Local take on the classic Adirondack chair, made from red cedar

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The Adirondack chair was first designed in the early 1900s, in upstate New York, and has gone on to become a classic design recreated by many.

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One reason for its long life might be that the shape works for those wanting to spend long hours lounging around in it and remain comfortable. Plus, they’re durable.

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This is certainly what furniture designer and maker Rick Jamieson feels.

Jamieson is the founder of Tofino Woodshop and specializes in Adirondack chairs made from salvaged western red cedar.

With Adirondack chairs, you’re sitting “in the chair,” not on top of it, says Jamieson. You’re close to the ground, and this can mean they can be challenging to get out of.

The chairs Jamieson designs are “quite wide at the legs,” and this solid stance, along with wide, solid armrests, makes it easy to get out of them.

Why this type of wood?

Jamieson makes his Adirondack chairs from salvaged western red cedar blown down in windstorms and mudslides, along with logging leftovers.

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“Scraps essentially,” says Jamieson. These logs would otherwise be abandoned, left to rot, or used for firewood.

“The sawmills that I deal with are able to get lumber from those salvaged trees. It feels great to be able to use these ‘castaways’ and create beautiful furniture,” he says.

The sawmills Jamieson uses cut “vertical grain lumber” to his specifications for the Adirondack chairs. Vertical grain, or quarter-sawn lumber, is stronger and more stable than flat or regular sawn lumber, he says.

He adds that more work is involved in cutting this type of lumber, and it comes with a price. He also only uses “clear lumber” for his chairs, so there are no knots in the wood.

Into the nitty-gritty

Tofino Woodshop’s Adirondack chairs are made with seven back slats, assembled at a 100-degree angle to the seat, to achieve “a neutral sitting position that stays comfortable for hours,” says Jamieson.

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“I use two cross braces to make the chair very robust with no rocking or twisting side to side, combined with nice wide back supports to ensure that the chair will not become flimsy or start shifting when you sit in it after only a few weeks of use. I use a seven-inch wide paddle for the armrest, large enough to set a drink on beside your hand, and it adds a very sturdy feel to the chair,” he says.

Like any design, he’s made refinements over the years and is happy with the results. It can be hard to design a chair that has pleasing eye flow, a minimalist esthetic, and is comfortable.

“This is especially true with Adirondack chairs as their side profile has four different intersecting angles,” says Jamieson.

A no-waste philosophy

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In 2017, Jamieson says he was working in Sparwood, B.C., and felt an intense calling to be back home in Tofino, where he was raised.

At the time, a furniture business in Tofino was shutting down, and he admired the business model they’d used for 20-plus years, using salvaged logs.

He founded Tofino Woodshop in a small basement in Tofino in 2018, wanting to use environmentally friendly practices and have a low carbon footprint.

“The cardboard boxes I ship products in are recyclable; the included fasteners are contained in reusable muslin bags. I use reusable and recyclable Kraft paper for cushioning inside the box, and I bag my cedar shavings from the milling process into satchels to use as filler in the boxes,” he says.

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Jamieson uses no plastics, “not even the tape sealing the box.” He gives his scrap wood to a local artist in town, who creates small projects like bird houses and gnome garden houses.

A move to the Kootenays

In 2021, Jamieson moved Tofino Woodshop to Creston, B.C., to secure a better workshop and for family reasons.

“It was a difficult decision as I was born and raised in Tofino, and aside from a couple short stretches living around B.C., it has been home for 40 years. I still get to visit Tofino a few times a year to pick up the same loads of lumber that I’ve always used, so it’s never too far away, and I can feel it under my feet,” he says.

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