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Reclining lounge chair
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Get comfortable on the patio or deck with this sturdy reclining lounge chair
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By Cathy Dalrymple, photos by Brenda Falvey, illustration by Len Churchill
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You can adjust the incline of the lounger's back by moving the prop from one notch to the next. Or flatten the chair for summertime snoozing. The side table holds your book and refreshments
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As early as the eighth century B.C., the Greeks used a piece of furniture called the “kline,” for lounging during meals instead of sitting on a chair. The kline was also used at social gatherings involving wine, music and conversation, the same things we enjoy when relaxing outdoors in Canadian summers.
The 19th century produced a European version of the kline, the chaise lounge, which is, in turn, the predecessor of this lounger. Today you'll find the lounge chair in prominent use around pools, on decks, at the cottage or on the topsides of luxury ocean liners.
This project aims to enhance the lazy summer day's experience of a cool drink and a good book. And better yet, although this simple, elegant design is long on history, it's short on construction time.
Begin by preparing the parts you'll need, beginning with a template for the stringers. A piece of scrap 1/4" plywood or even heavy cardboard measuring 4" x 78" will do the trick. Draw the profile for the stringers on this material, including an optional freehand undulation behind the seat back and where your hips will rest on the lounge.
Once you are satisfied with the profile of your template, trace it onto two pieces of wood, then cut them out with a bandsaw or jigsaw. With both stringers cut, clamp or screw them together so you can sand both at the same time to identical profiles. I used a belt sander with an 80-grit abrasive for this job. Tip the machine forward a bit so the front roller gets into any curved areas of your stringers. If you screw the stringers together where the leg bolt holes will go later, you'll avoid making unnecessary marks on the wood. When you're done, separate the stringers and lay them out so they're at the ready on your workbench.
Using the top end of your plywood stringer template, transfer the shape to the wood you roughed-out for the backrest stringers. Saw these, then sand the edges as you did with the main stringers. At this point you can cut, sand and finish all pieces on the materials list. This not only saves time, but glue squeeze-out won't stain your project as it would bare wood.
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