Adirondack Chair out of plywood?

[EricSchimel]

Has anyone milled an Adirondack chair before? I have the design I want to use, I'm just wondering if there's a plywood I can use that will last outdoors. Would something like Baltic with a good urethane finish actually last year after year outside?

[knight_toolworks]

no matter what finish you use will fail after several years. now if you paint it that would be different. now if you could keep it out of the sun then that would be different. a underwater grade marine plywood would be the best but it is even more expensive.

[EricSchimel]

Yeah, I know finishes always fail no matter what... I guess compared with a good hardwood (like teak or something) is there any sheet good that can stand up to the outdoors?

[scottp55]

If you could live with paint as a finish...how about MDO?
It IS what they make most of the highway signs out of.
Joe speaks highly of it for durable signs.
scott

[EricSchimel]

I could live with paint as a finish. It would be super cool to see some nice baltic endgrain though. It doesn't look like it's meant for outdoor use though.

[bill.young]

Back in the cable drive days I did files for a plywood Adirondack chair that a bunch of people built, but as you guessed it was a massive hassle to finish it so that it would hold up. Someone made one out of imported marine ply and sealed the edges with epoxy which really turned out nice, but at $100+ a sheet for the ply it was hard to justify the cost with teak and iroko versions going for not much more than $100.

There was a ShopBotter making them out of sheet plastic at one point that seemed like a good solution. Maybe another of the old timers will remember who it was?

Bill

[knight_toolworks]

if you sealed the ply with epoxy then the water issue is taken care of but not the sun issue.

[bill.young]

I found the files...they're dated 2001!

Feel free to play with it but be aware that they are from the very early days and speeds and cutting depths are probably very wonky. They are quasi-parametric, using the actual measured thickness of the plywood as an input, but they don't have the commands for turning a router on so you'll have to add that...that was all done manually in those days.

And it zeros at the table surface instead of at the top of the material, the way you young whippersnappers do things these days!

30442

[joe]

I couldn't recommend MDO or any other plywood. Hey here's an Idea! How about good old wood! Then, sand and paint it. Should fill the bill.

[jTr]

I bought one of these, as I have no time running 50 hrs in shop and 24 more on weekends building my new shop:o

https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/patio-furniture/patio-chairs-seating/backyard-creations-reg-adirondack-patio-chair/p-1466526223535.htm

Thought about duplicating and buying some of the wide variety of plastic lumber available now. Problem is, at this sale price of $99, the plastic lumber would cost more!
Regardless, I think this material is a great option. Never stain. Never paint. looks as good as a painted piece.

Ultimate question is, do you just want to make a few chairs for yourself, or are you researching a possible product line for production?
That's going to govern material selection more than anything.

Let us know what you end up going with.

Jeff

[Brian Harnett]

I worked years ago at a company designing teak outdoor furniture, teak is extremely expensive unless you are buying tractor trailer loads. White oak holds up extremely well, I have had good luck with sapele outdoors too.

The Adirondacks pictured are white oak the lighter ones and sapele. the other furniture is sapele for the back patio of our library. No finish is needed on these woods I did coat the Adirondacks with sikkens
http://i.imgur.com/eKjKqZ4.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/RdwmUN5.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/5PYrvF0.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/jaUsV9W.jpg

[Kyle Stapleton]

We do it all the time out of ACX 3/4" ply, works great, just make sure to prime, paint and seal the bottom of the legs with some ploy glue.

http://www.rfsd.k12.wi.us/schools/renaissance/renaissance-woodworking.cfm

[myxpykalix]

If you want to make one out of plastic here is the cheapest alternative....lol

[EricSchimel]

Wow! This is an awesome set of responses! Thank you everyone!

I might give this a shot out of MDO... I've been wanting to try that stuff out for a while and this seems like a good project to test on. I was looking for a way I could make something out of a sheet good, pull it off the machine and assemble with some stainless fasteners. It seems like the only chance I have at that is using MDO, maybe some ACX.

In reality, as many have suggested real solid wood would be the correct choice. If I were making these for a customer I would definitely do that. I could see planing down some boards and making a jig to do that...

[bill.young]

Woot is featuring an interesting folding Adirondack chair made out of HDPE...they call the hdpe "polywood" 😃


https://home.woot.com/offers/table-in-a-bag-folding-polywood-adirondack-chairs-13

[joe]

HDO is far superior to MDO when it comes to longevity. Better looking edge effect too because of the number of layers.

[EricSchimel]

How the hell are they offering a chair at that price... I cut HDPE all the time and I'm very certain my cost on HDPE alone would be the same/more than that chair!

[Burkhardt]

How the hell are they offering a chair at that price...
Probably recycled material and molded with fillers or as structural foam? If these chairs were solid HDPE they would be pretty heavy.

[bill.young]

Woot specializes in closeouts and oddball stuff and usually have some pretty good deals. They list the material as HDPE, but no telling what form it's in or where it came from.

As an aside, I dont know if this is still the case but back when I was still working on boats Thailand had a massive tariff on teak lumber but not on teak products, to encourage manufacturing. We could always buy things made of teak way cheaper than we could the lumber to make it.

That was when teak was $6 bd ft in quantity...it's probably triple that now?




Probably recycled material and molded with fillers or as structural foam? If these chairs were solid HDPE they would be pretty heavy.