Rocking Chair Making Tools and Supplies

Home | Rocking Chairs | Other Works | Hal at Work | Rocking Chair University | StoryTime Rocking Chair | Price/Sizing | Sam Maloof

Chair Making Supplies

Parker Converse and I started a very modest online store recently in order to provide a place where many of the varied supplies you need for making a rocking chair can be purchased in a single location.

Parker and I are both constantly searching for the best performing products available because it makes our job easier and more pleasant and more profitable. If the blade on your table saw leaves a perfect edge, it means less labor down the line and if the sandpaper you are using cuts twice as fast as the closest competitor then less time will be spent sanding. Therefore we are rewarded in our quest to find the best products.

Over the last 15 years we have settled on what we believe are the finest products that money can buy and we price them so that they don't break the bank. If you know of any products that out perform what we sell, please let us know!

Here are the products we offer:

	Diamond Band Saw Blades - These are absolutely the finest cutting band saw blades I have used in 40 years of woodworking. They outperform the old Swedish Silicon Steel blades I used for years by a significant margin. Leaving a surface that is virtually free of resonant chatter.
	Whiteside Router Bits - I have found Whiteside to be the most consistent in dimension and longest lasting router bits I have used. In talking with other chair makers it seems like virtually everybody uses them and there is a very good reason!
	Tenryu Table Saw Blades - The Gold Medal blade hands down, the finest table saw blade made in the world, in my opinion. I have used them all. When I first got into woodworking in a serious way I thought Freud blades were the "cats meow" then I discovered the Forrest blades. After that I dumped all of my Freud blades at a yard sale. Then some years later I discovered Tenryu and had another yard sale for all of my Forrest blades! The Gold Medal blade is a "medium thin kerf". Tenryu is coming out with a Gold Medal Blade in a full kerf version which I have used and can tell you it is incredible. I like to use the thin kerf but many machines are set up such that they have to use a full 1/8" kerf.
	If you already know to use Abralon, GREAT! If you have never used it you are in for a treat. Parker and I use Abralon as the final step prior to applying finish to our rocking chairs using the 500 or 1000 grit. You use it on your random orbital H&L sander either five or six inch works. Abralon will actually make the wood surface so smooth it will reflect light as if it already has one or two coats of finish applied. But - what it also does, and this is probably the most important, is that it removes 100% of the loose wood fiber. Therefore when you apply your first coat of finish, when it cures, it looks like perhaps it is the third or fourth coat! Since there is "zero" grain to rise the finish is perfect!
	The finest sanding product I have used in my 40 some odd years of making things has to be the Indasa "Red Line" product It sands faster, lasts longer and has the tightest tolerance on grit of any sandpaper on the market. I have used Mirka, 3M, Fein, Makita, Norton and Bosch and they are found to be wanting when compared to Indasa "Red Line". Using a 400 grit H&L "Red Line" disk I can sand out 36 grit grinder marks! Try that with your Mirka 400 grit. I have never heard of anybody trying this product and not agreeing that it is the best.
	Indasa Red Line Sanding Sheets - These are without doubt the fastest, most durable and clean cutting paper you will ever used. Try it and you will never go back!
	Indasa Rhynogrip - These are not quite as fast at removing material as the "Red Line" but it is a little less expensive and is still clearly better than Mirka, Norton etc.

Hal Taylor
Rocking Chair Maker

Contact Hal | Links |