Outdoor Furniture wood?

[azk404]

Hello

I'm going to make some outdoor furniture (2-3x arm chairs, 1x L-Sofa) and im just trying to gather a bit of extra info on wood type and joinery techniques before starting.

For the sofa I recon standard treated pine/spruce timber would be the cheapest option as it will be quite blocky due to having to add the cushion storage inside it, but if I wanted to spen a bit more what's could be a not super expensive hardwood thats good for outside? Meranti? Although not huge on the red tones but darker would be better. Or Oak from builders depot type thing?

For the arm chairs I wanted to also use a better quality/looking wood than just treated pine/spurce so any suggestions there please?

And for joinery, what could be some joinery methods for the circles, preferably with furniture fittings that can be hidden?

Cheers
A

 

[sams93]

The festool domino would work great on all of those joints, but you could hand cut tenons or use dowels for the blue ones (all with glue of course). Dowels would be simple to do and cheap too. You could either do them as through-dowels and make some out of the same wood, so that they are visible (which some people like), or have them blind so they arent visible in the finished piece. https://canadianwoodworking.com/techniques_and_tips/dowels/

Alternatively (and this is the least preferable option) would be to just screw the parts together and then plug the screw holes with dowel material made from the same wood.

If it were me I would use the domino because it's easy. If I didn't have one then i'd use dowels for the blue joints as they wouldn't be under much stress, but then mortise and tenons definitely for the red and possibly the pink ones.

Others with more experience and expertise will be better placed to advise on wood, but Teak is an excellent wood to use outdoors and isn't too expensive either.

 

[Steliz]

I read somewhere that Cedar is a good material for outside furniture. I don't think the joint in the red circle will be strong enough with dowels or biscuits as there will be a lot of stress on it. Here is a link to Norm Abrams Adirondak chair build which is joined with glue and screws and bolts.
https://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/norm-abrams-adirondack-chair/

 

[mwinfrance]

Chestnut.

 

[Jameshow]

I read somewhere that Cedar is a good material for outside furniture. I don't think the joint in the red circle will be strong enough with dowels or biscuits as there will be a lot of stress on it. Here is a link to Norm Abrams Adirondak chair build which is joined with glue and screws and bolts.
https://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/norm-abrams-adirondack-chair/

Cedar would need chunky sections as it's quite soft!
Larch would be a good UK grown timber.

 

[thetyreman]

sweet chestnut, teak, or oak would all be good.

 

[HOJ]

If this is conceptual, I'd make it with as cheap a timber I could get, screw it all together and prove the concept first, you will then get a better idea of "joint" options to explore, well before looking at spending out on "exotic" wood.

 

[ColinDeVelen]

I agree with HOJ, definitely get cheap for the first chair (and if you can, in the interests of repeatability, create some jigs and templates. I have done this for my chairs, and it works wonders), see how it fits. Personally, I have tried adirondack style chairs, and while they are comfortable, they can be difficult for some people to get in and out of. If you ignore the rocker prototypes I screwed to the bottom, this type of chair was made from a single long plank. It's basically two side pieces, a seat and a back. I made it in a day. And because I have templates for the seat and back, I can make the next ones with more lumbar support, or a greater or lesser roll over for the leg end of the seat.
FWIW, I made a pair of these chairs about 5 years ago, and they are still going strong. They stay out all year, have no finish, so went nicely grey.

 

[recipio]

Iroko is relatively cheap and suitable for a prototype. Templates will certainly allow you to repeat the design and refine it if necessary. I think most Adirondack chairs have wider armrests to hold your drinks safely. That rail to back joint should be a M/T joint - dowels will not be strong enough.

 

[HOJ]

This a conceptual idea I've had on the back burner for quite some time, made all all the formers for the curves and trialed laminating them which worked well but then had to move workshops, so it's been abandoned, I will pick up on it when I get a quite time..



I recognise this may be copyright, extract from an article written in 1999 by Keith Allen, (from when I had a subscription to FW)

"For chairs, I usually dispense with drawings and begin instead with three-dimensional mock-ups. I can test-drive a good mock up for comfort, and I can better assess how the chair is going to look. The mock-up can reveal any structural weakness early on as well as provide a convenient basis for precisely cloning multiples if I have more than one chair to make. I make mock-ups of inexpensive, even junk, material. The parts are typically fastened together with butt joints, using a few toe nailed screws per joint. I use #2 square-drive screws, 2 in. to 3 in. long, and pre-drill pilot holes and countersinks for the screw heads. Cutting a dry biscuit joint in the pieces being joined often makes it easier to align them during assembly. You can easily change the dimensions and the joint geometry of Mock-up parts by trial and error, as the chair design evolves experimentally."

 

[mwinfrance]

I agree with HOJ, definitely get cheap for the first chair (and if you can, in the interests of repeatability, create some jigs and templates. I have done this for my chairs, and it works wonders), see how it fits. Personally, I have tried adirondack style chairs, and while they are comfortable, they can be difficult for some people to get in and out of. If you ignore the rocker prototypes I screwed to the bottom, this type of chair was made from a single long plank. It's basically two side pieces, a seat and a back. I made it in a day. And because I have templates for the seat and back, I can make the next ones with more lumbar support, or a greater or lesser roll over for the leg end of the seat.
FWIW, I made a pair of these chairs about 5 years ago, and they are still going strong. They stay out all year, have no finish, so went nicely grey.

The nice thing with this chair is the "waterfall" front, most chairs are too abrupt at the front and are really bad for the circulation, the curve on this one is perfect

 

[azk404]

Thanks all for the brilliant info, lots to go through and unpack.

Definitely a good idea to build a prototype out of some cheap timber, I think il do that but I might just try it out of softwood treated timber. Would be good to get a better idea of thickness as well as im mostly guessing

Iroko looks like its probably there cheapest exterior hardwood to use as the finished wood even, by the looks of it, but the others also look like good choices. Il do a bit more research into them to see what fits.

Do you think it would be ok to use dowels for the base slats as well (as in the slats that would be sat on)?

Might be good to hire/borrow a domino maybe

Cheers
A

 

[Richard_C]

I like the idea of making things myself and much prefer to, but when it comes to garden furniture I ended up buying it last time around. Before you go too much further with design detail I suggest you do a rough and ready estimate of how much wood you will need and look at some prices. They have gone up considerably in the last 24 months. The total cost might surprise you.