DIY wooden chairs. Chair: structure, materials and elements, diagrams, different types for adults and children Do-it-yourself decorative wooden chairs

No matter what product it concerns, working with wood is always creative. After all, the material is alive, and it is quite easy to process it. In addition, if it is properly processed, it will serve you for a very long time and with high quality! And in an atmosphere with wooden products there will be comfort and warmth, and everything will be familiar. We suggest you consider how to make a wooden chair with your own hands, which can always be used for a variety of purposes, starting with decorative ones. In fact, this is not a labor-intensive or lengthy process at all. The main thing is to understand which model you prefer and what main functions the product will perform.

To make a good-quality chair, spare no expense, buy wood of the highest quality. Even in this case, it will cost less than buying a finished product from the manufacturer. Beech, pine, and oak are most suitable for these purposes. The frame is made of timber with a section of 40 by 40 and 40 by 60, and the planks and lintels will be made from boards one to one and a half centimeters thick. If you need a chair with both a back and a soft seat, also prepare a sheet of plywood.

Prepare the following tools:

• Jigsaw
• Chisel
• Plane
• Hammer
• Screwdriver
• Sandpaper
• Kiyanku
• Clamps
• Stapler
• Tape measure and triangular ruler
• Carpentry adhesive
• Varnish/paint
• Self-tapping screws
• Staples

How to make a chair out of wood with your own hands? Blueprints. Video

The simplest way to make wooden furniture is a stool, that is, a chair without a back that can have a hard or soft seat. Look at the photos and videos of their production, thanks to which everything will be crystal clear to you.

So, how to make a chair with your own hands? To do this, you need to take four beams, the cross-section of which is 40 by 40, and the length of each is 44 cm. When working with wood, you need to make sure that there are no burrs on it. Sandpaper will help with this. If there are strong roughnesses, apply coarser. If the roughness is not severe, then use fine sandpaper.

You also need to prepare four drawers; the chair seat will rest on these jumpers. The dimensions of the drawers are 2 by 5 by 28 cm. To strengthen the structure, prepare four jumpers measuring 3 by 2 by 28 cm.

It will be great if the seat is made of a solid wide board. If there is no such thing, take the boards and connect them with a “mortise and tenon”.

Make spikes on the legs and drawers (their ends). Accordingly, grooves are also needed on the legs. The tenons and grooves are 2 cm each, the second from 27 cm from the floor at a height.

To check how tightly each part fits together, they should be assembled as if into a single whole, and after that you can glue all the parts together with special wood glue, as the Levsha workshop does in St. Petersburg. Where the drawers are attached, strengthen the structure with self-tapping screws.

You need to screw a self-tapping screw into each leg of the chair from the front side, recessing their heads into the wood, and mask the fastening points with putty and a plastic plug.

As a result, the stool needs to be painted, or simply varnished, this is at your discretion.

Variety of shapes and options for making wooden chairs

If you have a milling machine, you can make a wide variety of shapes and types of chairs.

If you have your own plot, and there are also cut down trees on it, using them, you will make very original logs of wood with soft pads. It’s also very interesting to process the trunk so that it has a back.

You can also use thick, untreated branches to make your own chairs by removing the crust from them and varnishing them. Here it is important to ensure the absence of knots and other protruding particles by opening it with paint and varnish material.

And here’s another option, if you make the most ordinary version of a chair into an ordinary rocking chair. To do this, attach the runners to the legs, and also make armrests.

For a child, the chair must be burr-free and safe - these are the most important factors!

A beautiful and elegant chair with a backrest is the best decoration for your home interior, which also has a practical function.

A handmade product cannot be compared with something purchased in a store. Show your imagination, add an original design to the chair and your masterpiece is ready!

