# Outdoor Furniture



## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*First Time Building An Adirondak Chair*

My old patio set has seen better days. It was a pretty inexpensive set that I picked up when we lived in Phoenix fourteen years ago, so I guess I got my money's worth out of it. Anything that last fourteen years in the Phoenix and Las Vegas sun is pretty amazing.  I looked into the cost of replacing the slings on four chairs and a chaise lounge and I'm not sure it's worth doing. Since I have the time and the tools, this is the perfect opportunity to take a crack at building my own outdoor furniture.

The first piece that I'm going to try is the Adirondack Chair. I'm working from the plans in the Woodsmithshop Outdoor Furniture book (I picked this up on my last visit to Woodworker's Emporium), but I decided to make a few changes. I spent the morning drawing up the templates and cutting them out of 1/4 poplar boards with my jigsaw.

I love how they came out and I'm excited to see the shapes emerge from the actual project wood. I am building this first chair from Douglas Fir (mainly because Redwood was just too expensive for this first attempt). I was able to pick up some nice straight 1×4s, and 1×6s at Lowes. I was not able to find any 1×8 in Douglas Fir which is what the plan lists as the most important part of the chair: the back legs/seat frame, so that's the first change I had to make to the plan.

Isn't that always how it goes when you bring a cut list from a book into a big box store? There is always something you need that they don't stock or you would have to wait for a special order. I want to build it NOW, so I'm substituting a 2×8. I don't know if it's the author of the plans, or the store, but just once, I'd like to see a plan for something that I would like to build where I can get all the parts in one shopping trip.

One benefit going with a 2×8 is that this will make for a beast of an Adirondack Chair. Since I have the extra thickness in the back legs/seat frame, I'm now planning to notch out the areas where the 1×4 front legs will connect, instead of just bolting them to the outside of the frame. With the front legs set into frame, everything will be flush on the outside of the chair. It looks good in my head at least.

I also made some changes to the arms and seat curves as I was drawing up the templates and I made the seat 1" deeper and the arms 2" longer (I can always cut them down later if I don't like how they fit).

Now to get out in the garage and get all the rough cuts done this evening. The kids are going to be tied up all day tomorrow at a Girl Scout workshop, so I have all day to sand, assemble, and finish my chair.

If all goes well, I'll be sitting in my chair enjoying a cold one by the pool by Sunday evening.

I'll post some photos as things come together.

- Regards,

Retsof


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*Adirondack Chair - First Photo*

Like most of my projects, this one went from building "an Adirondack Chair" (as in one chair), to building seating for five. At least I'll be ready for a BBQ on Memorial Day Weekend this year.

I feel like I got a lot done today in between trips to the kid's schools, a run to Home Depot, and some work in my vegetable gardens. I was able to get from drawing up and cutting out my templates for all of the curved pieces, to actually cutting out enough of the chair parts from the templates to build three chairs and a matching settee (love seat).

I was really in the jigsaw zone there for a while today. I surprised myself at how fast I was able to cut out nine back leg/seat supports (the settee has three), eight arms, and eight arm braces. My Bosch Jigsaw is a lot of fun to work with. I'll be smoothing these parts out on my oscillating spindle sander first thing in the morning and then cutting out all of the straight pieces of the chairs. Sanding should go quickly as I was cutting just a hair outside the lines after getting all this jigsaw practice in one day.

I know that I'm going to run out of lumber before I can finish all of these chairs, but I want to make sure that I at least get one of them completely finished this weekend. The others I can finish up mid-week after I make another run to the store to get whatever boards I need (and probably more screws) to finish up.

Because I'm building these out of Douglas Fir, I'm planning to prime and paint them. I was looking through my garage and I found a gallon and a half of white latex exterior paint left over from another project, so I guess these chairs are going to be painted white. Not a bad choice for my climate.

Well, time to hit the hay. I have a lot to get done this weekend.


