# Norm's Adirondack Chair



## Steve Maskery (7 Jun 2020)

Now I have been woodworking a looooong time. So long, in fact that you would think I would be better at it than I am. My dad was cabinet-maker and my granddad was a pattern-maker. I cannot remember a time when there was no wood or tools around.

When I started woodworking, I spent a long time trying to find plans for things I wanted to make. In my day it was library books and my dad's wartime _The Woodworker _magazines (the definite article was later dropped). These days, of course, it is the Internet, but the principle is the same.

When I got a bit more experienced and longer in the tooth, I started to create my own designs, and it is easier than ever with packages like Sketchup.

Twenty years ago I made a pair of Adirondack chairs in Iroko, (although in those days I thought it was pronounced a-DIR-on-dack. It's a-di-RON-dack, apparently, but I still find the former easier to say).







The years have not been kind, have they?

Actually, that photo was taken in June 2000 by Pete Martin, sadly no longer with us. It was a filthy day, Black Over Bill's Mother's, and Pete had his lens open as far as he could to get enough light in. You can see the burn-out on my shirt. But Pete was a genius. It might look like High Summer, but I don't think that anyone would ever guess that is was actually raining when he took that shot.

I made them very well indeed, they are still going strong in a friend's garden and they still look as good today as they did when I made them. But I didn't _design _them so well. They are a bit wide in the seat, so they don't contain you very securely. They are a bit too deep in the seat, so you feel it a bit at the back of the knee. And they are a bit too laid back – great if you are sunbathing, but not so good if you want to sit and do a crossword or read a book.

I don't want my old chairs back, they belong to a previous life, so it's time to make some new ones, and this time I'm going back to basics and using an off-the-shelf design. These plans are available, for free, on the Popular Woodworking site:

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/arti ... ack-chair/

You get a magazine article showing how to build it, but, crucially, you also get a cutting list and a set of templates on a 1” grid.











I've blurred the dimensions to protect PopWood's copyright. But you can see what you get, and all for free.

It's a bit of a pain if you are used to working only in millimetres, but I am amphibious, so this is going to be an Inches project.

There is a slight discrepancy between the width of the side member as listed on the cutting list (5 1/2") compared to the dimension given on the drawing (5 1/4"), so I used the drawing as it was clear to see what it should be from the grid.

The design belongs to Norm Abram of New Yankee Workshop fame and this is his MkII version. 






I like the sound of that, because it means that he has built the chair, lived with it for a while, discovered what worked well and what could be better, and then made those improvements. So I have every confidence that this is going to be a very successful chair build.

Norm used Cypress for his build, but I've never seen it for sale over here. I suppose Western Red Cedar would be a good substitute if you wanted to leave it natural, but I plan to paint these, so I'm using a good grade of Redwood, Unsorted.

This is a really good project for a beginner, because it is a proper piece of furniture, not some noddy bit of tat, you do not need to have had lots of previous experience, it's all very straightforward, and you don't need lots of fancy machinery. If you buy your wood ready planed (PAR- Planed All Round) then you can do the whole job with hand tools only.

And I am going to prove it.

No, I'm not going to forsake the rather wonderful workshop that I have spent 40-odd years building up, but I am going to make the most complex template, the side member, entirely with hand tools. I'm not even going to use my wonderful new bench, I am going to do it on my workmate. Now I have staged these photographs after completing them, but I assure you that I did make that one with just a coping saw, spokeshave and sandpaper (and I have the video to prove it). And if I can do one like that, it is perfectly feasible to do them all like that. You will just need a coarser blade than the 12 TPI one I had in my coping saw. But I have a bandsaw and router table, and, as I'd like to sit in the chair for a while before I pop my clogs, I'm going to use them.

The first job is to make the templates. I'm using 9mm MRMDF, because that will give me a good edge against which to run the bearing of my router cutter when I flush trim. 






It's also thick enough (just) to use against a notched single-point fence on my bandsaw for roughing out. 

With a ruler, try-square and pencil gauge, I made a 1” grid grid on the MDF and simply copied the intersection points from the plan to the MDF. Then I used my trusty old school French curves to fair the curves. 






