Did I build a better DIY adirondack chair? Don’t settle for the age old outdoor furniture styles, try something new!
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I'm just going to say it. I do not like a traditional Adirondack
chair. I don't like the way that the butt
is way down to the ground. And you might just sit there
and not be able to get up. So today I'm
going to get my take on a Adirondack chair That doesn't put you on the ground. And
I think it's going to turn out awesome. As long as I don't destroy it
along the way. Oh, boy. In there. I'm using Cedar for this build
and I've got some a rough cedar Two by fours here,
but I can't really see the grain. So I'm going to run to the plane
real quick And then we'll see what work wind. I kind of have a love Hate relationship with Cedar
because it can just be really nasty. And there are a lot of knots
in these boards and the color doesn't Match exactly how I would like it to,
but it's what I could find. I'll pick through these
and figure out which ones are best And then we'll start building
the legs in the space. So the front legs on the Adirondack chair are going to be
a straight up for the back legs. We're not going to go
for the typical Adirondack Square. They just lean them all the way back
and it's like some crazy harsh angle And you just can hardly get up out of it. And we're going to go with a 15 degree
angle. It's a much more flat seat to relax
and actually enjoy yourself in. So let's do it. I got the first 15 degree Angle on the back leg,
but now I have to cut the bottom one. And what I want to do Is make sure that the length of it is
going to be the same length as the front. And so I just came up with this little idea And I don't know if it is going
to work or not, but we're going to try it.
So I'm going to do is take this little off Cut that came off the end
and this is at 15 degrees And I'm going to put this up, up
against the straight leg And then I'm going
to bring over my angled leg. And so now this is flush across the top. And now I can just strike a flush line
across this bottom. And it should work. So now I've got a 15 degrees the other way And I can just line it up against my mark
and then use this little point Against my stop block
and cut the other three back legs. I'll make it two chairs. I didn't say that I want to hit and cut the little top
stretcher that's going to connect The front and back legs for a little
15 degree angle on that as well. And here is what the little assembly
is going to look like. So this is going to fit together Or drop and it's cedar. So, you know, it's pretty destroyed now. All right. This is going to go together Just like this
and have a nice little 15 degrees splay. And yeah, now we just need some joinery. You can do joinery
a lot of different ways on these. You can use pocket screws,
you can use dowels, Or I'm going to be using some dominoes. Well, look at Mr. Fancy Pants. He drink that green Kool-Aid, didn't you? Yes, Jack. I've got a domino now. Yeah. Imitation and things. Three, All you influencers. No, unfortunately, they did not send this
to me for free to buy with my own money. Well, you don't give me that
$70 correction, don't you? Yeah, I mean, the comment is still good,
and you can have it if you want it.
Well, hot dog, I'm happy. Pig in mud. All right. Yeah. You enjoy that thing. All right, let's do some joinery. All right, Let's do a little dry Fit and see how these go together. All right, There we go. Turn down. Perfect. I guess we can do a group now. Groups can be a super stressful. And so to make things a little bit easier, I have a little box of goodies
just for this situation. These are offcuts
that are different degrees of angles, And I've got them marked on the back here. So we've got 15, we've got ten,
we've got 12. I'm going to use these to help clamp And then that way
it won't slide as much and move around. So keep it a little thing of offcuts
and gluing some sandpaper on there. It's making looks a lot easier. You're still gonna have disasters,
but at least it'll be an easy disaster. And I Am using an outdoor wood glue
that is waterproof. I know I was going to take this 15 degree
and put it right here at the end, And then that way
I can sleep it off straight. So this clamp is going to pull this
in a little bit. So I'm just going to throw
a little square in here And hold that in place while it dries. So I want to climb up the other three And then let them dry overnight
and they'll be ready tomorrow. Even though I despise the Adirondack chair
sitting angle, I think one thing they do well
is they have kind of a contoured seat. So nice little place for your buttocks. So I want my chairs to have
a nice little curve on the seat as well. And I drew this up and sketch up
and I took over to the CMC
And cut out this little quarter
inch MDF template. And that's just a nice little curve here. And I'll use this to cut out my two by fours for the seat and get identical sides. If you don't have to move a ladder
to make long cuts on your minus, Are you really even in a garage shop? Now know if you know this or not, But I have a major fear of commitment
with my projects. I was kind of worried about the seat
and how it's going to feel. So I built this Monstrosity. This is a mockup of the seat. I actually cut out some little MDF
side runners that are thicker And then put some legs. So the seat had to be the same. So even got a nice little ergonomic back. I'm going to put the slats on here
and sit on it And see how it feels. This could be a disaster. So she will lay the
little seat slats down here. Oh, boy. I hope that doesn't happen to me
when I sit down. All right, This is looking good. This front part Is actually what I'm worried about,
about how it's going to feel on there. I'm not sure how I'm going to keep these,
which are all tape. All right, This is so janky because I'm too lazy
to go get my wide angle lens. I'm going to sit on it up here. This could be a really bad idea. All right. Oh, my gosh. These front legs are a little wobbly. I'm not even thinking about
how the seat feels. I'm just thinking about dying.
