I personally love the design of the chairs in these 2×6 deck chair plans; so much so I’m planning on building four of these (plus a loveseat version) to go around the new fire pit we’ll be building this spring. One of the things I love about these chairs is the use of angles, a lot of the boards used in this build are not cut at 90 degree angles. Once I have ours built, they will definitely be showcased here.

These 2×6 deck chair plans can be built a few different ways, depending on how artistic you want to be with your joinery. The instructions that follow will highlight at least two ways to do the joinery, with my personal preference being the variations that don’t include nails or screws. Yes, you read that right, these 2×6 deck chair plans include instructions for building the chairs without any nails or screws! Though that doesn’t mean they will be easy unless you have the right tools to make the necessary joints.

Tools

• Miter saw
• Table saw (optional)
• Router (optional)
• Kreg pocket hole jig (optional)
• Doweling kit (optional)
• Drill
• Square
• Tape measure
• Clamps

Materials

• 4 – 2×6″ x 8′
• 1 – 2×4″ x 8′
• Exterior wood glue
• Wood screws
• Wood dowels (optional)

Step 1: Build the backrest

The backrest for this chair consists of two 2×6 boards cut to 27″ for the verticals, and five 2×6 boards for the horizontals. As mentioned above, there are multiple methods to construct the back of this chair and which method you choose will determine how long the horizontal 2×6 boards should be cut. In all methods you’ll want to dry fit the pieces first, and then use exterior grade wood glue to provide a strong, lasting joint. Use clamps to hold the pieces together while the wood glue dries.

Method 1: Pocket hole screws

If using pocket hole screws, cut your five horizontal 2×6 boards to 8.5″ and use three pocket hole screws on each end of each horizontal board to attach to the vertical boards.

Method 2: Dowels or loose tenons

An easy way to not use screws in this design is to use dowels or loose tenons. If choosing this method, cut your horizontal boards to 8.5″ and use three dowels or two loose tenons in each end of each horizontal board to attach to the vertical boards.

Method 3: Tongue and groove

This is my preferred method as I feel it provides the strongest connection, and once your tools are set up properly it is easy to repeat the necessary steps efficiently.

Start by cutting your horizontal boards to 9.5″ in order to give enough material to cut a 1/2″ x 1/2″ tongue in the middle of each end. After cutting your tongues on both sides of all five boards, you’ll want to cut off about an inch of the tongue on the four outside edges so your grooves in the vertical pieces don’t need to go all the way to the end. This hides your joinery, but if you don’t care about hiding your joinery you can skip this step.

After you have cut your tongues, you’ll also need to cut a matching 1/2″ x 1/2″ groove down the center of your vertical 2x6s. In order to hide the joinery you’ll want to stop this groove about 1″ in from them ends.

Step 2: Cut the boards for the seat

Similarly to the construction of the backrest, you have multiple options here too. The length you need to cut your seat board will depend on how you want to attach the seat. If you want to use a rabbet in the sides, you’re going to need to cut your seat board at 21″ so they can extend into that rabbet in the sides. If you are using pocket hole screws, dowels or loose tenons, cut the boards to 19 1/2″

The easiest way to attach the front board is to cut it to the 19 1/2″ length and then use either pocket hole screws from the inside/underneath, or to use dowels. In either case, I typically only attach it only to the sides.

The seat boards down not have to be attached to each other, as they will be held in place by how they are attached to the sides.

Step 3: Build the sides

When cutting the side boards, note that the three horizontal boards require end cuts that are not the same. The front of these boards should be cut at 70 degrees (set your miter saw to 20 degrees). The back of these boards need to be cut at 75 degrees (set your miter saw to 15 degrees).

For the vertical front board, the bottom front corner is cut at a 70 degree angle, while the top back corner is cut at a 75 degree angle (see the diagram below). The length of the front of these boards should be 19 3/4″.

The side assembly should follow the same method as you used for steps 1 and 2. So if you are using a tongue and groove method, ensure to add about an extra 1/2″ onto the length of the horizontal boards (I just cut mine at 23″ along the top edge).

Step 4: Armrest

The last piece to cut is the armrest. This is a 2×4 board cut to 30 5/16″ on the bottom side. You should cut this board at a 70 degree angle, so the slope matches that of the front leg. The back edge can be cut at a standard 90 degree angle.

When attaching the armrests, make certain the inside edge of the armrest is flush with the inside edge of the side. To attach the armrests, I prefer to use dowels and exterior grade wood glue so that there are no exposed fasteners. If you get a simple doweling kit, including dowel centers, from your local big box store, this is really a simple process. Biscuits or loose tenons are other good options if you don’t want to show screws.

Step 5: Assembly

The last step for constructing this piece is putting it all together. If you’ve gotten this far, you should basically have four major pieces (the back, two sides, and the seat) and you should also already have made decisions on how you were going to attach the seat to the sides. So the only decision left is how to attach the back to the sides and what angle to set it at. A comfortable resting position is about 110 degrees, so that’s a good starting point – but you can obviously customize yours as you wish. To actually attach the backrest, I like to use dowels. However you can also use pocket hole screws from the back (I’d recommend at least 3 per side at a minimum, four is actually preferable).

My preferred joinery techniques:

Here is a diagram highlighting the different joinery I prefer to use for these deck chair plans:

We hope you find these deck chair plans useful. As always, if you have questions or thoughts feel free to drop them in the comments below, or send us a note via our contact page. And don’t forget to check out our other free DIY furniture plans.

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