The Armour Archive

I have seen benches in norse encampments here and there that looked pretty good, no clue on their periodness at the time, but didn't scream out of place.

I would love to add something less modern than the folding bright red/purple/blue nylon camp chairs. The benches I had seen would seem to fit the bill. But I have never had much luck in locating patterns for them.

The other day I finally found what they are based on (most likely), the Aldo Leopold Bench.

It is a simple design and doesn't look modern. All of the patterns are for a permanent bench, but it seems relatively simple to create it as a wedge/tenon design. However just incase I am missing something, has anyone built one that way, or have plans to a working wedge/tenon version of this bench?

That paticular bench can be modified by adding hinges and carriage bolts/wind nuts to break down flat.

there are a few benches that can be built as mini tressels fairly easy.

If you have time and any skill with a draw knife/spoke shave benches are fairly quick and easy.
Splayed leg benches can also be made from rough cut 2x6.

losthelm wrote:That paticular bench can be modified by adding hinges and carriage bolts/wind nuts to break down flat.

there are a few benches that can be built as mini tressels fairly easy.

If you have time and any skill with a draw knife/spoke shave benches are fairly quick and easy.
Splayed leg benches can also be made from rough cut 2x6.

The benches also need to have backs on them. every mini-tressel I have seen does not have a back.

The carriage bolts and wing nuts are not a bad idea. Not sure what the hinges are for, unless you were thinking as a method of break down brackets?

With hinges it folds a little flatter though it may rack a bit more in uneven ground.

When you said Norse I assumed something like this:
http://www.historyinthemaking.co.uk/ima ... gBench.png

Or this:
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/ ... 111517.jpg

Or even something like this but with a back:
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/ ... d32f2a.jpg

Honestly the Aldo Leopold Bench looks like it belongs with the "Viking"/Boyscout star-gazer chairs. Don't get me wrong. I will take them every single time over a bag-chair but they aren't any more period just because they are made from wood.

Rather than convert that to a mortise and tennon, how about the mortise and tennon versions on this page? 2 sides, a back, a seat and a vertical cross-bar under the seat to prevent sagging. You could probably knock them out of 2x12 fairly cheaply but I've had very good luck with stair-treads as well. They are 1" nominal thickness instead of 3/4", come in convenient lengths and the cheap ones are actually laminated small pieces with a veneer layer to make them look solid. Quite durable, 66% the weight of 2-by construction and don't look like 2-by construction.

http://www.pinterest.com/bennynordmark/ ... d-housing/

This bench was made from 2 stair treads and a piece of 5/4 pine for the center rail.
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t239 ... 183137.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t239 ... 183122.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t239 ... 182942.jpg

Sean

Sean Powell wrote:I've had very good luck with stair-treads as well.

Sean

Where are you getting the stair tread? Is it unfinished?

Sean Powell wrote:When you said Norse I assumed something like this:
http://www.historyinthemaking.co.uk/ima ... gBench.png

Or this:
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/ ... 111517.jpg

Or even something like this but with a back:
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/ ... d32f2a.jpg

Honestly the Aldo Leopold Bench looks like it belongs with the "Viking"/Boyscout star-gazer chairs. Don't get me wrong. I will take them every single time over a bag-chair but they aren't any more period just because they are made from wood.

Rather than convert that to a mortise and tennon, how about the mortise and tennon versions on this page? 2 sides, a back, a seat and a vertical cross-bar under the seat to prevent sagging. You could probably knock them out of 2x12 fairly cheaply but I've had very good luck with stair-treads as well. They are 1" nominal thickness instead of 3/4", come in convenient lengths and the cheap ones are actually laminated small pieces with a veneer layer to make them look solid. Quite durable, 66% the weight of 2-by construction and don't look like 2-by construction.

Sean

I'm not Norse and I camp with a plethora of different personas: Norse, German, Hospitaler, Scottish. So I am not necessarily concerned with it being in period, since our camp is hugely diverse.

Several of them look like they will have straight backs or be very tippy, and that means they will be a VERY hard sell to the members of the camp that are perfectly happy with the folding camp chair.