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*Adirondack Chair - Major Progress*

The Adirondack Chair project is really starting to come together. Yesterday, I got all of the straight pieces to make one complete chair cut to size and then I ran out of Douglas Fir lumber.










My "Totally Awesome" daughter, Lila (age 10) surprised me by making a sandwich and delivering it to the garage when she thought I could use a break. She even used fresh picked ingredients from my garden on the sandwich! It's nice to have daughters who like to take care of the Old Man.










Today, I spent the day assembling the first of the chairs. This is my first time building a chair, so I took my time and made some templates and spacers that will help me with the rest of the furniture.

It's not perfect, but I like it so far. Using 2×8s because I couldn't get 1×8s for the back legs/seat frame forced me to make some other adjustments and I didn't anticipate how the thicker legs would impact the spacing of the back slats. If you notice in the photo below, that the back of the chair doesn't look quite right, that's because I ran out of boards, so I had to use what I had already cut out per the plans. I didn't glue the two center boards in the back rest yet because I may replace them with one wider board.

I've learned a lot already, and I'm sure the next two chairs and the settee will go together much quicker now that I know the type of adjustments I have to make.

Here is where the chair stands right now. I'm about to attach the arms to the back support. All I have left after that is to decide what shape to cut the back slats and then fill the screw holes, prime, and paint.










It's a lot of fun building these chairs. I'm so used to building things that are all straight lines and square corners. It's nice to build something with curves for a change. Once I'm done with these chairs and settee, I think I'll make the coffee table and a three ottomans to go with them.

One of my neighbors stopped by and asked if she could pay me to build two chairs for her. I have no idea what to charge, but they are fun enough to build, that I'd do it just for the cost of the materials. I guess I'll figure out how much it cost me per chair and add a little bit to that so I can get the materials for my next project.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Retsof said:


> *Adirondack Chair - Major Progress*
> 
> The Adirondack Chair project is really starting to come together. Yesterday, I got all of the straight pieces to make one complete chair cut to size and then I ran out of Douglas Fir lumber.
> 
> ...


That chair is looking good (and you've already got people standing in line to buy them!). But I really wanted to comment on your beautiful and thoughtful daughter. Taking care of dad is something that doesn't cross most kid's minds these days. Congrats on raising a good one!


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

Retsof said:


> *Adirondack Chair - Major Progress*
> 
> The Adirondack Chair project is really starting to come together. Yesterday, I got all of the straight pieces to make one complete chair cut to size and then I ran out of Douglas Fir lumber.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the comment. I have two good ones (daughters). They don't have any interest in learning my hobbies, but they give me plenty of ideas. Another project that I have going right now is an Arts & Crafts style bookcase for my 12 year old daughter. Her birthday is coming up at the end of June and she's a big reader. I'm at the sanding and final assembly stage with the bookcase, but I have to get done with these Adirondack chairs so I can clean up all the dust in my garage before I put a finish on that bookcase.

I just watched the video tour of your shop. Wow, that was impressive. I would love to be that organized and have that much room to move around. Living in Las Vegas, I don't know anyone with that kind of shop space. My shop is all about being able to move one tool out of the way when you need to use another. Every tool I have is on wheels or is bench top size.


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*Adirondack Chair - End of Day Three and It's Ready for Paint!*

I'm pretty psyched about this chair. I was able to get it completely assembled and I even filled all the exposed screw holes tonight. I'll be ready to prime and paint after a quick touch up with the sander first thing in the morning. I can't wait to be sitting in this chair by my pool tomorrow evening.

Here's a view from the rear showing those beefy 2×8 legs.










I think the arched back looks great. I'm a pro with the jigsaw after this build. Now I'm ready to try some really curvy projects.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Retsof said:


> *Adirondack Chair - End of Day Three and It's Ready for Paint!*
> 
> I'm pretty psyched about this chair. I was able to get it completely assembled and I even filled all the exposed screw holes tonight. I'll be ready to prime and paint after a quick touch up with the sander first thing in the morning. I can't wait to be sitting in this chair by my pool tomorrow evening.
> 
> ...


