Adirondack chairs

[ljmathias]

Been experimenting with different species of wood I have available.  Made chairs from pecan and cedar so far, and I'm about to try red and white oak, then poplar and maybe even sweet gum if I can get any to dry straight enough to use...  The pecan was hard as nails, which made the jig saw cutting especially difficult, although the planing and sanding were pretty hard as well.  Finish turned out beautiful though- polyurethane spar varnish which seems to hold up extremely well.  Cedar is a beut to work- easy to cut, plane and sand and takes a finish beautifully.  Only problem, of course, is that it's pretty soft so to compensate I made the legs and weight bearing parts half agin as thick as I would with hardwoods.  Gives the chair a nice solid feel to them, no creaks or moans like the swing I made from cedar where I didn't oversize the wood as much and now wish I had.

Here's the pieces made from pecan, ready for finishing prior to assembly.  I figure getting finish everywhere, even places that are covered, will make for longer and better weather protection.  Should help keep the powder post beetles out as well- they seem to love pecan, as does white mold if the wood gets wet at all.





And here's a couple of pics of the chair being assembled; I used stainless steel screws to provide stain resistance and weatherability...










And here's what the finished seat slats look like- needs one more coat to give it the shiny protection I want for this wood since pecan doesn't weather well by itself.  Hope the PU spar varnish holds up well on these.





And here's a back view of the pecan slats- roughed up the tops some cutting the curve shape.  Next one I'll cut everything and finish before assembly; too hard to try to do it on the assembled chair.



I'll show cedar chair in the next post here.

Lj

[ljmathias]

Kinda weird replying to my own post, but I guess it's no worse than talking to myself, which I do all the time.  Read somewhere it's not a sign of mental problems, doing that, but a realization that you might as well talk to the smartest person in the room, and when you're all alone, the choices are pretty limited...   :D

Anyway, here's some pictures of the cedar version of the chair- found out on the pecan one that the "lean" angle for the back slats wasn't good enough, so I moved the slats to a more angled position by lengthening the arm supports that the upper back slat support attach to.  When adjusting this angle, you have to remember to adjust the bottom one too so the slats fit flat against it.








Oh, and here's a front shot of the pecan chair I forgot to put in my last post... sorry.



Just for fun, I've also added pictures of the cedar log used to make the chair above and the swing in the "spar varnish" thread... it was a bigg'un but rotten in the middle which meant a whole lot less usable lumber than I'd hoped for.  I now know why Magicman charges by the hour for cedar- no way to guess how many board feet you'll get before hand, and a whole lot more cutting and turning and fitting trying to get usable boards out in the process.  Cedar is a pita, alright, but oh, my, the wood is worth it...










And here's some of the lumber I managed to get out- this is the thicker stuff (6/4 and 8/4) that I use for legs and supports- some of us aren't as light as we were in our younger days...




And here's another picture of the 4 foot swing I made for the front porch- wife wanted it sidewise like shown and the original one was just too long to fit that way so I had to make a new one.  Should have used thicker wood for the frame though... creaks a little which gives you that iffy feeling when you sit down.



Anyway, I'm beginning to really love cedar- the colors are awesome and it smells good, too; can't say that about me, for sure...

Lj

[woodsteach]

Great looking swing and chairs!

woodsteach

[metalspinner]

Looks very nice, LJ.  Matching the arm rests like that makes it really stand out.

You should easily be ale to beef up the undercarriage of the swing to ease your mind.

[Bill Gaiche]

 ljmathias, Good looking chairs and swing. You are right about cedar. Some trees dont make what you expect so you have a lot of waste. ERC is some very pretty wood and especially when finished. Havent built any of those chairs yet, but hope to sometime down the road. Wouldnt it be great if cedar was strong like the hardwoods are? But making parts that require strength just have to be thicker which imop makes the project look better. bg

[Patty]

Beautiful chairs! Good job.  8)

[terrifictimbersllc]

You should easily be ale to beef up the undercarriage of the swing to ease your mind.

Ale and beef with my undercarriage in a swing sounds delightful!! 8) 8) 8)

[tyb525]

Locust is that hardwood cedar you are looking for ;) I happen to have about 100 bf of it air dried for 2 years now, some of it is natural edged too 8)

Can't wait to find a project to use it for.

[SwampDonkey]

Those are nice looking projects.  8)

Who could complain?

[ljmathias]

Thanks, all- they were a labor of love for my love... been married 44 years come the 29th of this month.  Woops!  That reminds me- forgot to get an anniversary present; guess I'll head back out to the barn and see what I can make from the rest of the cedar I cut.

Tyb: if you've been aging it for two years, when did you cut it, when you were a teenager?  Or are you still a teenager?  Keep at it- something good will come from your hard work.

Lj

[SwampDonkey]

Congrats on your marriage. It will be 45 years for my folks this March. My Lord, I can remember my grandparent's 50th. Didn't seem that long ago. :D

[D Hagens]

Cool chairs! Brings back memories of when I used to build them on the side for one of the local lumber stores.

[ljmathias]

Yeah, they're fun to build but they take a lot of time.  Friend of mine does two or three at a time and just cuts and goes- sells them for about $200 each but based on the time I spent on the first couple, I'd make about $5/hour- better off cooking fries at McBarfolds except this is a whole lot more fun...

Your grandparents 50th?  Shoot, none of my parents or grandparents lasted that long.  Either wore out and died, smoked till they got lung cancer, or drank themselves to death... I come from a long line of short lived people, I guess.  Hope we make it our 50th... and beat the odds.

Lj

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah 63 years until grand dad passed away in 1995, married in '32. Walked across the river on ice, tied the knot, went back to work. No splash or fireworks. That's what they said. ;)  :D :D Both lived to be 86 or 87. That's from all the good hunting and fishing. ;D

[isawlogs]

 Nice looking chairs , I like the rounded back on them , to many of that type chair have the flat back and are no where near as comfortable as these.
 Of the types of wood you are willing to tru , poplar is the one that I would stay away from, unless these chair built of it will be under roof, if they go outside and the elements get to them they will rot quicker then you put them together  ;) As for the other types , cedar is real good the others I don't know enough of them to coment.

[tyb525]

Lj,

I cut it when I first got my mill, in January of '09. So It's actually been more like 1 year 11 months ;).

The Locust was the very first thing I cut with my LT10 (talk about a wood to start on!). Yes I was 16 when I cut it, I'm 18 now, and I'll be turning 19 on January 28th. Suppose I got an earlier start than most, but I owe it all to the FF for starting me off right and teaching me along the way

[ljmathias]

Good for you, Ty- hang in there and don't get distracted by things that don't matter in the long run... oh, and keep sawing.  Maybe someday you'll strike gold.

Lj

[SwampDonkey]

Well certain distractions can get a little higher priority. Don't wait until your 40 and bald. :D