Little wooden rocking chairs are ideal for a child's room or even as a decoration in a country, cottage or cabin style home. You can make your own little wooden rocking chair as a do-it-yourself woodworking project. The rocking chair consists of sides with rockers integrated into the bottoms, a seat, support and back. Select furniture-grade hardwood plywood so the project will be high-quality and finished to match your existing furniture pieces in your home. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Place the two plywood panels flat on a work surface. The 18-inch sides are the top and bottoms of the panels. The 16-inch sides are the sides of the panels. These are the sides of the rocking chair.
2. Form a flexible curve ruler in a graceful curve along the 18-inch bottom edge of each panel. This is the rocker bottom for the chair. Trace along the ruler with a pencil to transfer it onto each panel.
3. Draw an "h" shape onto the panel to form the remaining part of the curves for the side panels using a pencil and flexible curve ruler. The top of the hump on the "h" shape should be 8 inches up from the bottom edge of the side panels.
4. Cut out the "h" shape and the rocker curve from each side panel using a jigsaw. Guide the jigsaw along each line until each cut is complete. Sand the cut edges of the rocking chair sides with a fine-grit sanding pad until they are completely smooth.
5. Place the rocking chair sides upright on a work surface and parallel to each other. Space them so that the outside sides are 14 inches apart. Ask another person to hold the sides upright.
6. Align the 3/4-by-14-by-16-inch plywood panel over the back of the rocking chair sides. This is the back of the rocking chair. The 16-inch edges are the sides of the rocking chair back. Drive pan head wood screws through the back into the back edges of the side every 2 to 4 inches with a screw gun. Once you have the screws in place, the helper can stop holding the sides.
7. Insert the 3/4-by-12 1/2-by-18-inch plywood panel between the sides so that it is perpendicular to the sides. This is the seat for the rocking chair. Position the seat 8 inches up from the bottom edge of the rocking chair sides. Drive pan head wood screws through the sides into the edges of the seat panel.
8. Slide a second 3/4-by-12 1/2-by-18-inch plywood panel between the sides in the same manner that you did the seat panel. This is the support panel. Position this panel 3 inches up from the bottom edge of the rocking chair sides. Fasten the panel to the sides in the same manner that you did the seat panel.
9. Spray the entire assembly with an even coat of spray lacquer. Allow the lacquer to dry for four hours and apply a second coat. Wait 24 hours after the second coat before using or handling the rocking chair.
Tags: rocking chair, chair sides, rocking chair, rocking chair sides, bottom edge