Woodworking

Outdoor sofa to replace our falling-apart fake-plastic-wicker one, reusing the same cushions.

It's roughly following Wilker Do's Outdoor Sofa plans, however I adjusted the size, changed from a two-layer construction to lap joints / mortise-and-tenon joints, and filled in some missing details.

First time hand-cutting mortise and tenons, for the arm rest supports:

First time making half-lap joints, for the side frames; very happy with my new Infinity Tools Dadonator:

After some attempts at CAD, I ended up just cutting out scale paper parts and then measuring angles/lengths to fit them together. It mostly worked, but some lengths didn't work out in wood.

I used western red cedar for rot resistance, since this will sit unsheltered. I haven't finished it yet, I'm considering poly, boiled linseed, or Thompson's water seal (glad for recommendations). First time working with cedar, it's very soft and scratch prone, smells great, and is noticeably lighter than pine. Also pricey; one thing I didn't like about this design is it is fairly overbuilt.