This is nice. The going to be too deep.
Maybe I like this. Hey, actually, I guess we're done. This is Chuck's new Adirondack chair. And this. Get at me. Okay, But I think we need to see how
it fits some other members of the family. So have my son
come up here and check it out. All right, Up. Up there. I don't know how I feel about this. Oh, no, You should not feel good about it. Was it taped? Don't worry about it. No, it's okay. Just sit down. Just sit down. Gently. Skip. Scooch back. I feel tall. So tall. So the seat feels high On the table. Well, yes, that's true. Seems like a nice seats. Also feels like splinters. Well, we will send it down. A promise. All right. That's our way. I do feel good about this shape. And so now I can transfer it
over to the parts For the seat that the little slats
are going to sit on, too. And also, I can just kind of look at this
and try to avoid some of the knots. I'll double stick tape this on there
and then cut away most of the excess. And then I'll use a pattern bit to get it
exactly the size of the template. I just pry the template off Here now continues this and the flesh trim
bit on the other ones.
I do need to cut the 15 degree
bevel on the back here still. So the template just wasn't
quite long enough For the piece that I had,
but we could go on on the rest of them. Then we could put this together. And while I'm finishing Those parts, let's hear about today's
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for sponsoring today's video, I'm going to see bases already
and I've got the big stack of slots Right here to go on top of them. But I don't want to just
assembly straight on there Because I'm going to have to finish them
And these slots are going
to be really tight together With only about an eighth
of an inch apart. And so it'll be really hard
to get finished in between there. Even if I were spraying,
which I'm not going to be. So before
I put the finish on these pieces, I do want to put the counter sock Holes in there and I have a little drill
press set up with a contrasting bit And a little jig I made so I can just put it on there and drill
down to the exact spot on each one Because you want to make sure
that it is perfectly centered and aligned. Of course,
it's in Cedar, which I mentioned, Which is a pretty knotty wood. It's always doing bad things. It's got to fill these knots with glue. So it just helps that finish stand up over Time and water up in there
and try to rot out the wood. Since this is outdoor furniture,
I want to use a marine grade finish. I'm going to use some portable gleam 2.0 And for the first coat
I'll send it by 25%. And then for the rest of them
we'll do a full strength. It will have about three coats total
and I'm going to do that over on the table So I can keep working on other things
while that's drying. I'm going to sit with the chair
face, actually, Just like I did the mock ups tool
stretchers that go across on the inside. So that'll keep everything nice and stable
as I'm putting on the slats. And I did clamp down
a straight edge to the front. I'm going to reference The front of the seat bases on those
because if these are off a little bit, It could make that front me off
and then the slats will look weird. So the base coat is
dry and now I'm going to do some assembly And then I'm Actually going to spray on the final coats
after everything is assembled. I've got the 13 slats here
and I'm going to start with this And pre drill it and then screw it in
and then work my way back.
