How to build the Adirondack Trio

hi I'm norm Abram welcome to the new Yankee Workshop about 20 years ago we built this Adirondack chair it was one of the most popular projects we ever did it's a good beginners project for a woodworker and it's very comfortable but a lot has changed in the 20 years that have gone by in fasteners and glues when we built this one we use rust resistant carriage bolts and see they didn't hold up very well as well as the screws and we left the screws exposed we use nails as fasteners and we use no glue at all so I think it's time that we do an updated version of the Adirondack chair and while we're at it we'll add a footstool and a little side table we call it the Adirondack trio that's next right here in the new Yankee Workshop good morning Sarah oh hi norm well you're in here bright and early this morning don't want to miss a thing hey that chair looks nice it's got a lot of age to it yeah it sure does and I built this about 20 years ago it's been sitting out in the yard people have been sitting in it it's holding up pretty well yeah well you know I could use a chair like this in my backyard you wouldn't really want to part with this one would you well you know people ask me that all the time my projects are like my own children I just can't give them away even for you okay but how about this we could build one together I'm no woodworker well you know people who built Adirondack chairs often are just amateurs using the materials they had I think with a little instruction I can guide you through it hmm well you know I have to time the show I don't worry about that you'll figure that out well it's your show I can try I guess well let's get started now an Adirondack chair is really a series of parts or shapes that are cut on the bandsaw now if you had a chair you could trace those shapes and reproduce them or you could go on the internet and look for a plan there are plans and books or you can get one of our plans and this is the plan for our original Adirondack chair this is the arm now this is drawn at a smaller scale these grids are 1/4 inch squares I want to upscale this to full size so here I have a piece of MDF you could use plywood or cardboard and I laid out one inch grid which is full-scale now we're going to transfer the intersections onto that so so for instance coming from the front to the beginning of this curve is about six and three quarters so I count six right one two three four five six and three quarters I put a little mark around here right good okay now this end is at about 19 inches right on the grid line this is 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 right so right on okay I agree Mike okay so let's find the high point of the arc which is between 12 and 13 11 12 and 13 okay so it's one full grid which is an inch and what do you think that is like a little less than half okay so mark that okay now we could continue to put marks or you can use one of these one of these bendable forms and what you want to do is try to bend that to connect those dots when you get it in the right point you just trace them okay it's a little bit tricky yeah and then you just hold it and trace it no okay thank you all right use the same techniques to trace all the other shapes okay and then once you cut it out you have a pattern to make your parts okay now we're lucky I have the original patterns that I made years ago for the chair made out of Cyprus okay so we don't have to make them but I could have using this MDF and those plans right you could have reproduced all of them okay now here's the stock we're gonna use today for the chair it's mahogany wow isn't that expensive well it's no more expensive than Cypress these days and it's a great outdoor wood it holds up to the weather it's not going to rot in fact this is material used for decking can you finish it sure so what I want you to do now is take this arm pattern and trace it on that stock all right line it up draw it nice and dark okay well now we're ready to cut some pieces but first we want to talk about shop safety be sure to read and understand all the safety rules that come with these power tools because knowing how to use these properly will greatly reduce the risk of any personal injury and of course the most important safety rule is always wear your safety glasses you got it ok so this is a bandsaw how do you feel about me working on the bandsaw well of all the tools in the workshop this is one of the safest so I know you can use it alright now let me give you a couple tips a bandsaw has a blade that runs up and down it doesn't move forward and back it's fixed in that position all the time the way I like to handle the stock is I use my left hand to hold it to the table not pushing down just a firm connection me and I use my right hand to steer think of it is like a sewing machine yeah don't come up here because it's hard to control the further back you are looking down sighting along that blade the better now what you want to do is imagine a line along the side of that blade that comes straight back okay and that's how you determine where you start if I go here I'm gonna be too tight I'm gonna cross the line see if I go here I'm gonna be way away