That turned out very well. It seems a shame to cover that grain with paint. If it were mine I'd stain it with Min Wax 'Gunstock' and give it a few coats of their Spar urethane. (but it's not mine!)


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

Retsof said:


> *Adirondack Chair - End of Day Three and It's Ready for Paint!*
> 
> I'm pretty psyched about this chair. I was able to get it completely assembled and I even filled all the exposed screw holes tonight. I'll be ready to prime and paint after a quick touch up with the sander first thing in the morning. I can't wait to be sitting in this chair by my pool tomorrow evening.
> 
> ...


I thought about using a stain and varnish or something like teak oil (I actually bought it for this project), but it gets so darn hot out here, I wanted a white chair to reflect the sun as much as possible. I also counter sunk and filled all the screw holes so there are none exposed to burn anyone by accident (it was 105 here today). There are 86 screws in the chair, but they are all hidden. I'm going to sand and give it one more coat and then it's going out by the pool. I'm planning on building two more chairs and settee starting on Wednesday when I have a chance to pick up more lumber.


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*Adirondack Assembly Line*

Well, I have one finished Adirondack Chair now. It's nice and heavy. No danger of this one blowing into my pool no matter how much wind we get here.

Here it is during the priming/painting process.










And another.










Here is the completed chair and the legs for two more chairs and the matching settee.










I stopped by our local specialty lumber yard today just to look around and see if I could find a better deal on the Douglas Fir 1×3 and 1×6 lumber that I need to complete my chairs, and they didn't have any in stock. They cater mainly to professional cabinetmakers, so they have plenty of great hardwoods, but not much in the way of cheap lumber for outdoor applications.

I guess I'm going to Lowes in the morning, though I may try a different location as I've pretty well picked over the Douglas Fir that they have in stock in the store closest to my house. Once nice thing about living in a place like Las Vegas, is that we have a Lowes or Home Depot about every five miles out here.

I sat down today and figured out what it actually costs to build one of these chairs and it was a bit more than I had hoped. For lumber, screws, glue, primer, and paint it is roughly $135.00 per chair! This isn't counting sand paper, wear and tear on my tools or any labor. I think I'll have put about 50 hours into this project before I have all four pieces done. Now that I have my templates made, and experience with the assembly, I could probably knock out another chair from scratch in about three days (including the time for priming/painting), and the usual distractions that eat up my days.

The specialty lumber yard did have a good deal on European Steamed Beach that was already S4S, so now I'm wondering what I could build with some of that. Hmmm.

I really want to learn more about chair making after this experience. I wish I could afford to take a week-long workshop right now. I'd love to make a Windsor or a Maloof style chair someday. I've always been a little intimidated by projects that require steam bending or laminating.


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*Adirondack Assembly Line Continued*

Today I spent the morning looking for enough wood to finish my Adirondack patio set. I went to two Lowes stores and pretty much cleaned them out of 1×3 Douglas Fir decking boards which is what I'm using for my seat slats and most of my back slats (I use one 1×4 for the middle back slat on the single chairs and 2 1×4s and 1 1×6 on the settee).

The actual width of 2 3/8" is perfect and I just have to cut them to length. The problem is that there is never enough good 1×3 boards in stock to complete a project this big with one shopping trip. After cleaning out the second store, I still ended up buying several 1×4 and 1×6 boards to rip down. The 1×3 boards are also the best price, which seems odd because logically, you would think the price per piece would be less if I had to take a 1×6x12 and rip it to 2 3/8" myself.

I am building up a good supply of long thin cutoffs from this project, so I thinks it's getting to be time to build an arbor to use them up.

As of this evening, I'm finished cutting all of the parts for all of my chairs and the settee. I'll spend tomorrow assembling everything and hopefully, get started priming if I don't have too many distractions. I'd really like to have these done so we can enjoy them this weekend. My daughters love the first chair and have each taken turns relaxing in it while they watch me work.










