Having read a number of postings about the sometimes short life of outdoor furniture I thought I'd try my hand at "lifetime" Adirondack chairs. I need to keep better documentation of the designs I use because I don't remember the name of this versions author. Moving on, the joinery is a little complex with biscuits, mortise and tenon along with sliding dovetails. Add in glue and screws and you can see why the lifetime tag is not too much of a stretch. It even has biscuits between the back slats near the top to keep them fair with each other. The first iteration was done in pine because I've learned to make the mistakes with cheaper material 1st (usually). A little stain, a little teak oil, then wax and out the door it went. Given to the first neighbor who asked; "Who is that made for"? Keeping with the longevity ideal the production versions were constructed of 4/4 Honduran Mahogany with hand rubbed oil finishes waxed to a nice shine. I coated the bottom of all legs with penetrating epoxy to prevent "wicking" up the end grain. Throw in one of my folding tables done in the same material and you are ready to enjoy the beveridge of your choice on the porch or out in the grass.
As for the loveseat, well here we go again. This is the pine version. Got to save up for the mahogany.
Some of my most creative moments have been when I've had to cover up an error in my woodworking.
Have you considered a 3D package on the PC... Not sure how long it took on paper, however, I did this in Sketchup in a few minutes, and it took most of the time colouring it in.
Not necessarily spruiking Sketchup as there are many 3D designers available.
Even using layout lines for 2D, which only took me about 20 minutes just to do those 9 rhumbi... hell, I now appreciate your effort on paper... my head is spinning after that.
Cheap and woodwortking in the same sentenc is an oxymoron!
I have what is known as Hyperphantasia. I have the ability to "see" it in my brain. Setting it down on paper or melamine as it were is actually quite simple. Once scale has been established, this took less than 5 minutes. Having worked years in a ship/boat building CAD enviroment I found for one offs or repair projects our time was better spent on hand done plan and elevation drawings than re-inventing the wheel inputting data to CAD to produce the same thing. The physical job usually took less time to perform. Here again I don't re-invent the wheel for each project. Most are done to the same 30 degree angle (R & L) from the perpendicular. No guess work and each representation is made from the same size material. Keeps everything simple. All that said, the miters still have to be accurate so I'm still on the hook for the craftsmanship part as well.
Some of my most creative moments have been when I've had to cover up an error in my woodworking.
