|
Group
Woodworking classes
Code # 20
Build Grandpa's rocker in
the Maloof style handmade
rocking chair
Start a new business or
upgrade one. No expensive
tools needed or even a Table
Saw required.
The above rockers are
“Classic” in the Sam Maloof
style. hand made rocking
chair
See samples rockers
for ides of what you can do
under rockers in the
gallery.
Click the
'Classes' tab for info.
I will show you all you
need to know about making
these rocking chairs. Any
woodworker can do it!
l Limited four ten (10) students per class.
Call or email me if you have a preferred date.
See a student’s posting to
‘Lumberjocks’ with pictures
during his class week. (at
bottom of page)
I will demonstrate each critical step in making a
Sam Maloof style custom
rocking chairs including the
unique joints. You will
learn it all; even the shop
secrets. Handmade rocking
chairs for adults to rock in
You will receive a complete
instruction manual or credit
if you have already
purchased one. Hundreds of
pictures available, also a
CD loaded with pictures.
You will be able to copy the
shop built jigs I use.
You can take all the
pictures you want for your
personal use.
You can cut hard copies of
other rocker and chair part
patterns I use and or make
paper patterns.
It is not necessary that you
be an accomplished
woodworker because I will
show you how to build a
custom rocker using a few
economical tools. Even a
table saw in not necessary
and the rest of the tools
need not be the expensive
variety.
One of my most handy tools
was a free gift I received
at one of the woodworking
shows.
The jigs I use are rough,
scrap lumber, shop built
things taking only a few
minutes to make.
If you follow the
instructions I give you will
be able to make a custom
rocker with accurate joints,
ideal balance and custom
sized. When you leave my
shop you will have been
exposed to all the
techniques necessary to
build a custom rocking
chair.
Click the
'Classes' tab for info.
|
Dynamics of a
Rocking Chair: by
Bill Kappel
Unlike most chairs,
rocking chairs by
their very nature of
construction are a
moving entity.
Because a rocking
chair is made to
rock there are
unique factors to be
considered in the
manufacturing of a
custom quality
rocking chair.
First, let us agree
on some basics. The
design of the
rocking chair is
pleasing, the
materials used in
construction are
quality products and
the method of
construction is
proven and
time-honored
mechanics. With
these basics
assured, let us
examine the real
reason why one
rocking chair is a
pleasant experience
while others are
adequate at best to
exasperating.
An exasperating
rocking chair would
be one that walks
while rocking or a
"walking rocker".
Walking while
rocking is an
irritating
experience some
rocking chairs
exhibit by advancing
forward or backwards
maybe sideway off
their original
placement.
Another exasperating
characteristic of
some rocking chairs
is their persistence
in giving the
sensation of
throwing you forward
out of the chair or
too far backwards.
An adequate
experience in
rocking chairs can
be measured
collectively by most
rocking chairs on
the market today.
They feel okay,
nice, comfortable,
or satisfactory, but
this should not be
what a quality buyer
is expected to
tolerate. However,
this is what most
settles for.
There is another
category that I call
"balanced rocking" a
sooo comfortable and
good feeling
experience of a
perfect balanced
rocking chair. This
is the exceptional
rocking chair that
is of course sized
correctly, but it is
also engineered to
give the ultimate
rocking experience,
which is a perfect
dynamic balance so
that the rocking is
almost effortless.
Near effortless
rocking is what I
design into my
rocking chairs. How
is this done?
Sizing a chair to
fit a particular
individual or
category of body
types such as
standard, small or
petite, large or
ample, is important,
but lets face it
almost anyone can
sit in a chair. I am
six foot three at
two hundred and
fifty pounds and I
am quite comfortable
in a petite,
standard or large
size rocker. So what
is important to a
rocking chair?
There are at least
three important
considerations when
building fine
rocking chairs with
the above given
qualifiers.
First, the size of
the rocking chair
must be within a
reasonable range of
the owner and
guests. Size is
important as to
width of the seat,
the armrest
placement and
design, the leg
clearance from the
floor and the height
of the headrest etc.
Once these
dimensions are
accurate the builder
can calculate the
other subtle
proportions. It is
also important to
give the head
adequate support
while relaxing. On
an airplane when you
want to rest one of
the first things you
