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high style plus utility in a
contemporary zigzag
y d av i d d u n d a s
It was a revolutionary design in the 1930s, but not everyone can
afford to sit on a piece of art. We work the best features of the original
Zigzag chair into a stylish and completely accessible chair
you can actually pull up to the dinner table.
he original Zigzag chair designed by Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld in the 1930s is an iconic
T
piece of artwork. The cantilevered, Z-shaped chair looked deceptively simple but employed
masterful joinery and was hailed as a sublime example of minimalist design. It was not a chair you
would want to use for, say, everyday dining.
Nevertheless, with modern adhesives and joinery techniques, it is feasible to build a com-
fortable upholstered dining chair both reminiscent of Rietveld’s Zigzag and strong enough for
everyday use. Our chair’s cantilevered frame also gives it a slight comfortable
springiness.
To withstand structural stresses, the chair’s
side assemblies must be made from a strong
hardwood such as jarrah, maple or white
oak. The seat cross-rails and the slip-seat
frame can be made from a secondary
hardwood. The chair’s miter joints are
reinforced and locked with floating
tenons, epoxied, and pinned with brass
screws. We designed this chair to be built
using the Festool Domino tenon joiner.
Getting started
The visible parts of the chair can be made from an
8' board of 6"-wide 6/4 hardwood. Plane the board to a
thickness of 13/8" and rip it into three lengths 1¾" wide. For
ease of handling, cut the three lengths in half to yield six 4'
lengths. Plane and joint each 4' piece so as to finish 13/8"x
19/16" ensuring that all the faces are square to one another.
Crosscut the parts for the feet, legs, seat side rails, back stiles, and back rails
from the 4’ lengths according to the cut list. It is easier to achieve a consistent
length for the matching parts if you clamp a stop to a crosscut sled or use a miter
gauge with a long fence and an adjustable stop. Mark
out 38" radius curves on the top edges of the back
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D
E
C
G
H
B
F
A
tools, hardware & materials
Festool Domino joiner, festool.com
6 x 19 x 40mm Domino (16)
10 x 23 x 50mm Domino (2)
11/2" #8 brass wood screws (12)
15/8"
Minwax wipe-on polyurethane
Tenon center to edge
distance = 8mm
cut list
A
B
Foot (2)
Leg (2)
13/8"
13/8"
13/8"
13/8"
13/8"
/8"
¾"
5/8"
x
19/16"
19/16"
19/16"
19/16"
19/16"
13/8"
2¼"
2"
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
17¾"
265/8"
17¾"
181/2"
16"
16"
16"
17¼"
11¾"
500mm
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
C Seat side rail (2)
D Back stile (2)
E
F
Back rail (3)
Stretcher
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33/8"
G Seat rail (2)
Seat frame, side rail (2) - not illus.
Seat frame, back/front rail (2) - not illus. 5/8"
2"
19mm
H Locking tenon stock
6mm
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mortises 6mm x 19mm x 20mm deep
unless otherwise noted
5/8"
13/8"
17.5mm
15/8"
221/2˚
miter face
19/16"
Foot
1/4"
3"
4"
173/4"
9/16"
miter face
85/8"
13/16"
10mm
17.5mm
51/2"
23/8"
25mm
deep
17.5mm
20mm
46˚
13/8"
BACk stilE
181/2"
Radius of curve 38"
13/8"
mortises 6mm x 19mm x 20mm deep
top
13/8"
19/16"
BACk rAil
5/8"
17.5mm
End face
of back rail
16"
1315/16"
15/8"
20mm
19/16"
lEG
221/2˚
265/8"
5/8"
13/8"
17.5mm
miter face
miter face
miter face
13/8"
10mm
17.5mm
25mm
deep
15/8"
9.5mm
49˚
19/16"
sEAt siDE rAil
221/2˚
4"
173/4"
1"
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proect numer
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before you apply your final finish.
First, the 22.5° miters are glued up
(Fig. 5) using a Domino in mortise B
to ensure precise alignment of the joint.
When the epoxy has set, the squeeze-
out is cleaned up, and mortises J and
K are milled; the locking tenons, shop-
made from the same hardwood as the
chair parts, are then glued in place (Fig.
6). When the glue has set, cut away
the projecting portions of the locking
tenons and sand them level.
4
3
Drill 1¼"-deep 7/64" pilot holes
(Fig. 7) for the #8 brass screws; smear
the screws with epoxy and drive them
home, taking care not to split the wood
by driving them too hard against the
bottoms of their pilot holes. When the
epoxy has set, the heads of the screws
are sawn off and the screw shanks
are filed (wrap the tip of the file with
masking tape to prevent marring) and
sanded level.
6
5
Before gluing the 49° miters (Fig.
