Video

HyperVegan | Wooden Camping Chair

What You’ll Need

“Ingredients”

  • 8ft long 2x10 (about $20 USD at Home Depot)
  • 8 2.5in wood screws

Tools

  • circular saw
  • jigsaw
    • or oscillating saw
    • or wood boring spade bit + folding saw
    • or anything else which can sculpt holes
  • smoothing device such as hand axe, knife, sandpaper, or file
  • drill
  • 1/8in drill bit or similar (for wood screw pilot holes)
  • bit for your woodscrews (such as t25 star drive or phillips)

I used a circular saw on the long cuts and corner cuts, otherwise on my first chair I only had a folding saw and hand axe to bore out the seat hole.

A jigsaw would have been great and I purchased one shortly thereafter. I’ve also helped someone who used an oscillating saw.

I’ve tried using a reciprocating saw but it did not seem precise enough for this project.

Basic Cuts

  1. Cut in half, 48 inches in length each side.
  2. Decide which piece will be the backrest vs seat based on knots, cracks, etc.
  3. Also decide which side will be the front vs back, and top vs bottom, for each board.

The coordinates provided assume the 2x10 is functionally 9in wide, but it may be up to 9.25 inches in practice. So if it says ~9, it means the right edge of the board, and ~7 would be 2 inches away from the right edge.

Back Piece

.....................
|   |           |   |
3---|-----------|---4
|   5 X X X X X 6   |
1---|-----------|---2
|   |           |   |
|                   |
|                   |
|                   |
|                   |
|                   |
|___________________|
Coordinates:
P1 ( 0, 13)
P2 (~9, 13)
P3 ( 0, 14.5)
P4 (~9, 14.5)
P5 ( 2, [13,14.5])
P6 (~7, [13,14.5])
  1. Measure 13 inches up from the bottom on the backrest board and draw a horizontal line. (P1 + P2)
  2. Measure another 1.5 inches above that and draw a horizontal line. (P3 + P4)
  3. Measure 2 inches in from each side and draw vertical lines. (P5 + P6)
  4. Mark this on the other side of the board so that it can be managed from both directions.
  5. Use your tool(s) of preference to bore out the hole evenly from both sides. (X’d portion)

Cutting out the portion can be done with a jigsaw, oscillating saw, wood boring spade set and folding saw, a hatchet, etc.

Seat Piece

_____________________
| X 4           6 X |
|X X|           |X X|
| X 4           6 X |
|X X|           |X X|
| X 4           6 X |
.....................
| X 4           6 X |
|X X|           |X X|
| X 4           6 X |
|X X|           |X X|
1---3-----------5---2
|   |           |   |
|                   |
|                   |
|                   |
|                   |
|                   |
|___________________|
Coordinates:
P1 ( 0,  13)
P2 (~9,  13)
P3 ( 2,  13)
P4 ( 2, >13)
P5 (~7,  13)
P6 (~7, >13)
  1. Measure 13 inches back from the front of the seat and draw a horizontal line. (P1 + P2)
  2. Measure 2 inches in from each side and draw vertical lines all the way to the end of the board. (P3 to P4, P5 to P6)
  3. You now have the two areas to cut off of the seat board. (X’d portions)
  4. Try fitting it into the back. Use whatever tools necessary to clean up the hole or shave off the edges of the seat insert. I used a folding saw to open up the hole and a hand axe to shave the insert.

Keep these scrap pieces if you wish to add a carrying and storage case to the back.

Useful Cuts

Technically the chair is now fully functional. I kept it simple like this for a few weeks before opting for a few more changes.

Seat Comfort

Removing the corners from the seat allows your legs to rest more naturally. It also helps with other positions like sitting cross legged.

.....................
|                   |
|                   |
1--__           __--2
|X X \__     __/ X X|
|_X_X_X_3___4_X_X_X_|
Coordinates:
P1 ( 0, 2)
P2 (~9, 2)
P3 ( 3, 0)
P4 (~6, 0)
  1. From each front corner of the seat, measure 2 inches back (P1 + P2) and 3 inches towards the front center (P3 + P4).
  2. For each side, draw lines from the edge point to the front point.
  3. Cut off the corners and smooth the edges with a hand axe, sandpaper, or other edging device.

I also did this to the top of the backrest for aesthetics. This also helped it fit better in the van and gave a slight reduction in weight.

Floor Stability

The 9 inch base tends to wobble a bit. This helps it be much steadier.

.....................
|                   |
|                   |
|     _4--3--5_     |
|    / X X X X \    |
|___1_X_X_X_X_X_2___|
Coordinates:
P1 (2, 0)
P2 (7, 0)
P3 (4.5, 1.5)
P4 (3, 1.5)
P5 (6, 1.5)
  1. At the bottom of the backrest board, measure in 2 inches from each side and mark these points. (POINTS 1 and 2)
  2. Find the middle of the board, around 4.5 to 4.6 inches, and mark it vertically.
  3. Measure up 1.5 inches from the center vertical line and mark horizontally. (POINT 3)
  4. Measure in 3 inches from each side and mark them vertically (POINTS 4 and 5)
  5. Draw lines from P1 to P4, P2 to P5, and then from P4 to P5 which should pass through P3. See the diagram.
  6. Remove the section below the bottom lines. (X’d portion)

On my first chair I used a circular saw to do P1 to P4 and P2 to P5, then a folding saw to start cutting out chunks and eventually make it from P4 to P5. A jigsaw would probably work great.

Storage & Carrying Case

I personally choose to eyeball most of this work.

    B B
  B S S B
B S S S S B
S S S S S S
S S S S S S
S S S S S S
B O O O O B
B L S S L B
B L S S L B
. . . . . .
B L S S L B
B L S S L B
B O O O O B
B B S S B B
B   S S   B
Legend:
S: Seat
B: Back
L: Long Frame Pieces
O: Short Frame Pieces
  1. On each seat scrap piece, cut off 8.5 inches.
  2. Lay the backrest piece on its front, so that its backside is facing up.
  3. Place the seat on top, lining up the sitting part with the top of the backrest.
  4. The long scrap pieces are approximately 1.5in x 2in x 26.5in. Place the shorter sides of these (1.5in) against the back piece along the sides of the backrest, parallel to the seat leg.
  5. The short scrap pieces are about 1.5in x 2in x 8.5in. They sit on the ends of the long pieces, over the seat leg, so that the seat can slide in and out of the frame. Place them with the 2in sides facing down.
  6. At each corner of the frame where the short pieces are sitting on the long pieces, drill a pilot hole and add a 2.5in screw or similar.
  7. After carefully aligning the seat and having the frame centered, attach the long pieces to the backrest with pilot holes and more 2.5in screws just below where the short pieces were joined.

If done properly the seat should now be contained within the carry handles, and is also able to slide up and out.

The video discusses the back frame at 07:35 if you’d like to see an example.