do is ask for a
pillow. Why a
pillow? To give
support to your head
and bring it forward
a little for more
comfort. Many people
while rocking come
close to sleeping or
total relaxing. To
get this fully
relaxed feeling your
head should be
supported and not
thrown back beyond
comfort.
Second, the style or
appearance of the
furniture should be
pleasing. The look
of the rocking chair
is, of necessity,
controlled by the
function of rocking,
but this still
leaves room for
adaptation and
individual taste.
Third, and to my
mind, the most
critical
characteristic of a
rocking chair is
balance. Balance is
why you buy a
rocking chair. After
all if we weren’t
interested in
rocking then a
regular chair would
do just fine.
Rocking should not
be tiresome to the
occupant even after
prolonged periods of
rocking. Rocking
should be almost
effortless. Rocking
should be a pleasant
and a relaxing
experience. To
achieve this perfect
balance of relaxed
rocking the builder
woodworker must have
mastered certain
dynamics about a
rocking chair
design. The "runner"
is the part of a
rocking chair that
controls the
movement of force
applied. These
"runners" must be
made to match the
dynamic uniqueness
of each rocking
chair.
Wood is never of a
uniform density.
Because the density
of different woods
vary from species to
species, as well as
within their own
species, the
woodworker must
consider the balance
point of each
rocking chair made
and shape the
"runners"
accordingly. A
production "runner"
manufactured in a
high volume plant or
one made on a jig in
a one-man shop will
not give the perfect
balance for a
quality rocking
chair. If a standard
"runner" is used the
resulting rocking
chair will only be
of adequate quality,
at best, and not the
superior balance
that a high-end
rocking chair owner
should demand. Once
the runners are
shaped properly the
rocking chair can be
mounted to the
runners for the
appropriate balance.
Making chairs is the
most challenging of
all woodworking
projects and making
rocking chairs, the
correct way, is the
supreme challenge in
woodworking.
Each of the custom
rocking chairs built
by Bill Kappel is
constructed with
this perfect balance
or dynamics of the
rocking chair in
mind. Each rocking
chair is balanced
for the customer for
an almost effortless
rocking. No rocking
walking or undue
effort to annoy and
distract from the
pleasant experience
of a well tuned
rocking chair.
|
|
|
|
|
About Utah & Ephraim:
My shop is in Ephraim (about 5
thousand population), Utah,
and only about two hours
South of the Salt Lake City
international airport.
We are about fifty-five
hundred feet above sea level
in a beautiful mountain
valley.
Recreation: There are
several golf courses within
minutes of my shop. Racket
or handball, basketball etc.
facilities at Snow College
just blocks from my shop.
Bowling at Snow Cap Lanes
two blocks away. Fishing
galore in more than twenty
lakes and streams within
minutes of my shop. ATV
(rentals available) trails
all over the place with
miles and miles of mountain
adventure available.
Summer Recreation Sanpete
County: Hunting; Fishing;
Camping; Golfing; Festivals;
Rock Climbing, Track Elk
herds on horseback, Visit
State and Federal Parks,
Museums, Art and Antique
Shows, (visit
www.sanpete.com for more
information)
May: Scouting Expo, Rhubarb
Festival, Soap Box Derby;
Spring City Heritage Days;
Ephraim Scandinavian Days;
Memorial Day; Big Daddy Roth
Days;
June: Fly-in for "plane
nuts"; Old Home Days; Mormon
Miracle Pageant; Heritage
Days; Hub City Day with
muzzleloader shoots, 'mutton
bustin'; rodeo; Golf
Tournament etc,
July: Mountain Man
Rendezvous; Lace Days;
Blackhawk Rendezvous;
Children's Theatre; Pioneer
Days; Ox burro Rodeo;
Softball tournament; ATV
rodeo;
August: Mountain ATV Run;
GBEEC Star Party with Snow
College Physics Dept.;
Backcountry first aid
workshop; Sanpete County
Fair; Arts Plain Air
Competition (art work will
be for sale). Classic Bike
Race with 46, 75, and 102
mile races on courses that
wind through the local
countryside with little
traffic.
September : Arts Festival
and Artist' Studio Tour;
Sanpete County Cruise-In and
Poker Run;
October : Apple days start
with Ugly Witch Contest and
parade;
December : Old fashion
Christmas Village
Hotel Accommodations:
Hotel accommodations are within a
few minutes of my shop.
Hotels in the Ephraim area:
Willow Creek Inn,
450 S Main St, Ephraim, UT
(435) 283-4566
Temple View Lodge, 260 E
400 N, Manti, UT
(435) 835-6663
Manti Motel, 445 N Main St,
Manti, UT
(435) 835-8533
Manti County Village Motel,
134 N, Main St, Manti, UT
(435) 835-9300
You Build- CLASS:
code # 21
One-on-one (you build) classes
please call for a date of
