Adirondack chairs out of PT?

[Wade Lippman]

I have a friend who is a novice woodworker. He wants to make some Adirondack chairs for his son's wedding. The son is likely to die this year and I think making the chairs is to take his mind off it.
I recommended white oak, but it is rather more expensive than he wants. He asked about PT. I thought PT was unsuitable, as it warps, needs to be stained, the dust is toxic, and might not be durable when cut.
Any opinions on this would be appreciated.

I offered to help him, or at least let him use my tools, but he wants to do it entirely on his own.

[Lee Schierer]

Nothing wrong with using pressure treated. It doesn't have to be stained, it will eventually turn gray. I've seen many picnic tables and benches made from pressure treated lumber.

[Jamie Buxton]

Pressure treated lumber usually has a rough and splintery surface left from the treatment. It is also usually sold soaking-wet. It will shrink and warp as it dries on your deck. I would be slow to use it for any furniture, and would not use it for seating furniture. Your suggestion of white oak is a very good one -- great wood, weather resistant, and no worries about toxicity.

[Jim Koepke]

My adirondack chairs have been made out of fir/pine from the Home Depot, Lowes and a building supply store:

456742

The one on the left was built in July of 2013. It has been in my yard for the last few years and is still in good shape.

My first adirondack chair was made from wood salvaged from pallets.

It may not be noticeable in the photo but the front legs are dovetailed into the arms for strength.

jtk

[Mel Fulks]

I like both. The arm support for the white one makes a nice profile. I like the arms to have some slope ...even if that means you can’t set a
drink on them. I never drop them or knock them over !

[Erik Loza]

PT is pretty common for that in my area, actually. Sanded, of course. Like Jamie said, most of it is soaking wet when you buy it so it's going to potato-chip as it dries, etc. That's a nice thing you're doing, by the way.

Erik

[Jim Koepke]

I like the arms to have some slope ...even if that means you can’t set a drink on them. I never drop them or knock them over !

It would be easy to add a small shelf to hold a drink on the side of the seat.

Some folks like to set a board across the arms for holding a dinner plate or playing solitaire.

jtk

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I’m about to build a lot of them out of PT. No issue if you properly dry it first. I would paint it white if you don’t like the look of PT. Just use 150 and 220 grit to smooth out the rough grain prior to assembly.

[Jim Becker]

It's possible to source KD PT lumber, although I haven't tried it. Without that, PT is going to potentially "move a lot" as it naturally dries from that high moisture content that comes from the injection of the "stuff" that makes it treated.

[Roger Feeley]

It's possible to source KD PT lumber, although I haven't tried it. Without that, PT is going to potentially "move a lot" as it naturally dries from that high moisture content that comes from the injection of the "stuff" that makes it treated.

Or it can be called KDAT (Kiln Dried After Treatment). Yellawood is KDAT.

[Bob Riefer]

I have built about 25 Adirondack chairs and another 10 benches from PT lumber from both big box store and lumber yards. Many of them are a decade old or more and are doing great. I did use my own designs to prevent warping after assembly and also find it best to cut parts to rough length straight from my trailer, then stack for good air movement. A bunch of guys have built the same from my plans and I would be happy to share with your friend. It is an easy project and the chairs are very comfortable.

edit: I also built norm’s chairs using white oak years ago. Those chairs have rotted out and been repaired twice in the same time span. YMMV

[Jon Nuckles]

Or it can be called KDAT (Kiln Dried After Treatment).

Avoid the big box PT and ask a lumber yard for KDAT. It is dry and stable. It does come with warnings about breathing the dust and even skin contact, so warn your friend to be careful. With the current run-up in construction lumber prices, particularly for outdoor projects, he might want to price check it against white oak, cypress and other suitable outdoor woods to see if the savings are worth it.

[Scott Winners]

Good advice here. The only thing I would add if the builder chooses home store PT is to keep the knots away from the ends of the project pieces, especially the feet.

[Doug Dawson]

I have a friend who is a novice woodworker. He wants to make some Adirondack chairs for his son's wedding. The son is likely to die this year and I think making the chairs is to take his mind off it.
I recommended white oak, but it is rather more expensive than he wants. He asked about PT. I thought PT was unsuitable, as it warps, needs to be stained, the dust is toxic, and might not be durable when cut.
Any opinions on this would be appreciated.

I offered to help him, or at least let him use my tools, but he wants to do it entirely on his own.
PT is usually wet when it's purchased, and there are questions about what it is wet with. Skin absorption may be an issue, particularly on something like a chair. I would punt on that. Not everybody has only a year to live, or is not of reproductive age.

[Tom M King]

As much as PT costs these days, it seems like it would be about the same cost to build them out of Walnut.

[Stan Calow]

Cedar decking material might be a good compromise if thats common in your area.

[Ole Anderson]

I built eight chairs and a porch swing out of well sorted Menard's Cedartone PT wood. Yes some of it was soaking wet. The only wood movement I had was related to bolts and screws needing tightening after most of the moisture had left. I was not in a position to let it dry first nor could I find KDAT at my local lumber yards at the time. Hated working with the wet wood, a lot of it fuzzed as it was worked. And you have to be careful with your cast iron table tops. The last two I did got planed first as a lot of it had raised cathedral grain or slight cupping. If I had to do any more, I would look harder for KDAT material.

[George Yetka]

Home depot carries (in some of their store not all) 2x6 cedar I built a cooler for my father a few years ago out of it and cedar fence posts I milled flat and smooth. I ended up with 1/2" on the fence posts it was pretty good to work with. The PT stuff always seems so wet.

[George Yetka]

Also his time might be better spent with his son. Maybe build them together if the son is up to it

[lowell holmes]

See this site.

https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=E211US739G0&p=what+is+a+good+outdoor+lumber

[Jim Koepke]

Here is an interesting Adirondack chair design:

456814

Great for a young one.

jtk

[Alex Zeller]

a coworker who's more of a carpenter than a woodworker was asked to build two a month ago. He's always used 5 quarter cedar. When he called up the place where he normally buys it he was told it was almost $1100 for clear eastern white. Even knotty stuff was over $650. I haven't priced it out (my wife wants two chairs for her house) yet but there's a few mills that make it I thought I would check with. If that's still expensive I'll find a couple logs and use my neighbor's band mill and make my own lumber.

I don't think I would use PT as, at least around here, the stuff you can buy splinters pretty easily. Enough so that I wouldn't walk barefoot on a deck. If I did I would try to sort through the pile and find PT that was light (not sopping wet) and was quarter sawn cut to reduce the chance of splinters.