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Rocking Chair University

If you like, you can come and help make your own rocking chair. It usually takes a full eight days to make a chair and I do not work on the weekends so your options are to stay for only five days and I will finish your chair or stay over the weekend and work a couple days more the following week.

At the end of the five days the chair will not be finished. It will in all probability be 'constructed' and 'sittable'.

What will remain to be finished will probably be:

• Gluing rockers to chair
• Final sculpting and shaping of all the detail work.
• Sanding with 150, 220, 320 and 500 grit sand paper.
• Applying three coats of finish

At this point you may:

• Take the chair with you and finish it at home.
• I will finish the chair and ship it to you.
• Stay to work a three more days the following week, making it a ten day stay in Fredericksburg.

I believe staying the extra three days is the best option, however time pressures being what they are, I can understand that is not possible for everyone.

While you are here, we will work together making your chair from scratch. I will put you to work:

• Sanding
• Jointing
• Operating the planer
• Gluing up seat, back braces and rockers
• band sawing parts
• Using routers

In addition we will talk about which glues work best for each joint and why, proper clamping technique, laying out for the most beautiful grain and proper finish preparation. We will of course talk about a lot more but those are a few of the areas we will cover.

How Much Experience Do You Need?

You do not need any. If you have a love of wood working I will help you learn as much as you want. If you do not feel comfortable on the machinery it is not necessary for you to use the machinery. For some people, smelling the wood and seeing the chair take shape is quite enough. For others they like to get involved a little more. I have a good sense for people's comfort level and make adjustments as necessary.

How Much Does It Cost?

The cost of the Rocking Chair School is the cost of the rocking chair, $6,000 minus $1,000 for your help.   You get a beautiful rocking chair and a week to ten days worth of excellent woodworking education to boot!