Jeff Miller of Chicago builds a wonderful bentwood rocking chair. I liked the lines and the craftsmanship that is so evident in it when I first saw it. So, I contacted Jeff and asked if there were any plans for the chair. The answer was, "No, there are not." Given that his is his design and signaure piece, I can understand why.
So, I thought about it for about a year after I first saw a picture of it and finally sat down and started to draft out plans for the chair. I made the bending frames and did some refining work on them before I started the first prototype. I actually made a side of the chair (back, leg piece and arm rest) and scraped it because of some obvious flaws. I finally got the chair made and saw some things that needed to be changed. Then I made prototype 2. It is almost exactly what I was looking for and will only refine it a bit. One thing is to pay more attention to the length of the arm support. This one is too short and did not notice I had the arm rest too short. As I was under a time crunch, I put a boot on the end of the arm rest. But that is a mistake I will not make again.
The chairs are out of ash, which bends wonderfully. The arm rest goes all the way down through the back/leg joint. As Jeff Miller said, "That is an interesting joint to cut."
Total time for a chair is on the order of two and a half to three weeks.
Photos on alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking.
Deb