I tend to classify objects into 4 categories.
1 - Recreation based on extant objects using a selection of tools, period or not.
2 - Objects based on extant objects but that have no surviving examples.
3 - Objects that are not demonstratably period, but don't remove from the period atmosphere.
4 - Modern.

The benches I provided above I see as a "3", which is why this post is under interpretive recreation. Definetely open to other bench concepts and design that are period for a single culture.

They still need backs. And they need to be comfortable.

Basic criteria:
Stable
Back
Flat pack (Wedge and Tenon?)

The stair tread sounds like an interesting angle I will need to look into that.

Baron Conal wrote:

Sean Powell wrote:I've had very good luck with stair-treads as well.
Sean

Where are you getting the stair tread? Is it unfinished?

Home Depot, Lowes and once a real lumber contractor. They seem to come in 3' and 4' widths.

Ogedei wrote: I'm not Norse and I camp with a plethora of different personas: Norse, German, Hospitaler, Scottish. So I am not necessarily concerned with it being in period, since our camp is hugely diverse.

Several of them look like they will have straight backs or be very tippy, and that means they will be a VERY hard sell to the members of the camp that are perfectly happy with the folding camp chair.
/snip/
Definetely open to other bench concepts and design that are period for a single culture.

They still need backs. And they need to be comfortable.

Basic criteria:
Stable
Back
Flat pack (Wedge and Tenon?)

The stair tread sounds like an interesting angle I will need to look into that.

If you look close on the pintrist page I think you will see where a smart viking has taken an extra triangle of wood and added it to the sides in back for more stability. I suspect it is bixcut or pegged in place for strength. Also the side angle back (not as much as an Aldo Leopold Bench but some) which angles the back for comfort as well. If the back leans back 15 degrees then you might want to angle the seat 7.5 degrees for comfort as well.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/379709812305269279/

The Aldo Leopold Bench looks modern because of the hardware and the overlap of leg boards. If you can get away from those it will help with the flat packing AND not look as modern. The 2 bench styles are very similar in structure. Actually I don't know that the bench is documentable but the construction is plausible given the Oesberg bed which is a good thing. I mean, the norse had the technology to make a wood Adirondack chair but they didn't even though they are very comfortable.

Good luck! And post pics here when you are done.

Sean

You could make an Oseberg style chair. Depending on your woodworking skills and equipment you could make it as break down panels - I'd suggest 2 frame-and-panel sides with the back 'legs' extended to hold a 2 piece back and a front panel, all held together with mortises and pegged/tusk tennons. The seat could be either the 'correct' woven rope netting (quite comfortable) in a drop in frame or a simple drop in wood/ply panel with a cushion on top. You could put a bottom board/panel in it and use it to store gear for immediate use like a water bucket, which would also add to the stability.

Of course no even vaguely period chair can withstand those people who like to ride their chair like a bucking bronco, rearing up onto 2 feet then crashing down again - strangely they always seem to have to use someone else's chair, never their own, which is either broken or left inside their tent.

Have you looked into a 6 board chest? Not collapsable, but you can pack stuff in it and they make awesome benches.

If you are interested, send my your email addy. I have a step by step "HOW TO" on making them.

Made a couple of seats like this:



1/2" Plywood - 12" X 18"
Camp Pad; 3" seat cushion foam; Hi-Loft Poly-Fill batting.

I must comment on the 6 board chests: Make them to fit your transport then you have storage, seating, end tables, working surfaces, ...I have them for garb, tools, food, feast gear, cooking gear, scrap metal,... I've even seen them lined with Styrofoam and used as coolers. They don't have to be fancy---or they can be very fancy indeed!

One of mine has had appx* 500 pounds of knights on it at a feast once where they ran out of chairs---one sat on one end looking one way and the other the other.
(* I wan't going to say "Hey Sir Fatty; how much weight are you oppressing the peasants with these days?")

