Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Adirondack Settee

A client in Cincinnati ordered this settee after considering two separate chairs. Here is a shot of the finished product. I applied French Gray Milk Paint  with the outdoor additive and chose General Finishes Environ 450 outdoor poly finish for added protection in the harsh weather up north. I though I would share some of the step by step construction photos to encourage those to jump in and give this type of outdoor furniture a try. I chose pine for this project verses poplar.

Having built one of these about a year ago, I made patterns for all the curved parts in anticipation of building another. This saves a lot of time when repeating a project just by tracing the pattern to the wood. Adhesive is Titebond III with galvanized bolts, nuts and washers. 

Carrying the pine tree theme from the back slats to the center support section of the table.

Lots of curves in the back braces. The wedges on the ends get trimmed with a handsaw after assembly. 

Back slats attached to check spacing and fit. Second from right needed to be "adjusted" a little. These will be removed to apply the finish. All visible screw holes will be plugged and sanded flat prior to painting.
Back and seat slates pre-drilled and removed for painting. I found that doing it this way saves some time, and a certain amount of frustration, when painting between the slats.
Everything assembled, and ready for paint. The solid front seat rail is made by making a series of angled cuts and finishing with a #4 smoother and a block plane.

This style of furniture never gets old and I keep telling myself I am going to build one for my yard but there just seems to be so many projects and so little time. Thanks for taking a look.

10 comments:

  1. Looks good! Good idea about the templates- I have made bunches of the singles but not the settee. Pine works nicely but getting enough sans knots is a challenge.

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  2. Oh yeah, with the pine, the bottom of the front legs have a tendency to chip so a chamfer on the bottom will help with that.

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  3. Rick..What's a Handsaw????

    NICE JOB... I know a deck up in Canada that would make a nice host for one of these :)

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  4. Very nice - I think the color goes quite well with the tree detail inset in each of the backs.

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  5. Hi - just found your blog. I am down in Alabama. Very nice settee.

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  6. Thanks for the comment Jeff, not too far away I guess depending on where you are :)

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  7. Those chairs look great!

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  8. Thanks Light..and thanks for stopping by

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