An air chair is a hammock-like chair made of wood, canvas and rope. It even has a foot rest. If you like the sensation of hanging in space with nothing below to anchor you to the ground or floor, then you'll enjoy this chair. Before you sit down in one, however, make sure it's securely attached to something overhead.
Instructions
1. Choose a point far enough out from the wall to hang the air chair. Air chairs can be adjusted from a straight up and down seating position to a a reclining position. Whatever position the air chair is put in, it should be at least a foot away from any walls.
2. Locate the ceiling joist the air chair will hang from. Ceiling joists are usually located 16 inches on center. Take a tape measure and measure 16 inches out from a wall. Tap a small finishing nail up through the ceiling to see if it hits wood. If not, pull the nail out and move a half inch to the left or right of the first hole and pound the nail in again. Keep tapping the nail through until you locate the joist.
3. Find both outside edges of the ceiling joist. Again use the finishing nail technique to do this. It's imperative that the eye screw that the chair hangs from is screwed into the center of the ceiling joist.
4. Check the diameter of the eye hook that came with the air chair. Put a drill bit into an electric drill that is slightly smaller in diameter than that of the threads on the eye hook. A typical hole size for a chair like this is 5/16-inch. Drill straight up into the center of the ceiling joist three inches.
5. Insert the tip of the eye screw into the drilled hole and start turning it clockwise. When it becomes too difficult to turn it with bare hands, insert the shank of a long screwdriver into the eye of the screw. Grip the screwdriver with both hands and twist it clockwise to turn the screw into the joist even deeper. Keep turning until all the threads on the eye screw are no longer visible.
6. Take the two top rope ends that the chair hangs from, match them up so they are of equal length and tie them in an overhand knot. To do this, thread the matched ends of the rope through the closed eye of an S-hook--one end of the S-hook is open and the opposite end is closed forming an eye. Pull at least 12-inches of these two strands of rope through the eye of the S-hook. Lay the 12-inches of rope down along side the two other strands of rope coming off the air chair, and grip all four strands with your non-dominant hand. These four strands are comprised of the two strands coming off the air chair. Pick up the S-hook with the dominant hand and hold it directly in front of your body and perpendicular to the ground. Pull the four strands of rope straight down from the eye of the S-hook with the non-dominant hand so that they, too, are perpendicular to the ground. Bring the S-hook straight down with the dominant hand directly in front of the non-dominant hand still holding the of rope. Bring the S-hook around to the right side of the four strands of rope and then back, crossing behind them. A loop has now been formed over the non-dominant hand--this is the overhand part of the overhand knot. Carefully thread the S-hook through loop--pull the out of the looped strands if necessary. Push the S-hook all the way through the loop. Once the S-hook has been pushed all the way through the loop, tighten the overhand knot by gripping the S-hook with the dominant hand and pulling straight up while simultaneously pulling straight down on the rope below the base of the eye of the S-hook, with the non-dominant hand.
7. Hook the top of the S-hook into the eye screw in the ceiling.
8. Insert the dowels into the chair. The longest dowel is set horizontal to the floor, between the two ropes from which the chair hangs from the ceiling.
9. Insert the two matching medium size dowels from back to front. These are the arm rests.
10. Install the short dowel between the two ropes coming off the foot rest sling.
Tags: four strands, , strands rope, , S-hook with