Making your own folding chair has many benefits. This is not only a great opportunity to save on new furniture, but also a real way to make a product with your own hands that will meet all the requirements. Lightness, reliability of construction, beauty, comfort - these are the main conditions for folding furniture. Unfortunately, store-bought models cannot always meet these needs, and their cost is not the most budget-friendly. A do-it-yourself folding chair for the home means an independent choice of materials, colors, and sizes. And relaxing at the dacha, sitting in such a chair, is much more pleasant.
To make a beautiful, comfortable chair with your own hands, you don’t have to have a lot of experience. All you need are drawings, the necessary list of materials and tools. By following the detailed instructions for action, it is possible to do such a thing yourself.
The manufacture of any piece of furniture must begin with a drawing. On a blank sheet of paper, draw how you see the folding chair. It is also important to decide where it will be placed: in the house, on the balcony, in the country house, for outings into nature, or all together.
It is also important to decide on the material for production. Most often used:
To make a product with your own hands, it is better to choose wood. This is an environmentally friendly material, easy to use, and sold at an affordable price. Pine is the cheapest; it can be treated with a mahogany wood stain. You can also give preference to oak, ash, birch - hard wood varieties.
When it comes to the seat and backrest, there are several options. You can make them completely wooden (from slats), cover them with fabric or use foam rubber. When choosing a fabric, you should pay attention to its density, because the material must withstand the weight of a sitting person. Also, the fabric should be easy to clean and have a pleasant color. Perfect for: mattress teak, tarpaulin, denim, camouflage, canvas.
A fabric folding chair is one of the simplest and most convenient options for making it yourself. This product is lightweight, does not take up much space, and is convenient, which makes it a fairly good option for country use.
You should prepare the following materials in advance:
When all the necessary materials have been collected, you can move on:
After the assembly of the frame is completed, you should cut out the fabric for the seat. The length of the material is calculated taking into account the possibility of folding. To understand what length is required, you need to fold the structure and take measurements of the fabric. It is important to remember that the material should be slightly stretched. After this, nail a piece of fabric with pre-processed edges with round slats located on parts A and B. Then wrap the edges of the cut and fix it with small nails with thick heads.
A DIY folding chair “Kentucky” is an interesting and simple option for a summer cottage. The product consists of wooden blocks with holes connected to each other with thick wire. This option is very convenient, because it can be easily folded and stored until next season.
To make a folding chair, you will need the following materials:
To prepare the frame, you will need to take a 50x100 mm board and cut it into 3 equal parts. You can also take ready-made bars; if you fold them, you should get a length of 13 m. After the wood has been processed, you can begin making holes. Their diameter should be 1.5-2 mm larger than the diameter of the wire.
DIY assembly diagram:
The finished product must be processed, which will protect it from ultraviolet exposure, moisture, and also add beauty. It is better to choose an external stain based on oils and waxes. You can also use parquet oil. Apply the product with a brush or spray.
Another option for making a chair with your own hands is a wooden model. This piece of furniture can be placed on the balcony or in the garden.
In order to make it yourself, you will need:
Operating procedure:
It is important to control the assembly process with a square so that the slats are perpendicular to the plywood legs. The outer slats are attached with 2 screws on each side. The backrest is assembled using the same system. You will need 2 legs, 7 slats, 2 stop bars, 1 top bar with 1 rounded edge and a hole in the middle. Sand the assembled frames, remove all sharp corners, and paint.
If your apartment is small or your dacha sometimes doesn’t have enough seating space, a folding chair with a backrest will be a good help. When folded, it will not take up much space - you can lean it against the wall, put it under the bed or behind a closet, and use it only as needed when there are a lot of people gathered. This miracle of technology can be purchased in stores. But a do-it-yourself folding chair with a backrest is not only quick, but also interesting - this is a good reason to reunite with your son or daughter, spouse or parent; some families spend their family leisure time this way. And what? Quite exciting and useful!
To make the presented furniture you will need high-quality wood: pine, oak, beech. It may cost more than plywood, but buying a ready-made chair will be more expensive than making it yourself from good material.
First you need to prepare the necessary set of tools: a hacksaw, a chisel, a hammer, a screwdriver, a square, a tape measure, sandpaper. In addition, wood glue will be useful, screws are needed to fasten the parts, and varnish or paint will be needed to finish the chair.
To make a folding chair with a backrest you will need the following materials:
The instructions below tell you how to independently make a model with 4 legs of different lengths: 2 legs of 900 mm and 2 legs of 550 mm. Transverse ligaments should be cut out of boards with dimensions of 400x50x20 mm and 340x50x20 mm. For the back of the chair, cut out a strip measuring 400x70x15 mm. The crossbars of the small legs must be connected using two pieces of board measuring 280x50x20 mm. Two bars will help secure the seat - their dimensions are 290x30x30 mm. The seat will be assembled from 6 slats - their parameters are 340x40x15.
