Plywood Thickness for chair seat?

[Toller]

Does it matter whether I use 1/2 or 3/4?

1/2 would be lighter 3/4 would be a little stronger and take a staple better

I don't see that it much matters, but never having done this before I don't want to do it and find out it did. I've done that a few times already on this project...

[Swingman]

Frame, or solid?

On frame w/webbing chair seats I plane poplar down to 5/8" for the frame.

3/4" plywood, heavily padded works just dandy.

But for a bit more comfort try 1/2" plywood, with a slotted seat portion, for a little flex/give.

My favorite, if using an upholstered seat, is a frame made of 5/8" poplar, with webbing covered by the appropriate amount of modern padding and then the upholstery. Here's a picture of the bare frame, sans webbing, etc. to give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

I strongly advise is that after spending that much time on chairs, you really want to do some research and maybe some prototyping of different approaches before a final decision is made.

[Toller]

Didn't know frame was even an option!

What do you mean slotted seat portion?

Didn't know it was this complicated. Neither of my chair books got into this. Thanks.

[Swingman]

Adding to my previous post:

Michael Fortuned had an article in FWW some time back entitled "A Slim Comfortable Chair Seat" that had an interesting construction, particularly if you're going to do the upholstery yourself:

may have to pony up to download the .pdf if you don't belong, but it you're doing it yourself it would be worth the price of admission, IMO.

He uses a slotted 1/4" plywood seat and the design is ultra thin ... something I've wanted to try myself.

FWIW ... not knowing your chair design, I just thought it might interest you.

[Swingman]

You simply cut multiple slots (front to back) about 1/4" - 1/2" wide and maybe 8" - 10" long, where your buns would be.

This imitates, after a fashion, the webbing of a traditional horse hair padded seat and does add a good deal of comfort.

Welp ... it's where the rubber hits the road, in a manner of speaking, and comfort is an important aspect of chair design.

If you don't want your guests to hang around after dinner, use thinly padded

3/4" plywood. ;)

[FoggyTown]

1. Get two sawhorses and place them with the rails parallel to each other and the distance between the rails the exact distance between the chair legs.
2. Get a very fat neighbor over for "a few beers"
3. Lay a 1/4 sheet of 1/2" play across the sawhorse rails
4. Get fat neighbor to sit on sheet
5. If it bends, get 3/4" sheet and repeat and so on until sheet doesn't bend or sawhorses collapse

FoggyTown

[Toller]

I thought you might like to see what you have been building...

they still need arms. The front legs flare out an inch for the arms.

[Puckdropper]

"FoggyTown" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

You're not thinking like an engineer. You get the sawhorses as mentioned before, but if you can't find a fat neighbor, you'll have to get a laser caliper set to measure the displacement between a reference straight edge (square) and the deflection of the chair.

You know, this isn't going to give good data. So, you need the sawhorse and laser caliper, but also a force gauge. Hook the force gauge to the board, and pull it down until it fails. The force and displacement (and $2000 worth of new shiny tools) will then give you an accurate idea of what thickness to use. ;-)

Puckdropper

[Swingman]

I like! ... a lot, it's my kind of style - functional, unpretentious and honest(ly), a chair. Can't wait to see the final. Well done.

[Yb92]

hi good day. The standard thickness plywood for bending furniture is 15 mm to 20 mm? can i using 16 mm or 18 mm thickness?

[DerbyDad03]

This a joke right?