Materials for production

To make a chair you can use the following materials:

• Metal– durable, reliable material with a long service life. However, it is not the best option for creating a chair, as it is suitable for public places, or at least for outdoor furniture. Metal furniture will not bring comfort to the environment;
• Plastic- a cheap and accessible material, but just like metal, it is not always suitable for home interiors. It all depends on the design;
• Tree known for such qualities as environmental safety, strength, durability. It is more convenient and pleasant to work with various wood species and their derivatives. When choosing what type of wood to make a chair from, stop at oak, pine or beech. It is important that the material is good dried and without knots. Working with beech and oak is much more difficult, but it looks very elegant and presentable;
• Often in carpentry they resort to using plywood, Chipboard or OSB, however, these materials “lose” to natural wood in all respects.

Making a wooden chair with a back

To make a wooden chair with a back, you need to prepare materials with certain parameters:

• Bars with parameters 40mm*60mm and 40mm*40mm;
• Edged board (400mm*480mm, thickness - from 10 to 15 mm), intended for sitting;
• Edged board (100mm*420mm), which serves as the back of the chair;
• Fabric for seat upholstery;
• Foam rubber (corresponding to the size of the seat);
• Glue;
• Sandpaper for sanding;
• Screws.

You can purchase ready-made, processed planed timber, or you can make it yourself. To do this, it is enough to plan the material using a plane and sand it with sandpaper in several stages.

For the first stage of polishing, paper numbers from 100 to 120 are suitable, and to add shine to the wood, use numbers above 220.

To work with wood and make a chair you will need the following tools:

• Saw with small teeth;
• Mallet;
• Clamps (a tool for tightly compressing parts);
• Plane;
• Chisel;
• Stapler for construction purposes;
• Conductors for furniture (additional fastening elements).

Drawings and standard dimensions

At your disposal is a drawing of the simplest one with a backrest. The dimensions of this chair are standard - you can follow them or make the desired changes:

• A- hind leg ( 80cm);
• B– front leg ( 44cm);
• IN, G– seat ( 40cm*48cm);
• D– back.
  

  Stages of work

  Let's look at the process of making a chair with a back in stages:

  

  • • Making a chair begins with preparing its individual components. First, cut the timber into four parts. Two of them should be 80 cm long (for the rear legs), and the other two should be 44 cm long (for the front legs);
  • • Make grooves in the parts using a chisel intended for the crossbar, as well as the transverse and longitudinal base. Make sure they are at the same height. The parameters of each groove are 20mm*40mm*17mm. The distance between the inner edge of the leg and the edge of the groove is 10 mm. Grooves are made on adjacent parts;
    • The back legs of the chair should taper smoothly. For this purpose, their outer edges are carefully planed at the top and bottom to 40 mm;
    • For the bases and legs (slats that connect the legs of the chair), 4 bars are cut (35cm long, 40mm*40mm). At the ends of the parts there will be spikes, which at this stage need to be cut out (11mm). Make sure that the sizes of the tenons and grooves match;

  • You might also be interested in how to make a wooden stair railing:

    • Transverse bases (42cm, 40mm*40mm) and spikes on them are made in a similar way;
    • The backrest is an edged board with tenons and dimensions 80-100mm*42mm. To attach the backrest to the back legs, make grooves in them;
    • Self-tapping screws are used to secure the seat;

  

  • • At the final stage, the legs and back are processed - the elements are slightly rounded to avoid sharp corners. All surfaces of the product must be thoroughly sanded;
    • All components are treated with varnish (preferably odorless). You can emphasize the naturalness of the wood and choose a transparent varnish, or paint the chair in the desired shade and polish it;
    • Make a soft seat for the high chair by cutting out a piece of foam rubber that is a couple of centimeters smaller than the wooden base. Cover the foam with durable fabric and staple it to the seat. You can sew a beautiful one for a chair and decorate it at your discretion;
    • You can start assembling the chair. To do this, all the spikes are treated with glue and driven into the grooves. For strength, the parts are knocked down with a mallet or pressed with clamps. The back and seat are screwed on with screws.

