Shaun’s Maloof-Inspired Rocker

I have built many things over the years, but this is my first crack at a rocker. I have a new Granddaughter and thought Mom would need a good rocker to hold her in. I was inspired by Sam Maloof and thought this would be a great start to learning his methods. He definitely brings a different style to woodworking with his shaping. My next rocker will be more to his style so I can’t wait to get started.

For the finish I used 3 coats of a poly/oil with 3 coats of oil/wax on top of that. I sanded lightly between coats, but the last 2 coats of oil/wax, I would put the finish on and then use a fine sand pad to go over the entire chair before wiping away the excess. Made the finish super smooth!

Note from Marc:
I regret having to moderate user comments, but sometimes, it is necessary. If the comments in this post seem a little disjointed, the reason is because several comments from one particular person (and subsequent comments from others) were pulled out to maintain the quality level of the site. What pains me about this is the fact that the original offender’s goal was to provide a design critique. While critiques can sometimes be painful to hear, they can also be a great opportunity for us to grow as individual woodworkers and as a community. When the critique is wrapped in vitriol, bad things happen and no one wins.

So what I’ve done here is summed up this person’s critique, subtracting out the needless anger and putting it into my own words. If we are going to get anything out of this, let’s at least debate the points in question. I guess we’ll just be doing it without the help of the original commenter, which is certainly a shame.

Most Maloof-inspired pieces try to emulate Sam’s ability to make one piece blend seamlessly into the next. Shaun’s interpretation takes a different path including many straight lines. One might identify Shaun’s interpretation as “the missing link” along the path to a Maloof chair, lying somewhere between the standard rocking chair found on many a country porch, and the milky-smooth organic creation that is a Maloof chair.

Based on this, I do have a question for Shaun. Since this is your first chair, was it a conscious decision to go with a more square design versus something more Maloof-like? Or was this one of those skill-building projects where perhaps next time, you’ll try to create more curves and rounded elements?

Either way, judging this piece on its own design merits, I would go so far as to say this chair reminds me of what would happen if Maloff and Nakashima had a baby. Is there room for imrovement and refinement? Sure. But for a first attempt at a chair, I think Shaun has much to be proud of! But that’s just my personal opinion. Well done Shaun and I look forward to seeing what you come up with next.