WHAT IT TAKES
TIME: 2 weekends
SKILL LEVEL: Intermediate
At first glance, this trio of handcrafted outdoor furniture looks as if it’s been part of the family for generations. The structure is solid and traditional, and the wood is stained a rich, weathered gray.
The carefully fitted joints give this chair, love seat and table the true look of furniture and not a stapled-together crate. Despite the refined look, they’re not difficult to build. The construction-grade cedar parts are joined with dowels, glue, and screws hidden by wood plugs.
The knots and imperfections characteristic of lower grade cedar add to the furniture’s charm. When you select your wood, however, be sure the knots are tight, the boards are straight, and there are no cracks to weaken the furniture.
To achieve the aged appearance, we brushed on a liberal coat of thinned-down gray deck stain (one part stain to two parts mineral spirits). We continued brushing with the grain until the stain saturated the wood. To simulate wear, we brushed some areas even more to lighten the stain.
The three pieces should take you about two weekends to build. To simplify and speed up the cutting, we’ve provided templates for the shaped pieces that you can transfer to thin plywood.
The construction of all three pieces is very similar. We’ll show you step-by-step how to build the chair; then you’ll be able to build the love seat, which is essentially a longer version of the chair. One difference is the layout of the love seat’s back top; see (B) in Figure A. Also, the love seat has an added center seat support (K) that’s cut to fit between the back bottom and front seat supports (D). Glue and screw this extra piece in place just before attaching the seat slats (G). After making the chair and love seats, you’ll find the table a snap (Figure B).
Gather all the tools plus your standard layout and carpentry tools. Using scrap 1/4-in.-thick plywood, make full-size templates of the shapes for the back legs (A), chair back top (B), arms (E), and side seat supports (F). Start by cutting your template stock to the rectangular sizes shown in the patterns in Figure A. Draw a 1 x 1-in. grid on your template pieces, then transfer and enlarge the shapes from our drawings to your templates (Photo 1). Mark the screw locations too. Cut out the template shapes and sand the sawn edges smooth.
Cut all the pieces A through J to the dimensions given in the Cutting List. Trace the shapes from your completed templates onto the back legs, chair back top, and side seat supports (A, B and F). Cut out the shapes using a jigsaw or band saw, then sand the sawn edges smooth (Photo 2). You’ll shape the arms after you assemble the chair by cutting and fitting the notches at the rear of the arms around the back legs.
Lay out and drill the screw plug holes and screw clearance holes in the legs (A and C). Lay out and drill the dowel holes on the edges of the back top and back bottom (B and D), and in the ends of the side seat supports, side stretchers and back slats (F, H and J); see Photo 3.
Laying out the back slat dowel holes in the back top (B) and back bottom (D) can be a little tricky, so be careful. Don’t measure from one mark to the next. Instead, add the dowel hole spread distances together, and measure and mark from one end with your tape measure. When you’re done marking, double-check everything. Remember, you’ll be using 5/16-in.-dia. dowels for these holes. To correctly mark these back-slat dowel hole locations, assume a spread of 3/4 in. between the dowel hole centers. The first hole center for the first slat is 1-1/4 in. from the end of B and D. The next hole center is another 3/4 in. from the first. The first hole center for the second slat is an additional 1-5/8 in. plus 3/4 in. for the next hole. For the first hole center for the third slat, measure an additional 1-5/8 in., then another 3/4 in. Continue this method until the last slat.
Now’s the time to round some sharp edges and do some sanding before assembly. Mount a 3/8-in.-radius round-over bit in a router to rout the edges on the pieces (Photo 4). See Figure A for which edges to round. Leave the router set up this way to do the edges of the arms after the shapes are cut.
Using a belt sander first, then an orbital sander, finish-sand all the pieces. You’ll still have a bit more to do later after the chair’s assembled.
Glue, dowel and clamp the side assemblies (A, C, F and H) together (Photo 5). Use a thin dowel or stick to spread the glue in the dowel holes. We found it was better to gently hammer the dowels in the ends of pieces F and H first. Putting dowels in the legs first may cause some of the ends of these pieces to split when all the pieces are assembled.
Glue, dowel and clamp the back pieces together (B, D and J). Start by inserting two dowels in one end of every back slat (J). Glue and clamp the back slats to the back top (B), one at a time. Insert the dowels in the other ends of the back slats. Then, with the help of a friend, align and attach the back bottom (D). Start at one end and work to the other end.
Align, glue and screw the sides to the assembled back and the front seat support (D). Once again, an extra set of hands is helpful here.
Trim the length of the front seat slat (G) so it fits between the front legs. Cut the notched ends of the back seat slat as shown in Figure A and see that it fits between the back legs. Lay out and drill the screw plug and clearance holes (for the wood plugs) in the seat slats, then glue and screw the front and back seat slats in place. Attach the rest of the seat slats so the gaps between them are equal.
To make wood plugs to cover the recessed screws, use a 3/8-in.-dia. plug cutter. Glue and insert the plugs in the holes to cover the screws. Drill a shallow 3/4-in.-dia. hole in a piece of scrap wood. Fill the hole with glue and use it as a reservoir to dip the plugs in and apply the glue. When the glue is dry, trim off the tops of the plugs (Photo 6).
Trace the back leg notches from your arm template to the arm pieces (E). Then cut out the notches using a jigsaw or band saw (see Figure A for the dimension and angle details). Make the final fit of the angled inside radiused corners using a round file (Photo 7). When that’s done, trace and cut out the shapes of the arms and rout the rounded-over edges. Predrill the plug and screw holes, then finish-sand and attach the arms (Photo 8) with galvanized deck screws.
You can protect your furniture with exterior deck stain as we described on p. 65. A clear exterior finish is another option, but it will slow down the aging process. It depends on the look you want. However, be sure you choose some type of waterproof finish to keep the pieces from drying out and splitting.