If you go to a furniture store, you will be struck by a wide range of different models of wooden furniture. There are many beautiful chairs: from stools to luxury models. However, such beauty requires a lot of money. Therefore, to decorate the interior of the room, you can create a wooden chair with your own hands. To make it, you must have certain materials and tools.

There are different methods to do this. When choosing a method, you need to be guided by the style, as well as its purpose. The work should begin with a drawing of the future structure, which should indicate all the dimensions of the parts, their quantity, and the materials necessary for the work. The success of the work depends on the quality of the drawing.

Required materials and tools

When you need to make a chair using wood with your own hands, you need to use only hardwood. The main material is considered to be wood that is well dried and free of any knots. For the manufacture of furniture they usually choose:

• pine;

It is very difficult to process oak or beech, but furniture made from such wood with your own hands is durable and reliable. To do this, you need to have:

• two bars;
• thick upholstery fabric;
• foam rubber from which the seat is made;
• boards of different sizes;
• sandpaper;
• furniture glue;
• self-tapping screws

The beams can be purchased at the construction market. Then they need to be processed so that they are completely smooth. To do this, they are ground until rough. First, the timber is sanded with fine sandpaper (no. 100 is suitable). Sandpaper No. 220 will give the timber the final shine.

Any work in order to make a chair from wood with your own hands requires the following tools:

• sandpaper;
• stapler;
• hacksaw;
• conductors,
• wooden mallet;
• chisel;
• plane.

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Technology and features of work

How to make a chair? First you need to prepare two bars. The bars of the rear legs should have dimensions of 800x40x60. For the front legs, the size of the beams should be 440x40x40 mm.

Grooves are cut into the beams for the legs and base (both longitudinal and transverse). All grooves must be made at the same level. To achieve this, you need to lay them together, the ends of the legs must match. Then the place where the grooves will be made is marked. Their dimensions are 20x40x15 mm. The inside of the groove should be indented from the inside of the leg. Usually 10 mm is taken.

To attach the bases, the legs must have grooves. There should be two of them in each leg. The grooves are made at the corresponding ends of the legs. After assembly is completed, the base will look like a rectangle. Each top will have a leg installed. A chisel is used to make grooves. Then the grooves are freed from chips that got into them during manufacturing.

The rear legs need to be adjusted slightly. For this purpose, an edge is planed along the entire length of the leg, starting from the groove made at the top and ending with the bottom groove. The result will be a smooth transition; the size should decrease and be equal to 40 mm.

After making the legs, two legs are made, and two longitudinal bases are prepared. For this purpose, four bars with dimensions of 350x40x40 mm are made. Each end should have a mark for the tenons. The tenons are made with a chisel from blanks cut with a hacksaw.

The dimensions of the tenons must be made in accordance with the dimensions of the grooves. They should fit tightly into the groove. The presence of backlash is prohibited.

Then two bars with dimensions 420x40x40 mm are prepared. They are needed to make the transverse base. For such bars, tenons are also cut.

The next operation will be making the backrest. It is better to make it from edged boards. Backrest dimensions – 420x80x100 mm. Grooves of the required width are hollowed out in the rear legs. The backrest is inserted into them.

The seat is fastened with self-tapping screws, and they must be screwed in from below. To make it more convenient to tighten the screws and give the chair additional rigidity, special braces are inserted between the bases.

To give a beautiful appearance, the chair legs must be rounded and then carefully sanded. The same operation must be carried out with the base. Completely finished parts must be coated with furniture varnish and then polished.

One of the last stages is the manufacture of a soft seat. A seat is cut out of a sheet of thick plywood, and foam rubber of the appropriate shape is made in the same way. When a chair cover is made, approximately 15 cm is removed from the edge. Then the plywood, together with foam rubber, is wrapped in furniture fabric.

The material is secured with a stapler on the back side of the base.

