Forays into woodworking: The Chair

Deck furniture for the non-existant deck

So I got bored and figured I need to be more productive. My wall project was coming along but I had to wait for the tnuts to get in, so in the mean time feeling pretty good about myself, I decided to get more into woodworking and build myself a chair. Ya know, for the deck. Wait I don't have a deck. Ok, how about the deck i'm gonna build after I build the wall? I found these wonderful plans on the internet for this cool looking chair. And set myself to work.

First the materials. White Pine 1X2X6's.
9 gauge steel wire
soft aluminum end crimps
Total Cost: Less than 20 bucks

Running into the first problem
So I went ahead cut all the wood and drilled the holes. This is where (not to self) one should probably use a drill press *or* not be lazy and drill each hole. Then came the part of trying to crimp the steel wire. The plans mentioned something about threading the ends and putting cap nuts on. (guess what I can't find any such device). Version 1.0 of the chair == a bust.

Version 1.1
Ah hah! so I went out and bought some nylon rope. Heck I figured it would be flexible enough and I can pull it tight and knot off the ends. I assembled that bad boy and proped it up. Not bad, looked pretty good. Time for the test: the great sitting. Now i'm a smallish guy so when I sat in it it flexed, just a bit, so It was like being on a recliner.. My neighbor came over to check it out and it flexed a bit more, still reclining not very stable, but service able. I went ahead and took it to the office, one of my coworkers sat it in and it practically layed flat. Sigh! Version 1.1 == a bust, not such a bad bust but still a bust. Max weight limit 180.

Version 1.5
After consulting another coworker friend of mine, he mentioned all thread. which is a long metal bar with a screw thread thru the whole length of it. At the size I was looking for it, it had considerable flex so that it would bend enough for the chair, yet not flex so much as the rope. I picked some up and put it together. TADA perfect chair. The picture above is version 1.5 of the chair. So far the upper weight limit of this chair is over 280 lbs. (hasn't broken yet :) )

Final Materials 8 1x2x6 White pine slats
2 4' all threads
big box o washers and nuts
Some wood stain
Time Spent: half an afternoon

All in all the cost of the chair this time around was pretty high since boxes of washers and nuts are not necessary every time, nor is the wood stain. And if i had a table saw I would need to buy 3 2X4s and saw those in 3rds. Thus bringing the cost down to say around $10.
More Pictures