Ok this beautiful rocker just arrived (won on ebay) and i have a big problem..I am only 5 6" and i would say this chair is ideal for someone 6' 6" or more, lol....
It is so big that the only way I can get it to even rock back is by having my feet on a high footstool. It is comfortable and solid as a rock though and really want to make it work, but because i am so short it feels like i am going to fall forward out of the chair whenever i try to rock, as I think a big man would help the weight go back in the chair.

Can anyone offer any advice on what i could add to the chair (without damaging it) to make it naturally lean back. Where/how could I perhaps add some weight, what type of weights, or any other ideas?

Photo below:

and would taking the rockers off and moving them back be a fix?

Hello Ken,
The Chair is in the correct location on the rockers and to move them back would ruin the value of the piece.The legs could be shortened however and rest into the mortises.
You could use a block of wood about 1" or 1 1/2" and follow the rockers shape and mark the legs and then cut them off on the line. Then remove the bottom pieces and drill into the bottom of the legs with the same size of dowels that were the tenons in the chair legs. Then clean out the mortises in the rockers and re glue the chair back on the rockers. This should put it down to your level.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones

Respectfully,

Ralph,
hmmm, thanks for the advice and i think that would help a little...but not enough t make it worth doing that. The reason I say that, is that the chair is just soo big, that even with it being lower to the ground, it would still be front heavy. I had a 6' 2" guy try it today, and even for him, it was front heavy and did not rock back very far. I honestly think that this chair was custom made for a large heavy man, at least 6'8" and 300 lbs....
Somehow it needs to be made to naturally tilt back if anyone smaller than that is going to sit in it.....just not sure how to get it to naturally tilt back instead of stright up or foward

Ken, That being the case just lower the back legs of the chair and leave the front ones alone. The only thing though is that you would have to change the mortise a little to accommodate the difference in the way the tenons go into the mortise.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones

Ralph,
Hey that sounds very logical and I have a woodworking guy in town that I think can do that.....now to figure out just how much to lower the rear legs....1 or 2" perhaps? Or is that too much?

the proportions on that rocker are very weird. it almost looks like the photo was squished.

the center of gravity would be hard to find, making balance difficult. you could start by shortening the legs, but it will be a hunt and peck to find the right balance.


unless you are really attached to the chair i would think you would try to find something more comfortable and just put this one back on the market. im not sure what you paid or the actuall market value, but the modification will chop any value. you could mark it up to education and move on. just a thought.

LOL - According to Ken's other post, this chair was won on eBay for 190 (from Dallas area). According to the time stamps in this thread Ken received it on or about April 22 and discussion ensued for a couple days to the 24th. Well, looky here:

http://portland.craigslist.org/fur/153718921.html

The same chair or just the same pictures??!! Up for sale in Portland for 395 as of April 22

It is the same chair. My wife was sooo mad that the chair was unusable that she wanted us to sell it. But I like it and told her ONLY if we can get what we paid for and then some (with shipping we paid over $300)....otherwise we will take it to our woodworker and see if he can trim off an inch from the back legs and make it work. No bites on it since posting last sunday, so looks like we are keeping it, which is fine. We LOVE the look of it, we just need to make it functional

I assumed that was the story . If you do try the 'cut and lean' trick the other thing to consider is the angle of the joint for the back leg and the pressure that will be on this. You might want to add a brace behind and against the leg, either a wedge glued and pegged to the leg or an angled buttress sort of thing.

As far as identification goes, I can't find it in any manufacturer or store catalogues I have (but hey I don't have all that are out there!) but I would speculate it's a department store chair, Sears, Montgomery Ward, etc. and maybe part of a parlour set meaning there's a matching arm chair and settle. Making 'fancy' looking sets was pretty common and this one has that sort of feel to me - but who knows.

Given the hundreds of models of A&C rockers out there I would sell this one and get one that actually fits you. It sure beats messing with modifying it. You could take it to a good antiques dealer in your area that carries arts and crafts and put it on consignment or put it back up on Ebay. It does seem that you have too much money in it since you had to pay so much for shipping. Getting it modified will probably add another 50-100 to the investment.
You may find a taker on Craigs list. It is featured on another forum along with the many other good A&C items from craigs list:
http://www.hewnandhammered.com/

quote:

Originally posted by Steve06:
You may find a taker on Craigs list. It is featured on another forum along with the many other good A&C items from craigs list:
http://www.hewnandhammered.com/

yep, that's where I saw it - I mentioned H&H in another thread and surfed over to it just to see what was new, and saw the list and clicked through and made the match - every month or two H&H will do a Craigslist sweep

I almost wonder if it was a one of a kind, custom-made, and was made EITHER for a GIANT or simplay a flawed center of gravity...why would anyone make a rocker where the natural postion is stright up instead of at least somewhat reclined? And everyone who has tried to rock in this chair says the same thing...they feel like they are going to fall forward out of the chair, becuase it rockers forward more than backward....even the 6'2" guy said it didn't feel right...

Also, i don't mind putting another $100 into it if we can make it functional....if it is a defective design, no harm in correcting it, and if it was custom-made for a giant, it isn't functional for 99% of the people out there.....what I really want to do is make it functional with the least amount of changes, and recover it with a nice brown leather seat....

Two other possibilities

1) Maybe it's wasn't originally a rocking chair. Maybe it was an arm chair that someone added rockers to and it didn't really work.

2) Put a big footstool infront of it. By putting your feet up you naturally push back a bit and you have better leverage for rockn' If this works then maybe it originally came with a big matching footstool.