I had it marked out, sawn, shaved and sanded in less than an hour, but even so, by then my back was killing me, I'm glad I don't have to work on a Workmate all the time. I much prefer the FabBench(TM).











The other templates I did with the bandsaw, but I still faired them with a spokeshave and sandpaper.

I've made the arm bracket a bit deeper than in the plans, because it looked a bit weedy to me, and I'm going to shape the tops of the back slats differently, but otherwise this is going to be a straight copy of Norm's.






I've now got to prep a lot of boards before I can cut out the actual components.


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## Inspector (7 Jun 2020)

You can broaden the available plans by searching for Muskoka chairs. The Canadian version of the Andirondack chair. Basically the same things. This one has different sizes for kids, leprechauns and goblins. https://cottagelife.com/design-diy/how- ... -any-size/

When I was a kid my father made a set that stacked which would be nice for winter storage. Which I had pictures to see how he did it.

Pete


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## MikeG. (7 Jun 2020)

Steve Maskery":3bfajzec said:


> .........When you start woodworking, you spend a long time trying to find plans for things you'd like to make........



I'm not so sure about that, Steve. I've never used anyone else's plans for anything I've ever made, nor indeed have I ever even _seen_ any drawings for any woodworking project other than a few boats.


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## sunnybob (7 Jun 2020)

I have a set of templates for Norm's chair Steve, I could have posted them to you. :shock: :shock: :lol: :lol: 
I have to apologise to either coley or cordy because I cant remember which one of them sent me the plans.
I've made 4 chairs, a foot stool and a love seat, which I improvised by using two sets of slats and a larger cross frame.

Very comfortable, although I have to admit I have now sold them all (money talks)
my missus wanted them blue, and to be honest, so did the people who bought them.


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## AndyT (7 Jun 2020)

Good choice Steve, I shall be following with interest. I've made two Adirondack chairs now. A bit different in that they have a separate leg rest and fold flat for winter storage. I had bought a commercial chair which wasn't lasting well, so I copied it to make one in oak and then used the same paper patterns to make one in sweet chestnut.

I too used hand tools for the enjoyable shaping but in a clear case of role reversal I cut the boards to size on a table saw! 

Let me know if you get stuck.


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## Steve Maskery (7 Jun 2020)

AndyT":1yikzk88 said:


> A bit different in that they have a separate leg rest and fold flat for winter storage.


That sounds neat, Andy. Where did you find plans for a folding version, or did you design it yourself? Or was the commercial one you bought a folder?



AndyT":1yikzk88 said:


> Let me know if you get stuck.



Cheeky beggar


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## Steve Maskery (7 Jun 2020)

I'd not thought about painting them any colour other than white, TBH, but seeing those Canadian red ones and SB's blue ones, I might have to rethink that. They look rather nice.


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## AndyT (7 Jun 2020)

Steve Maskery":3skjffdj said:


> AndyT":3skjffdj said:
> 
> 
> > A bit different in that they have a separate leg rest and fold flat for winter storage.
> ...



The commercial one was a folder, so I just traced round it. Build projects here for the oak
garden-chair-in-oak-t43584.html

and here for the chestnut

adirondack-style-chair-in-sweet-chestnut-t113356.html


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## Cordy (7 Jun 2020)

Bob wrote
_I have to apologise to either coley or cordy because I cant remember which one of them sent me the plans._

Me


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## Cordy (7 Jun 2020)

So far I have made ten of those Adirondack chairs to Norm's design
The only change I made was to use pocket-hole joinery; out of sight and more weather proof -- still used ten coach-bolts though  
One in Sapele





One Canadian Red Cedar, yet to be photographed
The other eight in Redwood


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## Noggsy (8 Jun 2020)

Hmmm, they all look really good. Best not let the Mrs see, or I’ll be making chairs for the rest of the summer :lol:


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## OM99 (8 Jun 2020)

made a couple last year out of redwood different design as i prefer that one over the Norm version

Oli


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## Fidget (8 Jun 2020)

I made a couple of Norm's chairs back in 2006 in Western red cedar, unfinished. They're still in use today.

