Rustic Furniture

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Get a protractor and go around measuring back angles and leg splay in furniture designs you find pleasing. You'll find that rungs are level, seats angle up about 8° from the horizontal, backs angle about 20° from the vertical, front chair legs splay about 10° forward and 10° to the outside, and rear legs splay the same 10° to the side but about 18° to the rear.

Drill leg mortises into the front/rear frame sticks with desired outward splay (use protractor to angle the drill). Rotate the stick in its mortises to determine front or back outward splay.

To set compound splay angles into seat boards that will be nailed or screwed to the frame (with no mortises to rotate), drip "eyeballed" holes through scrap boards till you get it right, then transfer the angles to finished work by using the board as a guide for the pilot drill.

Seating and Back Rest

With the frame complete, you need only a seat and back rest. If you've not built the back rails into the frame, it is strongest to frame the back of a nailed-up piece with poles that go all the way to the floor. Mortise backs in mortise and tenon-joined pieces the same way you installed the legs.

To make the seat of a chair, a rack of sticks (perhaps with shallow notches cut in their bottoms, front and back, to fit the frame poles), are traditional (if uncomfortable). Carve or plane them halfflat on top and they'll "sit better." Cedar and white oak poles will split right down the middle and you can notch the rounded side and attach them to the frame flat side up.

Canvas, leather, or sheet vinyl slings make quick seats/backs.

Another option is woven tape. I like to staple on broad sheets of rawhide leather (wet it when it stretches—but cover just a small section sparingly or it will shrink and bust the chair).

You can weave seats and backs of cloth tape, rushes, or split wood. Look at a Shaker chair or tape-seated aluminum lawn furniture for the pattern.

Thin wood slats make the best backrests and stoutest seats. You can rive your own from oak or cedar or buy thin hardwood or pine shelving from a lumber outlet. Bending is described under willow furniture. Even off tops of frame rails so slats are even and fasten with two small nails or pegs per joint. Raw wood quickly discolors and will absorb any spill, so you must finish it—see below.

Joints

The secret of sturdy, long-lasting furniture is sturdy, long-lasting joints. That essentially means joints that stay tight. Once a joint breaks, it will work ever looser—wiggling each time the chair is used or temperature and humidity change, imparting movement that generates stresses that will pull the joint apart and loosen other joints. In time your chair will be little but a heap of kindling. The following are the major joints found in Adirondack furniture.

Butt Joints

Here, two sticks are crossed at 90° or at an oblique angle and nails are put through pilot holes predrilled through both. A single nail will hold a 90° cross support on a strong, vertical leg. If sticks cross at a diagonal, it is best to insert three nails: one straight through and one across each small angle.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print