Wood for Building Adirondack chairs

[Erik Loza]

Regular stud grade material, that and cedar. Both of these have huge propensity for moisture uptake through wicking. They don't last long in ground contact applications.

This has been my experience with cedar as well. It soaks up ground moisture like a sponge and pretty soon, the fasteners aren't really that tight anymore. The other issue I experience is the various joints and crevices in the chairs, were pollen and leaves and whatever, accumulate in there and hold moisture. I guess you could mitigate this by keeping the furniture on something like concrete or pavers but for those of us who have our A-chairs on substates like decomposed granite or just the bare ground, or under trees that shed a lot, it's been an issue for me.

I know this is not probably where the OP wanted to go but if I wanted a set of A-chairs that were going to last, it wouldn't be wood. There were some recycled plastic ones at the local garden store that came in all sorts of colors. They were about $300 each but honestly, they will outlast any wood chair and you can just hose them off. For, that would be worth it.

Erik

[Pat Barry]

Not incorrect ,just needs the "Rest of the Story". Guys buying in quantity for expensive work like Tom King can find suppliers but not many places to buy a few pieces of the really good. Real heart is hard and brittle really doesn't look like it could ever have been what most of us can find. A friend bought a few pieces mail order few years back,think it was about 15 dollars a foot and had a lot of cracks ,looked like sticks for toasting marshmallows. He tediously glued and patched it.

Come to think about it, I seem to recall the cypress came from logs they found in the bottom of a lake that had been lost during the harvest process or something. Really old growth stuff I assume.. I think Norm got a deal on due to the publicity he gave the salvage company. Oh well....

[Jeff Nolan]

A couple of years ago I built an Adirondack out of Lyptus and set it outside in an area that gets sun, cold, and rain. After 2 years that chair has weathered nicely, not splintered or degraded, and remains solid when you sit in it. The one problem I had was that the expansion caused some screws to snap off, but I think this could be avoided by using stainless screws.

[Jim Becker]

Jeff, it's a good practice to use SS on these outdoor projects for sure. Interestingly, the two Adirondack's that I built from cypress many years ago (NYW design) eventually fell apart, but every single SS fastener was still pristine. LOL (and salvaged... )

[Scott T Smith]

Scott, is it north of Gibsonville going toward the prison farm or in the downtown area? Can't picture where. Just spoke with Steve last week, he is still around but the young man who bought in is transitioning it into a lot less clutter and its easier to find stuff. Thats a grand log behind you. Have you created treasures from it? Tom

Tom, it's downtown.

The log in my avatar was milled several years ago. Here is one of my more recent large logs. 72" diameter, 14' long (two logs similarly sized).

Scott and logsD.JPG

Scott Bon and Shea slabv2.jpg