I transferred the templates to some thick card. Drew round them, cut with a bandsaw and sanded down. 

You've just reminded me that a friend has asked for a couple of chairs!

Good luck


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## AJB Temple (8 Jun 2020)

Sorry Gentlemen

Truly ugly design. 

Clearly simple to knock up but of its time I fear. I will don tin hat now. 

Adrian


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## MikeG. (8 Jun 2020)

I'm glad someone else said that first. I never "got" these chairs, and I don't get them now. They look as though they are a cleaned up version of something a hill billy might have nailed together back in the 1950s.


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## marcros (8 Jun 2020)

I thought that too but I was in somewhere that had a display model which I tried. They are very comfortable indeed.


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## sunnybob (8 Jun 2020)

They WERE 1950's hillybilly(and a lot earlier too) :shock: Thats why theyre named after the mountain range they came from :roll: =D> 

I like the rounded front of the last picture, but I think the rear centre prop is just too ugly for words. Maybe put a rounded front on Norms design?

And as side note for any one who hasnt sat in one, they are supremely comfortable.
A friend heard about the ones I had made and came round to see them, Visually, he was not that impressed. I persuaded him to sit in one. Within a couple of minutes he had ordered two for himself. :lol: :lol:


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## AndyT (8 Jun 2020)

As above. Easy to get into, harder to leave.

I was only convinced by a commercial version on display in a garden centre. I guess home builders do need trustable designs for this sort of thing. It's hard to know in advance if you are going to get something comfortable enough to warrant the effort and expense of building it.


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## Harbo (8 Jun 2020)

A photo of Norms Steamer Lounger that I made has popped up above.
That is extremely comfortable
If anybody fancies making one if got a Set of the brass fittings I imported from the states.






Rod


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## The Gent (17 Jun 2020)

It has been a long time since I watched a bit of Norm....even my wife periodically asks how he is doing...


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## Steve Maskery (13 Jul 2020)

Now then, where were we? Ah yes, I'd made the templates.

The back legs have the end cut at an angle to sit flat on the floor, but I did not cut this angle on the template. This left me an area in which I could drill a hole for fixing the template to the workpiece. The angle can be cut afterwards.

The fixing holes on all the other templates are located where screws are going to go later, so they won't show in the finished chair.







I've made the arm bracket a bit deeper than in the plans, because it looked a bit weedy to me, and I'm going to shape the back slats differently, but otherwise this is going to be a straight copy of Norm's.

To shape all the curved components I use two machines in tandem. The bandsaw is set up with a notched single-point fence (so I suppose it then becomes a double-point fence...) 






and the router table has a trim cutter fitted with both a top- and a bottom-bearing. In this way I can rough out the shape of the component on the bandsaw, leaving just a mm or so excess, 











then flush trim on the router table. By altering the height to use either the top bearing or the bottom one, I can ensure that I am always cutting with the grain.

The downside of this is that I don't automatically get the bevels needed on the upper and lower back supports, but sorting that out with a spokeshave and sliding bevel is not onerous.











Some of the edges are left square, others are eased to soften them. The arms have a 1/2” roundover on the top face and a 3/16” roundover for most of the underside, leaving the back ends of the arms square so that I don't create a place for water to sit.


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## Steve Maskery (13 Jul 2020)

I started the assembly in two stages – a front sub-assembly and a rear sub-assembly. The front one consists of both front legs and the front rail, which is screwed in from the outside faces of the two front legs. I know this is screwing into end-grain, but there is no force pushing the sides apart, and anyway, there will be several seat slats tying the sides together.

The rear sub-assembly consists of both back legs and the lower back support. I have to be careful keeping this square as the reference face (the back leg) and the cross rail are not in the same plane, so there is an element of best-guess here.

Norm bolts his back legs to the front ones, but I think this is unnecessary. Coachbolts are not very pretty (even good-quality, well-finished ones like the those I have bought), but, with a good D4 adhesive, I'm confident that three screws will be just as solid. And much prettier. These three screws are inserted from the inside and do not need to be counterbored. 






