BUILD A SCULPTURED ROCKING CHAIR HANDS-ON CLASSES WITH CHARLES BROCK
(Find the date in the store you would like to attend and choose the payment you want to make! Pay Half and Register, Make a Final Payment, or Make one Full Registration Payment)
Online registration through PayPal. Call me at 706 366-3152 or email at rocknchairman@gmail.com to ask questions or to register with a check. Send a check to Charles Brock LLC/ 224 Beamon Drive/ Franklin, TN 37064. Initial deposit is $1000 and final payment is $1000 due before the month of the Class.
Student Fee is $2000 – May be paid for with a $1000 deposit and final payment of $1000 using check or credit card. Walnut Rocker Kit is Mandatory and for Sales Tax Purposes is separate. I will send you a PayPal Request for $350 plus TN sales tax @9.25% for the kit. (You will acquire the Kit when you come for the class.)
Mail class payments to my office:
Charles Brock LLC
224 Beamon Drive Franklin, TN 37064
Classes are taught at:
1035 Parkway Drive Building 4 Suites A – B Spring Hill, TN 37174
STUDENT Cancellation/ Refund POLICY: I will be sensitive to Covid 19 concerns with this policy! Your satisfaction is of my utmost concern!
Due to the scheduling demands of this week-long class, purchase and prep of walnut materials and the scheduling of an assistant (if more than 3 students register), registered students wishing to withdraw must contact Charles Brock at least 45 days prior to the start date of the class in order to receive a complete refund. Failure to do so will result in a 50% forfeiture of the entire tuition. Withdrawing with fewer than 10 days left prior to the start date will result in a 75% forfeiture. There are no exceptions to this policy. Please be sure to check and clear your personal calendar prior to registering.
This is what a rocker class Need!
Auriou Rasps are my first Choice! Combi Rasp (On the left) – 5 Grain on one side with 9 on the other, Modeler’s Rasp (On the Right) 13 Grain, Most Importantly the Cabinetmaker’s Rasp 12″ (Center) – 10 Grain. (Marking Knife, A 6 ” Square, Fractional Dial Calipers, Lie Neilsen Small Router Plane, Wheel Type Marking Gauge, Tape Measure (Not longer than 16 ft. I will have some of these items to use so don’t fret!
Note on Auriou Rasp Availability!!!!
Auriou Rasps are sometimes in short supply at Highland Woodworking, Lie-Nielsen Tools and other retailers in North America. The most important Auriou rasp to bring to class is the #10-12″ Cabinetmakers Rasp. Darex Premium Hand Cut Rasps are a good substitute. Great quality but only three rasps in the set with no modeler’s rasp. Highland Woodworking has these rasps. Tools for Working Wood makes a Gramercy Line of Hand-Cut Rasps. The 12″ Cabinetmaker’s Rasp 8-tpi is a good replacement for this rasp. It is about 80% of the quality, but is the best available. Here is the link to their site.
A Proposed Daily Log for the Rocker Class (Every class makes somewhat different progress due to the experiences and abilities of the participants)
Day One They all started with prepared walnut stock stacked on their Hoffman and Hammer work benches. They began by crafting coopered seats so their seat could have that “Smile”. They cut the bevels in their seat boards and reinforced them with Festool Dominos. After cutting the seat to width they cut their notches in the seat to begin the signature joinery at the schools SawStop using a miter gauge and a cross cut sled. Two other tasks also began. Charles’ worked with each woodworker individually gluing up sets of laminations to make their reverse curve rocker skids. Charles demonstrated spindle making using a bandsaw, patterns, Auriou Rasps, Microplanes and scrapers of various shapes and sizes. Seven spindles have to be made for each rocker. Learning to carve and reconcile a set of spindles is the primer for carving the entire chair.
Day Two The rasps were rasping out spindles while the coffee pot was brewing up another round on day two. Spindle making was at full tilt. I hated to slow spindle making, but progress had to be made on the rabbeting the seat joints. Each woodworker experienced rabbeting the joints on the superb Kreg Router Table. With great care in set up and with everyone understanding how to use the starter pin, the rabbets were just jumping off the table. Next, I demonstrated the process for laying out the seat bowl and removing waste at the band saw before glue-up. While each waited their turn at the shop’s Agazzani and Powermatic band saws more spindle carving and skid glue-ups were taking place. Everyone got their first crack at using the set of three Festool RAS 115 grinders w/ Dust Collection we have at the school. They used the grinder to shape and waste some stock from some seat boards that would be hard to band saw unless you were Sam Maloof. Since no one decided to be a hero, they all successfully used the grinders. A long day indeed! Everyone dusted off and got a good nights sleep.
Day Three Yes we do have glue! But first, we faired the back legs band sawn from the pattern and squared the arm and seat joint stems with a Lie-Nielsen hand plane. I love those hand tools! We cut the front profiles of the back legs at the band saws before gluing on adder blocks at the seat stems. These will be ready by afternoon for some tapering, dadoing, rounding and fitting to the seat joints. We fit the front legs to the seat joints by cutting the dados, rounding them over using router planes, sanding blocks and floats fit them to the rabbeted notch. Then we band sawed the profiles and turned them. Also more spindle making (started making 1/2” tenons) and as our friend from Wisconsin said, “Back to the rasp”! More skids, too! and Oh Yes! We glued up the seats!
Day Four We started grinding the seat bowls into the signature contours that make this a wonderful rocker. We had three going at one time while I worked on details with each woodworker. After drilling holes with the Miller Dowel Bit and driving Spax screws we were all legged up by the end of the day. Time for a major celebration! Yesssssss!
Day Five I showed the guys how to fit, band saw and sculpt a Maloof Inspired arm. We worked at that for most of the day! We also worked on seat, and leg refinements, spindle reconciling and gluing transitions. They were happy but tired when they scurried out at the end of the day.
Day Six Everybody worked on arms, skids, spindles, and such before starting on headrests. We fit them by mitering them at the table saw. Then cut the front back and bottom profiles before, drilling the seat and headrest mortises. I went through every joint and how to sculpt them with several different tools. There is a secret to getting that monolithic flowing look that comes from fairing in the joints. Now they know it! We also worked on finishing sanding and recipes for that Maloof inspired finish. We took pictures, packed chairs for transporting and shared our joy over the project and experiences we have shared together.
Important Class Participant Information:
All classes are limited to 3 when I teach alone. If I have a qualified (Successfully built the project and a good teacher as well) assistant available the class limit may be increased to 5, which can be accommodated successfully.
Resources For Building Sculptured Rockers
Where to Purchase Tools
This is a the source for the right woodworking tool and how it should be used. The catalog and staff provide the ultimate resource. Their legendary classes are taught by the icons of each woodworking specialty. Sam Maloof first taught there in 1983.
This where I get the the 1/2 and 3/8 tenon makers.