Thread: Adirondack No 6 & 7

By all means Peter, would be interesting to watch.
They seem so USofA in style, and although I've considered making one or two myself, I always think they need a bit of an Australian touch!
Do they take up much floor space, like a squatters chair does? They seem like the ideal project for a recycled pallet, being all made from uniform boards.

Cheers

That would be interesting to see if you could make one out of a pallet...

G'day Sturdee,

I'm always interested to see any WIPs.

That would be good.

It would inspire me to finish my second one.

The order of cutting and assembly seemed important as I part assemble mine several times as I fiddled with the design.
Now I need to re-cut the parts I cut for two chairs so they fit my altered design.

Go for it.

Originally Posted by Sturdee

As some of you know I've built three of these chairs, called my recovery chairs, a few month ago as my first workshop project after my prostate operation.

Since then I've built 2 of them at the Men's shed where I do voluntary work and being a glutton for punishment I've started building another 2 for myself, one to complete the backyard set and another for the front porch.

In building these chairs I've read a number of plans, studied photos and watched Norm DVD as well as reversed engineered an discarded one that I'm using as a template. Each of the plans and instructions I've read I felt where unnecessary difficult and in some case simply stupid in the sequence of how to build them.

I suppose practice makes perfect but by now I've got the procedure down to a fine art of how to build them.

I've cut and shaped the timber (using all recycled timber collected out of the hard rubbish collections in my area ) and am ready to start building them.

If there is sufficient interest I can post the details as I go along.


Peter.

I start by fixing the seat slats. Then I make up the back and fix it (sort of becomes the last slat on the seat). One tricky bit is fixing the front legs while holding the seat assembly nice and level and at the right height so the arms are level. I made a jig to help with assembly. Just a channel to sit the front slat on while drilling and bolting.

There are many variations of the Adirondack chair, in NYW DVD thre are shown about 8 different types, some are easy and some are unneccessary difficult. So have a good look at the type you want to build.

I've found that the easiest type for construction is the one that has a back arm rest suppport to which the back seat is fixed rather than to the arm rests only.

Also have a close look at the side seat support rails. The first one I built was curved at the bottom to match the top curve, hence I had to build the rest the same way. However the ones I built at the Men's shed the bottom of these rails were straight, much easier and they ended up looking just as well.

Finally when cutting the timber if you cut everything at once (like I do) make sure that the back seat slats are longer than necessary as well as the back seat cross pieces etc, as they should be trimmed to final size when the base is done. DAMHIK.

If you intend to paint them then for most of the chair pine is okay except the side seat rails and front legs where I would use an old hardwood or treated pine. I've managed to use recycled timber for these two chairs as is evidenced by the pile of timber already cut and shaped is the attached photo. 2 Chairs ready waiting to be assembled.

Peter.

In making the seat I clamp a frame on a low assembly table (made from a couple of saw horses) to keep the frame square and then attach the seat slats.

Photos I and 2 show blocks of wood clamped onto the table and using a carpenters square to make sure it is square.

Photos 3 & 4 shows the front slat and seat side rails placed and clamped onto frame.

Photo 5 shows where I fixed the first slat to the side rails, I countersink the screw holes on the drill press and use an hand held electric drill to predril the screws.

Photo 6 Shows how I use an adjustable square to align remaining seat slats so that the overhang is the same on each side and consistent (you only have to do it on one side). Notice the spacer between the slats to keep an even space between them.

Photo 7 - After drilling I use a yankee screwdriver. I find that leaning down and pushing on it is easier than other screwdrivers and gets a much tighter screw than even powered screwdrivers.

Photo 8 - When all the seat slats are fixed turn it over and screw on the front slat.

Photo 9 - Now cut the back seat bottom support to sixe and fix between the side rails. The white piece of timber is my template to get the right position, well worth it to make one. Also you can see one of my bar clamps, reversedf to make a spreader, which helps to straighten the side supports.

Photo 10 - Finally screw the front seat slat to the front slat to finsh the seat part.


Peter.

These photos show the finished seat part, next is to fix the front legs and arm rests to the seats.

Using these steps the time taking for making the seat part was just over an hour, whilst also taking the photos.


Peter.

Most plans I've seen make this one of the last few steps and they have made some ingenious jigs to hold the triangular piece in place whilst drilling and screwing it in.

I found that this really should be the next step as you can use your bench vice to hold it whilst screwing the leg to it.

Photo 1 shows how I again use my adjustable square to mark out the location on the leg (both sides).

Photo 2 shows the triangular piece clamped in the vice ready for fixing the leg to it and photo 3 shows it done. Doing it this way you can always trim it if you are slightly out.


Peter.

The next step is to attach the front legs and arm rests to the seat.

Photo 1 shows the front of the seat lifted up and the front legs clamped to the seat. I clamp the carpenters square against the front leg to assist in holding the legs square whilst I drill and bolt them to the frame using 2 coach bolts.

Next make up a little jig to align and hold the arm rest to the front leg see photo 2 and photo 3 with the jig clamped against a front leg.

Place arm rest in position and support the rear of the arm rest with clamping the rear suppport in place - photo 4 and photo 5 shows the front ready for screwing onto leg and support.

Next bolt on the rear support arm usin g only one bolt at this stage - photo 6 and clamp jig to this support to help align the arm rest photo 7.

Check for level and adjust if necessary - photo 8 - and screw in place and fix second coach bolt to arm.

Photos 9 and 10 show the arm rests completed.

Now 2/3 of the chair is made, only the back rest needs to be done. If there are any questions please ask and I'll see if I can answer them.


Peter.

Draw a centre line on the back of the middle back seat slat and mark the spacing for the top and middle back bracing pieces as per photo 1.

Lay the back slats (face down) on the bench against a stop (I use my TS so that I can use the fence) so that the middle slat is square to the stop and use spacers in betwen and clamp the sides to the table so that it is all rigid see photo 2.

Mark out lines for the back bracing from your centre line using the square as per photos 3 & 4. Note I have to use wider boards to clamp them in place.

Trim the bracing to the final size to fit between the rear arm rest supports and lay out against the centre line as per photo 5 and screw the bracing to the slats as per photo 6.

I hope the pencil lines are clear enough against the various shades of paint. Next is to fit the back onto the seat.


Peter.

Photos 1 & 2 show how I attach some tempory bracing to both arm rest supports which will hold the back seat in place.

Photo 3 shows the back moved into position with the middle bracing just under the top of the arm rest and clamped at the right angle at the bottom as per photo 4.

Mark a line from under the seat to cut of the excess ( photo 5), remove and cut of excess using either a CS (or in my case the TS).

Replace and clamp down at the bottom. Screw in the middle bracing through the rear arm support and to the bottom of the seat as per photo 6.

That completes my tutorial on how I build Adarondeck chairs and as you can see on photo 7 the two chairs have been moved outside for puttying, sanding and painting. Put on the undercoat this morning and will put on the finishing coat tomorrow.

Total time taken to cut, shape, round over edges and assemble the two chairs took about 15 hours in total over this week so it can be done in a weekend.

BTW it took the same time as this 750 piece puzzle ( photos 8 & 9) that my daughter gave me for making these chairs.


Peter.

Thanks Sturdee for sharing Excellent WIP on your Adirondack chairs.

And this is what they look like after a coat of paint.

Hard to tell that the arm rests and back slats came from someone's discarded pelmet boxes, the front legs from some old garden table, the seat legs from some old barge boards and the rest from another's thrown out cot and child's bed.

One more coat of paint and they are ready to go into the garden.

Peter.