DIY no-nails furniture plans

February 2, 2006 9:08 PM

I'm trying to find designs/plans for furniture made by cutting out the pieces from a single sheet of plywood & using only slots & grooves to hold them together, no nails, screws or glue. I've seen them online before, on some DIY blog or maybe boingboing, but I've looked at every site I can think of & done a fair amount of googling & come up blank. Anybody know what I'm talking about & can give me a pointer?
posted by scalefree to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

That sounds familiar -- it might have been in ReadyMade magazine. I'd check to see if it's in any of the back issues.
posted by litlnemo at 9:23 PM on February 2, 2006

There are always Hungarian Shelves.
posted by digitalis at 9:46 PM on February 2, 2006

You can look at chmoebel for inspiration (well, ideas maybe more than inspiration per se)

I recall another really cool site, but no amount of searching has turned it up. Not a DIY, but just a really simple chair out of interlocking pieces of plywood. May even been on an artist's/art student's site?

posted by misterbrandt at 9:52 PM on February 2, 2006

Best answer: A blah chair (but with instructions!)
posted by misterbrandt at 9:55 PM on February 2, 2006

This stuff looks pretty cool, but no plans.
ok, i'll stop now

Oh! One more -- this one is actually via BB. (yahoo search finally found this. google wasn't doing so well)
posted by misterbrandt at 10:09 PM on February 2, 2006

Response by poster: My needs are definitely for function over form, I'm thinking about mass-producing simple pieces at Burning Man & giving them away throughout the week of the event. misterbrandt's chair's definitely the kind of thing I'm looking for, but I swear I saw one plan that laid the whole thing out on the plywood sheet & I think there was a table also.
posted by scalefree at 10:40 PM on February 2, 2006

Best answer: Is this it? They had them all over the playa infront of art.
posted by lannanh at 11:05 PM on February 2, 2006

Response by poster: Yeah, that's exactly the kind of stuff I'm talking about. Kind of a shame someone beat me to bringing it to the Burn. Guess I should get in contact with them.
posted by scalefree at 11:19 PM on February 2, 2006

ooohhhh, sorry to be a bummer but YAY for getting the right answer.

and these people seem swell, they seem to truly believe in the tenets of BM. maybe you could improve upon them for next year, like cover em w/ mylar to make em look futuristic. hehe.

oh, does that mean i get a seat gifted to me for helpin' ya out? i camp w/ the space cowboys, so you can just drop one off there. jk.
posted by lannanh at 11:31 PM on February 2, 2006

That was a final project we had to do in a 3D Design class I took in college. It was an interesting challenge. Some people went all out, bending the plywood into interesting forms.
posted by JJ86 at 5:56 AM on February 3, 2006

Last spring, I designed and built a large desk using this Legare design as "inspiration". It turned out great, and it's sturdy as hell.
posted by bradn at 8:06 AM on February 3, 2006

I've got a paper copy of the plans to make a puzzle rocking chair for kids. If you contact Bob he'll send you a 1:1 plan for copying and shipping costs.
posted by Mitheral at 9:19 AM on February 3, 2006

I love this mallet!
posted by roboto at 9:20 AM on February 3, 2006

Best answer: This was the original link that I was thinking of. Really beatifully elegant stuff. No patterns.

http://www.projectjoost.com/ (flash interface, unfortunately. click "portfolio" then "no glue, no screw")
posted by misterbrandt at 2:29 PM on March 5, 2006