How to Make a Ski Chair

Lincoln Fuller isn’t big on getting rid of stuff. “I have a tough time throwing anything away,” says the Yarmouth, Maine, resident. Take his ski chalet at Sunday River, where Fuller and his family have been coming since 1968. There, four decades of fiberglass skis had built up, most of them finding a home in a storage spot beneath the house or in an outdoor closet on the back porch. “I bet we had 20 pairs,” says Fuller. “We didn’t even know whom some of them had belonged to.” So, when his wife, Marti Mayne, suggested he try to replicate an Adirondack-style ski chair she’d once seen made out of old skis, Fuller jumped at the chance. He could free up some needed space without, you know, having to get rid of anything. Afterward, Fuller told his mother what he’d built. She was somewhat taken aback that he’d used her skis in the chair. “You cut up my skis?” she asked him. But when he presented the ski chair to her a s gift, she loved it. And for good reason, notes Fuller. “It’s unique,” he says. “It’s eye-catching, and there’s some sentimental value to it.” Cost: $50 for lumber, screws, and paint Materials: 2×4 and 2×6 framing lumber 5 pairs fiberglass skis Phillips-head screwdriver skill saw & power hacksaw 4-inch, 2-inch, and 1 5/8-inch drywall screws sandpaper latex paint Download and print a page of illustrations for this chair.Process:Ski Chair Frame. Fuller’s first task was to build the chair’s core, which consists of varying lengths of 2×4 and 2×6 pieces of framing lumber (Figure 1). 1. For the two front two legs, cut a single 2×4 into matching 27-inch sections. The front cross member is a 22-inch board from the same-size stock. Using two 4-inch drywall screws on either side, join the front cross member to the front legs, between them, 15 inches up from their base (Figure 1a). 2. Rear legs are a pair of 38-inch 2×6 boards. Cut both ends of each board at a 45-degree angle. Using three 4-inch drywall screws on either side, join the angled ends of the rear legs to the back of the front legs at the top. 3. The rear cross member is a 25-inch 2×4, cut at a 30-degree angle. Using three 4-inch drywall screws on either side, join the rear cross member to the rear legs, across the outside, 18 inches up from their base (Figure 1b). 4. Paint the entire frame with a couple of coats of dark-blue latex. Ski Chair Back For Fuller, the biggest challenge might have been dismantling and cutting the five pairs of fiberglass skis he was using for the chair’s back, seat, and armrests (Figure 2). “Removing the old bindings was pretty difficult,” he says. “They were epoxied, so they were screwed in pretty solid.” Because of the skis’ metal edges, Fuller opted for a power hacksaw over a skill saw. 1. Cut the tip ends of seven skis into varying lengths (Figure 2a): one 45-inch; two 44-inch; two 43-inch; two 42-inch. 2. Using three 4-inch drywall screws per ski, join ski sections vertically (and evenly spaced) to the rear cross member, flush with the bottom edge of that board (Figure 2b). Ski Chair Seat For the seat, Fuller recycled his cut ski tails. 1. Using two 1 5/8-inch drywall screws at either end of each ski tail (Figure 2c), join seven 20-inch pieces, laid horizontally, to the tops of the frame’s front and rear cross members. Ski Chair Finishing touches Fuller’s last structural task was to create the chair’s armrests. 1. Using two 1 5/8-inch drywall screws on either side of the chair, mount two 26-inch ski sections (tips included) onto the tops of the two front legs. 2. Using two 2-inch drywall screws from behind the chair’s back, join the outermost vertical slat on either side to the butt ends of the armrests. 3. Fuller finished off the whole project by smoothing the edges of the skis (back, seat, and arm rests) with 50-grit sandpaper — but only lightly. Why? “Because they were pretty dull from having been just stored away and not sharpened,” he says.