from the line what I want to do is line it up with that imaginary line and make a cut okay so you want me to follow this line like right down the middle all the way here I want you to follow the line but I want you to leave the line I want you to stay on the outside of oh so the line is actually gonna stay on the piece right okay just a nice smooth motion okay you're ready yeah I guess so wait a minute Oh roll up your see yeah you're right don't have anything to get caught okay is this gonna be alright yeah up to your elbows will be good okay sorry about that okay no problem alright here we go ready yeah I guess someone's got to anticipate the curve you know decide to turn it a little bit sooner than you think you should good job okay okay well you did pretty well I mean you left the line you didn't cross over it so uh make the rest of the cut all right I'll try that's good hurry on that yep okay you know take your time we got all day right and the more you do the more comfortable you'll be with it and they'll they'll beat me Oh quatre good all right Sarah I'm gonna introduce you to another tool the chop saw because this is the angled leg and I want a nice clean smooth cut in the front I'm gonna screw another piece on to that the angle is 24 degrees so the first thing I want to do is set the saw okay to the left okay so push down it's a little stiff so you might have to just tap it with your hand to get it right on the 24 degrees okay all right now lock it by turning that okay okay now that's not gonna move okay now the stock you keep it up against the fence and tight to the table you're gonna hold it with your right hand and this is nice because it has these laser lines the blade cuts between those dots so I want to put the line between the dots no I want you to leave the line again it's gonna be on the outside of the line so if you put the red dots right on the line oh just right you're gonna hold it with your right hand okay bring the saw down start it and then push it through it a nice smooth action let off the trigger and when the blade stops turning you can lift it up all right all right I think I can try line it up all right line it up looks about right it's good okay hold it firm hold it with my right hand it's gonna kick a little so hold on tight to the sock okay hold on to the side okay all right now lift it off good okay okay yeah good yeah perfect nice cut okay the next piece we want to work on is this upper cross piece and it actually supports these back slats now because the slats are angled the cut has to be angled because I want full bearing between the two pieces so we're still going to use the bandsaw but it's a little bit trickier now I've tipped the saw table to 30 degrees because that's the cut okay as you can see yeah you've got gravity working again who wants to slide off so this hand now is not only going to hold it tight to the table but it's going to keep it from sliding down a little each over I can almost use both hands to steer it through harder to see the line yeah but remember loose and itself your way from that that's the key Oh Sarah say hello to the spindle sander hello what does that do all right well has all different sized drums the drum is 90 degrees to the table so anything you bring to it will stay at 90 degrees it also oscillates up and down which maximizes the use of the sandpaper itself now it turns in a counterclockwise direction so when you using it it's better if possible to go against that rotation it helps remove the material more efficiently and I kind of think of it like spray painting when you spray paint you want to be in motion before you start spraying here you want to have the piece in motion before you make contact with a drum it doesn't take a lot of pressure and just nice gentle movements if you need a little extra just slow down okay all right do the line okay right to the line now actually take it off take the line up okay by your pressure against it it will follow the crown jewel now I set the table on the spindle sander at 30 degrees to match the angle that we cut on this upper cross oh right right standing it is a little tricky if I come around the side too much you see that it's hitting at the bottom and there's a gap at the top so I'm going to take too much off the bottom what I want to do is look now over the drum right along the center line and that's my contact point and I want to stay approximately perpendicular to this curve so I want to keep moving around so that I take off just the right amount so a little tricky yeah but I think you can well sorry we're gaining on it yeah got all the pieces cut and drum sanded right now I want to ease some of the edges what is ease mean well it's a chair and we don't want sharp edges I want to round these over a bit okay the easiest way to do that is to use a router here's one set up with a quarter inch radius bit and this little ball bearing that's key to how it works that's going to help guide the router around the piece that bearing rides against the edge so you set the Browder in place you hold one hand on the trigger handle and the other one on the base handle start it up and slide it into the wood near the end and then back up - you just