Has anyone ever built a director's chair, or have a good set of plans for one? Most chair plans look to me like they waste a lot of material in cutting curved back stretchers and angled rear seat legs, or they are very heavy. Directors chairs appear to need a great deal more precision, but I'm thinking they would be cheaper in material cost to produce once you're set up is done. I also like the fact they fold and are light. I'm toying with the idea of one day building a set to go around a dining table on our back porch.
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- Chris. -
Nope, haven't built one. I am studying chairs now for the first time. I am trying to ignore the problem of waste. A really good looking chair seems to demand a lot of waste.
Note to self - maybe a nice looking chair with low waste could be my contribution to the form... Hmmm.
JRJR -
I have some director's chairs D O.. but have never built one. After 34 years of butchering I built my first set of chairs two years ago. I'm glad I did but... the chair-makers have my respect. After the first, the rest went smooth but again.... many M&T's to the point of monotonous to me and sanding & finishing in what appered to be thousands of nook and crannies left me with one impression.
Chair-makers will get my business in the future as they have already gained my respect from that lone experience. A simple one maybe.. but no more sets for me.
Good luck...Comment
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Well, just watched Norm's latest project - a corner chair. Didn't catch all of it, but one part made my wife and I both sit up in our LaZBoy's. When he cut out the rear back he sliced up a huge block of beautiful straight grained cherry - must have been 8X8X32". He wound up with a usable piece of about 20% of that volume. Made me sweat just to think how much that must have cost.
Bought a directors chair for $25 at a local used furniture store today. I plan on taking it apart one day to see if I can duplicate it. The goal will be to duplicate them for less than $70 per chair in material cost.- Chris.Comment
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You might be able to do it D O, as most of the lines are straight if they are like the one's I purchased many years ago. They are well made I will say and made of teak. But yes... you have to burn some wood to get the flowing lines of some rockers.. etc.
And if you get into steam bending.. you open another can of worms trying to keep grain properly oriented with the flow considering structure. But again.. the directors chairs are pretty straight forward.
After saying that.. material would get you half way to $70 IMO and if you are considering selling them for that.. I think you would have to work free to keep it under $70 and may very well end up with a cost over-run. Just a guess considered labor unless you can production line them.
But you never know until you do one...Comment
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Instructions for Director's Chair....
1. Rent house to studio for movie set.
2. Make friends with studio's security man.
3. On the last night fold one chair and put in attic, with the help of security.
4. Retrieve chair from attic after they have packed up and gone!
Don, aka Pappy,
Wise men talk because they have something to say,
Fools because they have to say something.
PlatoComment
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Sarge,
My labor would be free, these would only be for my own use, not for sale. I agree, I could not compete with factory for cost and expect to make money. I just want the bragging rights of sitting around a table and being able to tell my dinner guests I made the chairs they are sitting on. However, I'm too cheap to pay for bragging rights over and above the cost of paying for a set of chairs. 
- Chris.Comment
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Got a chuckle from Pappy's reply.. that man is about as de-ranged as myself. I think ex-Marine explains it though.
Different story if you are not attempting to sell. I could go buy furniture I make for less at Ikea or whatever the place is called. But... if I did it would be just another piece of functional furniture. The conversation your wife could be having about her hubby building it just for her would never come up in discussions with her friends and guest.
And... the next time you mentioned your getting a new tool to build something for "her".. there would probably be less resistance meaning you might not hear, "No.. you're not".
Have fun and if you decide against it.. drop by and I'll give you 4 of them sitting in the basement waiting their final fate. And.. only one has a spot on one leg the dog chewed. ha.. ha... ha..ha..ha..Comment
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Chairmaking doesn't have to be wasteful
This is the work of one of my WWing teachers back in San Diego.
http://www.russfilbeck.net/
Nearly all the pieces are straight, steam bent (ladder back and back legs), or
bent laminated (rockers and sometimes the crest rail). Overall there is very
little waste when compared to a Maloof chair where nearly all the pieces are
carved out from solid stock.Comment
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