your choice.
"You Build" (Seminar Rocker)
If you prefer to make your
own rocker (You-Build) I
will give the personal
(one-on-one) attention
necessary while we construct
your rocker (about one
week). I supply the wood of
your choice (so long as it
is not toxic), all
information, tools,
patterns, jigs, shop space,
adhesives and snacks. This
includes the accent
materials such as Ivory,
Ebony, Bastogne, African
Blackwood, Burled Mesquite
etc. When you take your
rocker home it will still
need to be finish sanded and
detailed using my supplied
finish and instructions. For
Mesquite wood the cost is
$4,500 for the seminar help,
wood etc. If you choose an
exotic species of wood the
cost will have to be
adjusted . This is the best
way to receive personal
instructions, manual, jigs,
etc and obtain a rocker. You
can keep the rocker or sell
this rocker at a profit to
pay for the class. You end
up with the ability to make
custom rockers for free. For
the "You-Build seminar
rocker" please contact me
about any week of the year.
Code # 21 for "You-Build
seminar rocker" info. Email
me or give me a call if you
have questions.
bill@kappelusa.com OR call
435-283-3193.
A two hundred dollar deposit
will hold the date you
choose. The balance is due
the first day of class.
One of the best parts of
building a rocker in Utah is
the dry climate of about 5
percent. You can take the
rocker anywhere and be
confident your work will
stay sound and durable. If
you build a solid wooden
rocker in any humid climate
such as on the East Cost and
bring it out west it will
dry to our local moisture
content and likely crack and
the joints will loosen.
Solid wood moves with
moisture content and that is
the reality of the matter.
Even if the lumber is kiln
dried to the 6 to 8 percent
ideal, in high humid areas
most shops will re-acclimate
the lumber in a few days to
a much higher moisture
content. We have all heard
of the horror stories of
families moving from Florida
to some western state
such as Arizona or Nevada
and have their solid wood
furniture fall apart.
Semi-Built Rocker Code #
23
Semi Rocker:
If you would like me to semi
complete a rocker the cost
is $3,300 for White Oak plus
packaging & freight. Or add
the cost of some exotic wood
species you choose. You
receive an assembled rocker
plus the Backslats and
Headrest parts plus the
instruction manual. l will
rough cut and assembled the
rocker except for the
Headrest and Backslats. You
finish the rocker by shaping
in the arm, leg and Headrest
joints, then finish sanding.
The Headrest and slats will
have to be mounted after you
finish sanding them. My
instructions will give
complete details about how
to mount the Backslats and
Headrest. The Backslat holes
are drilled in the seat and
Headrest. The Backslats will
be sized with the tenon for
both ends cut. The Headrest
will be pre-fitted to the
legs and Backslats, but will
need to be sanded and glued
in place. This is a good way
to get a new rocker and
still have the pride of your
own work. call
(435-283-3193) or email
bill@kappelusa.com Code #
23 for semi rocker info.
Rocker Kits---Build
Grandpa's Rocker Code # 22
Kit parts: I will
rough cut all the part for a
custom rocker in the Maloof
style. The full instruction
manual with patterns. and
colored pictures, to finish
the rocker will be included,
as well as lots of pictures
on a CD. The cost for
Mesquite wood is $950 +
packaging & freight.
Until stock lasts I have
some Claro and Bastogne
walnut, from the same stock
Sam Maloof was shipped, which I will be
selling for $3,500 for the
cut kit parts. Code # 22
for kit info.
The pictured rocker is made
with Bastogne walnut. The
kit rocker can be made in
this style or others. If
accents, such as, Ivory,
Ebony, Maple, Myrtle etc.
are wanted they can be
provided with applicable
instructions for a small
additional charge.
Proprietary
instruction Manual: Code #
25
Instruction
manual has Rocking Chair
patterns:
with lots of pictures, also
a CD with loads of pictures,
paper patterns, shop jig
info, pages of detailed
instructions so you can
build a custom rocker
of your own choosing. This
information is not for a
cookie-cutter style rocker.
The details are such you
will be able to make any
style rocker on the market
or make one of your own
design. I have included
special instructions for
upscale rockers I have not
seen in any other offer on
the market today. If you
buy a manual and later take
a seminar, the cost of the
manual will be applied to
the seminar.
Ask any of the thousands
who have received my (free
info) if this is not good
stuff. If the free info is
good you can imagine how
good this full manual
is. $150 use Code
#25
