Chair makers?

[Mike Davis]

Is the normal? Does the angle cause a problem with assembly? Was the chair assembled after the rockers were attached? This is not what I expected to find when I checked the holes.

 

[JohnnyR]

Can't answer your question but if you're using dowels, do the mortises in the chair line up with the angle of the runner mortice? If not, you may be able to fit the back one and then persuade the front one, maybe with a little help clamping the two feet together to try and squeeze them together a fraction.

 

[Mike Davis]

Yes, they line up and I suppose I will make the new ones to match. I’m concerned about forcing the dowels in at that angle, I don’t want to break the legs. I may be over-thinking it or it may slide right into place with no resistance. I just thought I would seek sage advise before forging ahead.

 

[cyclopentadiene]

I have constructed Maloof rockers using a multiple techniques. The first that I learned (and best approach) was from JSR Woodworking in a rocker class with Shamrock an Jeremy. We leveled the chair legs to the floor and added risers to the rockers and hand planed these to a corresponding flat surface. We then used a dowel that went into the leg and through all of the risers into the rocker to attach these.
The approach from the Highland woodworking and the Hal Taylor approach both match the rocker legs to the rockers through trial and error. The fit is very difficult to get a perfect joint and it takes many hours. I never completed one of these perfect.

The type of rocker you are building may not be conducive to adding risers to the rockers but it may be worth a try on a scrap piece to see if it looks OK. The rear leg on the rocker has a lot of the stress so it is critical to have this joint as close to perfect as possible. Otherwise, this could lead to failure of the joint over time.

 

[Mike Davis]

It is an antique chair and the joints held up very well. I had to cut through the joint to separate the parts. Luckily I have a super thin razor saw that was up to the task.
The repair must look as much as possible like the original. I did make the new rockers exactly to the pattern of the old with the exception of laminating them for greater strength.
My only concern at this point is driving the dowels home with this angle. Maybe I will construct a mock up to see how it best goes together.

If I were making a chair from scratch I would mate the parts on the square as you learned. This makes the most logical sense to me. However, I can see the reason they drilled on the angle, the wood is strongest in this orientation.

 

[cyclopentadiene]

I always try to orient the legs with the grain in order to minimize stress related breaks. This wastes more wood but in the long run should be better

 

[23tony]

Whenever I've tried to repair a rocking chair (or most any other chair), I've found that things need to be "coerced" into place. They never seem to line up exactly right on their own.