Blood, Sweat, and Sawdust

It’s getting warm, which means I’ll likely be building lots of outdoor furniture. Here I’m using Cypress to build a pair of Adirondack chairs for a new customer. They will be based off of Norm Abram’s classic design, but differ in a few key details. This time I will be using a template on a router table to cut all of my curved pieces to size. I hope that this will speed up the build process. Once all of the parts are cut to size, I will assemble the chairs with stainless hardware and an exterior wood glue. I will finish them with Epifane’s Clear Varnish. This should help them to hold up to the elements for decades.

Cypress is great for outdoor furniture.  It’s naturally bug and rot resistant, and it’s also light weight.  My first pair of Adirondack chairs have been sitting in the backyard for about a year now.  They are in direct contact with the wet ground, and in full sunlight.  Despite being unfinished, they show now signs of giving up.

I created a template out of mdf (left).  I will use it to cut the rough sawn pieces (right) to final dimensions.  This will ensure that all pieces are uniform and greatly speed the build process.