Plywood size for chair seats

[Dave Lehnert]

I have some old dining chairs that need a tuneup. The seat boards are missing. What size plywood is most often used? Also is there a standard used in sizing the seat board to the chair? Example- is the board the exact size of the seat frame. 1/2" smaller????

The chairs is something like the one in the photo below.





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[Jamie Buxton]

Half inch ply will do. Generally the upholstery cloth wraps around and gets stapled to the underside. Half inch ply allows you to use half inch staples.

The size of the seat board depends on what you want the seat to look like. Often people make the seat padding in several layers, with the topmost layer being batting that wraps over the edge of the board. This gives a softer more rounded look to the seat than if the batting doesn't wrap around. Your board would need to be a little smaller than chair outline so that the batting doesn't make the overhang too much.

Are you sure that your chairs look like the pic? For the chairs in the pic, the seat just sits on the wood. Often the seat sits down inside the wood a bit, so you have to size the seat plus batting plus cloth to fit inside the wood.

[Dave Lehnert]

Half inch ply will do. Generally the upholstery cloth wraps around and gets stapled to the underside. Half inch ply allows you to use half inch staples.

The size of the seat board depends on what you want the seat to look like. Often people make the seat padding in several layers, with the topmost layer being batting that wraps over the edge of the board. This gives a softer more rounded look to the seat than if the batting doesn't wrap around. Your board would need to be a little smaller than chair outline so that the batting doesn't make the overhang too much.

Are you sure that your chairs look like the pic? For the chairs in the pic, the seat just sits on the wood. Often the seat sits down inside the wood a bit, so you have to size the seat plus batting plus cloth to fit inside the wood.

That was another question I had in my head. I thought seats sat inside the wood also but I have one chair with a seat and it just sits on top BUT.......... It does not look original. Is there a way to tell for sure?

I will not be the one doing the upholstery. How much of a margin do I need between the board and the chair rail for the batten and material? 1/4" enough?