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As much as I like Bills Addirondacks,of which I have made two,I find them too low and prefer this rendition,of which I have made dozens.Much more user friendly if not so glamourous.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y79...1520/00040.jpg
Made out of Macro Carpa or treated pine.
.. If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal.
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Nice chair, Brian, however, I suspect Bill's are only user-unfriendly when you try to get out of them, but with that nice curved back and comfortable leg rest I suspect you might never want to!
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Bill those redwood chairs look great. This question is off subject but did you feel like you needed a jointer or planer to build those? Also does anyone know a good source for redwood that can be purchased online or shipped?
Thanks!
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But get out of it we must and there is the rub.Originally Posted by Frank Drew
.. If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal.
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If you get the wood finished on all sides you don't need a planer or a jointer. I got my redwood from a local deck company and it was planed on all sides so I did not have to do anything but cut it.
The cypress I got 4/4 and did plane it to 3/4, but I could have had the supplier plane it for me, most will do that for a charge.
I can't help you on getting the redwood, I guess just start searching the net at Woodfinder and see what you can find.
http://woodfinder.com/
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I thought they were to low also but after using them and adding 2 inches to the width getting out was much easier. I don't know why you couldn't make them taller if you wanted, just add to the front legs and the back legs would have to be longer.
Sassafras worked well for my out doors chairs a tad heavy but nice wood if painted..
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I looked at Bill's chair and instantly thought "hard to get out of." (Age has a way of affecting one's view in these matters.) My current intention is to make Norm Abram's cypress Adirondack chair from a plan in one of his books, but I would like to see how yours compares. Can you post here?
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Am I missing something David?mine is shown in the link!
.. If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal.
In Memoriam
I never thought about using Sassafras but it is weather and bug resistant, too. It's also used for fence posts.
Cody
Logmaster LM-1 sawmill, 30 hp Kioti tractor w/ FEL, Stihl 290 chainsaw, 300 bf cap. Solar Kiln
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Sassafras is a good choice for outside wood. I helped a friend of mine put it down on the front and back porch of his log cabin. That was about 15 years ago. Still there and still strong today.
Red Oak is not a good choice for exterior wood, but White Oak is the original exterior wood of choice from many years ago.
I made the same type chairs for the LOML a few years ago out of Cypress. These chairs get daily use when the weather permits or about 8 months of use a year and they are still nice looking and strong to this very day.
Thanks & Happy Wood Chips,
Dennis -
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"Am I missing something David?mine is shown in the link!"
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Brian, what seems to be missing is identification of your chair design. If it's Norm's I "get the picture" now. As I recall from reading his book, he modified a design to be more comfortable. My kind of chair. I am thinking of putting a little curvature to the back slats as well.
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Many years ago I built a "test" chair out of shop scraps when designing a chair. Red oak, white oak, maple, pine, birch, whatever I had laying in the scrap heap that was the right size piece I needed. After fine tuning the design I took the "scrap built" model and set it outside (small shop syndrome) and pretty much left it alone aside from planting my butt in it from time to time to enjoy a sunset or whatever. 5-6 years passed and aside from having to pull the chair out of the dirt to reposition it from time to time, I did absolutely nothing to it. Raw wood , left to the elements actually weathered quite well - burried in a snowbank or heating in the summer sun had little effect on it. When I bought a house and moved, I thought "that old pile should just fall apart after all these years outside" The pine was first to go- everything else was surprisingly intact- I literally had to run it over with my truck to get it to break apart. So I say build your chair out of whatever you have available in your area as an indiginous wood type (except pine or beech) Dont be afraid to go outside the box. Seems to me centuries ago they built ships out of oak ? (some of which are still in existence) Pay attention to the joinery and enjoy building your chairs.
FYI - I have seen many many chairs in the past year built using composite decking materials (heavy, but will last forever) Have fun
Elvis isn't dead, he just went home Yes, I am a joker - Take it with a grain of salt
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I built a Andy chair out of cypress using Norm's book templa. Worked great.
It's been 6 years and the cypress, with no finish applied, is still strong and looking good. I used 8qtr stock on the front legs and the rest was 4qtr S2S.
+1 on nixing red oak for outside uses.
The salesman who said cypress was too soft is wrong. It is fisheyed a bit but proper componet layout and hand planes take care of that problem in most cases.
I've not tried cedar as I live just out side of Atlanta and have a good reasonably priced source of cypress.
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IMG_3363.jpg
I give my people the choice of chairs, they all like the look of this one, but prefer the other, hence thats what I give them.
.. If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal.
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