All parts must be processed with a plane - it is important to round the corners of all prepared parts.
Having prepared all the required parts, you should start making a chair with your own hands; the drawings should also be prepared in advance.
When all the parts are ready, you can begin assembly, which is carried out in the following sequence:
After all the above steps, the chair is ready - it can be varnished or painted, first sanded and coated with a primer and an antiseptic. This will protect the chair from moisture penetration and rapid wear. 
Making a chair with your own hands is not difficult - it does not take much time or physical effort. As for the financial side, there is no need to spend a lot of money here either. Furniture prepared in this way will serve both at home and in the country - when many guests gather, there will be no need to run around the neighbors and beg for chairs.
A folding lightweight wooden chair will be a useful small-sized attribute in the household. A compact analogue of a regular stool can also be used for relaxation. A homemade chair design with a back can be made using various understandable drawings. A folding chair with your own hands, when folded, is put away in the pantry after use on a picnic or fishing - this is the main advantage of the proposed design.
The main types of suitable hardwood for a homemade stool: oak, elm, maple, pear, walnut boards. Also, a craftsman who decides to make a folding chair needs to stock up on a standard set of tools for working with wood with his own hands: a hacksaw, a plane, a chisel, an electric drill, a countersink drill, a Phillips screwdriver, sandpaper, a square, a tape measure and a simple pencil. A folding stool will take a little time to create with your own hands according to the diagram.
A do-it-yourself folding chair will require the use of wooden blocks of different sizes and quantities:
For a folding wooden chair, you will also need a set of metal bolts, washers, nuts, and self-tapping screws to fasten the wooden blocks together with your own hands. According to the calculations of the selected drawing, all wooden structural elements are cut out using a jigsaw or a metal hacksaw. The cut bars need to be sanded with a grinding machine or sandpaper.
The front bars are made with a bevel in order to be placed stably on the surface (at an angle of 60 degrees). The supporting part of the leg is cut off by 30 degrees. A DIY wooden folding chair with a back will require special care when sawing, so it is recommended to use a miter box.
Drawing of a folding chair with a back (1 option) Drawing of a folding chair with a back (2 option) Drawing of a folding chair with a back (3 option)
Drawing of a folding chair with a back (4th option) Drawing of a folding chair with a back (5th option) Drawing of a folding chair with a back (6th option)
A wooden folding chair is assembled as follows:
Here's how you can do it without a back:
Drawing of a folding chair Drawing of a folding chair We attach the outer bars of the seat to the crossbars. When the chair is unfolded, the inner bars of the seat serve as a stop and support the structure
To make the chair comfortable to carry in your hand, you can make a comfortable handle. And this is what the folding chair itself looks like. The chair when folded
You can include in the design of the chair several additional wooden parts, carved with your own hands. For example, another block is inserted between the middle poles of the seat to increase the height of the structure. The handle is installed during assembly. To do this, choose an elongated metal screw (up to 7 cm) to fasten the part between the internal plexus of the legs. A self-assembled folding stool can withstand quite heavy loads. At the same time, it maintains optimal weight for transportation in the hands even by children. Knowing how to make a folding chair, you can experiment with additional attributes for relaxation.
A DIY folding stool will be useful not only in a country house for a picnic. They can be used regardless of where they are (for a children’s room, kitchen, loggia). Using drawings and videos, wooden furniture for outdoor recreation of various configurations is assembled. All products are united by a functional principle of use. Based on photos on the Internet, you can build a wooden table using the same principle. The finished decorative element folds up like a regular wooden folding chair. Fishermen especially love the folding stool for its simplicity and ergonomic design.
Folding chairs can break down from time to time. If this type of furniture breaks down, it will not be difficult to restore its operational properties. There are quite a number of videos published online that clearly illustrate how to repair a homemade camping paraphernalia for recreation.
So, you now fully know how to make a folding chair with a backrest. You can easily make a structure with your own hands from different types of wood right at home on your balcony. You can create drawings with your own hands or find ready-made design projects for folding country furniture online. A pair of chairs (transformable) will make a family vacation comfortable in any conditions. Even a novice carpenter can make a folding chair according to the proposed scheme.
Folding chairs are items that are difficult to imagine an ideal life without. Outdoor recreation, hiking, fishing or hunting, including quiet ones, suddenly arriving “hordes” of guests require furniture. However, it should not be bulky, but at the same time it must provide comfort and reliability. It is not always easy to purchase such a useful item in a store: for example, you are not satisfied with the price, material or model. To make a folding chair with your own hands, having a drawing at hand is the main condition. After choosing the scheme you like and purchasing everything you need, you can get down to business.
