Design of outdoor chair using steam bent wood

**TomH** · 15th March 2009, 04:20 PM

Good afternoon,

I am in the process of designing an outdoor chair as a 60th birthday present for my mum. She wants something unusual...and ideally in the shape of a leaf.

I have put something together on google sketch-up and was after some comments as to practicality. You will see the body is made from bent wood. I have never done this before, and have looked on the forum and it appears it can be done with a steam box and a couple fo clamps. There are only 8 pieces requiring bending.

Other than the bent wood, it is fairly simple in construction. Majority bolted. I have not drawn in a cross frame on the underside. It may also need a support triangle projecting from the back support down low to stop it falling over backwards. To give you an idea it is about 1120mm wide.

The wood will be something dark and hard, as it will be outside. Probably jarrah, although if there are other suggestions I am interested. The curved bits will be 19mm thick x 80mm wide, with a bend of 250mm over the length of approx 1300mm. More than likely will have an oil finish.

Any comments on practicality? Will I have any major difficulties bending the wood?

Cheers,

Tom

**Fencepost2** · 15th March 2009, 05:50 PM

Looks like you will have two curved halves that fasten onto a block on the end. Give careful thought to how you will attach the ends of the curved bits to the block. I haven't done any steam bending, so no advice on that except to say that your curves will probably all be a bit different on account of springback. This and the outdoor weather conditions of wet and sun are going to want to affect the curves and so your end attachments need to be very firm. Nails would last about a week before they sprang in my opinion. How were you planning to attach the ends?

**TomH** · 15th March 2009, 06:46 PM

I was thinking of using stainless steel decking screws into the chamfered 100x100 end pieces.

**The Hornet** · 15th March 2009, 07:12 PM

Looks nice.
However I think the back rest looks a little uncomfortable, you may need to set the back on a greater angle and curve it the same shape as the seat profile.
The other thing you could do is create a seat with a similar shape to the one you have. But make a curved back rest and legs in one piece.
There is a similar leaf designed table in AWR this month.

**Harry72** · 15th March 2009, 09:10 PM

You could do a bent laminations that will hold the shape for the seat base.
Fair bit of work for an outdoor seat.

**TomH** · 4th April 2009, 11:07 AM

Following some feedback from the recipient the design has been modified and made simpler, with much less bending and a normal looking frame.

This morning I made a trip down to my local recycled timber shop and came back with some nice recycled ironbark and jarrah. I was a bit more expensive than I'd hoped but I guess you pay the price for not having a thicknesser.

How would you recommend joining the frame? I originally was going to bolt it as per the top drawing, but in previous constructions for indoor use I have also used m&t joints. Are these appropriate for outdoor timber? What would you recommend? (I do not have a domino in case anyone recommends that option).

Cheers,

Tom

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