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Step 5Don't Worry, We've Got Your Back
OK, so now we have a functional sitting appliance, it's not pretty but it will keep you off the floor with some measure of success. Let's add some amenities.
Remember the piece we set to the side, way back in step 2, the very first piece we cut away, well go find it, we are about to need it. We need to take this 28" piece and turn it into two pieces of material, one 16" wide and one 12" wide, if we had a laser cutter we would use it here, but since we do not we settled for using the jigsaw again.
We are now going to mount the 12" piece in the seat of our chair, this will give our seat extra support and some "spring". Find the thick edge, the part that used to be a portion of the barrel's ring and place it near the front of the seat with the arch going up. We are essentially spanning the distance between the bungholes with this piece. Once you have it placed, secure it with the 1" drywall screws.
Now that we have the "spring" support mounted, grab the bottom that we cut out of the barrel earlier and place it bottomside up in the bottom of the chair. This may need some trimming to get a nice, flush fit, but aren't you glad you made that beveled cut earlier? Once you get it fitted properly, congratulate yourself, you just made the seat.
This is it, what we have been waiting for, the big reveal, this is where the magic happens, at this point we actually make this chair usable by making it truly comfortable, we are about to add lumbar support.
Grab that 16" piece we just made and orient it so the thick part is sitting on the seat you just created, bowing out from the back of the chair. Now grab your c-clamps to hold it all in place and attach this piece to the back of the chair with two bolts, nuts and washers. Mount these a couple of inches down from your intended top of the back of the seat. See how the back now has this graceful curve? That curve is held in place by the thicker portion of the outer ring that you left on the bottom of this piece when you first removed it. That thicker piece creates dynamic tension, which we are harnessing here to provide lumbar support. Go ahead, have a seat try it out. Aren't you glad you took the time to make that cut well?
After basking in the glow of the years of support you just created for yourself and your friends for a moment, stand back up and let's put the finishing touch on the chair back.
Take your trusty pencil and draw a pleasing shape for the back of the chair. In this case we opted for smoothly rounded corners, but have fun with it. Once you have decided on the shape you want and marked it accordingly, grab your trusty jigsaw and make it so.
Remember the piece we set to the side, way back in step 2, the very first piece we cut away, well go find it, we are about to need it. We need to take this 28" piece and turn it into two pieces of material, one 16" wide and one 12" wide, if we had a laser cutter we would use it here, but since we do not we settled for using the jigsaw again.
We are now going to mount the 12" piece in the seat of our chair, this will give our seat extra support and some "spring". Find the thick edge, the part that used to be a portion of the barrel's ring and place it near the front of the seat with the arch going up. We are essentially spanning the distance between the bungholes with this piece. Once you have it placed, secure it with the 1" drywall screws.
Now that we have the "spring" support mounted, grab the bottom that we cut out of the barrel earlier and place it bottomside up in the bottom of the chair. This may need some trimming to get a nice, flush fit, but aren't you glad you made that beveled cut earlier? Once you get it fitted properly, congratulate yourself, you just made the seat.
This is it, what we have been waiting for, the big reveal, this is where the magic happens, at this point we actually make this chair usable by making it truly comfortable, we are about to add lumbar support.
Grab that 16" piece we just made and orient it so the thick part is sitting on the seat you just created, bowing out from the back of the chair. Now grab your c-clamps to hold it all in place and attach this piece to the back of the chair with two bolts, nuts and washers. Mount these a couple of inches down from your intended top of the back of the seat. See how the back now has this graceful curve? That curve is held in place by the thicker portion of the outer ring that you left on the bottom of this piece when you first removed it. That thicker piece creates dynamic tension, which we are harnessing here to provide lumbar support. Go ahead, have a seat try it out. Aren't you glad you took the time to make that cut well?
After basking in the glow of the years of support you just created for yourself and your friends for a moment, stand back up and let's put the finishing touch on the chair back.
Take your trusty pencil and draw a pleasing shape for the back of the chair. In this case we opted for smoothly rounded corners, but have fun with it. Once you have decided on the shape you want and marked it accordingly, grab your trusty jigsaw and make it so.
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