Building an Adirondack Chair
Since I moved in to this house, I thought it needed a pair of adirondack chairs for the yard. Recently I decided to activate that project and work on it in the garage in the evenings after the kids are in bed.
There are countless sources for adirondack chair plans, but I chose to buy a plan set at Rockler because it came with complete templates for both adult and child size chairs. I also chose this plan because it uses the arms to support the back–not an additional vertical back support–just because I prefer how that looks.
So far I have completed much of the basic assembly:
Of course, the first thing I did was deviate from the plan. I wanted to try to make the chair have a bit more of a “craftsman” look to it, so I made the center back from wider 1×8 boards instead of 1×4s and extended the tails of the arm supports.
Although I like that the design looks custom, I’m not convinced I’ve nailed the look I was going for. Fortunately, a neighbor who walked by my open garage liked it enough to offer to buy a pair from me. Once I get the chair finished, I will have to decide whether to keep or sell it. I still want some chairs for my yard, but if I sell a couple first I should be able to get mine for free.
Tags: adirondack, Carpentry, chair, furniture
5 Responses to “Building an Adirondack Chair”
Looks great. I have to finish the arts and crafts style outdoor couch I’m working on, summer will be upon us before we know it… I bought some adirondack chairs (they call them Muskoka chairs in Canada). They’re not bad for 25 bucks a piece, and they’re folding too. Who knows where they got the wood from though, that’s the part I’m not too excited about.
Wow, excellent. This too has been on my to do list for a while now. Cant wait to see finished photos! I went for making a bungalow mailbox instead. Several praises for the box and a neighbor said he would buy it, but Ive kept it for now. I think in the future I will make another mailbox and give it to him… the guy is always coming over and helping me out if I need the help. I couldnt have done my whole 150ft fence in one day without his help.
this would be a great thing for a silent auction … or say for a fellow bungalow owner! They look awesome and I like your custom touches.
What type of wood did you use on this project? There are some *nice* Adirondack chairs in an upscale gardening store not far from me. For a teak wood chair they want $400 for one. I think the oak version was $250.
@Stacy– Thanks! I have considered donating the chair to our preschool’s gala silent auction, though I haven’t decided for sure. The more I work on it, the more I want to keep it!
@1916home– For $400, those must be very nice chairs! Because mine is a prototype, I decided to make this chair from treated pine. I have intended to make future versions from cedar, particularly if I decide to try selling them.