Working on a project like this in my garage sure does attract the neighbors. I've had several people stop to see what I'm building and to test drive chair #1. Last night an entire family that just moved in across the street came over to look at my "workshop". The grandparents just moved here from China to live with their Daughter's family, and don't speak much English at all, but Grandpa knows woodworking and really liked my tools.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Retsof said:


> *Adirondack Assembly Line Continued*
> 
> Today I spent the morning looking for enough wood to finish my Adirondack patio set. I went to two Lowes stores and pretty much cleaned them out of 1×3 Douglas Fir decking boards which is what I'm using for my seat slats and most of my back slats (I use one 1×4 for the middle back slat on the single chairs and 2 1×4s and 1 1×6 on the settee).
> 
> ...


You have been busy and it shows! They are all looking good but don't rush to finish. That's when I always screw up!


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

Retsof said:


> *Adirondack Assembly Line Continued*
> 
> Today I spent the morning looking for enough wood to finish my Adirondack patio set. I went to two Lowes stores and pretty much cleaned them out of 1×3 Douglas Fir decking boards which is what I'm using for my seat slats and most of my back slats (I use one 1×4 for the middle back slat on the single chairs and 2 1×4s and 1 1×6 on the settee).
> 
> ...


Thanks. They are all assembled as of tonight. I feel like I've really got this chair building process down now. I've worked out all the issues that I had with assembling chair #1 and am really happy with how #2, #3, and the settee turned out. Tomorrow, I'll fill all the screw holes and give them all a good sanding. I probably won't get to painting them until Saturday, but that's OK because the temperature is dropping about 20 degrees and will be better for painting anyway. I have enough left over lumber that I can build a matching coffee table and an ottoman or two.


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*Some Assembly Required...*

I spent today assembling two chairs and the settee from the parts that I had cut yesterday. I was really in the grove today. Even more neighbors stopped by to check out the chairs. One of them asked so many questions, that I suspect he is on the board of my HOA and was trying to find out if I was operating a furniture building business out of my garage.

I'm really happy with how chair #2 & #3 turned out. They are so identical, that even I have a hard time telling which one I finished first. I learned a lot building the first chair and I feel like I have worked out all the bugs. I was able to cruise from step to step today without constantly looking back at the plans or trying to figure out how to solve problems.

It's so tempting for me when I become proficient at something to want to change things up, but I resisted because I want a matching set. I do wish that I could keep building them though. I have so many design ideas that I would like to try. If only lumber wasn't so expensive.

Here's a shot that I took as I was closing up shop tonight.










Everything is assembled. I just have to cut the curves in the back slats on the settee. I plan to fill all the screw holes on Friday and give them all a good sanding. I'll probably save priming and painting for Saturday because our temperature is heading down by 20 degrees. This should be much better weather for painting. It's a pleasure to work in the garage once the temperature dips below 95 degrees. It's been in triple digits since I started this project, so I'm looking forward to the cooler temps. It would be really great if we got some rain too, but that's probably wishful thinking.


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*A Coffee Table Too*

I decided to add a coffee table to my set with some of my extra lumber.



















The kids and I spent the day sanding and priming all the furniture. Tomorrow is painting day! Can't wait to see them in my backyard by Sunday evening.


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## GrandpaLen (Mar 6, 2012)

Retsof said:


> *A Coffee Table Too*
> 
> I decided to add a coffee table to my set with some of my extra lumber.
> 
> ...


Very nice seating group.

I like the style - Len.


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## canadianchips (Mar 12, 2010)

Retsof said:


> *A Coffee Table Too*
> 
> I decided to add a coffee table to my set with some of my extra lumber.
> 
> ...


Looks like you have chosen some lumber with a nice grain.
Very nice.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Retsof said:


> *A Coffee Table Too*
> 
> I decided to add a coffee table to my set with some of my extra lumber.
> 
> ...


The whole set turned out very well (and just in time for the Memorial Day cook out!)


