Making a Cardboard Chair

Put on safety glasses and work gloves. Secure a 4-foot by 8-foot sheet of 1/2-inch plywood to two saw horses with wood clamps. Cut it in half from top to bottom with a circular saw to create two 24-inch by 8-foot pieces.

Sketch your cardboard chair silhouette (side view) onto one of the pieces of cardboard with a pencil and then darken the pencil lines with a permanent marker.

Place a 15/32 by 3/4 by 1/4 by 2-inch undersized plywood dado plunge router bit in your router and use it to route along the cardboard chair silhouette outline that you drew, creating a 1/4-inch deep groove in the plywood.

Position one or two band saw blades (depending on the length of your silhouette and the length of your band saw blades) with the cutting edge up, in the silhouette groove that you routed.

Secure the blade or blades to the plywood by running a 1/8-inch bead of polyurethane glue along both sides of the blade. Keep the bead steady to avoid having any excess glue on the plywood.

Place the first sheet of cardboard on the band saw cutting die that you made. Place the second half sheet of plywood over the cardboard and press down on the cardboard and plywood stack until the first chair silhouette is cut. Cut the remaining 59 silhouettes in the same manner.

Dip a synthetic paint brush into polyurethane glue and use it to paint a light coat of glue onto one of the pieces, align the edges of next piece and press them together. Continue until all 60 pieces are joined. When you have completed gluing the pieces together you will have a cardboard chair approximately 13 3/4-inch wide.

Paint the entire chair with acrylic or latex house paint applied with a paint pad, if desired.