Professional Documents
Culture Documents
by Organikmechanic
I designed and made this chair for my wife's Birthday. I Having enjoyed making it and with the added bonus
wanted something elegant and comfortable that she that she loved it, I'm now thinking of making a sofa and
could use both in the house and which could with ease maybe also a porch swing in the same design. However,
be carried out into the garden. making them as a surprise present is going to be nigh on
impossible.
The most di cult part of the whole build was keeping
her from nding out about it.
The actual cost for materials in money terms for this With reference to cutting rewood, I planed all the wood
build was $1, since everything was recuperated except I used to make this chair and because of this I needed to
for a small amount of glue and a few screws. The chair choose the best planks I could nd and those with
can be completely made with hand tools, although as I interesting knots and grain. So when working out how
wanted to make sure I had the chair ready for my wife's many pallets you'll need, it will very much depend on
Birthday, I did resort to using a router and cutting some the quality of the individual wooden plank.
of the planks with a circular saw. As this was a surprise
gift, using hand tools seemed a much better option and To give you a rough guide as to quantities:
the use of the circular saw could easily be attributed to
me cutting re wood. I must admit though, I am tending I took the best planks from 3 pallets to make the seat
more and more to use hand tools as I'm less likely to and the back rest and
make mistakes and it makes the exercise a lot more
peaceful. for the legs I took the 'Stringers' from a standard pallet.
My three main ideas for my chairs design were: My choice of planks and the fact that I was going to
plane them and router certain edges had taken care of
That it should be t for purpose, i.e. comfortable the second and for the rst I decided that I should mock
up pallets for the seat and backrest, so as to nd the
That it should look good optimum angle and that I should at the same time work
out the best depth of each for optimum support for the
That the arm rests should be at the optimum height for back and legs.
holding a book.
The Back comprises: A shaped arm rest fashioned from a plank 28" x 3" x ¾" or
6 planks/slats each measuring 20½" x 3½" x ¾" or 710mm x 75mm x 17mm this is screwed into the top of
520mm x 90mm x 17mm each leg.
The planks are pinned to a wooden rectangle 23½" or A Front Leg made from a pallet stringer 21¼" x 2½" x 1⅝"
595mm wide and 20½" or 520mm high of 1" or 25mm or 540mm x 63mm x 40mm
square section.
A Rear Leg from the same material 21¼" x 1⅝" x 1⅝" or
The rectangle is held together with screws and faux 540mm x 40mm x 40mm
dowel joints (more of these later)
A stretcher or bottom rail 21½" x 1½ x 1 or 540 x 40mm x
25mm (this length includes the tenon).
The Seat comprises
6 planks/slats each measuring 20½" x 3½ x ¾" or 520mm The Front comprises:
x 90mm x 17mm The rail previously mentioned upon which the seat front
sits
These are screwed directly into the rails connecting the
Legs at the front and rear. The Back Rail comprises:
A single length 27" or 680mm ⅝" or 15mm square
These 2 rails measure 26" x 1" x 1¾" or 25mm x 44mm x section which is screwed into the undersides of the Arm
66mm and the length includes the tenon which is one Rests and into the Back Frame. This rail stops the Chair
half of a mortise and tenon joint. Back from pivoting on the bottom xing screws. (It holds
the back in position).
Each Side comprise:
I rst spread wood glue into the joint, cut into each leg,
The width of the Arm Rest is just slightly wider than the front leg and is cut to a narrower width near the rear of the Arm
Rest.
The narrower width is just slightly larger than the rear leg.
I made the transition between the two widths by making a 45 degree cut and achieved a pleasing radius by boring a ½"
or 13mm hole. The two saw cuts were tangential to this hole.
Mortise and Tenon Joint As previously mentioned, the Arm Rests are each
A mortise and tenon comprises a peg or pin called the screwed into the end grain of the legs and these screws
tenon. This is cut into one piece of wood so as to t are then concealed beneath a faux dowel joint.
snuggly into a slot or hole called a mortise, which is cut
into the piece to be joined to it. This joint looks like a The Rear and Front pairs of Legs are now joined via a
butt joint but requires no screws or nails, and is a Stretcher or Rail by means of a mortise and tenon joint.
preferred joint of cabinet makers and carpenters. This now completes the Chair Frame.
The Seat Planks are screwed to the front and rear Support Rails.
The Planks for the Chair Back are nailed into position using 1¼ or 30mm panel pins. These were then driven home using a
nail punch and concealed with a little wood ller.
The Chair Back rests on the Seat Planks and is xed to Andy
the Rear Legs with screws.
LINKS
The Chair Back at the height of the Arm Rests is screwed
to the Back Rail. Eco Wood Label:-
https://www.soilassociation.org/certi cation/fore...
We left the pine to age gracefully, which if it is often used
outside will be a silver grey and most becoming.
However you can put any nish on you like. Tips for collecting and dismantling pallets for carpentry:-
https://thegreenlever.blogspot.com/p/using-
Hope you enjoyed the project. repurposed-materials.html#.YNH7QbpvaV4
Cheers,
Hi there and thanks so much for your comments - appreciated. There are some really interesting
and good quality pallet wood planks to be found - though not always on the same pallet.
Gathering them up took a little time but it was worth it and we collect pallets for heating, cooking
and carpentry, so all the rejects were useful!
Cheers,
Andy