And I have these little eight inch spacers
that I'm going to put in between Each little rung. I may not do it in the front Because they kind of open up,
but definitely in the back. And then that will add Water drain if it does get wet
and it'll have a really nice look to it And it Oh my gosh, That's the one who dropped it. All right. Oh, that's looking good. Oh, yeah, that looks nice. And next up, I'm Going to make the armrest,
and I went ahead And cut it out on the side and see again. And I have a little template here,
and I like it being nice and wide Because it will be a place to put a drink,
maybe a plate, some donuts, coffee. I don't eat Mountain Dew,
so get these wide cedar boards. And I traced the outline
with a little extra on it. I'm going to cut that out on the mantle. Then I would come back and trim
it, flush with the router. All right, I'm going to switch over
to the pattern bit to cut the shape out. And I haven't told you something,
but all these router bits That I've been using today,
this is a special set. We have partnered with Whiteside
router bits. They make amazing router bits. So this is a fixes bill
black and white side exclusive So you won't find this anywhere else
and these four bits which are awesome for This project is like a great premium
starter set. So we've got the pattern bit An eight inch round over a chamfer
and a carbide spiral up cut bit. So we're doing a limited run to see
how they do and maybe we'll get more. But right now there's only 100. There's a link down
below in the description.
If you've been looking for some great
quality router bits, go check it out. The last piece is the shape Out of the back
and I'm going to have five boards per back And there's going to be a quarter
inch spacer in between each of them. Now I want to have
the nice traditional arch top on there Because I do like that
look of the Adirondack chair And I have a straight edge down here,
so I'm going to clamp it down And line everything
and then draw my article on the top. Well, With the
rough shape cut out on the bands on now I'm just going to sand to the edge
on my edge Sander here. And because it is symmetrical,
I can take these outer ones And then just flip it
and sand on both at the same time Up to that line I start from
this thing started coming together. I've got the legs here,
I'm going to put the base on and I'm going To clip a little scrap here to the side,
and I'm going to do that on both sides And then allow that to rest on top,
and then we'll secure it with screws From the inside
to keep all the fasteners in. All right. I'm going to take these off
and see what it looks like. I've got the back laid out here
and I've already got the spacers in. And the way
I'm going to hold this together And assemble
it is there's going to be a board Across the bottom
that will run the whole width And this will actually fit down
in between the little seat sides. And then on the top, we'll have
another one to hold everything together. And after this,
I've got one more cleat there That I'm going to put across the back
as high as I can go To get that good support
and link it into the armrests. All right. Let's see how we did spacers out, No screws poking through. So that's a win.
All right, let's get this in the chair. I haven't exactly played out
how this is going to work, But let me start by
seeing if this fits in here. Okay? Now I need to figure Out how to get 15 degrees. Oh, my gosh. Don't just fall through, please,
like that. All right? I got my little angle finder, which is Usually used for the table saw. But this. It'll work here, too. All right, so we can get busy Right about there. Oh, okay. All right. This is work, all right? Everything is held into place, And I'm going to drill a couple of holes
here to go in And secure it from each side,
and then I'll counter both of those So I can later plug those with some cedar
dowels. Now, I can use this last cleat on the back
and I will ride this all the way Up to the top of the armrest. So I'll get as much support on that back
as I can, and then I'll do the same thing, Attaching it through the side
and then plugging up those holes. Now to Attach the dinner platters or excuse me,
the armrest. We'll have these right up here in there And put your dent in your project
before you put it in the use. Makes it easier. Anyway, we're going to go right here
and that is a great Segway into To have some support
for this wide overhang. I made these little corbels
and I just cut these out And send them on the sander
and put little countersign holes in there. So of counter six
some holes under this base piece here
And I'll screw straight up into it
and then put this little corbel right here And we should be in nicely supported
and not have it fall off. Now this is one Adirondack
chair should be the seat Height is perfect for calisthenics
or just getting up there. We've got these nice big armrest to put your cold drink and just enjoy your summer. You want
check out some other outdoor furniture. I've got a playlist cued up for you
right there If you want to build this chair.
I do have plans available. Check them out in the description. A big shout out to the FTB Builders Club. I'm Brad. Until next time,
get out there and build something awesome.