feel it start going around that corner and then start moving in a counterclockwise direction very good you're a good student thank you you listen you came around that corner you got a perfect round over pretty impressive for the first time well I've seen you do it a million times I also want to round over the top edge of the armrest with the three-eighths inch radius and that would be easier to do once we're partially assembled and speaking of assembly we're ready to start putting it together great so I have the angled leg set on the bench and I want to start with this lower back cross piece I have a pencil line for the back edge and I want this side flush with the leg so if I hold it right here can you clamp it to the table run that up pull it in all right that's pretty good now here's the drill we're going to use it has a pilot bit and a little bit of a countersink we want to make a kind of sink to conceal the screws okay so I put some marks where I want the screws just set the tip of the drill right on it okay right on that tip make sure you square yeah and start to drill all right here we go use your other hand okay good all right now before we put the screws in we're going to put some glue on it okay this is actually construction adhesive and I'm just going to lay down a small bead the screws will help hold it in place while it sets up but once it dries this is never going to move I want to be careful not to get this on your hands all right the screws you use these inch and 5/8 exterior screws mm-hmm there you go I'm going to take off the heaviest part of it and you can wipe the rest with that rag rub it pretty hard right that's one side let's do the other one okay the next piece is the front piece on the angled legs so I've taken the assembly we've made so far and set it on the floor I'm going to hold the piece flush with the leg again and even with the top and pre-drill for the screws a little more of this construction adhesive before we install the front leg now the front leg has an indicator mark here and it wants to be even with the bottom of this front piece and flush now I'm going to clamp that in place so it doesn't move around while we drill holes alright that's not going anywhere now the drill is set up with a quarter inch Brad point bit and I've got it marked out what exactly where I want the bolts drill all the way through so we're not using screws this time Norn know that joint takes more stress than any other joint in a chair I'm going to use carriage bolts just like the original but instead of rust-resistant carriage bolts I'm going to use stainless steel and they're not steel they're stainless steel so they can be outside right and they're not going to rust even though they say rust resistant on the old ones they did rust okay well how much are they well they're more expensive that's for sure yeah okay how much is enough norm now you want to pull it so the head of the bolt is just starting to crush the wood okay pull that like the other okay all right so the next piece we want to install is this bracket for each arm it provides more support I've centered it glued it and clamp it so you want to drill a hole right there for a screw but you can't wander off too far we might blow through the side okay it's straight as possible yeah okay I'm going to remove this clamp and the screw that goes at the bottom has to be shorter because it'll go through the bracket okay long screw so there's another drill set up for a shorter length okay drill a hole right there sure well now Sarah I've clamped one of the arms in place it hangs over the front of the leg about an inch and 1/8 I had a mark underneath there and I want it to hang in three quarters so I'm just using a spacer block it's a little easier than measuring now that it's located I want you to drill these two holes first okay okay I can get the drill bit and drill this one out and put the final screw in all right well I'd love to stay and finish it but I have to go pick up my kids that's okay sir like I said there's no rush I was another day tomorrow this has been a lot of fun all right okay good evening good a lot easier to do it when the arm is attached to the chair now the objective is to attach this rear cross piece to the arms you're going to drill a quarter inch hole now as you go through when you think you're getting to the other end back off the pressure and the drill I don't want it to blow out as I make splinters that's right okay good now just run a conservative bead of the construction adhesive that's actually going to do the work to hold this all together it's amazing how strong this gets yeah Whittle adhesive dries so you have these sticks supporting the back of the arms right they're temporary and they're going to assure me that the arm is parallel to the floor otherwise it would be out of alignment yeah it could be out of alignment or twisted right it all lined up Sarah I think so all right right in the middle I want you to drill a hole on the bottom and a counterbore okay perfect all right and I'll hold this and you can drive that first screw good all right say you want to have the drill 90 degrees to this slab and that's going to come out just in the right place good Sarah