Regardless of the material chosen for the construction of the structure, such furniture must have the following qualities:
The most common folding seats are stools. They, without a back, are lightweight and easier to manufacture. However, sitting on such a structure is not very comfortable. Chairs with a back are already more like typical furniture that cannot be transformed. To ensure lighter weight, seats and backrests are often made of fabric. The hit material for homemade chairs, folding and regular, is wood, but these camping structures are often made of metal or plastic.
This furniture, which has 3 legs, can be useful for fishing or hunting. Its advantages are light weight, low cost, speed and ease of assembly. The downside is that there is a high probability of going on a “free flight”, especially for people with a decent weight. To make a stool you need the following materials:
In accordance with the drawing, holes are drilled in the middle and on top of the future legs. They are also made in the corners of the cut fabric. The two legs are connected using a long bolt. A screw with a loop is put on it to secure the third support. Finally, the fabric is attached to the legs with decorative washers. For convenience, you can sew on a strip that will make transporting the chair easier.
Since wood is extremely afraid of water, some prefer to use another material - almost weightless plastic, which, moreover, does not care about any humidity. To build a lightweight structure you need to prepare:
Long elements are connected in pairs in the middle crosswise using bolts. They are not tightened tightly, otherwise the structure will be difficult to fold. Corners are attached to the ends of the tubes, into which short elements are then inserted.
After receiving the frame, a piece of suitable size is cut out of the material for the seat. It is sewn on a machine, the seat is put on the upper elements, dismantling one of the sides. To secure the legs, a narrow strip of the same fabric is sewn at the bottom. Those who wish can also provide it with a backrest, making it in the same way. It is rigidly mounted to the top of the stool - to the frame of the front legs. The chair is made from metal pipes in the same way.
Unlike the previous “almost furniture”, this sample is already a full-fledged, but mobile piece of furniture. To build a structure you need a whole set of tools:
Required materials - basic and improvised:
Cut out a circle, its diameter is 350 mm. To make a handle for the future seat, use a feather drill (22 mm). At an equal distance from the edges of the circle, make 2 holes spaced 120 mm from each other. They are connected by cuts.
Having prepared the remaining structural elements, cut out a long groove on the supports using a straight cutter (8.5 mm). If it is missing, drill holes, the depth of them and the groove is the same. Then, using a thin chisel, remove the jumpers between them. Another option: drill two holes along the edges, and cut out the channel with a jigsaw using a rip saw. The upper ends of the supports are sawn at an angle that is exactly 30°. If you do not follow it, the stool will not work. The bottom of the parts is rounded.
The jumpers (legs) are secured with dowels, pre-coating them, holes and adjacent parts with glue. Excess is removed, and the elements are fixed with clamps until dry. The hinges are attached to the seat with self-tapping screws. To camouflage the pins connecting the legs, a tube is cut out: if there is no lathe, it is made multifaceted with a plane.
The semi-finished stool is sanded with sandpaper and at least two layers of tinting varnish are applied. To give the wood a special texture, it is recommended to wet it several times before sanding, then dry it completely.
The drawings of folding chairs with a backrest have differences, but they are small, since the principle of all designs is similar, and the manufacture of such furniture cannot be called super complicated.
If we consider all the elements, the chair consists of:
In addition to the main parts, you will need dowels (15x30 mm), glue, bolts with nuts and washers (diameter 8-10 mm, length 50 mm), self-tapping screws. You can’t do without tools, you need:
All elements are cut out, polished, and the corners are rounded with a milling cutter. The lower parts of the front legs are cut off, the angle is the same as in the previous “recipe” - 30°, so a miter box is necessary here too. The next stage is marking the grooves of the long legs. There are three of them for each part - 2 for the back and one for the leg. The grooves are cut with a router or drill (drill - 9 mm), then the holes are combined using the same chisel and ground.
On the bars rounded at the bottom for the drawers, holes are made for dowels; their depth and diameter are 15 mm. These fasteners, intended for the grooves of the rear legs, are placed on glue. In the middle of the drawer, drill a through hole for screws. They will attach the front legs. Finished parts are polished.
Then prepare 5 identical parts. Two of them will be the back, one will be the leg of the front supporting elements, 2 more additional ones, absent in the figure, are the leg of the rear legs and the crossbar, which gives them rigidity. Spikes are formed in these parts, their dimensions are 9x15x50 mm. They are cut out with a router or jigsaw, flaws are corrected with a knife, and smoothed with sandpaper.
The hind legs are prepared. They are rounded at the top and markings are made for three grooves: the middle one for the dowels in the drawers, the upper and lower ones for the lintel and prong, respectively. Before cutting the grooves, check the symmetry of the markings of both elements.
This stage, of course, always starts with the seat. The boards intended for it are distributed evenly among the sides, not forgetting about their parallelism and perpendicularity to the side parts. Having made the markings, they are fixed with glue and placed in clamps. After it dries, 2 holes are made in the edges of the boards for fastening to the drawers, and self-tapping screws are screwed into the countersunk holes.
