I have not seen those before, but the picture looks really neat!

Hey! I've made chairs like that! I think they're called baja chairs, maybe...?

Anyhow, my in-laws had chairs like that made out of teak, and I loved them. They were SO comfortable to sit in. Before they sold their house (garden furniture was included in the sale), I took measurements and notes on the design. And then I built some out of cedar. I made the first ones about nine years ago, and added a second set about three years ago - the first set is still in great (weathered) shape.

I will try to dig up my plans for you. I used 2x2's joined together with threaded rods. The short 2x2's are all the same length; the back and seat pieces vary in length a bit because of the legs.

I made matching tables too.

PS - here's a pic of my chairs on the patio:

{{gwi:1738}}

Thought I'd posted a followup - it's disappeared. I would love to have the plans for the 'baja chairs'.

Surf g - your garden pic is incredible. A jungle indeed.

Will go to the cedar supply place soon just to check available sizes. Hope to build a cedar pergola and make some of these chairs and then chill. Are they as comfortable as they look?! Ever put cushions on them?

Psyched in Sugar Hill, GA
Rosie

I replied to the "baja chairs" post, but I'll re-post here too just in case. Thanks Rosie - I do love my jungle! Yes, the chairs are as comfortable as they look. I don't use cushions at all. My husband did modify one chair ("his" chair) though, by using a grinder on the seat front so that the wood edges were smooth against the backs of your legs. Nice touch, I have to admit.

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OK, I found my little scraps of paper with the plans, and will try to make my hand-scrawled notes understandable.

If you were to look at the chairs face-on, you would see 8 long pieces that make up the chair back, 8 shorter pieces that make up the seat, and 9 very short pieces that join the back to the seat. Let's refer to the pieces by number, from left to right (or right to left, it doesn't matter): Back 1 through 8 (B1, B2, B3, etc); Middle 1 through 9 (M1, M2, M3, etc); and Seat 1 through 8 (S1, S2, S3 etc).

The length or each 2x2 slat is as follows:

B1, B8: 110 cm
B2, B4, B5, B7 : 82.5 cm
B3, B6: 76.5 cm

M1-M9: 20 cm

S1, S2, S4, S5, S7, S8: 38 cm
S3, S6: 84 cm

The slats vary in length because some of them make up legs as well as being part of the seat/back. Of the seat slats, all but S3 and S6 will have their ends butt up against corresponding slats that make up the back. S3 and S6 back slats butt up against slats that make up the seat (and legs).

Anyways. Each slat will have 2 holes drilled through it. Make sure, of course, that the holes in each slat are parallel to each other, not at right angles. My threaded rods were 1/4", so the drill bit was 1/4 inch also.

B1-B8: one hole at 5cm from the "top" end (i.e. what will be the hightest point of the chair back), and another hole at 72.5 cm from the top.

M1-M9: holes are each at 5 cm from either end.

S1-S8: one hole at 5 cm from the "front" (i.e. the edge of the chair that will be behind your knees), and one hole at 34 cm from the front.

Run your slats onto lengths of threaded rod. This bit of construction is fiddly. If I remember correctly, I started with the centremost pieces and worked out to either side, like this:

Run rods through the top and bottom holes of M5. Take B4 and B5, and run them onto the rods (using the 72.5cm holes) so that they are snug agains M5. Run a third rod through the top (5cm) holes of B4 and B5. Do the same for S4 and S5, using the rod that does NOT includ B4 and B5; the 34cm holes will be used to fit the slats next to M5 and a fourth rod will run through the 5cm holes. Then take M4 and M6, and run them onto the rods next to B4/S4, and B5/S5. Then run B3 and B6 on, etc etc etc.

I find it easiest to do this with the chair flat on the ground, looking not like a chair at all. Do not snug the top ends of the B pieces or the front edges of the S pieces together until you have all the pieces in place.

When you do have all the slats in place, wind a nut and washer onto each threaded rod, and tighten all the slats together. The back and seat will take on a curve as you do this - very cool to see it all finally come together like a chair. Cut off the protruding ends of rod and grind them down smooth.

The first chair I made, I used a handsaw and a drill. It took all freaking day. Once I had the technique down, it was a piece of cake to make a whole bunch of them at once. It's best to use a drill press rather than a hand drill - your holes will be much straighter.

Hope this all makes sense!!!

One chair takes 3 8-foot 2x2's. The rods are 3-foot lengths, but you do end up cutting a fair bit off.

Revision:

I made a couple of these chairs while on holiday, and that reminded me:

1. You do have to bash the slats together when threading onto the rods (use a hammer or rubber mallet).

2. When assembling the chair, make sure the slats are properly layered on top of one another so that the chair will indeed fold into the proper shape.