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*Finally Finished!*

It took me nine days from start to finish, but I'm finally done with my Adirondack Patio Set. I am really tired of painting too! The chairs are sitting by the pool where they and I will be spending Memorial Day.

Hunter and Huckleberry, my English Springer Spaniels, approve.



















Can anyone tell me if there is a way to format my photos so the right 1/3 of the picture doesn't get cut off when I link them in my blog? If not, I guess I'll have to make sure all the important stuff is located on the left when I compose my shots.

Happy Memorial Day Everyone!

- Regards,

Retsof


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## davidroberts (Nov 8, 2008)

Retsof said:


> *Finally Finished!*
> 
> It took me nine days from start to finish, but I'm finally done with my Adirondack Patio Set. I am really tired of painting too! The chairs are sitting by the pool where they and I will be spending Memorial Day.
> 
> ...


Nice looking set of adirondack patio furniture. I've been pricing WRC and cypress for a summer build. And a nice set of headlights on Hunter or Huckleberry, I can't tell which!


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## GrandpaLen (Mar 6, 2012)

Retsof said:


> *Finally Finished!*
> 
> It took me nine days from start to finish, but I'm finally done with my Adirondack Patio Set. I am really tired of painting too! The chairs are sitting by the pool where they and I will be spending Memorial Day.
> 
> ...


Very nice Patio Seating, such a rewarding project and even a couple extra chairs for the 'Best Friends', very thoughtful of you. ;-)

Work Safely and have Fun. - Len


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## jumbojack (Mar 20, 2011)

Retsof said:


> *Finally Finished!*
> 
> It took me nine days from start to finish, but I'm finally done with my Adirondack Patio Set. I am really tired of painting too! The chairs are sitting by the pool where they and I will be spending Memorial Day.
> 
> ...


I just love dem Jack-O-Lantern eyes.


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## whitedog (Dec 7, 2008)

Retsof said:


> *Finally Finished!*
> 
> It took me nine days from start to finish, but I'm finally done with my Adirondack Patio Set. I am really tired of painting too! The chairs are sitting by the pool where they and I will be spending Memorial Day.
> 
> ...


Great looking patio set. But you better keep an eye on guy on the right .


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Retsof said:


> *Finally Finished!*
> 
> It took me nine days from start to finish, but I'm finally done with my Adirondack Patio Set. I am really tired of painting too! The chairs are sitting by the pool where they and I will be spending Memorial Day.
> 
> ...


Those turned out very well and it appears that your quality control unit has approved them.


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

Retsof said:


> *Finally Finished!*
> 
> It took me nine days from start to finish, but I'm finally done with my Adirondack Patio Set. I am really tired of painting too! The chairs are sitting by the pool where they and I will be spending Memorial Day.
> 
> ...


Thanks everyone. Huckleberry is the pup with the headlights. They made sure to test out the entire set, including the table.

I'm thinking about building a round picnic table next, but I need to build it out of some wood that won't require painting. Getting in between all those little slats was driving me nuts by the time I finished all five pieces.

I stopped by Lowes today to see if they had any cedar in stock and they told me that they don't stock it in Las Vegas because it doesn't sell fast enough here. I would have to special order it. Guess there aren't enough of us LJ's out here in the middle of the desert.

I guess I'll ask at Peterman Lumber (our local specialty lumber yard). If I have to special order it, I might as well combine it with my next quarter sawn white oak plywood order (nobody stocks quarter sawn lumber here in Vegas either).

Happy Memorial Day!


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## bobasaurus (Sep 6, 2009)

Retsof said:


> *Finally Finished!*
> 
> It took me nine days from start to finish, but I'm finally done with my Adirondack Patio Set. I am really tired of painting too! The chairs are sitting by the pool where they and I will be spending Memorial Day.
> 
> ...


Your laser-eyed demon dogs approve, it seems . Nice work on the chairs, too.


