Found this guy's site in some round about way. He specializes in rocking chairs If you like Maloof's rockers you'll like Hal's rockers. He has a set of plans for four or five size rockers - $275 but they'd save you that much in wood wasted doing Trial and Error.
charlie b
(not affiliated in any way with Hal Taylor).
high priced item and enjoy doing it. It would be nice to spend a week in his shop making your own chair.
The fact that lead time can reach 35 weeks says there is a market for quality furniture. Ed snipped-for-privacy@snet.net
thanks for the tip HAL
Uh, Ed, that's not quality being charged, but rarity. Daresay the customer's butt would be as well and long supported by rockers costing much less.
I doubt that charlie b is actually the Hal in haltaylor.com I saw that website quite some time ago and was equally impressed. Charlie b is simply blown away by it and wants to share.
Great site. Good inspiration. Wonder if it would be worth the $275 to buy the book and plans..........?
Thanks, charlie. TomL
an engineer who used to make musical instruments as a hobby. I am guessing that his rocking chair making grew from his woodworking in musical instruments.
Let see, 200+ chairs at $5000 and up equals a cool 1 million plus. Add 100+ plans at $275, selling workshop time, etc, he probably made another 50G pocket change. Nice hobby!
-Chris
Just this past weekend, at a seminar in Atlanta, Sam Maloof clearly stated that he is irritated by those that make money using his designs. He prefers not to waste time tracking down the violators, but it bothers him just the same.
So, although I was also impressed with haltaylor.com, I won't be spending any money there. I'll do what Sam did -- keep trying something new, until I come up with something that works.
I can see some resemblance but I don't think that anyone has a "lock" on "a rocking chair with flairs and sweeping curves...". I see Maloof's inspiration there but not an outright copy. there are several different styles and many sizes. If I could work wood that well or as well as Mr. Maloof, I too would quit my day job.
Bruce
YesMaam27577 wrote:
Another source of similar rocking chairs is:
Anyone buy Hal's set of plans for five different sizes of his rocker? The samples of pages of the plans don't really give much of a feel for the level of detail in the plans. If they include methods for making the joints along with full size patterns for $55/chair plans seems like a good deal. Could save a lot of trial and error and be a very valuable source of specialized techniques.
As for the similarity to Sam Maloof rockers, the former's rockers are "s" shaped, Hal's aren't. Hal's front legs/ armrest supports are inward "c's", Maloof's are straighter. Maloof's seats are very low, Hal's are at a more traditional height.
I'm sure Hal utilizes some of the joinery Sam Maloof used. If you study oriental furniture joinery you'll see that Maloof didn't invent the joining methods he uses.
Bottom line, we all build on the knowledge developed by others. Occassionaly we think we "create" something new but a little researching usually shows it's been done many times before. There is very little new under the sun.
charlie b
This is true, but how close is too close? Maloof or Nakashima or Krenov all have their look. Which of course is based on learning from what's been done before. A summing up of the lessons they learned and a bit of their own contribution.
So when others imitate the Maloof or Krenov style, how close is too close? I think when the imitation causes one to be confused to the point of thinking "is it live or Memorex?", that's too close. That is, the imitator who offers things for sale should add enough of themselves to avoid the confusion.
If, on the other hand, you want a Maloof rocker for yourself and you'll only build that one, then sure, knock yourself out. Go for a
100% copy.
charlie b
Did you forgot the payment he must get for being a Tenryu Gold Medal blade spokesman. I thought he looks familiar from ads in FWW. I'd say the man is living right ;-P
Cheers, Gary
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