JOAT has been telling wannabe wood dorkers to build a rocker, rather than a
crib or cradle, for children on the way. He's right.

We have one grandchild approaching two years old, and two more due by mid
summer. Their cribs are taken care of. I'd like to build a rocking chair.
Actually, maybe three or four.

I've got the plans for a Craftman style rocker recently published in
Woodwork magazine. I could play jazz with that design, I suppose, but I
don't want to build a Craftsman rocker. Neither do I want to build a
ladder-back Shaker style, although that is a beautiful heritage.

Chairs in the style of Sam Maloof are pretty, but not what I had in mind.
And there's a shop down in Texas that makes a rocker vaguely like that,
that I'd buy in a heartbeat, if buying a chair was what I had in mind. At
the prices they charge, I'd be paying myself minimum wage or less, to make
two of them.

What I'd like to build is something in the Scandiavian style. Something
Hans Wegner would have done. Or one of the fellows Krenov studied with.
Something spare, strong, flowing, delicate and elegant.

What I'd like to do is buy plans. Short of that, I'd like recommendations
on the best books on the genre. (As Kassay & Becksvoort are to Shaker,
etc.) And experiences and tiplets (tmKB) on the chair building process.
If I had time and budget this spring, I'd take a class from a chairmaker in
San Francisco or Ft. Bragg, but I don't see that right now, much as I'd
like to.

So, waddaya got to share?

Patriarch