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*Patio Planter Boxes - Day 1*

I started a new project today. I'm building two large patio planter boxes. The final dimensions should be close to 41" long x 24" wide x 20" high. I'm working from Woodsmith's Outdoor Woodworking book. Here's a link to their website:

http://woodsmithstore.com/w1021.html

There were a lot of cuts to make for this build.










The diagrams for this project are pretty detailed and that's a good thing because there is no cut list provided. I had to read through this plan a few times to make sure I found the correct dimensions for each piece. I also wrote out my own cut list for the larger version of the planters so I knew how many 2×4's to purchase.

I'm changing a few things about the plan. I have some 11/32 bead board that I want to use up, so I'm planning on making the panels from that rather than trying to find half inch thick board stock to use. This saved me quite a bit on the cost of the project too. All I needed to purchase were the 10 2×4x96" kiln dried douglas fir studs for the legs and frames.

I think that I'll be dropping some potted vegetables that I'm growing in my courtyard into the completed boxes, so I don't need to be very fancy with the construction of the inside box bottoms either. I'll probably just put in some cleats and a few cross beams to hold the pots up a the height that works best. I still have plenty of white paint left from my Adirondack Furniture build, but I need to decide on an accent color for the panels.










After I got all of my cross cuts done, I started on the three piece legs and then the rails and stiles for the end and side panels.



















It seemed like I was cutting tenons and dadoes all day long. This is where I stopped this afternoon. The "table" that these pieces are sitting on in this photo is actually a section of the bead board that will be cut down to make up the panels.










All I have left to cut now are the laps in the top frame pieces, the panels, and the quarter-round trim. I plan to glue the three-piece legs together in the morning and hopefully fine tune all of the tenons so I can dry fit the frames together and get an idea of how the final assembly will look.

Now that the bulk of the cutting is done, this project should go together pretty quickly. I don't think the painting will be quite as tedious as the Adirondack Chairs.


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*Patio Planter Boxes - Continued*

I've made a lot of progress on this project, but I've been so busy since the kids got out of school for the summer, that I haven't had much computer time lately to update my blog.

Here I have the three piece legs glued up and I'm testing the fit of the tenons.










In this photo, I've finished the sanding all the parts, have the tenons glued into the legs, and have the panels installed. Now they are starting to look like planters.

One of the changes I made to the plan in the book is that I used some bead board plywood that I already had, rather than individual boards to make the side panels. I think this looks just as good, and it saved me some time and the cost of the wood.










Here, I have the lap joints for the top rim completed and I'm adding the trim to the side panels.










After I finish with the trim work, my next step will be adding the shelving on the inside of each box to support the potted plants.


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*Patio Planter Boxes - Finished!*

I finished painting my patio planter boxes today. I like the way they came out. Thanks to the mortise and tenon, and panel construction, they are very sturdy. The were a lot of dadoes, mortises, tenons, and trim to cut for this project, but it was a lot of fun fitting all the pieces together.










The colors are Martha Stewart's "Monk's Glove" and "Chianti" from Home Depot.










Working on these in my garage attracted a lot of attention. As I was finishing up the white primer coat last Friday, a neighbor, who is pregnant, came over to check them out and asked if she could hire me to build a toy box in the same style as the planter boxes. This toy box will be the next project that I start.


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## GrandpaLen (Mar 6, 2012)

Retsof said:


> *Patio Planter Boxes - Finished!*
> 
> I finished painting my patio planter boxes today. I like the way they came out. Thanks to the mortise and tenon, and panel construction, they are very sturdy. The were a lot of dadoes, mortises, tenons, and trim to cut for this project, but it was a lot of fun fitting all the pieces together.
> 
> ...


Retsof,

Beautiful Planter Boxes, I kind of favore the "Chianti" but both will be Grand when full of flowers or greenery.

Very nice Fit and Finish. - Len


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## Retsof (Apr 12, 2012)

*One Man's Trash...*

It has been about 60 days since I have set foot in my garage workshop due to the relentless Summer heat here in Las Vegas. I have a portable swamp cooler and a couple of fans that help a lot, but once we hit triple digits for more than a couple of days in a row, I find my motivation to finish projects or to start any new ones, goes North for the Summer.

