Cedar Adirondack Chair and Patio Set Part 2

This is part two of the Adirondack chair build.  If you missed part one.  You can click right here.

So far we have covered the arm rests, the seat frames and the seat slats.

I’m now going to cut the back slats, the ones that will run vertically, to rough length on the miter saw.  I need 7 back slats.  I’m going to edge glue two 1x4 pieces together and then rip these down to the width that I want later.

While those are drying in the clamps I’ll go back to the miter saw and cut two back frame pieces.  These will get a radius cut into them to accept the back slats.  Now a quick Google search for “How to figure the radius of an arc” will yield 7,760,000 search results.  Any number of those will provide a calculator and do the dirty work for you.

Here is a link to the calculator I used.

I wanted to come in 3/4" on each side of the board so I subtracted 1.5" from 19" (the length of my board).  I then plugged in 17.5 into the calculator for the width and 2" for the height.  That gave me a radius of 20.140625".

So I’ll mark the center of my board.  Then measure two inches up from the center.  From that cross point I’ll measure 20 and one eighth inches perpendicular to the board. 

In case you haven’t noticed, this doesn’t have to be perfect or exact.  In fact, you could hand draw this if you wanted or break out an oversize compass and make it perfect.  Just for the sake of variety, I’m using the band saw to cut the radius.  The jigsaw would be completely acceptable.

 
I’m going to smooth out the band saw blade marks at the drill press.

 
Those are done and I’ll set those aside and go back to the miter saw and cut the back legs.  The front legs are next and I’ll switch to the table saw miter gauge to cut them both at the same time.  I’m going to make some tapered cuts in all four legs.

No scientific measurements here, simply what feels right.  I'll connect two marks and line the boards up on the tapering jig.  Same process for the back legs.

Remember those back slats in the clamps?  Those are dry.  Lets take them out and rip them to width on the table saw.  I’ll get three back slats out of each of the two glue ups about 2 and a quarter inches wide.  I’ll rip that last one out of a 1x4 and the off cut piece will be used later in the project.  I have figured this all out to have very little waste.

I forgot to round over the edges of the arm rests when I rounded over the edges of the seat slats, so I’ll do that now before I start assembly.

I have set up two stop blocks on the drill press.  Because these screws are so close to the edge I think it’s imperative to predrill these holes.  One of the drills is set up with a countersink bit and the other with the bit I will need to drive the screws.

I'm using a couple of screws as spacers for the seat slats.

After attaching the seat slats you should have something that looks like this.

 We will finish up the Adirondack chair in part 3.

If you have not seen the video for Part 2 yet you can watch it at the top of this page.  Don't forget you can find me on Youtube, Facebook and Pinterest.

Happy DIY'ing