Rocking chair do it yourself
Life and the surrounding events are flying at a rapid speed. Often we do not have time to look back, as the week has already ended, the weekend has passed, and it is time to start the race again. How often at such moments do we dream of a cozy place where you can retire and dream about the eternal? Or maybe you just need to sleep and read your favorite book, covered with a warm blanket, while feeling the swaying like on a swing or hammock?
The ideal option for this is the rocking chair. It will be a great addition to the garden or on the porch of the house, you can warm yourself in it under the warm sunshine and listen to the birds singing. Also, the chair can perfectly fit into the urban interior of the apartment - you can relax on it after working days and do your favorite work: knitting, reading, watching movies.
If a child has appeared in your home - any mother will dream of a place where she can easily rock the baby and relax on her own. Such rocking chairs in the stores are expensive, moreover, it is not always possible to find furniture that is ideally suited to the interior of the room.
An excellent option would be to make such a chair with your own hands. The advantages in this case are indisputable: you can choose the right size, design, material and feel a tremendous sense of pride in having been able to create such beauty with your own hands.
If you decide to make a rocking chair with your own hands, you must first consider the types and designs of products, get acquainted with various materials, of which such a process as making a chair, will bring pleasure, and the features of working with these materials.
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Types of rocking chairs
Consider the main types of products:
- Classic rocking on ordinary runners — harmonize in modern style and in the classics. Manufacturing technology does not require extensive experience in the production of furniture, but the basics of practice must be present. Runners gently swing with a small radius, with a strong buildup there is a risk of tipping over.
- Rocking rods with bump stops. If a classic armchair needs to be made with an average (normal) landing height, it is recommended to equip the arches with bump stops - the runners are designed so that the ends are bent in the opposite direction.
- Rocking chairs with elliptical arcs - chairs guarantee a gentle gentle rocking, but with a large buildup there is a risk of tipping over, because of this it is recommended to equip them with strikers, as in the previous version.For garden plots, a variant of elliptical rocking with an awning is offered, with it tipping over is excluded.
- 3 in 1 multifunctional rockers - when landing, it looks like a standard chair for a smooth seat; during tilting back, the runners go into rocking mode; with further reclining, the chair becomes a deck chair.
Having considered the basic versions of the chairs, in the absence of experience in the production of furniture, we recommend to look at the classic version, making a rocking chair is not as difficult as it may seem.
Materials for rocking chairs
There are many materials from which you can make a chair. There are popular models that are most often used in the manufacture of rocking chairs.
- The willow vine is an easy-to-produce material, looks beautiful on the finished product, the main drawback is moisture intolerance, i.e. outdoors is not recommended.
- Rattan is a vine from Southeast Asia, not inferior in beauty to willow materials, but not durable. When working with rattan, glue and special knitting are used - nails and screws should not be used.
- Forged metal is a durable and durable material, forged products are decorated with a variety of metallic pattern. Exceptionally outdoor version of the rocking chair.
- Soft (leather) parts - there are rocking chairs made of plywood, covered with other material, for example, leather - they can be attributed to strict office options;
So, the most popular materials are rattan and willow. We will try to understand their properties.
Rattan is a palm palm vine growing in a moist region, its structure is porous and moisture resistant. Rattan rains are not terrible and furniture from it is often installed in garden plots and courtyards. The furniture of this material comes out environmentally friendly, beautiful and comfortable. However, the material due to porosity can quickly fail, and the repair of such furniture will cost half the cost of the product.
The willow is a well-known tree for us, the structure is homogeneous, so this material is less flexible in comparison with rattan. It is also not recommended to leave a chair made of willow vines in the rain, as the structure of the wood may swell and deteriorate. In rattan, the porous structure does not allow to use anything other than glue, so you have to fix the rods with special knots. It is also worth noting that willow material will come out much cheaper than rattan.
Now, knowing the basic indicators of different wood species, you can decide for yourself - which of the materials is closer to you and will be suitable for you.