All the others in this build are counterbored and will be plugged later.

Next up, the seat slats. I've altered the front slat slightly, making it about 3/4” wider and rounding off the front edge. This allows it to overhang the front a little, which I think looks better, and have a softer edge behind my knee.






The rear slat is installed temporarily – it will have to come off when I attach the back splats – but I need it to work out the spacings of the rest of the slats. When the other 4 seat slats are pushed together, the total gap is 55mm. That has to be spread over 5 gaps, so each one is 10.5mm. I found a piece of scrap about 10mm thick and added a few turns of masking tape to get it to 10.5mm. I could then use this as a spacer while screwing the seat slats down.

The arm brackets are glued and screwed to the front legs. The arms are going to be screwed down into the tops of the legs and this is where I have a bit of a problem. I was always taught that screwing into end-grain was a no-no. Yes, I've already done it fixing the front legs to the front rail, but there are no forces pulling that joint apart. Here it is different, this chair is bound to be picked up by the arms, so a considerable amount of its weight is going to be pulling on those screws. Yes there are three of them, but they are going into the endgrain by only about 25mm, which doesn't seem very much to me.

So I am strengthening the joint by inserting oak cross-dowels into the face of the front legs, so that the screws will actually biting into face-grain, not entirely end-grain.






Fitting the arms is the easiest thing to get wrong, I reckon. Fixing the front ends to the tops of the legs is straightforward, 






but getting the back support dead central is tricky; it would be easy to end up with a skewed structure. So I installed the front screw into the front legs and a single screw at the back. I then measured diagonals, screw to screw, until both readings were the same and then installed the rest of the screws. 






I removed the rear support, applied glue and re-installed it.

Then I read the instructions...

Apparently this is designed to have the arms overhang the rear support by 1/4” each side. This keeps the arms parallel. Mine are 1/2” narrower at the back than the front because I made the arms flush with the rear support, and this has consequences for the positions of the back splats.

Fortunately, in my particular case, it doesn't matter, because I was planning to alter the back splats anyway. Norms are parallel and have individually rounded tops. Mine are going to be tapered and have a continuous curve across the top. I did this on my previous Adirondacks and I think it looks better that way. So this little cock-up doesn't matter. Dodged a bullet there, I think.


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## sunnybob (13 Jul 2020)

My major failing is measuring and marking (yes, I know there others :roll: ) so I spent an inordnant amount of time measuring those three holes on the arms for the bracket supports.
After drilling the holes, I dry assemble the chair and found They were back to front.
So I had to drill another three holes and plug the useless ones. (hammer) 

after finishing and plugging all the screws, I had 6 plugs on each arm. :roll:


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## AndyT (13 Jul 2020)

A lovely clear description as ever, Steve. It's interesting to watch you at work like this. 
To me, it looks so much more of a faff to make a set of templates, then rough out components, then trim them. Would you ever just draw out the shape on one part, bandsaw, then trim back freehand? Followed by drawing round the finished part to mark out its matching counterpart.

I can see how templates and guided router bits make sense for quantities, but not for a one off. 

Nice tip about wrapping tape round a block to make it fractionally bigger . There's always something to learn from watching along.


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## sunnybob (13 Jul 2020)

Andy, if you have no intention of making more than one, a template is not needed, but if youre going to make a pair or a set..... I ended up making 4 chairs and the love seat. I've kept the templates. The next one can be made in a day. 8)


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## Steve Maskery (13 Jul 2020)

That's a fair point, Andy. But I am making a pair and I'm pretty sure that my mate Charlie is going to want a pair, too.

I've done a bit more this afternoon, made the back splats and screwed one in place. So I've been able to have a "maiden sit". I hope I get to like it. It feels a bit deep, TBH. I might alter the side legs to be cut from 8" board rather than a 6" one. That way the back of the seat would be higher and the back could be steeper, not so laid back. Unfortunately I have glued some fairly key joints, so taking it apart is not an option.

But we'll see what it is like when it's complete.


