Lawn chairs

These lawn chairs are based on a design of chair that my dad came up with for lawn chairs at Amogla camp. My dad's design was a slightly more angular design, a little less labour intensive to build. But when I built a pair of lawn chairs of my own, I decided to add some curves to the design. So I added a slight curve to the seat and the chair back.

The downside of a typical Adirondack chair is that the seat rail also forms the back legs. By necessity, this always puts the seat at a very substantial recline. As such, one really can only recline in an Adirondack chair. This is fine for sitting on the dock and looking out at the lake, but less ideal for sitting at the fire, eating, or socializing.

The photo below shows the chairs being used for having lunch. Behind the table, is the napping bench that I had just built for a friend, which also makes for a good piece of patio furniture.

I built these chairs mostly out of some recycled cedar from an old fence that I took down on my property. The above two photos are of the chairs shortly after I had built them back in 1998. I stained them the year after that.

This was before practical digital cameras so, unfortunately, I did not take any photos of the chair's construction, so some CAD illustrations will have to do.

Unlike the typical Adirondak chair, the rail that supports the seat does not form the back legs on these chairs. Instead, the frame of the chair consists of two frames on either side, as shown at left. These are nailed and glued together, and give the chair a lot of sturdiness and stability. It's quite safe for even a heavy person to sit or stand on the armrests of these chairs without the risk of braking or tipping the chair.

To get the shape right for assembling the frames, it's best to draw it out on a piece of plywood. If you make several of these chairs at once, it may be worthwhile to also make some blocks (shown in white) and screw them down to act as a jig for assembling the parts.

When I was still in highschool, I made batches of chairs similar to this for sale. Having a jig to put all the parts in before nailing them together really sped things up.

All the joints are glued with waterlproof glue, and nailed with galvanized steel nails. I figured having the joints full of glue should seal them up, so that they won't start to rot in those places.

Once the side frames are built, it's just a matter of making the back, and nailing it all together. More pictures about how the chairs go together can be found in my free lawn chair plans

I built a small table to go with the lawn chairs. It's a low table, a little bit higher than the armrests of the lawn chair, and is great for having a meal while sitting on the lawn chairs.

I had already taken the chairs out of the shed one year when we got a late March snowfall. Hence this picutre. I really like the mood of it.

In the summer holidays from highschool, I didn't have a summer job, but I often built lawnchairs for sale. I took this after having finished a batch of eight, plus a bench and a table.

I always made the legs and the frames out of cedar, but for the seating surface, which doesn't touch the ground, I used white pine.

And finally, some random shots of the many lawn chairs at Amogla camp. One winter, we just put them upside down under the trees. I really liked how this jumble of chair legs sticking up looked, so I took a photo.

For more on building lawn chairs like this, and for the dimensions, check my free Lawnchair plans

See also: Patio bench

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