How We Build a Rocking Chair — Back Legs

The back leg pattern is drawn around on a board and in a position that pass the required tests.  Grain direction is very important in curved parts.  It is best to select the part so that the grain follows the curves as much as possible in the areas subjected to the most load.  We mark the back legs in pairs to obtain consistent figure, color, and character in mates that will later be assigned to chairs.

We saw outside the drawn line to rough cut the leg  (#1).

While the edges remain rough, we flatten and plane the leg to thickness.  The leg is then clamped in a carriage and cut to accurate line on the shaper  (#2).  A true line on the carriage is held against a bearing to control the cut.

The back leg is worked for the several methods of joining we use to secure it to its mating parts.  I modified a horizontal-boring machine to cut a tenon on the bottom of the leg to join it to the rocker  (#3).  A plunge router with jig and fixture cuts the mortise for the arm tenon and the notch to receive the seat.

We bore holes for doweling the crest rail and for driving screws to reinforce that leg-to-crest joint and the leg-to-seat joint  (#4).

The arm of the rocking chair appears to grow out of the back leg — a treatment called "fairing".  Because we cut its mortise and tenon joint snugly, we can drive the arm into the back leg and do much of the fairing on the head of the edge sander  (#5).  I built this sander to specifically serve our purposes.

After its joints are cut, bored, and fit, we shape the part  (#6) to soften it visually and make its surface more pleasing to touch..

We sand  (#7).

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