three best things about summer. you won't believe number three! ice cream, swimming pools, and microjig, maker of the grr-ripper work safer. work smarter.
old woodworking tools and machinery, i've had a lot of requests to make an adirondackchair and the summertime is a perfect time to doit. you can make this chair in a weekend with just a few simple tools.
i'm going to start by cutting all the piecesfor the seat and the back. having a miter saw to cut these is reallyhandy, but you could also use a jigsaw or a circularsaw. before i cut out these curved ends, i'm going to mark where these cross bracesgo. it took me a while searching around the house to find something with a 3 â½" diameter but this glass is the right size. so if you have a glass just like this one,
use it! it'll be easy smoothing out these jagged edges using my random orbit sander but you can also use a sheet of sandpaper. i'll line up these braces with those lines i drew. if you have a couple of clamps, it'll make it easier to hold it together while you're putting the screws in.
there's only a curve on one side of each of the back slats. i'm spacing apart these 1 â½" wide slats using this piece of plywood as a spacer. i've pre-drilled and countersunk these holes to prevent these boards from splitting. this brace is going to connect the two frontlegs. to attach these rails for the arm rests, i need to add a â¾" space in the front.
i want to make sure this is square before i put the next screw in. one of the defining features of an adirondackchair it its wide arms. i'm making mine 6" wide, but you can make them whatever you like. sometimes my spacial reasoning skills arejust out of whack. i don't have any way to explain it.
this is supposed to go like this, and the idea was that i would have the pocketscrews coming from the inside. which obviously you can see i mounted thisthe wrong way. on this one, i've got it completely flippedaround so i've got the pocket screws going down. i'm going to take this over to my pocket holejig and see if i can make some new holes. on the plus side,
i was think that these two arms would makenice skateboards if i decided not to do the chair! i'm just going to leave the pocket holes onthe outside of this one. they're not really going to show anyway because those arms are so wide. whatya ya gonna do? as i'm lining this up, i realize this is more of a fail than i thoughtit was.
this support here is actually on the wrongside of the leg. and i'm even following my own plans, which makes it super ridiculous. this piece is right. it goes on like that. i drew a line where i want it to line up. there's my â¾" space that this handy little curved piece is going to go onlike that. over here, i put this on the inside
so that doesn't do me much good. yeah...so... this is a testament to the strength of woodglue. and that's what those of us in the biz call a "character-building exercise." now i can put these armrests on. i'm going to put this bolt through here witha washer, and then a washer on the reverse side a lock washer
and a nut. i didn't exactly get that angle of tilt correct and as a result, i ended up having to cutthis back support a little differently than the one on the plans. if you follow the plans correctly, you shouldn't have this problem. you might consider painting all the pieces before you assemble them. i would be easier to get between the slats.
all in all, it turned out really well, and it's pretty comfortable. an adirondack chair is surprisingly easy tobuild. my only suggestion would be to find yourself a friend to help you put thetwo pieces together. that would make it go a lot more smoothly. and don't forget, there's a free set of plans to build yourown down in the description.
if this is your first time here i'd like to welcome you to woodworking formere mortals and my yard. i put up brand new woodworking videos every friday on this channel and i'd love to have you subscribe. except for last friday. i was out of town last friday. but i'm back on course now and
it feels good to be back in the shop. thanks for watching, everybody and i'll see you next week.