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## sunnybob (13 Jul 2020)

I did find that it was tricky to get back out of. I'm just over 6ft tall and my old legs needed assistance from my arms. But once in, It was amazing how comfortable a bare wooden chair can be. I sold two purely on the guy sitting in one, after had said he didnt like the look of them.
To be honest Steve, I dont think raising the seat will help much, its the amount of laid back angle that makes it difficult.
One friend, a lady in her early 60's but very short , actually had to be helped out. :roll: :lol:


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## Steve Maskery (15 Jul 2020)

I've altered the shape of the back-splats from Norm's original, making them tapered (85mm down to 58mm, and I think they could go a bit more). I counterbored the bottom ends for two screws and installed the centre splat. I rested them in place until I thought they looked right and chose a gap of 20mm between them at bottom rail level.






The centre splat went in first, then the intermediate slat with just one screw, then the outermost splat. Again with one screw. At this point I discovered a problem. The bottom ends are not horizontal now, because of the splay, but the bottom back rail is. 






There is the risk that a screw will poke out of the underside. Fortunately that did not happen, but next time I shall use a single central screw – it will be plenty strong enough.

The splats were then splayed out evenly and screwed to the upper back rail. I just eyeballed it. 






I wanted a smooth curve across the top. It's easy if you have another pair of hands around, but I am working solo, so I clamped a couple of blocks in place and sprung a ruler against them.






I didn't realise until I'd finished that that gives me something more akin to a parabola than a circular arc. It's not quite what I intended, but I'm happy with it. Next time I'll try a trammel and see if that looks better.

Then it was dismantling, bandsawing, rounding over, sanding, reinstalling and plugging lots of holes. That took ages, actually. 
















Mostly I took great care to make sure that the grain matched as best I could get it, but one turned round of its own accord when I wasn't looking.






After a good clean-up they are both finished.






Verdict? They are very comfortable once I am in, but they are rather a long way down and still a bit laid back for my liking. I blocked up the back legs by 60mm and the front by 20mm and I preferred the feel of it. It is also plenty wide enough, I don't exactly feel cuddled by it, so I think I could easily reduce the width by 12 or 15mm, probably more.

My mate Charlie came round yesterday and sat in the first one. He gushed suitably and ordered two. So I've told him that if he pays for the materials and gives me a hand with the graft, he can have these two and I get the chance to make mine how I prefer. We are both happy with that. It just means I have some Sketchup work to do before I cut my new legs.

Cheers!


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## sunnybob (16 Jul 2020)

You had me going with that first pic. I thought you were going to have the taper one sided fan shape. :roll: 
I fell foul of the double screws poking through the back rail. I had to shape a second rail and add it underneath to cover the screws. I came to the same conclusion as you on the others and used only one screw.

Now you need the footstool, and the beer table. =D>


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## NickM (16 Jul 2020)

Steve Maskery":58e4rw02 said:


> It just means I have some Sketchup work to do before I cut my new legs.



I think your legs look just fine Steve. The chair looks fabulous too.


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## Steve Maskery (16 Jul 2020)

sunnybob":o03nctyq said:


> You had me going with that first pic. I thought you were going to have the taper one sided fan shape. :roll:



I think that wold look rather David Savage-esque


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## sunnybob (17 Jul 2020)

Nothing Norm made could EVER be that ugly :roll: It looks like something Fatty Arbuckle sat in. (hammer)


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## Droogs (18 Jul 2020)

I'm guessing SunnyBob hasn't really ever heard of or seen much of David Savage's work


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## sunnybob (18 Jul 2020)

Youre guessing that ugly is in the eye of the beholder, and that chair is so ugly I am happy to have never seen anything else by the same man.
It might well be a technical masterpiece (from my standpoint, almost everything is a technical masterpiece), but if I owned it and couldnt sell it it would be on the fire the same day.
Just because it CAN be done, doesnt always mean it SHOULD be done. :roll: 8)


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## Steve Maskery (3 Sep 2020)

I've finally got round to finishing the editing:


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## sunnybob (3 Sep 2020)

Lovely job Steve, just a shame you didnt do it a year earlier and save me all of the mistakes that you mention, and I made all of them.