This is a photo of my garage thermometer that I took on August 15, 2012:



Here are a couple of videos showing what I have been doing this Summer while waiting for the mercury to fall back to a number more suitable for sustaining human life:











Finally, as of this week, the temperature has dropped below 100F and I thought I would ease back into some projects that I put on the back burner (literally) for the summer.

On Tuesday morning as I was surveying the state of my shop and trying to figure out where to start, my next door neighbor, Elizabeth, came over to ask if I knew how to refurbish a teak chaise lounge that she picked up from a pile of garbage that someone had left out on the curb. The chair was weathered and grey with a lot of spider webs and grime. It was very rough to the touch and not looking too comfortable. It was also pretty loose and wobbly, but I thought it still had some life left in it. Elizabeth offered to pay me to fix it up for her. I thought I was up to the challenge, and could sure use the extra money, so I took it back to my garage and started cleaning off the cobwebs and the grime.

Yesterday, I tightened up all of the screws and gave it a good wash with the garden hose. It looked pretty good when it was wet, so I went to my local Home Depot and picked up a bottle of Bear Deck Cleaner and a stiff scrub brush. The directions on the deck cleaner recommended working with it when the temperature was below 90F. The only time the temperature in Las Vegas drops below 90F this time of year is possibly between the hours of 2:00 and 10:00 AM. The label didn't say what would happen, but not wanting to risk spontaneous combustion or something even worse, I decided to wait until this morning to apply the chemical treatment.

Here are the before, during, and after photos. I think it looks pretty good for a chair that someone threw away a few days ago.

Before (this is the condition it was in when Elizabeth rescued it from the trash pile):



















During (after washing, but before I used the deck cleaner and scrub brush):



















After (still a bit wet):



















I plan to wipe on a couple of coats of teak oil and present it to Elizabeth tomorrow.


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

Retsof said:


> *One Man's Trash...*
> 
> It has been about 60 days since I have set foot in my garage workshop due to the relentless Summer heat here in Las Vegas. I have a portable swamp cooler and a couple of fans that help a lot, but once we hit triple digits for more than a couple of days in a row, I find my motivation to finish projects or to start any new ones, goes North for the Summer.
> 
> ...


Nice save. Would've been a shame for something like that to end up in a landfill.


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## camps764 (Dec 9, 2011)

Retsof said:


> *One Man's Trash...*
> 
> It has been about 60 days since I have set foot in my garage workshop due to the relentless Summer heat here in Las Vegas. I have a portable swamp cooler and a couple of fans that help a lot, but once we hit triple digits for more than a couple of days in a row, I find my motivation to finish projects or to start any new ones, goes North for the Summer.
> 
> ...


holy cow!!!!


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Retsof said:


> *One Man's Trash...*
> 
> It has been about 60 days since I have set foot in my garage workshop due to the relentless Summer heat here in Las Vegas. I have a portable swamp cooler and a couple of fans that help a lot, but once we hit triple digits for more than a couple of days in a row, I find my motivation to finish projects or to start any new ones, goes North for the Summer.
> 
> ...


Wow! That looks new. GREAT save.


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## REK (Aug 30, 2009)

Retsof said:


> *One Man's Trash...*
> 
> It has been about 60 days since I have set foot in my garage workshop due to the relentless Summer heat here in Las Vegas. I have a portable swamp cooler and a couple of fans that help a lot, but once we hit triple digits for more than a couple of days in a row, I find my motivation to finish projects or to start any new ones, goes North for the Summer.
> 
> ...


I wish someone in my neighbor hood would throw away some teak chairs….Only thing I ever see on the curb is Stewart sauder crap. You did an amazing job bring that chair back to life, and it really is a rich looking piece. I bet you'd like to keep it for yourself!!!!


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