8), cut away the tips of the 22.5° miters,
3
removing about /8". After the sides
are glued up you can gently round
this front edge with a smooth file and
sandpaper. Make four 8° wedges out
of scrap to facilitate clamping the 49°
miters. Finally, when the 49° miter
joints have been glued up, drill pilot
holes for screws to pin their reinforc-
ing 20 x 50mm Dominoes, and glue
them in place. Cut off the screw heads
and file and sand their shanks level as
before.
7
8
10
Gluing the rails
assemblies, bandsaw the waste from the After sanding each of the side assem-
underside of the feet and sand all the
blies, lay one assembly on its outer
parts (Fig. 4) to 150-grit. Glue 100-grit face and insert epoxy into the mortises
sandpaper to the 22.5° wedge offcuts to for the cross rails. Push 6 x 40mm
prevent slippage when the clamps are
tightened.
Dominoes into the mortises and stand
the back rails, seat rails, and stretcher
The glueup is done in several stages, vertically in position. Insert epoxy and
9
using a gap-filling epoxy with a gel
consistency and a hardener that will
allow plenty of time for assembly. It’s
easy to clean up after using epoxy if
you spread carnauba wax in the areas
that you expect squeeze-out to occur.
Dominoes into the top end mortises
of the rails; insert epoxy into the mor-
tises in the second side assembly, and
then get a helper to assist in fitting the
assembly onto the Dominoes project-
ing from the ends of the rails. When
grain of the back rails, seat rails, and
stretcher are all centered in their end
faces.
Gluing the side assemblies The epoxy won’t stick to it and the wax the second assembly has been pushed
Before you start to glue up the side can be removed with mineral spirits home, stand the chair upright with its
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amazing detail with Free soFtware
feet on a level surface and clamp it
until the epoxy has set (Fig. 9).
When set, clean away the epoxy
squeeze-out, give the chair a final
sanding and finish with four coats of
Minwax Wipe-on Poly. Fig. 10 shows
a close-up of a finished miter joint.
HAvE you EvEr HAD A HArD tiME following drawings for projects that you’d like to
build? Are there times when you would like to see hidden details? The eDrawings viewer
is a universal CAD and solid model viewer that will let you open a wide range of two-
and three-dimensional files. One such file, containing the Zigzag dining chair from this
article, is available for you to download at woodcraftmagazine.com. The file includes the
viewer as well as the model file, so there is nothing more to install on your computer.
You will be able to rotate, pan, and zoom into the 3-D image with your mouse. You
will also be able to make the project explode and collapse, cut it in half with a section
view, and even take measurements directly off the model!
Making the seat frame
Mill mortises for 6 x 40mm Dominoes
in the ends of the front and back rails
of the seat frame and in the inner
faces of the frame's side rails. The
back and front rails of the seat frame
are glued between its side rails. I took
the frame to a professional uphol-
sterer to get it upholstered with foam
on elastic webbing and covered with
black leather. There should be 1/8"
clearance on either side of the seat
frame to accommodate the thickness
of the leather.
Navigation tips
In order to be certain that the chair
was strong enough to withstand the
stresses of frequent use, it was tested
by placing a board across its side rails
and having three people with a total
weight of 576 lbs. stand on the board.
The rear ends of the side rails were
depressed by ½" under the load, but
sprang back to their original position
when the load was removed, and the
joints remained intact.
• When you need to return the model to its original state, click on the Home button.
• To see the parts outlined because it makes the edges more distinct, go to the View
menu and click on Show Edges When Shaded.
• To rotate your view around the model, click and hold your middle mouse button (or
mouse wheel) as you move the mouse.
• To zoom in and out, move the mouse to the center of what you want to see, and spin
the mouse wheel. If you don’t have a wheel, click on the Zoom button and click-and-
drag the mouse up or down to zoom.
• If you want to see details that are obscured by another part, right-click on the part and
a popup menu will appear. You can make the part transparent or hide it completely.
Parts list, Move, Measure, and Explosion
Open the Feature Manager Tab by clicking the icon on the left side of your screen.
• The items listed are the parts and subassemblies that make up the chair. Clicking on
any of these items will highlight the part or assembly in the model view.
• To see details that are obscured by a part, click on the Move icon, then drag the part
with your mouse. Double-click on the moved part to return to its original position.
• Extract measurements by clicking the Measure icon, and clicking on a part.
• The great thing about the eDrawings viewer is that you can watch the assembly
of parts explode and collapse to match the drawing in the magazine. Click on the
Explode icon. Click it again to bring the chair parts back together.
The eDrawings viewer has many more features, so to learn more, check out the built-
in help file. To download the free viewer separately, visit solidworks.com.
Download your free copy of the Zigzag chair and viewer in the projects section at
WoodcraftMagazine.com.
David Dundas
David was an exploration geologist in Tanzania, England, and
Australia. Since retiring in 1995, he has indulged his passion
for furniture making, with a particular interest in designing and
building chairs.
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