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## AES (6 Sep 2020)

As per usual Steve, lovely clear WIP (are the pix "just" stills from your YT vid, or taken separately with a stills camera?). And the YT vids, all three, are VERY good too IMO.

With my own woodworking knowledge (I will NOT use the word"skill" in my case) I hesitate to question an acknowledged "Master", but frankly I thought you got into a bit of a pickle with enlarging & marking out those templates in part 1. And why mark the 1 inch grid onto the wood itself? Surely on paper/cardboard would be much more accurate?

But these days, everyone has a PC of some sort, and therefore has the possibility to easily enlarge/reduce complex shapes (though IMO Matthias Wandell's "Big Print" is by far and away the best available - usual disclaimers).

And not only that, ignoring PCs, from my model aero days, I learnt to enlarge such curves by measuring then scaling up/down where the curved outline crosses each grid line.

I do appreciate that with chairs and such, MOST of the curves and angles are not critical (they very well could be in aircraft, especially with to-scale modelling), but especially in the video it all seemed a bit laborious to me.

Sorry, just a comment, NOT meant as a real criticism.

Now I must watch your bench YT vids (P.S. I did "Like" and "Subscribe" on YT, so can I have a ride in your Roller when it gets delivered next week"?)


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## Steve Maskery (6 Sep 2020)

AES said:


> As per usual Steve, lovely clear WIP (are the pix "just" stills from your YT vid, or taken separately with a stills camera?).


They are Stills, Andy. In fact they are part of this thread.


AES said:


> And the YT vids, all three, are VERY good too IMO.


Thank you. Not everybody seems to think so. Someone, I don't know who, watched the first one and Disliked it. Then because he didn't like it, he watch Part 2 and Disliked that too. And because he'd watched two films he didn't like, he decided he must watch the last episode and Disliked that too. WHY?????


AES said:


> With my own woodworking knowledge (I will NOT use the word"skill" in my case) I hesitate to question an acknowledged "Master", but frankly I thought you got into a bit of a pickle with enlarging & marking out those templates in part 1. And why mark the 1 inch grid onto the wood itself? Surely on paper/cardboard would be much more accurate?


If I had access to a plotter, then I would have just printed them out and stuck them on, but this way can be done with no tech whatsoever


AES said:


> ...can I have a ride in your Roller when it gets delivered next week"?)


LOL! I wish! YouTube's rather onerous rules mean that I don't get a penny out of any of this. I have to DOUBLE the watch-hours before they will even consider paying me a sou. (It has to be 4k HOURS in the previous 12 months. I run at about 2.1K)
That's why Sharing is so important. So far, there have been just 300 views of all three films COMBINED, and that includes putting it on my own Facebook page and the Facebook equivalent of UKW. It's nothing. It needs to be 300,000. No Roller for me, I fear.


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## Cabinetman (6 Sep 2020)

The chairs that the two American guys made look to have a very thin front legs to me. On a related issue these rocking deck chairs are superbly comfortable but take forever to make. Ian


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## AES (6 Sep 2020)

@Steve Maskery: Well I certainly can't understand YT "likers/dislikers" mate. I'm just a YT watcher (of certain carefully selected channels eh!)  

At risk of going on (and on ..........) a huge advantage of Wandell's Big Print (again, usual disclaimers) is that you don't need any sort of "plotter" (or anything else fancy) at all. I've used it on 4 separate printers, 3 ink jet (including an old A3 machine, now defunct) and a B&W Laser which is "only" A4.

Cheers mate.


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## Eshmiel (7 Sep 2020)

Hmmmm.

May I recommend a look elsewhere at the Adirondack chairs recently made by another poster, to the Veritas plan. These are somewhat better designed to the human form as well as better on the eye, in that form-follows-function mode. I can recommend them for long sitting or even looking at, as I've made four myself. 

Also, there is a lot to be said for the employment of anti-rotting timber (reclaimed teak & iroko, mine) rather than that softwood that is so well-named as such. Whilst the teak and iroko may go grey if un-painted with summick, the softwood will go black and then to a sort of chair-shaped sludge that it would be unwise to sit upon.

