Adirondack Chairs

[HowardH]

I made these chairs over the course of 3-4 weeks.  I never seem to buy enough lumber initially to complete the job.  I had to go back to Woodcraft a couple of times to pick up more.  It's Ash and they are pretty heavy.  I still have some sanding to do to even out the backs slats and they will be painted when my bro-in-law tells me what color he wants.  The design is from Lee Valley and I like them because of the rounded fronts.  They are very comfortable to sit in. 
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[Brice Burrell]

Very nice. Too bad you had to buy lumber from Woodcraft. Be sure to post the pictures of the finished chairs.

 

[HowardH]

It was only $2.90 bf for 4/4 ash.  I could have saved about .50 by going to Brazos Valley or some other hardwood dealer but they were convenient.  The real shame is amount of material that filled up my DC after I planed it.  I only took off about 1/8" but it sure looks like a lot more.  The Rockler store wanted $4.00 for the same thing.  Crazy.  I know the guys really well at my local WC store and they usually give me the "managers" discount of 10%.  Each chair took about 30 BF to make.  It doesn't look like it and I didn't waste much either.  

Edit - I don't think I will use Ash anymore.  I couldn't find any cypress handy but I will look harder next time.  Ash was brittle and didn't mill all that great, especially when rounding over the back slats.  It had a tendency to splinter.  I never had the issue with Cypress.  I suppose it was operator error because when I was using my router table, it dawned on me later that I ran some of the slates against the grain into the round over bit.  Wouldn't this cause some splintering vs. going with the grain like when you joint?

 

[CharlesWilson]

The design of those chairs is very robust. They will give your brother-in-law many years of service.

Now you will need to make a couple for yourself!

Charles

 

[HowardH]

Charles - been there, done that!   ;D  They are sitting nicely on my deck.  My wife wanted them painted purple.  It actually came out looking very nice.  I'll post some pictures when I get home.  I have to build two more for my brother and his wife as a late Christmas present.  It was also the first time I had a chance to use the GRK screws and my T15.  What a difference they both made.  Using the Centrotec system saved me a lot of time swapping out the drill/countersink and the Centrotec Torx driver.  The GRK screws didn't slip either.  They performed as advertised. 

 

[honeydoman]

very nice work and chair!  I have watched norm abrams make one on his show.  I seem to not have the patients to make stuff like that.  do not know why.  [thumbs up]

 

[chrisrosenb]

Nice work Howard.
I like that design.

Chris

 

[HowardH]

I have about a month invested in those two chairs.  I'm working on the matching foot rests at the moment.  I'm not sure how the Eureka Woodworking guys can say someone can knock out 5 chairs a day.  It takes me about 15 hours to do each and I don't dawdle! 

 

[Wood_Junkie]

I have about a month invested in those two chairs.  I'm working on the matching foot rests at the moment.  I'm not sure how the Eureka Woodworking guys can say someone can knock out 5 chairs a day.  It takes me about 15 hours to do each and I don't dawdle! 

I also made the LV chairs (the foldable version, however) and agree that the time it takes is not trivial.  However, take a look at the curves and subtle details of your chair, versus the (mostly) straight cut pieces of the chairs you mentioned.  I mean no disrespect to anyone making some income off the other plans/chairs.  But side-by-side they are clearly more of a production based plan.

Ironically, I spent some time looking over EW's site last week (very slow at work, hehe) and have a great deal of appreciation for the various jigs and what-not that would aid in shaping and especially with assembly.

HowardH, your chair looks great.  What're you going to do for finish?  Clear, stain, or (heaven forbid!!) paint?

 

[Brice Burrell]

HowardH, your chair looks great.  What're you going to do for finish?  Clear, stain, or (heaven forbid!!) paint?

Wood, in his first post Howard said:

......I still have some sanding to do to even out the backs slats and they will be painted when my bro-in-law tells me what color he wants..... 

I happen to like the look of colored Adirondack chairs. But I'd use a solid body stain over paint. Paint looks great but can be a hassle to maintain if exposed to weather.

 

[wnagle]

Brice,

I saw on one of the home upgrade shows of a house being painted with a new kind of paint.  It has some kind of glass beads and is meant to be put on raw wood.(not over old paint)  It has a lifetime guarantee of no need to repaint.  I'm not sure the name or even what show I was watching.  (Maybe this old house)  Anyway if something like that is available and is that good, it might work on outdoor projects as well.  I'm not so interested in the warranty but if it's that good It might be a big plus!  

I also hate repainting and scraping.  Maybe someone else saw it or is familiar with it and can chime in.

 

[sw1211]

I always liked the looks of these Adirondack Chairs but wondered how long the paint job would hold up outside.

 

[HowardH]

I painted them over primer and sprayed about 5-6 coats with a turbine HVLP sprayer.  I did the same thing on my chairs about a year ago and they have held up very, very well in the Texas heat.  A lot of time was spent at the band saw working on those curves and then over at the stationary belt sanders to smooth them out.  Having some jigs would help a little in the assembly but having cnc machined templates that are perfect would really be a big help.  My templates are made out of 1/4" hardboard and aren't exact thus the sanding required.  I could always use a pattern bit on the router table and that would speed things up a bit.  It's like anything else, you get faster with experience.  I didn't have a table saw this go around, I wasn't happy with my Laguna so I sold it, and using all Festool made me have to think a bit more.  I ordered a MFS (see my other post in the main section) and I'll use them on my MFT as Brice suggests as a way to cut the seat slats much faster.   I was amazed about how much stock they used, over 30 bdft each.  I didn't waste a whole lot.  I have to make more as belated Christmas gifts so who knows, maybe a few orders will come in that would allow me to make some money to get some more tools!   ;D