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How to Build a Rocking Chair

Building a Rocking Chair

Handmade rocking chairs are not cheap rocking chairs, even if your hands are the ones doing the making. If price is your priority, you won’t do better than RockingChairs.com. But then building a rocking chair is rarely about saving money. It’s about the experience of creating something beautiful with your own hands and knowhow.

First, the obvious: it’s pretty much impossible to explain how to build a rocking chair in one brief article. It’s a long and time-consuming process. So we’re not going to tell you how to make a rocking chair worthy of the great rocking chair designer Sam Maloof. However, since we know there’s no dissuading the dedicated DIY woodworker, we’ve done our best to save you some time by assembling the best do-it-yourself rocking chair resources available online, including free rocking chair plans (and some that are not so free).

Vintage rocking chair plans

One of the best ways to build your own rocking chair at minimal cost is by finding rocking chair plans in vintage magazines (such as the Boston Rocker plan pictured here). Try looking at estate sales, thrift stores, used bookstores, or online auction sites. Or if you’re willing to spend a little more, Fine Woodworking Magazine offers a searchable archival DVD of 36 years of back issues.

Downloadable rocking chair plans

Plenty of sites advertise free rocking chair plans, but most of them are simply interested in website traffic. They’ll just redirect you to another site that may or may not have what you need. However, Fine Woodworking has a free Shaker rocking chair project plan that’s downloadable as a PDF file: http://www.finewoodworking.com/fwnpdffree/free-plan-shaker-rocking-chair.pdf.

In most cases, you’ll need to pay around $10 to $12 for downloadable rocking chair plans. If you’re interested in Amish rocking chairs, a good plan that’s available from the editors of WOOD Magazine is Two-In-One Arts and Crafts Chair/Rocker Mission Style, which can be downloaded at a number of sites.

The fine woodworking route

If time and money are no hindrance to your DIY rocking chair plans, then there are two options worth considering:

Hal Taylor, the founder of RockingChairUniversity.com, is considered one of the contemporary masters of rocking chair making. He offers a 10-hour instructional DVD ($79.95), a Rocking Chair Seminar ($1,000), and Build Your Own Rocking Chair class ($5,000).
Scott Morrison of FineWoodworker.com works in a style inspired by Sam Maloof. He offers a six-hour instructional DVD for $59.99.

Not sure making your own rocking chair is really your thing? Would you rather just cut to the chase, and get your down time on? Here are some options just waiting to be enjoyed!