Experience shows that when making a wooden chair with your own hands, you must always remember the surroundings. The fact is that varnishing causes a very strong unpleasant odor. The neighbors obviously won't be happy. Therefore, it is best to do all painting work outside the apartment. For example, in a garage or shed.

Recently, special varnishes have appeared, the basis of which is water. They have no smell.

The chair is assembled from the prepared varnished parts. The spikes are covered with glue and inserted into the grooves. All parts are knocked down with a wooden mallet.

If you use a metal hammer, then its striking part must be covered with a soft cloth. Otherwise, the varnish coating may be damaged. The seat and backrest are secured with screws.

If it’s still worth thinking about the cost-effectiveness of a homemade stool, then making a chair yourself is definitely justified: an ordinary common chair from a home workshop can look no worse than a store-bought one, but will cost 2-3 times less. This is if you purchase material “from scratch” without using accumulated reserves. And if you go for something exclusive, which is quite possible for an average craftsman with a chair, then the savings will reach simply unimaginable limits.

There is one more important point. A chair differs from a stool not only technically, as will be discussed later, but also ideologically. A stool is an essentially utilitarian product; it is generally considered bad form to keep stools in the living room, or better yet poufs. And a chair is one of the pieces of furniture that determines the face of the interior no less than a table, or even more.

Subtle experts in etiquette judge a person's dignity by the quality and condition of his shoes, and the state of his affairs by the chairs in the house. If a person has the ability, time and desire to make a chair with creativity and taste, then he deserves trust, even if he is still in cramped circumstances. And these are only non-transformable chairs, folding chairs and, say, step-ladder chairs - a special class of joinery products.

The coniferous tree from which such good stools were made is definitely not suitable for a chair, even hard larch. Reason: any coniferous wood is straight-layered, and in the chair there are loads that can cause chipping along the layer - I would like to see less, but where can I go? Coniferous wood will only go into a chair in the form of plywood on the base of the seat.

For a wooden chair, use deciduous, fine-grained, dense, durable species: oak, beech, hornbeam, walnut, elm, rowan. Birch will be used for children's chairs; and birch plywood - for folding ones. Preparation conditions are general for furniture: room dryness (8-12%), not chamber drying, impregnation with a water-polymer emulsion or other harmless biocides, for example, highly purified mineral oil for furniture, oil-wax compounds, acrylic compounds for furniture.

Wood for a chair will cost less if you take it not sawn, but in solids, and cut it yourself using a circular saw or an angle grinder with a circular saw in a homemade frame. For some products, such as bar stools, you cannot do without solid wood, since lumber of the required width is either not available or is very expensive. In this case, you need to know that solid wood is sold for decorative and structural purposes. The latter are more expensive, since their mechanical properties are standardized and checked, while decorative solids are not.

The last thing to consider when choosing wood for a chair is that “decorative” defects are unacceptable. In a stool or tabletop, slanted, twisted, tightly fitting knots can be beneficial, ultimately giving a beautiful texture, but a chair made from such wood will soon break.

Stain is a special substance for treating wood that has coloring properties. It does not cover the texture, but makes the surface a tone darker, allowing you to create the effect of an expensive rock. Thus, you can make the same cherry or merbau from pine in a couple of hours.

A little about the finishing of the chair. If you want to preserve the beautiful texture of the wood, coat it with clear (or tinted) varnish. If you plan to use the chair outside, for example, in the garden or on an open veranda, it is better to coat it with PF-170 alkyd varnish or Yacht varnish - these products will protect the wood from fading under the sun and humidity. For “home” chairs, use a special furniture varnish. Nitro varnishes dry quickly, but they emit a pungent odor, so it is better to work with them on a balcony or in a well-ventilated area.

