Rocking Chair

I made this rocking chair for a lady I met on a spoon making workshop that I ran last year. I later met Marilyn again, at Rivenstone Festival, where she commission the chair.

The chair is made from ash split and shaved from the log. The seat is a plank of London plane. All other parts are made from oak. The plan was for me to have it made by this summer when she came back to Devon for a holiday. I had the it dry fitted but not glued up for a test fitting, but seven days later she collected the finished chair.

Chair making is something I rarely do; but this is a copy of a similar chair that Anton Coaker from English Hardwoods commission from me many years ago. Anton gave me a not quite dry slab of burr oak to make the seat from. Since making the chair, the seat has dried and moved, and although smooth to the touch it is bumpy and warped. This has not detracted from its function, feel or appearance. Every time I buy wood from Anton I see it in his kitchen and can see how well it has stood the test of time with 3 children growing up with it, and sometimes using it as a climbing frame.