Briley's Chair

I just finished this little rocking chair in time for my grand-niece's first birthday.

The original chair was featured in Wood Magazine, back in 1993, and back then I made one - in red oak - that adhered to Wood's plan, which had a plain, flat seat, and the arch, front legs, and the rockers glued up from 4/4 stock.

For this one, I deviated a bit from the plans. I used cherry, and cut the legs (8/4) and rockers (12/4) from solid stock. The back legs/arch, I laminated up from eighteen 3/32" strips. I also added a piece to the lower front of the seat, to thicken it a bit and give it a better appearance, and I contoured the surface of the seat to make it more comfortable.

All in all, it was a fun project. Now we'll see how well it lasts under strenuous 'kid-testing.'


The teddy bear cutout for the chair's back is 5/16" thick, and mortised into the arch at the top and the seat at the bottom. It's free-floating within the mortises.


Thanks for looking.

Great work Jim. She's sure to love it and I'll bet it gets passed on for generations to come. Looks to me like it should survive the kid stress test with no problem

Bet you used a lot of clamps on that lamination.

That is too cool, Jim. Fun design, especially the teddy bear feet at the ends of the arm rests. The whole thing looks like it's built to take years of use and abuse. Like Jesse said, that one's going to be around for generations.

Yep, that's a keeper Jim!

I hope you put your name on it somewhere, so the future generations can wonder who the heck was "Jim DeLaney" that made this great chair

Cheers!

nice jim! i like seeing bent stuff .......that`ll take at least a few generations to distroy!

Very nice project, one that looks like it could be easily adpated to to have different animals on it. How did you do the bear by the way?

Aaron Beaver said:

Very nice project, one that looks like it could be easily adpated to to have different animals on it. How did you do the bear by the way?

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[size=+1]The basic outline was cut on my bandsaw, using a 3/16" blade. The interior cutouts were done by drilling 1/8" start and end holes and cutting them out on the DeWalt scroll saw.[/size]

Stuart Ablett said:

...I hope you put your name on it somewhere, so the future generations can wonder who the heck was "Jim DeLaney" that made this great chair
Cheers!

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Oh yeah. On the underside of the seat, it's inscribed "For Briley" and there's an inlaid laser-cut maple medallion that says "Jim DeLaney - 2007."

Great work!! I don't think that I could have torn that thing up when I was a kid and that's sayin somethinig. Sure to be around for Briley's own children and grandchildren.

Jim,

Great flower bed!!!!

Oh yea the chair is also nice!

Sorry couldn't resist

Joe

That is a neat chair! How did you dish out the chair ? I have few that I need to do like that ! Thanks

Donnie Cherry said:

That is a neat chair! How did you dish out the chair ? I have few that I need to do like that ! Thanks

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[size=+1]I guess you'd say - "The Hard Way." I used a few carving gouges - #5 & #7 sweeps - and a convex spokeshave for the bulk of the contouring, and finished it with a gooseneck scraper, a piece of broken glass that had a nice curve to it, and finally with sandpaper.

I'm sure it could have been done in one tenth the time using a power carver blade in an angle grinder, but truthfully, those thing scare the **ll out of me. Besides, I wasn't in a hurry, and the hand work was kinda relaxing.[/size]