To make furniture from solid wood or plywood, you will need carpentry tools. The ideal processing of structural parts is obtained on professional woodworking machines, which are usually owned by carpenters who have their own workshops. Of course, to begin with, it will be enough to have a hand tool, which craftsmen have used since ancient times before the advent of various mechanized devices, but when using it, you need to be patient and prepare for long and very labor-intensive operations to process the material. Therefore, the best option would be to purchase or at least rent electric hand tools for working with wood. These include:

An electric jigsaw will allow you to quickly and smoothly cut any desired shape of a part from a board or plywood. After cutting wood or plywood with this tool, the edges are smooth, but the cut corners remain straight, which is not very aesthetically pleasing or convenient for pieces of furniture such as a chair, stool or table. Therefore, a router is used to perfectly process parts, round corners or give them a shaped shape.

Hand router - this tool is indispensable for working with wood. It is necessary not only for edge processing of finished parts, but also for selecting grooves and holes included in the system of fastening units.

A grinding machine will significantly speed up the finishing of surfaces and corners of parts. It will help remove large and small burrs remaining after the initial processing and make the surface perfectly smooth.

Grinding machines can be eccentric rotary, vibrating, or belt. To go with them, you need to purchase appropriate sets of abrasive paper of varying degrees of grain size (for wood, from P80 to P400 is usually used).

Screwdriver. This tool is useful not only in the manufacture of furniture, but also for performing many other works in the apartment, and even more so in a private house, so purchasing it will never be a waste of money. It can easily replace not only screwdrivers, but in some cases also a drill, so you need to select a set of drills of different diameters for it.

Clamps of various working lengths are intended for tightening the parts of a structure to be glued together or for adjusting elements during trial assembly. Thanks to this tool, the connections between the elements will be stronger and more reliable, which is important for pieces of furniture that will constantly experience high loads.

In addition, the work will require the simplest tools - a hammer, a construction square, a tape measure, a 500÷1000 mm ruler, a marking pencil, a knife, and pliers.

In order for the work to be carried out efficiently, you need to prepare a comfortable place for yourself, and it is best if it is a spacious, reliable workbench.

This type of furniture, such as a folding chair, is indispensable in many life situations. Especially if the house is small and it is difficult to place large furniture in it, and guests need to be seated for the holidays. And if you are suddenly planning to go on a picnic, then you will undoubtedly need such a chair.

In order to make an ordinary folding chair, you will need:

• Legs 4x2x47 cm - 4 pieces;
• Crossbars for supporting the seat bars 4x2x32 cm - 4 pieces;
• Legs 4x2x32 cm – 2 pcs;
• For the seat: 9x2x35 cm – 2 pieces, 6x2x35 cm – 2 pieces;
• Bolts with a diameter of 6 mm and a length of up to 4 cm - 6 pieces;
• To attach the poles directly to the legs, as well as the bars to the support crossbars, you need self-tapping screws, the length of which is from 4 to 5 cm.

If you have successfully completed the manufacture of a stool, we suggest making a “full-fledged” wooden chair with your own hands. For such a product, you can already choose more solid wood - oak or walnut, for example. In addition to lumber, you will need screws, wood glue, the tools described above and a cutter. If it is not possible to work on a machine, use a set of chisels and a hammer. For tinting you can use the same stain.

Below is a table describing the number and sizes of parts needed to make a chair with a backrest. At first glance, it seems that there are too many of them (especially when compared with a stool), but such a chair will turn out to be very comfortable and will serve for many decades.

To make the task easier for you, we have prepared a visual plan for subsequent assembly with numbered parts. In the future, to create your own exclusive furniture, you will have to make a drawing of a wooden chair yourself.

