, so we sprayed them with denatured alcohol to view the figure and make the curl pop out. I wanted a more domestic walnut, so we continued to the next yard after thanking the employees for their great service. On the way out they said, "You have got to see what Sam has at Talarico Hardwoods."

Norman and his wife at Good Hope Hardwoods, were gracious hosts. Norman lives next door to his wood yard and warehouse in a beautifully restored New England style home right out of Country Living Magazine. The furniture and paneling inside are made with the finest collection of mahogony, tiger maple and cherry I have ever seen. Norman just did not have what we wanted in stock that day, although he had tons of beautiful domestics. Good Hope Hardwoods is the home of hardwoods and great customer service. I wish he had what we were looking for that day. Before we left he said,"You have got to see the walnut that Sam Talarico has on his yard!"

By the time we found Talarico Hardwoods we had decided two things. We could not have crammed all of this into a single day without the rental car's navigation system and spraying large amounts of denatured alcohol on slabs can be intoxicating.

I had also talked to Sam in advance of the trip and with all the hoopla about his walnut we were ready to see something great. We were not dissapointed. Sam had a huge English Walnut tree which had been air dried for over five years. The largest boards from the trunk measured 17 feet long X 6 feet wide and the slabs averaged 10/4 thick. http://www.talaricohardwoods.com/woodporn.htm The sweeping grain, colors, crotches, feathers and curly figure were just beautiful. My customer bought three slabs from that tree. The commision grew to five rocking chairs and a dining table.

The wood was shipped by sealed container to a friend's moving and storage business so it could be received with a fork lift. This photo shows me sawing slabs into movable portions. I sized them using templates for the various chair parts.

The next post will show how to start crafting a Maloof style rocking chair.

A Proud Craftsman Visits the Photograher

I am very proud of this chair. It is one of five that I am building for a wonderful family. Building something from scratch and making it come to life is a thrill. I don't care how many times you do it. You have a vision, you shape it from raw stock by hand, smooth and rub it til it has a warm glow and observe it until it makes you smile. The only thing left to do is sit in it and rock.

I recently took this chair to Kenny Gray a wonderful photographer at the Columbus State University Fine Arts campus. My least favorite part was throwing it over my head and running across the street. Kenny intuitively knew what I wanted and I had great fun having my work photographed by a professional. Furnituremakers need to do this for many reasons. You can't get the shots you want without proper lighting or without an open set. I want something to have so I can enjoy my commission and trace the development of my product. Although, it would be too costly to do this with all of them, this is worth the indulgence. A great picture also helps sell the next customer.

The chair is very sculptural. There are many hard and soft lines for viewing and touching. As I build a chair the grain and the figure of its flowing parts gives me an opportunity to create lines of interest that accent the beauty of the wood.

This picture shows the back of the arm joint and the sweep of the arm toward the chair front. Form meets function and exceeds the expectations of comfort in a wooden chair.

The front of the arm appears to lift up, exposing the carved pedestal that joins the arm to the turned front leg.