You can even fold them Veritas Adirondacks up a bit for storage in the garden shed, although a teak & iroko one is not lightweight when carting it about. No.

Eshmiel


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## Steve Maskery (7 Sep 2020)

Well each to his own, of course. But apart from the fact that they fold up (which would be a bonus, yes), I prefer mine.


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## Eshmiel (7 Sep 2020)

One naturally prefers the thing one made oneself. Such a decision (to make that not another design) is due to a matter of taste, after all ..... but what else?

The Veritas version takes rather more making, having rather more parts. But it also has a better form than many Adirondacks I've sat in, a la Maskery supping cold beer and showing me leg to the sun. 

More curve in the back; with more slats, all heavily rounded over to avoid the ache in my human back from a too-flat and sharp-edged chair back plank; and less gap between the slats. Also more curve in the seat, with more slats and heavily rounded over edges, to better-fit my lovely bottom. The end grain edges of the seat slats are also enclosed by the chair side members, which improves the look and avoids spelk i'the hand, as one levers one's body out of the comfy spot or moves the chair.

They're put together with nice brass slot screws, which means the slats can be taken off so the chair can be properly refinished from time to time, rather than allowing the gurk & squelch to accumulate in those small gaps between slat and supporting member. Brass screws don't go rusty either. And they do look classy.

Still, that Norm design looks nice and easy to make and put together. And "whitewood" is cheap.  

Eshmiel


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## Steve Maskery (7 Sep 2020)

Eshmiel said:


> And "whitewood" is cheap.


It's redwood actually. But yes, I do work on much lower budgets than I used to.


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## MusicMan (8 Sep 2020)

Nice stuff as usual Steve.

BTW to make a circular arc rather then a parabola, you need to have the end constraints of the ruler accurately on a segment of the circle. The only easy places to do this are when the included angle is 90 deg or 180 deg where the ends of the ruler segment are also at 90 and parallel. 45 might be manageable. But it looks great anyway!


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## rayiberry (26 Sep 2020)

Over the last twenty or so years I have made four of Norm's adirondacks. The only mod I made was to make the back slats a few inches longer to improve their look a little but other than that they are as Norm specified.

Ray


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## hawkeyefxr (25 Feb 2022)

I made two of these a few years back, I had a some decking boards left over and used them. The chair s are a bit heavy but comfort is unbelievable.
They look like you will have trouble getting out of them but in fact they are easier than my settee!!!!!


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## johnnyb (25 Feb 2022)

I seem to have made loads of these last year maybe 40 or 50. I use templates for everything shaped. I don't trim on the router just got really good freehand with a bandsaw then shape on a triton spindle sander.i use stainless coach bolts. also decking screws ( the ones with small heads look lovely.ps I screw the arms from underneath. I lay out the arcs on the back using a big compass flat on the bench using 2 spacers at set distances then when reassembled on the chair they fill the space. I also like to paint the 2 coats before assembly then one when it's assembled.


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## johnnyb (25 Feb 2022)

I designed an adirondack table as well


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## Jameshow (25 Feb 2022)

Nice I'm glad you put a arc in the back as I did... 

Your arms are wider than mine were though.


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## johnnyb (25 Feb 2022)

to make the six chairs I had a delivery of sapele that was nearly £800. inch boards. from that I had to use the 20mm ones for the structure and 18mm for the slats. some were so bad I couldn't get 15mm out of it.


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## Jameshow (25 Feb 2022)

johnnyb said:


> to make the six chairs I had a delivery of sapele that was nearly £800. inch boards. from that I had to use the 20mm ones for the structure and 18mm for the slats. some were so bad I couldn't get 15mm out of it.


Spendy chairs. 

Mine was £20 worth of 1" sawn pine (pre covid!) which once scrub planed came out quite nice!


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## manicminer (9 Mar 2022)

Great work Steve, I have longed to make some of these for ages and your clear pictures and descriptions have inspired me to start getting some wood together. Thanks for the time you put into this.


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