Project Adirondack

The weekend has turned out to be quite good even though Laura wasn't here to spend it with me. Saturday I caught up on some things I have been trying to get done and even hit up some stores and actually browsed for items. Usually I have one thing in mind and that's the only reason I go to the store. I bought a single burner propane burner for hiking and some sleeping bags for hiking as well. We already have sleeping bags, but these were only $12.99 and good for hiking - plus if anything happens to them it's not a big loss.

Today, Sunday, I took the recycling totes to the recycling center. They were starting to overflow so it was definatly time to empty them. Then I stopped by Lowes to pick up some ceder wood for the 'special project' I have been planning for about a week. First, a little background. The last week we have been working at a home that has some wonderful lawn chairs that we usually set in them at lunch time. Well, I got to looking at them and studying how they were built and then I decided I would try building one. This morning before leaving the house I drew up some plans and figured out the amount of wood I would need - I made some adjustments to the chair and found some examples on the internet and put them all into the plan. $25.00 later I had a pile of wood sitting in the garage!

I then realized I had a work bench packed away in the closet that I have been waiting for a project to use with, so I pulled it out of the closet and started putting it together. The portable work bench took me about an hour to put together and around lunch time I was looking at a pile of boards and a brand new work bench just waiting for some measuring, cutting, and - in my case - recutting...

It took quite awhile to get the first pieces at the correct angles and set the chair up like I wanted it. On the internet it is suggested to use several different types of saws, however all I had was a Skilsaw and a handsaw so I was a little limited in my ability to cut the boards accuratly. Regardless I think the chair looks pretty good for just a test run. I spent most of the afternoon working on the chair - when I wasn't watching the World Cup Finals - and I had a great time building the chair just out of thin air. This type of chair is called an Adirondack chair. Here's some history taken from Wikipedia: An Adirondack chair (or in Canada, a Muskoka chair) is a type of chair used primarily in an outdoors setting. The first Adirondack chair was designed by Thomas Lee in 1903. He was on vacation in Westport, New York and he needed outdoor chairs for his summer home. He tested the first designs on his family. The original Adirondack Chair was made with eleven pieces of wood, cut from a single board. It had a straight back and seat, which were set at a slant to sit better on the steep mountain inclines of the area. It also featured wide armrests which became a hallmark of the Adirondack Chair.

You can see there really arn't back legs on the chair, which is nice becuase they sit on hillsides nicely. I think it will be a nice chair to have in the backyard. Unfortunatly, after awhile my drill started getting overheated and it appears the motor has burnt up, so I am in need of a new drill now. Lucky for me it was near supper time so I took myself inside and had a bowl of cereal while watching The Simpsons. I had picked everything up and decided not to work on the chair any longer for the day, but something kept calling me to return to the garage and work on the chair! You can see I took the hand screwdriver and took to work. I decided I was gonna work on the chair and get as much done as I could without the drill, but screwing everything by hand was a real pain. I have several blisters on my thumb a few on my hands from gripping the screwdriver so tight....but I had decided I was going to be able to sit in the chair by the end of the evening so I kept on cutting and constructing. I then ran into the problem that I had no more screws left and I was forced to stop for the day. For my first chair building experiment I would say things have gone quite well, considering I got a C in woods class in high school and I was lucky to get that from some of the projects I completed. However, a little experience has helped in understanding how things are constructed and I have become much more resourceful in recent years. I stopped by Ace Hardware yesterday and I happened to see an Adirondack chair sitting outside with the patio furniture. It was on sale and they were asking $79.99 - down from $89.99 - and it was built with bolts and didn't look much better than something I could do.

I forgot to mention one thing... You can see the chair was not quite finished, but even with a few boards missing I still was able to sit down and enjoy my work for the day. It might not have been quite as comfy as I would have liked it, but truth-be-told I was just happy that it didn't collapse when I sat down! I still have a few things to work on though. I will be putting finishing detail in during the week and I will probably look at putting a weather sealant on the chair so I can leave it outside. Staining the chair won't be as much fun as building it, but if I am going to go to all this work to make the chair then I better at least keep it in good condition for awhile.

Until again

-=Nolan=-