Whats a good way of making a chair out of recycled materials yourself??i.e no big machines?

Answer 1

That depends on how nice or fancy you want to make it. If I were trying to create the best looking furniture in the simplest manner there are two different methods I'd consider.

The first would be taking hardwood from used hardwood pallets that would otherwise get discarded and using that to make furniture out of. For that though, you'd probably need a little bit of an eye for telling what the different kind of woods are. It is still recycled.

The second option would be a little more complicated. And that would be to create furniture out of recycled plastic. To do that you'd need to create several molds. The cheapest way that I can think of to create a mold is to take copper or tin and use a block of wood to mold the copper sheeting or tin around and form a mold. Machining a mold out of metal would cost you thousands of dollars. You'll need to create the mold so that you can easily pop the plastic out. Plastic molds usually have little holes where pins can be used to push the plastic out. However you'll have to be careful since you won't be using a large injection molding machine. As far as melting down the plastic, you'll need to pick your type of plastic and accordingly the temperature range at which to melt it. If the temperature is too low you will not melt the plastic and if it is too hot it will burn instead of melt and mold to the mold. The best plastic to use that could easily be recycled would be HDPE. It has a recycling symbol that has a number 2 on it. HDPE is called high density polyethylene. It's a good sturdy plastic. You'll need to look up the temperature range it melts at. The best device you have to heat it up and melt it is your oven, it will probably be a temperature of somewhere around 400 F to melt it. You'll need to build a reservoir to melt the plastic in then a mold to pour the plastic into. It will take some crafting and ingenuity, but it can be done. Then once you created your molded pieces you should be able to sand them just like wood after they have hardened. Then you can spray paint the plastic to look the way you want it to look. Plastic is spray painted all the time for many different products. I'd recommend using black paint, maybe go for a colonial windsor style chair.

Answer 2

use a saw and cut the wood. I don't think your hands are a big machine but, who am I to say.

Answer 3

just sit in a box