Adirondack chairs

N

nico

Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
94
Dear all,
I'm going to build 2 Adirondack chairs.
and I have 2 questions :
1: What kind of wood do you suggest (important: the chairs will be painted)
2: What thickness do you suggest ?

regards,
Nico
 
I have been using white oak, finished to 3/4 inch thickness (19mm). Note: They are heavy (about 30 Kilograms).

Our country's wood product laboratory indicates that untreated white oak will last more than 20 years, possibly up to 30. It is resistant to insects and other attacking agents.

A much lighter alternative is cedar. It is not quite as strong, but it will last just as long when untreated.

In your case, the paint will function as a protection against the elements and UV, but I would still recommend a wood with a natural resistance to insect and moisture damage.

Don't forget to use brass or stainless fasteners.

Charles
 
Seeing you're in Belgium:

Rule out white oak - it's not readily available over here and will not be as rot-resistant in our climate as well.
Red cedar would be nice, but it's rather expensive, and hard to come by in small amounts.

A good choice would be Robinia ( Robinia pseudoacacia, black locust ) if you can lay a hand on it.
Properly painted, it will most likely outlast you.
Watered chestnut ( castanea sativa - leeched in water ) would be great as well, but it's hard to come by in surfaced lumber.

Other species may perform great as well, but a lot depends on your finish.
Even yellow poplar ( Liriodendron tulipifera, known as "tulpen" over here ) might perform great - it's extremely stable and that's a prime concern in keeping your finish "closed".

Soaked in a thin epoxy, just about any wood will do.

Regards,

Job
 
Nico:

My Adirondack Chair made out of Western Red Cedar with no finish spend 16 years in German weather (rain, lots of rain, snow, frost and sun). The surface was pretty grey after these years, but the structure was still in perfect condition, except for two lamellos that had to be exchanged. I've just recently taken the chair appart and after sanding it looks as good as new. Even the cedar scent came back after sanding and the oil finish looks beautiful. If you're interested I can post some photos before and after. Maybe you should concider to use the same material and just finish with oil. If you put the chair under a ceiling over the winter and use stainless steel screws, I am sure it will last forever even without paint.

I've alerady bought some Western Red Cedar to build a new Adirondack Chair and I think 20 mm should be enough, since that's the thickness of my 16 year old chair. Of course you could use thicker material for the feet and structure.

I've also collected many designs (Fine Woodworking, Yankee Workshop and even Festool......), but couldn't decide for one since I would like to change the traditional design to a little more modern one. What design are you planing to use?

 
Festoller said:
Nico:

My Adirondack Chair made out of Western Red Cedar with no finish spend 16 years in German weather (rain, lots of rain, snow, frost and sun). The surface was pretty grey after these years, but the structure was still in perfect condition, except for two lamellos that had to be exchanged. I've just recently taken the chair appart and after sanding it looks as good as new. Even the cedar scent came back after sanding and the oil finish looks beautiful. If you're interested I can post some photos before and after. Maybe you should concider to use the same material and just finish with oil. If you put the chair under a ceiling over the winter and use stainless steel screws, I am sure it will last forever even without paint.

I've alerady bought some Western Red Cedar to build a new Adirondack Chair and I think 20 mm should be enough, since that's the thickness of my 16 year old chair. Of course you could use thicker material for the feet and structure.

I've also collected many designs (Fine Woodworking, Yankee Workshop and even Festool......), but couldn't decide for one since I would like to change the traditional design to a little more modern one. What design are you planing to use?
Click to expand...
There was a beautiful curved arm design by Michael Fortune in FWW May/June issue "3 Outdoor Chairs" article.  It looks quite do-able other than having to create a bending form and find/make 1/8" strips of material to laminate for the arms.  Lots of tips on materials, finishing, and techniques for the outdoors in that article.

I'm just starting to collect designs myself (for at least 4 chairs), but am trying to find something where I really don't need a band saw to do it right (don't have access to one).  If I can make templates, my  Bosch jigsaw and OF1400 router should be fine for cleanup.  Cedar seems like the choice where I live in the Midwest, but I'm curious to see what other options there are too.
 
