Back in the olden days, it was necessary for most working-class people to build their own furniture. Before the Industrial Age, things were mostly made by hand and thus were more expensive and harder to produce.
Thankfully, it’s no longer as challenging to furnish one’s home in the present age. Production lines and cutting-edge machinery have all made it possible to mass-produce even huge pieces of furniture, making them far more affordable for almost everyone.
Still, unless you have never had to submit a project for wood shop class, you’re probably familiar with the unique sort of thrill that comes with fashioning something useful and lovely out of a few pieces of wood along with some screws, nuts and bolts. Making your own furniture also does wonders for the environment as you can always use recycled materials.
The following steps enumerate the process that you need to go through to produce your own basic piece of furniture: the ever-reliable chair.
- To begin, you’ll need a couple pallets of sturdy wood, a crow bar, a nail puller, a saw, a marking pen, some measuring tape, and a screwdriver. You will also need about 20 0.15” x 2” coach bolts.
- Use the crow bar to pry the wooden pallets apart so that you end up with flat pieces of lumber. Use the nail puller to remove any leftover nails stuck in the wood, if any.
- Using the measuring tape and the marking pen, mark out the following lengths on the flat pieces of lumber: 2 2” x 24” x 0.5” slats, 2 0.5” x 16” posts, 2 0.5” x 16.5” posts, 2 0.5” x 14” slats, 2 0.5” x 18” slats, 2 0.5” x 16” slats, and 12 2” x 24” x 0.5” rails.
- Run the saw along the markings made in the previous step to extract the chair components from the wood.
- Lay one 0.5” x 18” slat on your work surface. Place the other 0.5” x 18” slat parallel to it about 22 inches away.
- Starting at the top of the slats, lay one 2” x 24” x 0.5” rail across the ends and use a couple of coach bolts to attach them there.
- Do the same for five more of the 2” x 24” x 0.5” rails, leaving an inch between them. Set the finished component aside once the last rail is in place. This will form the backrest for your chair.
- Lay one 0.5” x 14” slat on your work surface. Place the other 0.5” x 14” slat parallel to it about 22 inches away.
- Starting at the top of the slats, lay one 2” x 24” x 0.5” rail across the ends and use a couple of coach bolts to attach them there.
- Do the same for five more of the 2” x 24” x 0.5” rails, leaving an inch between them. Set the finished component aside once the last rail is in place. This forms the seat rails of your chair.
- Use the screwdriver to attach the 0.5” x 16” posts to the opposite ends on the front of the seat rails with coach bolts.
- Use the screwdriver to attach the 0.5” x 16.5” posts to the opposite ends on the back of the seat rails with coach bolts.
- Use the screwdriver to attach the finished backrest to the back legs of the chair using coach bolts.
- Use coach bolts to attach one 0.5” x 16” slat to one of the outer sides of the backrest and onto the surface of the front leg on the same side. Do the same for the remaining 0.5” x 16” slat and for the other side of the backrest and the front leg.