You can also make 6 board chests 'knock down' if you use 'loose pin' butt hinges intended for hanging doors - the same ones that get a mention in the several 'cooler chest' articles on line. You can even extend the same technique to make a long bench with optional underseat storage and a back rest, which is what I think the original poster was looking for.

Thomas Powers wrote:(* I wan't going to say "Hey Sir Fatty; how much weight are you oppressing the peasants with these days?")

"A pressing question, to be sure. Let us carry off a couple peasants and get their opinion!"

I particularly like the chair in this picture from Sean's Pinterest link above.

I need to come up with seating for at least 3 (family of three here) that will fit in the trunk of a compact car

Roman military camp chairs? (folding metal X chairs with leather seat...)

Galileo wrote:I particularly like the chair in this picture from Sean's Pinterest link above.

I need to come up with seating for at least 3 (family of three here) that will fit in the trunk of a compact car

What time period and nationality?

I have a couple of stools that I use for camping similar to X or savonarola chairs. They are "shower" seats made of teak.


Drawbacks:
They have no back rest,
and they tend to be bare/un-oiled (another $12 investment at your local hardware store on a bottle of TEAK OIL and you are set).

Benefits:
-When not being used for camping, they are side-tables in my living room. Very good height for sitting or setting things upon. Built similar to X-chairs.
-They fold flat (about 2.5" thick and 40" long).
-No assembly/disassembly. No seperate pieces to break or lose. Easy to tuck under your arm and walk it from camp to court.
-Hold upto 300 lbs. weight.
-Highly weather resistant and very beautiful wood (once oiled a couple of times). Wood is a lot darker than the photo would imply.
-Good pricing. Especially if you can find them for sale in the $60-$70 range (sounds pricey for a stool but Teak isn't a cheap wood). You can buy two or three stools for the price of one backed savonarola chair.

-Cian

Sean Powell wrote:

Galileo wrote:I particularly like the chair in this picture from Sean's Pinterest link above.

I need to come up with seating for at least 3 (family of three here) that will fit in the trunk of a compact car

What time period and nationality?

10th C -- I'm Byzantine, but my wife and daughter prefer the 10th C Viking stuff.

Galileo wrote: 10th C -- I'm Byzantine, but my wife and daughter prefer the 10th C Viking stuff.

Well outside of my normal range of research but lets see what we can do.

Quick google search shows a few 'box' chairs for possible solutions.
http://www.exmoorantiques.co.uk/History ... eating.htm
http://iammodernman.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/byzantine/
http://supercalifragilisticexpilidociou ... zantine-2/

I don't know how close these are to what you want and haven't researched the century much. There is aestetic some similarity between them and the Oesberg chair.

I'm fairly certain that metal X-chairs are also available.
http://www.pinterest.com/indunna/byzant ... furniture/

As a quick and easy box chairs can be done from ply-wood and modern hardware can tuck inside so they fold or disassemble. They seem ornately decorated so good paint jobs can seperate a cheap plywood box from a nice peri-oid example. Also, if you work in thinner plywood you can jig-saw gothic arches iin an outer layer and glue it down creating seperate panels for decoration, while adding strength and reducing weight. You can also do true panel construction like an old door. It's not difficult, just time consuming but would be the period technique.

Folding techniques could be duplicated with an Oesberg Chair but I think the woven seat might be more comfortable. All of them should get a cushion.

What is your budget, what are your tools and what is your skill-set?

Sean

Tools: circular saw (6" blade), jig saw. Rest are metal forming (armour) and mechanic's tools

Skills - not a whole heck of a lot that is decorative. Think "framer" not "cabinet maker"

Budget - yet to be determined. We're still working on that one

Simpler peri-oid would be good enough, I think. I'm trying to avoid using the bag chairs we have.

The Anglo Saxon royal grave site at Prittlewell (the "Prittlewell Prince") had an iron framed X chair, much like the Byzantine examples previously shown.

http://wuffingeducation.co.uk/informati ... ll-prince/

For now, I think I'll try making some Talorgen's chairs. They look somewhat simple yet will look far better than bag chairs.

I carry a three-legged stool around that I got as a site token a while back.

-Derian.