Woodworker: Hank GilpinFor Hank Gilpin, wood choice and joinery are the two most important keys to making an outdoor chair last. His choice of teak, the miracle outdoor wood, doesn’t move, has no coarseness, and ages into a beautiful silvery-gray sheen. Teak has a hefty price point but is naturally decay-resistant. Hank tried to keep the joinery simple and he hid none of it, choosing to make it a key element of his design. The chair has straightforward mortise-and-tenon joints, bridle joints, and lap joints. The most exacting joints to cut are the large through-tenons that connect the leg posts to the arms. He also kept the seat and back slats narrow to reduce the amount of wood movement. An outdoor chair is going to get soaked with rain one day then baked by the sun the next, so movement will be severe. He didn’t bother with a finish, he just put it outside and let it fade to gray. Photo: Jonathan Binzen