New
Free text, Contact
me for availability Code #
FFF
Free information on how to build a custom rocking chair. This
is not a cookie cutter
rocker you will be building,
but a custom personalized
rocker.
There are almost 40 pages of
detailed instructions giving
all the information
necessary to make a Sam
Maloof style rocking chair
project. The info include
jigs I use with shop
secrets. This material is
the draft, less the three
ring binder, full size
patterns, upgrades and
additional pictures, I used
to create my full text
manual included in my
seminars and sent with each
rocker kit. This info will
be sent by email. Send me
the code # posted to
bill@kappelusa.com I can
then attach the file. The
code # changes often so be
sure to use the correct code
#.
This is a trade-off. You
visit my web site and I will
send the free info. If you
want the added extra
upgraded 'draft' info just
send $25 dollars and you get
all the bits and pieces with
pictures left out of the
free stuff. If you want the
full text with all the
professional up grades,
pictures, patterns, binder
and CD with more pictures
the cost is $50
I will be glad to help all
woodworkers, if you like
what you see feel free to
post the offer to any other
woodworking forum. They
should do a Google
search for "kappel rocker'
or go to my web site at
kappelusa.com then make
their request.
Please use the applicable
Code # in your email subject
line when referring to your
inquiry so I know it is not
junk mail.
A student’s week at one of
my classes
The
beginning of “old guy”
summer camp started today
and my fine camp counselor
is a true gentleman named
Bill Kappel. I finally found
the perfect thing to do with
my extra week of vacation
this year. I went to rocking
chair camp.
For those
of you who don’t know of
Bill Kappel, he is also
known as the rocking chair
guy. He makes his own take
on the Maloof style rocking
chair and does it with style
and class. Not only does he
make chairs and other
amazing wood pieces, but he
also offers classes ranging
from one on one to small
groups. He is a great guy,
and I feel fortunate to be
working with him this week.
You can tell he is good
since unlike some hacks I
know, Bill laughs at the
concept of being called a
master woodworker. (even
though he just might be one)
For me it
was a cross country trek
since his workshop is a bit
more than 2 hours South of
Salt Lake City Utah in a
place called Ephraim. I am
not sure how to pronounce
it, but here I am in my
hotel room writing this blog
entry. I live in Cleveland,
Ohio when I am not traveling
so Utah is a big change of
environment for me.
Enough
fluff.. lets talk about the
build. Today was day one and
we started making the seat.
I chose Mesquite lumber for
my chair, and I have to say
the figure is amazing. Bill
has an amazingly organized
and intelligent method of
building his chairs that can
be broken down into specific
and orderly steps. The
advice he offers at each
step helps understand how
the choices are made for
each step in the process. He
follows a similar procedure
to the one I have seen on
the Maloof DVD I have, but
obviously hands on is the
way for me to learn it.
I will
take pictures and post them
as the days go on. I am also
making some video recordings
of technique so that I can
refer to them when I need to
make my next chair. Today
was day one and I have
several to go. I am
confident that when I am
done, I will be taking home
the best looking chair in my
house.
I will
keep you posted.
Day 2
started with taking my glued
up seat out of the clamps
and taking my first shot at
carving out the seat with a
grinder. I have not done
this before so it took me a
bit to get the technique
down. It will take far
longer to perfect it.
I was
fortunate to have Bill’s
undivided attention and
patience. He helped me get
the angles right until I
started to get my seat
formed. Had I tried to learn
this on my own, I guarantee
that I would have wasted
dome prime lumber until I
got to this point.
This so
far has been an extremely
interesting and educational
experience. I am sure it
will continue this way.
Well, day 3
has ended and man am I
tired. It was a super
productive day.
The legs
were formed and fitted. The
biggest challenge was to
mate the legs to the seat.
After
hours of fiddling and using
Bill’s method, all was fit
perfectly. What a thrill to
see the legs attached and
fitting like a glove. After
the legs were fit, Bill gave
me another lesson in machine
carving to form one back leg
to the seat. Later we cur
out both arms and carved the
first to fit.
front leg is marked
band saw cut after offs
a close
up on the joint
back leg is cut
out
grinding a joint
 
