#HTE

Perfecting Furniture: An Obsessive Ex-Engineer’s Exquisite Rocking Chairs

One of the B-story gags in The Patriot is that Mel Gibson’s character cannot build a rocking chair that won’t break. That’s because they’re freaking hard to make; the most elegant ones have a light, airy appearance, which is often at odds with making them strong enough to fulfill their rocking duties.

If you want to try designing and building one, we’ve got an excellent inspiration and resource for you in Hal Taylor. Taylor, who formerly worked as a manufacturing engineer, has spent the past 23 years perfecting the rocking chair and elevating it to masterpiece level. 

If you’re a 6'7" NBA player who wants a rocking chair to fit precisely, you call Taylor. If you’re an unnamed client in Abu Dhabi who wants to purchase the best custom rocking chair in the world, you call Taylor. Colin Eden-Eadon, former editor of the UK’s Furniture and Cabinet Making sat in one of Taylor’s creations and proclaimed “It is the most comfortable wooden chair I have ever sat in.”

“I have dedicated my life, since I started making rocking chairs in 1993, to the perfection of their beauty and comfort,” Taylor writes. “If you believe another’s rocker is more beautiful than mine, I might agree with you—BUT—NOBODY makes a more comfortable rocking chair.”

“I have, over the years, perfected flexible back braces, the curved vertical grain headrest, a formula for achieving the perfect rocker radius and the perfect fit for each individual. Within a year of making rockers full time I realized flexible back braces were the ticket!”

In addition to selling his pieces, Taylor shares information on how to design and build them, including demystifying the tricky business of determining the right radii for the actual rocker “skis” (see “Perfect Rocker Radius,” below). Here’s some of Taylor’s rocking-chair knowledge drops:

Flexible Back Braces

“The first rocking chairs I made for sale, 20 years ago had flexible back braces. I have been perfecting the flex ever since. I cut more pieces of wood for my back braces than most people use in four or five completed rocking chairs! In order to make a set for one chair I cut 72 separate pieces of wood—Each back brace has four full length laminations and there are five precisely tapered wedge shaped pieces of wood which, when incorporated, make the back brace stiffness distinctly non linear, providing flex where they should flex and superior strength where they need to be strong.”

Perfect Rocker Radius

“When I started making rockers the perfect rocker radius seemed to be somewhat of a mystery. Some said it should be 39” others 42 inches and some would not say at all, keeping the radius they used a secret. Eventually I resolved to figure it out and now calculating the perfect rocker radius for any rocking device is easy. You can see my solution here: Proper Rocker Radius.“

Vertical Headrest

"When I first started making rocking chairs I used to have dreams that showed me how to make them. In one dream, when it came to the headrest, instead of the headrest wood being horizontal, as it is in every other chair, I turned it vertical! ”

“Every chair I have made since has a vertical headrest. There are many advantages to this method. The main advantage is that I can get much more curve in the headrest which means the back braces are in a very comfortable curved configuration to hug your back!”

Kerfing the Legs after Fitting

“This allows the legs to be shaped to perfection prior to gluing to the seat, thereby reducing the finish shaping and sanding to a mere fraction of what it could be.”

Making Rocking Chairs to Fit

“Before I started making chairs to fit their new owner most rocking chair makers made one size chair. Sam Maloof told me that he only made chairs one size and that was to fit himself. I remember reading web sites where builders explained that rocking chairs were too complicated to attempt to change the size! That was 20 years ago, now most rocking chair makers will make to your size.”

Book and Video

“In order to help others build their own rocking chairs I wrote a book and created a video on how to make this chair. If you cruise the internet you will see many web sites where folks make this rocking chair. Usually they are recognizable by looking at the top of the back braces. This is a pattern that I came up with on the fourth or fifth rocker and have not deviated since! You can read about the book and video here: Book and Video”

Up next, we’ll show you one of Taylor’s crazier custom creations.

http://www.core77.com/posts/54691/Perfecting-Furniture-An-Obsessive-Ex-Engineers-Exquisite-Rocking-Chairs