Rocking Chair Problem

[trvlnmny]

I rocked too hard on the old rocking chair and broke the 2 rockers. I do not see a problem with making replacement rockers. Where I see a problem is fitting the new rockers on to the legs. The 2 legs on each side are not parrallel to each other. From the bottom of the seat the distance between them increases towards the bottom. The bottom of the legs are round tenons, I am unable to figure out how I will be able to get these tenons into the mortises on the rocker. Any help will be appreciated!!

[Steve Turner]

Are the "round tenons" really part of the legs, or are they actually dowels? In the rocking chairs I've built, the rockers are the last pieces installed, by way of turning the chair upside down and drilling down through the rockers into the legs, filling the whole business up with glue and driving the dowels down through the rockers and into the legs. You could probably use a similar approach. If they are in fact integral with the legs and you don't want to drill them out and use dowels instead, about the only way I could think to do it (without disassembling the legs and perhaps many other things as well) would be to make the new rockers a saw kerf wider than they need to be, then splitting them down the middle on the table saw, temporarily clamping them back together, drilling the necessary receiving holes in the rockers right where the saw had split them in half, then gluing the rockers back together to "surround" the tenons in the legs. Kinda wacky I know, but not sure what other approach you could take.

[lh]

Cut tenons in thechair posts, set the chair on the rockers, scribe the tenon outlines on the rockers, chop the mortises with a chisel and then secure with screwa from the bottom.

That's how they teach it at Homestead Heritage. Paul Sellers shows the technique in the Feb 2005 issue of Woodwork Magazine (RIP) Email me and I will send you a xerox of the page if you can't find the issue.