Rocking (Jig/Scroll Saw) Puzzle Chair

Ok, I recently became a Grand Pa. So I thought what would be a nice heirloom gift? A baby rattle seemed to predictable so maybe later. Another idea I thought was to make a wooden puzzle since we were starting to make those for disadvantaged children in my wood club . Hmm, maybe I could do that but meh, too soon.

I wanted to make something epic and unique for my brand new Granddaughter. So I thought maybe a chair that could be put together like a puzzle which also would made it easier to ship.

So I did a bunch of research and some Tinker Cad modelling and came up with this Puzzle Chair. The design is flexible to add other creative options which you can see later below.

Best of all, it's fairly easy to make (just 4 pieces) and you can cut on a scroll saw or even a coping saw.

Hope you like how it turned out and try for you kids or Gkids. BTW, my Granddaughter fell right asleep but then again at this age (4 weeks) she mostly sleeps :-)

Besides a scroll saw (or coping saw) you wood, sandpaper and your favorite finish. I used mahogany since it turns out so nice. (1' x5' x 1/2" thick)

Another good tip to help layout your pattern is to you cardboard. Since I planned to ship the chair, I used the 12"x14" USPS box as my design constraint to optimize around plus and extra one to make my patterns. (#2fer)

I found a design I liked but needed to know the angles for the single box joint to connect seat back to the bottom rockers. So I mocked up a simple design in TinkerCad. (Press the square in the left side of the Tinker model to scale - not sure why Instructables doesn't take TinkerCad's size info in the embed).

Next,I created an SVG drawing so I can scale the chair to fit inside the USPS box. But before making the large printout, I made a small (4") test chair out of thick card stock to make sure the angles worked.

I scaled my chair SVG and printed out on multiple pages. Tip: Since I can only print 8.5"x11", I created registration marks so I could align the picture when making the cardboard template. I used a pin to make little holes in the cardboard when I pricked the design outline. (I couldn't find carbon paper.) Then I flipped the pattern over to do the other size and connected the dots with a pencil to make the cut lines.

Once you have your template, just trace them on your wood. Make sure you pick nice areas - avoid knots and blemishes. I then used a jigsaw to cut the pieces down into manageable sizes and fine tuned the cut on a scroll saw (#9 blade) Tip: For the box joints to connect the seat back to the rockers, make sure you cut your slot width to be the thickness of your boards.

Now the tedious part (no not the sanding - I find that Zen-like and mahogany sand easily) is to assemble the chair. You will likely have to bevel the bottom seat back top area so when the seat is pushed down, everything locks smoothly.

I just used hemp oil and beeswax for my finish. This chair should be good for a child up to 2 years old.

I mentioned that you can customize the design to add interesting elements so I made a Teddy Bear Rocking Chair. My daughter wants me to make a "Goldilocks" edition with rockers of different sizes. Hmm - maybe a future ible.