Folding Chairs

[bbrozo]

Here are some folding chairs I recently made. The Shopbot was used for cutting all of the components. I made 4 of them, two for the front porch and two for the back porch. It's my first attempt at making chairs but worked out nicely I think.

Two challenges for this project were the "folding" aspect and attaching the seat securely to the chair (this always seem to be the weakest link for folding chairs).

They are made of hickory and finished with Tried & True Varnish Oil/Danish Oil (2:1). I agonized some over using T&T on chairs that would be outside but both porches are protected from rain and sun so decided to go with it.

Thanks for looking...
Bill

[steve_g]

Very nice Bill... They look like they have their roots in civil war campaign chairs. Did you make your own design or find them elsewhere?

SG

[bbrozo]

Actually, we had the original chair on the back porch for several years. No one ever sat in it because, quite frankly, it didn't look too solid and leaned a little to one side. But then, about 4 years ago, I finally sat in the chair and was quite surprised how comfortable it was and remarked to a family friend that I was going to duplicate the design.

I don't know for sure where the original chair came from but we used to go to alot of auctions and I think it was thrown in with one of the lots we bought. So, I don't really know where it originated. And, the original chair seat was actually a rug piece. So, you can imagine that it really wasn't very pretty. But, I liked the contour of the armrests, the back rest was quite comfortable with support in just the right spots.

As always happens when I see something I like, I had to "improve" it. So, I used the dimensions from the original chair as a starting point and made the chair about 4 inches wider, re-designed how the seat attaches to the chair and used a different approach for the hinges so they would be hidden.

Anyway, interesting comment re: civil war campaign chairs. I hadn't thought of that. I'll have to do some research on that. I really would like to know where the original came from. Thanks for the kudos.

Bill

[myxpykalix]

I imagine they are lightweight and easy to move around if you want to. Nice design and finishing on it....good job!

[zeykr]

Very nice! Can we see a picture of it folded?

[phil_o]

I posted a chair of similar design a few months ago.
http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15622&highlight=civil+chair

Phil

[bbrozo]

Thanks for the compliments guys. I really enjoyed making them. I'll post a picture of the chair folded later this morning.

Phil - Very nice chair. It looks really good in cherry. I chose hickory since I was trying to keep the costs down. I'm thinking I might be building alot more of these chairs for sale if I can get the material cost and labor down to a reasonable level. I live in an area where there is a substantial market for local crafts and this might be an item that may be marketable.

Bill

[bbrozo]

Here are several pics of the chair folded up. One of the things I didn't like about the original chair was the exposed joints. So I used a hidden joint - it also saved alot on the cost.

Bill

[bbrozo]

Rotated the second image...

[ssflyer]

Great job, Bill. I like the hidden joint (and the cost savings)

I'm sure these are marketable!

[bbrozo]

Thanks Ron. They will be "field tested" for a couple of months first before I try to sell them.

Bill