Guest Post: Building a Camp Chair

This is a post written by Brant from Canada. In it he shows how to make a camp chair with nothing more than your axe. It is a design I have not seen made in the bush before, and is a great alternative to the common hammock type camp chair, where there is sufficient time and resources available. Brant was kind enough to allow me to re-post the tutorial here.


I came up with this idea a few months ago and have been tinkering with the idea ever since. I think I've got it down to its simplest form so its time to share it with you all.

The chair is pretty slick. It requires no cordage and can be made in a few minutes if the material is handy. Its reclineable, adjustable, and comfortable. But enough talking, here it is.

I chose to use split logs today to practice my skills but you can use pretty much any sized logs within reason.
Splitting some logs.

The assembled parts.

The feet. These are necessary to prevent the support log from being pushed forward when you lean back. Build it without these and find out what I mean!

The support log in place on top of the feet.

The side split logs in place.

The back support notches.

The back support stick in the notches.

The actual back support logs in place. At this point you'll need to adjust everything so you have the desired angle of back support. Note that the side split logs are tight up against the back support logs. This is really the only thing keeping them vertical.

The seat in place.

Here’s a side view that pretty much explains how it works.

And a smaller version I made a while back on a lunch stop.

You'll have to excuse the shabby look of the chair. Unfortunately I only had some douglas fir to work with today that doesn't split so nicely. However, ugly or not it did its job and then some. Give it a try yourself, I know you'll like it.