Make a rocking chair with your own hands, especially if this is your first such job, the easiest way out of plywood. As a first experience, we recommend using maple plywood, as this is a very hard material that has a greater density and is beautiful in texture - pattern.
Consider the features of working with plywood. For the strength of the structure, three layers of plywood are used, and the middle one should be twice as thick as the outer ones, for example, if we need a total thickness of 20 mm, then we glue them 5-10-5 mm, we need to glue with special waterproof glue and can be additionally strengthened with small nails.
Also the structure of plywood allows you to develop unusual shapes. It is enough to draw the desired workpiece and cut it with a jigsaw. Also when working with plywood, it is important to consider the fact that it must be soaked with a water-polymer emulsion and varnish at least twice.
Below we offer step by step instructions. how to make a rocking chair do it yourself. Consider 2 options for seats, for both we will use plywood as the main material. Before you start production, it is important to determine the necessary equipment so that your work does not stop in the middle of the cycle due to the lack of any materials or tools. So, you will need:
- Patterns for frame parts;
- Plywood boards and bars;
- Jigsaw;
- Reed threads;
- Sanding machine;
- Screws, small nails, screws;
- Sandpaper;
- Drill - for drilling the side holes;
- Water repellent, varnishes.
Rocking chair manufacturing process
A rocking chair made in classic style with curved runners will be an excellent option for the first furniture manufacturing experience. There will also be used woven elements of reeds, which will create beautiful patterns and comfort during planting.
So, we need a 3-layer maple plywood, on which we will apply the previously created patterns, and make the frame of the product. Drawing rocking chairs, you can create your own or search the Internet ready-made options for the form.
It is very important to thoroughly treat the surface of all wooden elements, they should turn out smooth, without burrs and rough sections, so in order for the templates to take on the desired look, they should also be cleaned with sandpaper.
We do not forget that the back and the seat of our chair will be decorated with the help of reed patterns, therefore we leave the central part empty. That is, out of plywood, we create only the frame. Along the entire perimeter of the obtained frame, we make small identical holes at a distance of 1.5-2 cm from each other.
After our base is ready we start working with cane. We intertwine it with threads vertically and horizontally the entire surface of the seat as weaved and fix it with strong knots in the holes drilled earlier.
When the product is formed, all wooden elements must be treated with a protective coating at least 2 times.
Consider another simple version of the original rocking chair made of plywood. The chair consists of two sides in the form of a boomerang and transverse guides from wall to wall in the amount of 14 pieces.
To begin with, we will pattern 2 sidewalls of the chair and carefully cut them according to the markings with an electric jigsaw. All sides of the sidewall must be ground with sandpaper.
Further, from the same plywood with a thickness of 15 mm we produce 14 rectangular strips 59 cm long and 6 cm thick. We also cut small sticks as supports, their length should be 5 cm.
After completing all the above actions, we will have the frame of our rocking chair ready. The sides of the chair are treated with two layers of stain; you can proceed to the second layer only after the first one is completely dry.
It remains to decorate it. To do this, we take soft pillows of the necessary colors or a small flexible mattress and fasten it to the frame with the help of ties. Soft items can be purchased in the store or made independently. For this, it is better to take natural fabric as upholstery and foam rubber 5 cm thick.
We are sure that making one rocking chair with your own hands will push you to conquer new peaks, and you will want to make a similar or another rocking chair with your own hands for all family members so that you can get together in quiet cozy evenings and talk about the events and plans for the future, slowly rocking on actually made chairs.
You can make such furniture according to individual sizes, including children's sizes for the youngest family members. Such evening or morning motion sickness creates a relaxing soothing effect that is so necessary for a person in the modern world. Such chairs are environmentally friendly, as made of natural materials.
Most rockers do not require special care, they easily tolerate cold temperatures. Some materials do not tolerate strong moisture, so leave such furniture on the street for the winter.
Making a rocking chair with your own hands is not at all difficult; a minimal set of tools and a great desire are enough.
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