Adirondack Chairs

 I was asked to provide some wood working projects for a local charity's silent auction.  Now the sad thing is, I've known about this for an entire year.  So I had plenty of time to get this done, but guess what, It's this Thursday and I haven't made anything.

So I toyed around with the idea of making a rustic farm house style table.  That proved to be a little out of my budget.  Maybe if I had someone sponsor me for the cost of the materials, but otherwise out of range for me.

Being a bit panicked I knew I would need to have something simple and already planned out for me.  After searching through some old magazines and wood working books, I found some simple Adirondack chair plans.  I decided to make three at once, as I recall making these in the past as a one or two project, and back then I discovered it would be much simpler to make several at once in an assembly line fashion.  Looking at my schedule I knew I would be limited to getting this done in just a few days.

I was able to have the plans printed out at a local print shop at 400% to give me the right size.  I then used some scrap plywood to make a template that I cut with a jig saw and cleaned up with a sander.

For the wood I wanted these to be true outdoor furniture.  So I settled on red cedar.  I think I just needed a few 1x8"s and mostly 1x6"s so the cost was pretty reasonable.

Then it was just a matter of copying the parts with the router and a flush trim bit.

I spent the better part of a day just getting the parts cut out.  Once the curvy bits were finished the other straight pieces were quick to do with the table saw.

The next day I spent mostly sanding, first with 60 grit then 80 with an orbital sander.  Then the second part of the day was assembly.  I used all stainless steel fasteners.

This is where making three at once started to become a real drag.  Fortunately they were looking good, and there was absolutely no problems with the assembly.

The next day was Lizzette's turn to get involved.  To finish the chairs we used an Olympic solid outdoor stain.  I believe the color is Wedgewood.  I wanted something that would be simple, but appeal to most people.  I suggested the color, and to my amazement, Lizzette agreed.

So here they are, a bit of a rush job but I think they will show well.  They are very comfortable and I think attractive.

If you've never built a set of Adirondack chairs, and you're looking for a nice useful project, have a go at it.  There are numerous free plans online and it's hard to go wrong.  My next door neighbor is planning to build a set from pallet wood.