Take a look at the Lee Valley folding adirondack chair plan.

I don't know about others, but I move mine under cover in the winter (garage loft, actually), and a full-size adirondack takes up a ton of room.  These fold down chairs are full sized open, but when folded down they're only about a foot high, and can be stacked or hung.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?c=&p=44835&cat=1,46158,46162&ap=2

I first made templates for all parts and used those to trace the part, then template route 'em.  I cut them out using a bandsaw, but a jigsaw would more than suffice.

In fact, most of the parts I made in pairs (double stacked wood with template) since I knew I was making a pair at the time.  Need to make about 8 more....
 
Thank you all for the comments , really appriciate them
so you asked for the design, well, it's a very straight design
 
I have also wrestled with the issue of what kind of wood to use for painted chairs.  I have used Epifanes finishes for outdoor projects with excellent result, so I was thinking of three stages with their products:

1.  Spar varnish first (probably only 3 coats)
2.  Werdol Wood Primer next
3.  Yacht Enamel as the top coat.

The question is whether the type of wood matters if the wood is protected as well as wood on a boat?  It would be a shame to use expensive wood when it will be covered with paint anyway.
   
Wood_Junkie said:
Take a look at the Lee Valley folding adirondack chair plan.

I don't know about others, but I move mine under cover in the winter (garage loft, actually), and a full-size adirondack takes up a ton of room.  These fold down chairs are full sized open, but when folded down they're only about a foot high, and can be stacked or hung.
Click to expand...

I was just about to start building a couple of chairs using the LV plans, but not the folding kind.  Your post made me start to rethink whether it would be better to make to folding ones.  Was the folding mechanism difficult to build?  Did you use the LV hardware for it?

Thanks,

Steve

 
tms0425 said:
I'm just starting to collect designs myself (for at least 4 chairs), but am trying to find something where I really don't need a band saw to do it right (don't have access to one).   If I can make templates, my  Bosch jigsaw and OF1400 router should be fine for cleanup.  Cedar seems like the choice where I live in the Midwest, but I'm curious to see what other options there are too.
Click to expand...

I am just completing a batch of 8 of those Lee Valley folding Adirondack chairs. Well made templates will allow for quick production of most of the parts.  Just use the Bosch for making the boards larger than the templates, and, the use of double stick duct tape (which I found at Lowes!) will make for easy template use.

If, by chance, you have a table saw, you can significantly reduce the amount of material that will need to be removed by the OF1400. Check out: Pattern Cutting on the Table Saw. I couldn't believe how quickly I could take rough oversized boards and cut them to the template.  It works great on straight edges and convex sections, but can't help you with concave portions of the template. I actually used the templates with two boards at a time underneath, and then brought the stack over to the router table to finish up.

Charles
 
Steve F said:
I was just about to start building a couple of chairs using the LV plans, but not the folding kind.  Your post made me start to rethink whether it would be better to make to folding ones.  Was the folding mechanism difficult to build?  Did you use the LV hardware for it?
Click to expand...

As I mentioned above, I am just about finished with a new batch of 8 of the LV folding Adirondack chairs. I made two of them in 2006, and friends and relatives have liked them so much that I decided to make a bunch of them at one time. I am using the LV hardware (One of the eight sets had an unthreaded screw and another set was missing all of its nuts. LV is sending me the missing nuts and replacing the screw.)

The only part of the assembly that is a little tricky is the bracket that fastens under the arm of the chair. They provide a single template drawing for it, but the drawing represents four variants, with countersunk holes from opposite sides in some cases. Their instructions for those parts are written expecting that you will have difficulty, but even so, I fumbled a bit back in 2006. This batch went together with no problems.

If you decide to use their hardware, make sure that your boards are no thicker than 3/4 inch, or you will have to make some adjustments. (I found that out back in 2006.)