with these three slats installed the intermediate slat is centered between the two giving a fan effect okay like you got it now we have to plug some holes okay Sarah what this allows you to do is make plugs with scrap material the same material using for the chair we have 3/8 inch counter boys for those screws this is a 3/8 plug and you're using a plug cutter that has a hole in the middle okay so we need a dozen or so just keep going yeah all right all right Sarah these plugs won't stay in place on their own so we need a little bit of glue what kind of glue is this this is a carpenters glue but it's a waterproof version now I like to align the grain of the plug with the rain of the Boyd I think it looks better just tap it in and take a damp sponge and clean off any excess and then we'll come back and we'll trim it later now we trim them with this flush cutting saw just hold the saw tight to the slat cut it off and a little bit will still stick out so block of wood with some sandpaper makes it nice and even ok all right Sarah now we're ready for the seat slats same techniques a little bit of adhesive and some screws now I'm going to let this front piece hang over about a quarter of an inch you're free drilled holes on it okay yep a little bit easier we got lucky on this piece it's simply the remainder of when we cut the back piece that's right all I did is round over the edges right the spacer really takes some of the guesswork out of it sure does alright Sarah how does it sit oh yeah this is great norm this is exactly what you want in your backyard well now that you know how to build it you can build a couple more in your workshop maybe yeah maybe you know I was thinking how about a little side table yeah and maybe a foot rest of footstool sure that would be nice hey we got time this afternoon let's go well for the last few minutes Sarah and I have been working on the parts for the footstool it will go together something like this nice arched place for slats now the techniques are the same as we've been using for the chair the pieces are cut out on the bandsaw spindle sanded smooth and they'll be assembled with glue and screws the first step will be to attach this piece to two of the sloped legs okay so this is the front leg and I want you to put a bead of glue right there well with this much slope on it norm it's gonna be hard for my kids to and jump up on it Oh believe me they will find a way alright now we're going to drive a couple screws from the inside what's that for norm well Sarah before we put the slats on I want to make sure I keep everything aligned so this spreader which is temporarily clamped in place will keep the two legs parallel this angled piece will keep everything square so now you start to see what the stool is going to look like and we're ready for the slats okay sir that looks good you did a great job oh thank you who's nice so do you think you have enough energy to make a little table why don't you take the stool out to the chair and I'll make the table good idea Thanks call me when you're done I'm just kidding I'm just kidding really Sara here are the parts for the little table four pieces to make up the frame which will get screwed together for thicker legs that will get attached to the frame okay and then some more of these wide pieces for slats great okay that pulled it out of square a little so bring it back okay tight against that I'll drill the next hole all right Sara let's check the base for squareness that's 2076 right so that diagonal and this is exactly 20 and 7/16 all right good square and now we're ready for the top slats okay you didn't put any glue down no I'm attaching them then I'm going to lay out an arch on each end remove them make the cuts and then put them back back on and did you make up this design yourself or did you find it somewhere else no this is all norm all the time all right Sarah now you can bung the holes we can have some web all right looks great have some iced tea norm thanks Sarah well thank you norm this has been such a special treat for me or a great teacher and I had a great time well you did very well great so what do you think we're gonna build together next time together hmm how about you say we tackle a Chippendale High boy hmm I'm quite ready Helen let me go to sit here for a while well you got a great star Thanks and now for next time we're going to build another piece of outdoor furniture we call it the all-weather loveseat the frame is made out of solid teak with mortise and tenon joinery so it's quite strong and it's a woodworking challenge because most of the parts are curved it then has these upholstered cushions which will stand up to sunlight and rain and anything you can throw at them so join us next time as we build the all-weather loveseat right here in the new Yankee Workshop order a home video or a measured drawing the project you've just seen please call eight six six five four five nine seven zero eight additional information is available at new Yankee comm

Channel: Todd Schoolcraft

Views: 168,570

Rating: 4.9137468 out of 5

Keywords: Adirondack, Chair, Trio

Id: TwFVNcaFCwo

Length: 24min 53sec (1493 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 28 2014