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I Forge Iron

Squatter's chair


ausfire

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Australian members will know what I mean by a squatter's chair. I decided I would use up some of the stuff from the scrap pile to make one.
I drew the basic profile in chalk on the shed floor and found the bits to match. Had to bend a couple of things in the forge to make it stable, but the result is OK. The front legs are cams and it just happened that the end of the cams was a press fit into the hole of a slasher blade. This formed the swing-out leg rests when a couple of old buggy steps were welded on. The arm rests are buggy spring leaves, which I have loads of. A pack saddle tree forms the decorative bit at the top. The front cross bar is the barrel from my old .22 rifle - if you look closely you can still see the sights.
I pinched the canvas of a busted deck chair to test it out. Very comfortable!

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@pjh66, the chair is remarkably comfortable despite the lack of padding on the swing rests. The buggy steps I used on the ends are quite wide and offer considerable surface area for the calves to rest on. Probably not as much as the wide boards on traditional squatters chairs but adequate.

@njanvilman, Yes, I think 'squatter's chair' is an exclusively Australian term. It derives from the early colonial times (mid 1820s) here when there was a bit of a free-for-all with the acqisition of land. Pastoralists moved onto vast areas of land and grazed their cattle illegally. They became known as squatters. The style of chair was a popular feature of many station homesteads.
‘Squatting’ became widespread, became under government control, and the term developed a class association, suggesting an elevated socio-economic status and entrepreneurial attitude. Squatters were recognized as being amongst the wealthiest men in the colony.
Eventually the term ‘squatter’ came to refer to a person of high social prestige who grazes livestock on a large scale (whether the station was held by leasehold or freehold title). Here in Australia the term is still used to describe large landowners, and the 'squatter's chair' still has pride of place on the homestead veranda.
If you Google Images 'squatter's chair' you can see the traditional examples.
@Thomas Powers: Yes, I have a book of Australian Bushcraft which has some wonderful examples of squatter's chairs, but I have never seen a steel one before.

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And @Ian - I just googled Planter's Chair, and yes, very similar to the squatter's chair. I would imagine they would have a common ancestor. Those in the days of sugar/cotton/coffee plantations, ours in the pastoralist setting. I had never heard of a planter's chair - ya learn something every day!

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