leveling and sanding
legs
dry fitted
 
arm blanks were doweled and
dry fit
 
cutting away waste on the
band saw
part two
of many cuts
 
carved out arm
leveled
and rough sanded arm
done for the day… tomorrow
is more
Today, we
did more sculpting, cut and
glued up the laminates for
the rocker runners, and
created the headrest and the
first back slat. The
following pictures tell the
tale.
 
head rest blank is fit to
back legs
head rest first cuts
 
sculpting the head
rest
finished shaping
 
holes drilled for back
slats
testing first back slat
 
bending the
rails
marked to sculpt
roughly sculpted
More
tomorrow… only 1 and a half
days to go.
The
biggest challenge here is
that I can’t actually finish
the whole chair. I will UPS
myself the components and
when I arrive home do final
gluing, shaping, sanding and
finishing..
More
tomorrow
 
head rest blank is fit to
back legs
head rest first cuts
 
sculpting the head
rest
finished shaping
 
holes drilled for back
slats testing
first back slat
… only 1 and a half days to
go.
Tomorrow
is Saturday and I have a
half a day to mount the
rails to the chair. Of
course I will have to take
it all apart, wrap all the
pieces and ship them home to
do the actual glue up and
final assembly. I have so
much work left to do that I
don’t expect to be done for
at least 2 or 3 months since
I have to go back to work.
Vacation is almost over..
Today I
glued the stand offs to the
rails, created the dowel
ends on all the back slats
and started to refine them.
I also got more grinding
done to form the second arm
and copied all the templates
and jigs so that I will be
able to make another chair
after this one is done.
Bill has
been such a help and a great
teacher. I have taken my
woodworking skills to a
whole new level on this trip
and I am so thankful for
this chance. This was an
intense week.
Enjoy the
following photos.
 
runner out of the
clamps
second view
 
gluing on the
standoffs
second view
I don’t
expect to be able to post
tomorrows photos for a few
days. I have to travel home
first. I hope that you
enjoyed all of this. I plan
to post more as I finish the
work in my shop.
|
