Maldivian Style Bamboo Swing Chairs

2 Materials
$100
3 Days
Medium

As summer approaches, thoughts about renovating our terrace or garden come up to our minds. Be ready this spring 2019, with this resistant, durable Bamboo Swing Chairs inspired by Maldives traditional chairs.

Getting started. What do I need?

The materials we are going to use are easily found in your local hardware or renovations store. Here is the checklist to do a couple of chairs :

  • 2 Bamboo sticks of 70-90 mm (2,75-3,55″) diameter, 2,40 Meters (7ft 10″) long.
  • 2 Bamboo sticks of 40-50 mm (1,60-2,00″) diameter, 2,40 Meters (7ft 10″) long.
  • 20 meters (65 Ft) of rope, 10 mm (0,40″) diameter.
  • A wood saw (electric or manual).
  • A drill with 10 mm (0,4″) and round saw of the same size of the diameter of the smaller bamboo we took, that has to be 40-50mm (1,60-2,00″) diameter.

The round shaped saw should fit perfectly on the small bamboo stick.


Getting started: Sawing and drilling

We are going to saw the big diameter stick in 3 pieces, that should leave you with 6 sticks of 80cm long of each diameter. Sawing it’s an easy process if you have an electric saw.

The best is to use a table or trestles to saw

After sawing all of them, which shouldn’t take you long, you should have something like this:

Don’t bother if they aren’t perfectly even in diameter or length, that’s part of the charm of Bamboo.

For the small diameter bamboo sticks, we will just cut them in two, to have 4 sticks of 120cm or 47 inches.

After the sawing, we continue by drilling a hole side to side on all (6) of the big bamboo sticks, as seen on this image. Around 10cm or 4 inches from the edge will be good enough.

Make sure you pierce both sides.

When you are done drilling, save 2 of them aside for later. We are going to start with the circular saw. The hole will be your guide to know where to use the circular saw on them, so you get symmetrical cuts on both sides. Check this photo:

The holes shall align perfectly

After this drilling and sawing, you will have some round-shaped leftovers from the bamboo, save them. We like to give a purpose to everything, and we will further on!

Bamboo leftovers. Keep them!

On the small diameter bamboo sticks we are going to do drill holes of 10mm (0,4″) separated by the size of our big diameter bamboo. As one image is worth a thousand words, you will understand it better from this picture :

So at this moment, you should have 2 sets of frames, looking like this:

Knots and sliding knots

If you used to be a Boy scout, this part of the DIY project will bring some memories to you.

Using the sawing bamboo leftovers, pass the rope like this in every corner of our chair :

Bamboo knotting made simple

To adjust the length of the rope before cutting, pass it behind the bamboo leftover as seen on this picture:

Correct length for knotting.

To properly cut the rope, attach it first with some tape.

Cut in between the tape marks.

Then perform a simple knot on the top side, ensured by the bamboo leftover that will act as a knot stopper.

The use of canine help is advised.

Knot it together using this technique :

Continue this DIY project on the link below:

https://essenziale-hd.com/2019/03/23/diy-maldivian-style-bamboo-swing-chairs/

Resources for this project:
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Philippe Reifenrath
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  1 question
  • Liz Liz on Apr 12, 2020

    How much material do I need to buy (the white material)

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  • Chris Sprada-Klaffka Chris Sprada-Klaffka on Apr 25, 2020

    WOW I Simply Love It!!!!

    Thank You for Sharing I Really am So Impressed with The Whole Concept. I going to try making One Soon.

    Thank You.

    Stay Safe and Healthy

  • Susan Fields Kraft Susan Fields Kraft on Apr 25, 2020

    Be careful, bamboo splinters can cause horrible infections and are hard to remove. I made a bamboo mirror frame 40 years ago. My thumb became so infected I had to see a hand surgeon. I still have a hole in my nail. There is a reason that bamboo splinters under the nails used to be a form of torture.

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