Progress:

1. You should always start sawing from the legs, no matter what kind of chair you make. Cut two pieces 38mm thick, 75mm wide and 1075mm high.
2. Measure and locate the attachment points for the horizontal jumpers.
3. Make two front legs - they will be shorter than the back ones. Height 420 cm.
4. Sand the parts using a sander.
5. Make markings and use a milling cutter (chisels) to select grooves for joining the legs and jumpers. Cut the upper ends so that you get a low pyramid.
6. Make 2 horizontal and 5 vertical jumpers 475 mm long - these will make up the backrest.
7. Make grooves in the horizontal elements.
8. Form tenons in parts #3 4, 5 and 6.
9. Bevel the top of element #3 from the middle to the edges.
10. Make a rough assembly of the back (without glue), adjusting the tongue-and-groove joints.
11. If everything is done correctly, disassemble the back, coat all attachment points with wood glue, assemble back and clamp with clamps.
12. The hardest part is making the side inserts. One of them includes the upper arch part No. 7, the lower crossbar No. 8, 5 slats No. 9 and 10.
13. Cut out blanks for these elements and for arched lintels No. 11.
14. Since all the arched elements are the same size, to make the task easier, you can make a template from MDF.
15. Sand all parts.
16. Mark and select the grooves on the arched elements - the tenons of planks No. 9 and 10 will be inserted into them.
17. Using the template, draw a fillet to get 4 identical parts.
18. Make tenons in planks No. 9 and 10.
19. Place markings on the upper ends and cut them out, fitting them flush with a cutter. To make the tenons on the tops, first use a rabbet bit.
20. On all arched parts and elements No. 12 and 13, cut off the tenons on the miter side.
21. Roughly assemble the side inserts.
22. Glue the connections and secure with clamps.
23. After the glue has dried, reinforce the attachment points with screws.
24. Close the holes for fasteners with decorative plugs.
25. Planks No. 16 are designed to support the seat. Screw them with screws to the crossbars No. 18, having previously drilled sockets for them.
26. All that remains is to collect all the pieces together. First, glue elements No. 11, 12 and 19 to the rear leg.
27. Turn over and insert the tenons into the grooves of the second long leg. Secure with clamps and screw in the screws.
28. Glue the side elements of the drawer and the side inserts to the finished back.
29. Glue the arched lintel and the front side of the drawer with the legs.
30. Place the resulting structure onto the sidewall spikes.
31. Install the clamps, but do not tighten them all the way - check the squareness of the structure first. To do this, use a square, place a chair on the floor and simply inspect it from all sides, moving away a couple of steps. If everything is smooth, tighten the clamps and screw in the screws.
32. Perform a final sanding, smoothing out any rough edges or sharp corners.
33. Cover the product with stain and varnish. When using polyurethane varnish, apply it in 2-3 layers. Apply a new layer only after the previous one has completely dried!
34. Cover the seat with soft leather or leatherette. First, nail a thick layer of furniture foam to the seat, and after upholstering it, screw the seat to No. 16.

Making chairs from wood is a very interesting and creative process, which over time can develop into a useful hobby. Once you learn how to make basic designs, you can diversify the process by adding your own details, using wood carving tools, and combining different materials. Anyone can make wooden furniture, but you can start with an ordinary kitchen stool.

These chairs have a very simple and durable design. The back legs and backrests are made from one piece of wood, 25 mm thick. It's best to make a template for the chair leg, and cut it with a bandsaw.

The next task is to make the edges semicircular. Using a router and matching bit, make a semicircle on the chair legs.

The back of the chair is a little more difficult to assemble, so when clamping, straighten it immediately and maintain evenness.

The front legs and bridges are a little easier to glue and assemble. Pay attention to the two small clamps on the corners, this is done so that there is full contact when gluing.

The next step is to connect the front and back parts. Be sure to place the chair on a flat surface during this step. If the chair is slightly uneven, or rather will wobble, you can install the clamp diagonally to compensate in the opposite direction.

Once everything is glued and the glue is completely dry, remove excess glue with a chisel. It's best to leave the glue until it's completely dry so you don't risk spreading it over a wider area by wiping it off.

The next important point is the seating area.

The seat is actually a simple square piece of wood, 42.5cm along the grain, 42cm across the grain, 16mm thick, with the back corners cut out.

To install the seat, glue another mount onto the apron, in which holes should be drilled for attaching the seat. The holes are also made so that when the humidity changes, it does not crack at the places where the screws are clamped.