Antique Rocking Chair

My latest project was a small children's rocking chair, likely from the mid-nineteenth century. It was hand-made, with no nails, only small wedges holding the many parts together. The rocker on one side had broken off, and it had lay under the house in moist earth for so many years, that the rockers had rotted. many parts had fallen off, and the finish was pretty sad.

So, I spliced in a new piece of matching wood to the rocker leg:

A variety of hard woods were used in the construction of the chair, likely maple, and alder. It appears everything was made with hand tools. I constructed two new rockers from maple, a hard wood that would take the abuse of rocking. The seat of the chair is made from cotton twine, and one section had broken.


After carefully cleaning most of the 15o years of grease and grime, Tung oil was rubbed onto the wood to restore the natural finish of the wood. It's now ready for some children to rock it for another century or so!