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Thread: Trail Chairs From Scrap

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Trail Chairs From Scrap

    My grandson Mike helped with a project this summer to replace the porches on the house:

    https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?275516

    Of course with a building project there is bound to be left overs and scrap. My plan was to build chairs to put beside trails along the hillside in my backyard. Coming up with a design was an example of paralysis of analysis. An Adirondack style chair seemed a good choice but has too large a footprint to fit some of the available spaces.

    Looking at the collected pile of scrap gave me a few ideas and one was finally drawn out on a piece of 2 X 12:

    The Plan.jpg

    This is often my way of drawing a plan instead of taking pencil to paper. The arc at the right side was determined by setting the back at an angle and placing the bottom back of the chair as far back as the back’s top. The ark was derived (indirectly) from an ellipse template.

    The scraps from cutting out the stair stringers made supports for the back piece:

    Back Support.jpg

    After the first one was set, the second one had a single screw installed before aligning it with the first support:

    Support Alignment.jpg

    A few taps with a small hammer helped.

    One of the difficulties with this project is to get the chair down the side of a hill. The easiest way was to assemble the chair on site. Before it went down it needed to be checked for fit and feel:

    Test Assembly.jpg

    The back wasn’t angled enough for my comfort so that was changed by backing out the two bottom screws on each of the supports and rotating them a few more degrees.

    Pressure treated lumber is heavy. With the narrow and sometimes steep trails it seemed best to make multiple trips to get all the components to the site for this chair:

    Job Site.jpg

    It took three trips.

    The seat slats helped to support the sides while the back was being attached:

    Assembly of Back.jpg

    The chair went together fairly easy.

    Time to give it the comfort test:

    George Likes His New Perch.jpg

    My good buddy George got to it first. He likes to get some altitude when he is watching the action.

    It is a nice place to sit and have a beer:

    A Nice Place to have a Beer.jpg

    Need to build a few more chairs so friends can join. Candy wants some for the back porch. Well there are a few more scraps and left over wood.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
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    Michigan
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    very nice

    nature will provide the cup holder

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Bender View Post
    very nice

    nature will provide the cup holder
    Thanks Tom, occasionally cup caddies or bottle holders are contemplated while sitting hillside with a cold one.

    Pre-Occupied George.jpg

    George saw something and jumped out of the chair, my turn.

    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 09-07-2019 at 3:24 PM. Reason: added image
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
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    Nice design on the chairs Jim! Do you have two of them there, one for you and the other for the wife?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Manning View Post
    Nice design on the chairs Jim! Do you have two of them there, one for you and the other for the wife?
    Not yet, she has bad knees so it is hard for her to walk on steeper parts of the trail. One item on my to do list is to clear a trail so she can hike to the location. Mostly it will just be clearing a few trip hazards on a deer trail.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

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