Adirondack Chair II
This week I took Wednesday off work to work on the chair. My deadline is September 17th so it can go in the art auction. (I figure, "If a painting of an adirondack chair is art, why not a painted adirondack chair?")
At the start of the day, I had the back in one piece, the core of the chair together, and the legs tacked on. By the end of the day I'd:
- Attached each leg with 5 counter-sunk screws
- Shaped the arms with a sander to take the corners off
- Sanded the arm supports down so each side was smooth
- Attached the back at a 105 degree angle to the seat with three counter-sunk screws on each side
- Determined the inside angle of the back to the arms was 55 degrees.
- Trimmed the middle brace on the back and cut the arm supports to the correct angle.
- Glued the arms supports to the front legs using the dowels.
- Attached the arms to the front legs and the brace.
- Attached the remaining seat slats.
- Tested the chair for comfort... Pass!
- Primed the chair using an indoor/outdoor water-based primer.
Friday afternoon I painted all the surfaces visible with the chair in it's upright position.
Saturday morning I turned the chair over and got the rest. I discovered an answer to a problem I was having:
Q. How do you paint the cracks between the slats?
A. You notice the problem is you can't get the brush in there and use a smaller brush.
In this case, I used a brush for painting on canvas out of a cheapie set I got a while back. It's nice to finally have paint on one of those handles!
And finally, I dragged the chair into the sun and applied a final coat on all the wear surfaces: seat, arms, and back.
Adirondack Chair
The current project is an
adirondack chair. The original goal was to make one for home and then a second one for the
church art auction... but time has gotten away from me and now I'm headed straight for the art auction.
The Adirondack chair seems to be the original Tinkerer's Delight: 1.) Take scrap wood 2.) assemble.
I downloaded plans that had a lovely cutting diagram and lots of photos. My first problem was the lumberyard didn't have dimensional lumber in the dimensions called for by the plans, so I improvised, substituting a 2x6 for the original 1x8 stringers. They also didn't have the Southern Yellow Pine, recommended for its bug resistance. So I looked at the next two bug resistant options - redwood and pressure-treated lumber.
I went with the pressure-treated lumber. These boards are stashed in two different locations in the lumber yard. Most of the dimensions are with the deck materials, but the 1x4s are sold as fascia material and are with the fencing supplies.
Lumber scored, I headed home to start cutting. Turns out the safety goggles got packed at some point and couldn't be located with either the tools or the stained glass supplies.
So back to the lumber yard for another pair of glasses.
Then I started cutting. And cutting went fine. Lots of memories of woodshop and metal shop classes as I made sure to measure twice and fit pieces together as I went along and using already cut pieces as the standard for additional cuts instead of just trusting my ruler.
Then it came time to start assembly. Problem 1: My plans have no measurments or angles for assembling pieces. In fact, none of the chairs in the photos were actually made from the pieces shown in the cutting diagram. Problem 2: There is no explaination for how the bottom of the back slats are anchored. I improvise and attach them to the back piece of what I am calling "the box." Problem 3: The screws I bought were for attaching 1" pieces to other 1" pieces, but I am now attaching 2" pieces to 2" pieces. I need more screws. Problem 4: If you put the arm uprights too far away from the front of the chair, the seat is uncomfortably steep. Problem 5: Using 2x6's for "the box" makes the chair darn heavy.
I am in the middle of trying to solve problem 5. I think I'm going to go to 1x6's. I don't have photos yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing the blue I picked out on the chair.