Charles
 
The first LV folding chair I made I experimented using Roto-hinges instead of bolts.  http://www.amazon.com/3-4-Diameter-Roto-Hinge/dp/B001ENUA66
They are completely hidden and the full depth 3/4" versions are robust enough to handle the structural / weight requirements.  I thought the chairs would be a lot nicer without exposed hardware.  Visually this is true.  But the roto-hinges have a bit of play in them.  Extend that play out 10-30 inches (the lengths of the connection parts) and that play translated into a LOT of play.  So when moving it and folding/unfolding the chair it feels all wobbly and wonky.  When you sit in it, your weight clamps down on the roto-hinges and then it feels pretty solid.  It doesn't wobble when you are sitting.  [unsure]

All in all, I won't use those again.  I made the second one using the LV bolt set, and it turned out solid as a rock.  The big SS round head bolts don't look bad at all and there are only three per side.  I plan to build more using bolts.  Either more of the LV set or some off-the-shelf.

I've contemplated using carriage bolts.  But with cedar they'll spin.  So I've been looking at using these steel torque washers.
http://www.mcfeelys.com/product/0375-TWS/38quot-Stainless-Steel-Torque-Washers

Finished with two coats of Cabot's Australian Timber oil- color: Jarrah Brown.
[attachthumb=#]
 
CharlesWilson said:
Wood_Junkie said:
The first LV folding chair I made I experimented using Roto-hinges instead of bolts.  http://www.amazon.com/3-4-Diameter-Roto-Hinge/dp/B001ENUA66
Click to expand...

Those chairs look great!  You'll have many years of enjoyment from them.

I noticed that the roto-hinges you linked to are specified for indoor use only. Did you use different ones?

Charles
Click to expand...
Nope.  But since they're fully buried in the glue hole, and I used Titebond III I figured they'd be alright (the roto-hinge wood appears to be hard maple, FYI).  I will store the chairs indoors during winter, so I'm not worried about the metal parts corroding, giving their immensely small exposure.

Thanks for the kudos!  There's a whole backyard theme going with cedar furniture and the Jarrah stain.    [smile]

For those contemplating the LV folding plan, I'll try to remember to take a few pictures of one chair folded, next to the other for scale, and post 'em here.
 
Here's a better shot showing my chairs and the minimal visual difference between the bolt version (left) and the roto-hinge version (right).

Although I love that the roto-hinge version has no visible pivots, the stability of the bolts is far, far superior.

[attachthumb=#]

 
Nico,  Your design is very close to Norm Abrams but less refined.  I would add a curved back and seat bottom (like Norms).  I've built a ton of chairs using his design and it is extremely comfortable.  He has the proportions just right.  I've sat on a few chairs with flat backs and seats and my arse fell asleep and back was sore too.
I made a pair of these as a gift.  They're made out of mirante.
stoolman-albums-samples-my-work-picture1505-adirondeck-chairs-08.jpg
 
Stoolman said:
Nico,  Your design is very close to Norm Abrams but less refined.  I would add a curved back and seat bottom (like Norms).  I've built a ton of chairs using his design and it is extremely comfortable.  He has the proportions just right.  I've sat on a few chairs with flat backs and seats and my arse fell asleep and back was sore too.
I made a pair of these as a gift.  They're made out of mirante.
stoolman-albums-samples-my-work-picture1505-adirondeck-chairs-08.jpg
Click to expand...

nice looking chair  [thumbs up]
 
I don't know what woods are readily available to you in Europe but, here in Texas, I have built a couple of the Norm Abram chairs using Teak and Cypress. The Teak chair was astonishingly heavy and expensive. I would not recommend Teak in this application, especially painted. The cypress was recovered from the flooring in some kind of building. It was fabulous. It looks good on its own but I imagine it would paint well too. Here in America, Cypress is not terribly expensive for the most part (at least in the South). I imagine Europe would be a different story. I, also, recommend the New Yankee design. It is simple and has few extraneous parts. It is quite easy to build, yet turns out to be a very comfortable seat indeed.
 
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