Armless Cocobolo Rocker By Walt Wogee

Walt Wogee just sent us some pictures of this special armless cocobolo and ebony rocker he made for a client.

He mentioned that the client wanted it without arms so he could play his guitar while sitting in the rocker.

We asked Walt to let us know a little more about this chair and how he constructed it, how the cocobolo worked for him, etc.

This is what he said in his email:

"Cutting, milling, grinding, and sanding the cocobolo did not present any significant problems. I developed a mild allergy to the dust/oil in the wood which gave me a rash on my neck, and arms. A visit to Kaiser provided some ointment to help with the rash and taking a break from the chair caused it to go away.

I ended up wearing a long sleeve shirt, overalls buttoned up to my neck, form fitting gloves, and a full face mask with air circulation when I did any shaping with my grinder or sanding. I also always had my random orbit sanders hooked up to my Festool vacuum.

I used epoxy for all of the joints with a combination of biscuits or dowels. The leg to set joints are reinforced by screws like Sam Maloof. I glued up up the laminated back slats and runners with TiteBound 3. I used acetone or alcohol to wipe down all of the surfaces to be glued before applying the glue. I sanded progressively to 600 before I finished it with 2 coats of Watco Wipe on Poly followed by MiniWax Paste Wax. For my other chairs and other projects from different woods and I like to use 3 or 4 coats of Deft Poly-Oil and then apply the wax."

Walt is a retired high school science teacher and and long time wood worker.

To contact Walt Wogee for more on his Rockers, his number is 909-336-1065