Assemble the rear frame. Having installed it in the dowels protruding from the drawers, they simultaneously glue the leg and the upper jumper. The structure is tightened with clamps, waiting for the joints to dry. The top crossbar and leg are glued to one front leg. Afterwards it is fastened to the drawer with a screw. Then the second leg is attached to it with glue, which is also connected with a screw to the side of the seat. The glued and screwed chair is again fixed in clamps until completely dry.
Despite the fact that it is not at all difficult to build a folding chair with your own hands, a drawing is a necessary condition. It is better to find it rather than “invent” it yourself, since ready-made circuits have been tested, reliable and accurate.
How to build a solid folding chair, see this video:
Folding chairs are a convenient piece of furniture for fishing enthusiasts or supporters of outdoor recreation due to ease of transportation from place to place. In addition, their use allows you to save precious meters in small apartments.
Making a folding chair with your own hands is not difficult. This doesn't even require any special carpentry skills. The main thing is to prepare bars of different lengths, fastenings, the simplest tool. It is necessary to strictly follow the drawings and adhere to the action plan.
The finished product can be decorated or equipped with soft upholstery, thanks to which it will acquire a noble appearance that can decorate any interior. 
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There are a large number of different models of folding chairs, ranging from simple fishing stools to luxury ones designed for use in the most sophisticated apartment interiors.
The main qualifying characteristic of the product is the material of the frame, which can be wooden or metal. A folding chair for fishing is easiest to make from bars and planks. Metal products with soft elements are more suitable for use in the home.
According to its design, a folding chair can be with or without a backrest. The second option is much easier to do with your own hands, but the first is more comfortable to use. The backrest in folding products is attached to supports, which are a continuation of the legs. When folded, such a chair will be much higher than a stool.
The back may be different:
In addition, transformable pieces of furniture are divided according to the type of legs, which can be:
The most common are cross and straight models. They can be made of wood, metal and plastic.
With solid legs they make it foldable. It consists of a back that smoothly turns into legs, separate supports and a fabric seat. When folded, the wooden elements fit into each other, becoming very thin.
For self-production, the most suitable material is wood. With the right approach, it is easy to make chairs from plywood. The main thing is to choose a material of sufficient thickness that can support the weight of a person.
They begin to create folding chairs with their own hands from a preliminary drawing. It will display the appearance of the future product, its components, dimensions, which when unfolded are most convenient for the person who will use it.
Then a detailed diagram of the folding chair is drawn: the dimensions of each part, the location of fastening the frame elements and the location of the transformation mechanisms.
Already at this stage it is necessary to think about how the product will be unfolded and how to fix the seat to ensure the greatest stability. It is recommended that you first familiarize yourself with ready-made drawings and diagrams, use one of them, or create your own using the example presented.
The easiest way to make it is with cross legs, a seat fixed at the back and equipped with grooves in the support bars.
The slats will be fixed to the crossbar of the front legs. At the same time, there is practically no difference in creating a product with or without a back.
Before starting work, you need to prepare in advance the necessary materials and tools provided for in the drawing of the future product.
When choosing a wood species, you should be guided by the properties of the solid wood. To make the product last longer, it is better to take pear or birch. Pine is the softest and most pliable to process, but a stool made from it will be less durable.
To make a folding chair from wood, you will need:
To create and assemble blanks from solid wood you need the following tool:
If you plan to make a folding chair with a back and seat, equipping them with a soft component, you need to stock up on a piece of suitable material and foam rubber 4-5 cm thick.
Regardless of the model and design of the chair that you plan to make from wood with your own hands, the creation process begins with cutting blanks. This is followed by careful grinding of all parts until a flat and smooth surface is formed.
Based on the drawing, all necessary holes should be drilled. Considering that the fastener heads need to be recessed, the holes are widened along the edges, according to the diameter of the screw or bolt.
First, let's look at how to make a folding chair with your own hands, which has no back and consists of 2 pairs of legs and a slatted seat:
To make your own folding chair with a backrest, lengthen the outer pair of legs so that the height of the chair provides a comfortable position for your back. Then connect both frames, rear and front, using bolts. Unlike a stool, in such a product the seat, when folded, will be placed in the space under the backrest, and not on top of the folded legs.
Making a chair with a plywood back is one of the simplest. At the same time, the product will turn out beautiful and strong.
First, you need to draw 3 parts on a sheet of material that are located inside each other:
Then, using simple hinges, the outer crossbar is connected to the “slingshot” at the top of the slats, and the seat is connected to its central part. After connecting, all 3 parts should form one plane.
To fix the seat, holes are made in it, which will mirror the special spikes on the largest external part. To prevent the parts from becoming loose during transformation, double slits are made in the lower part of the legs and along the edge of the seat and a belt is threaded through them.
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