Dragon Tractor Seat

It all started with a mysterious piece of rusted farm machinery deep in the Maine woods. I've always been fascinated with antique machinery where you can see the mechanical flow of the gears, shifting levers, belts and chains. Nothing hidden and nothing digital. Growing up on old farm land, my family had rusted farm machinery from the pre- World War II era hiding in the shadows of our tree line. Simple tilling plows, a hay collector and a hay bailer loomed over the entrance to one part of the woods. I would collect old glass bottles, rusted out trash and used it for tree forts and military bunkers when growing up. I still haven't grown up entirely and became fascinated with an old metal farm seat which belonged to an unknown piece of machinery.

Materials:

antique tractor seat

clawfoot table legs

timber frame logs (8" x 6" x 30" long and 12" long)

10: 6" long 3/8" diameter threaded rods

2: 4" lag screws

epoxy

Titebond 3 wood glue

Rustoleum metal primer

Rustoleum gloss enamel paint

Tools:

face shield

dust mask

angle grinder

hand drill

metal wire brush

coarse steel wool

Stripping disc

Arbortech 4" power plane

Arbortech turbo shaft

1/2" forstner bit

orbital sander with sandpaper

The cast iron tractor seat, from American Harrow Company out of Detroit, Michigan was in production between 1870-1930. It had plenty of rust from sitting out in the woods for at least 100 years, but the the structure was still solid.

I first used an angle grinder with a stripping disc to remove the thick, rusted surface. I used a face shield and dust mask when using the angle grinder. Where the disc couldn't reach I used a metal wire brush and coarse steel wool.

I primed the seat and then painted it a glossy red finish in 2 coats of paint.

As I am always on the lookout for potential project materials, I had previously secured some solid 8" x 6" beam cut offs from a local post and beam business.

The original main bean was and 8" x 6" and around 30" long. To provide stability I used two 4" x 4" pieces of lumber as side supports. To help engage the 4" x 4" beams I cut a slot in the main beam and used two 6" lag screws on the underside. I also countersunk the heads of the lag screws so it would balance better.

The mounting hardware of the seat was too rusted so I added two new lag bolts from the top to secure the bottom bracket. I also added a new carriage bolt to connect the seat stem to the bracket.

The seat looked great and was my go- to grilling throne while on the back patio.

Design flaws discovered...

The seat was too high and if you could rest your feet on the side supports it was fairly stable. Anyone less than 6 feet would have dangling legs and it felt like it would tip over with unbalanced movements.

The center of balance was right near the rear cross- support. If someone leaned too far back the whole seat would start to flip backwards. After a summer of near backwards flips by visiting friends I decided to bring it back in the shop for improvements.

The first design flaw I focused on was bringing the height down. I laboriously chiseled away an angled insert for the chair bracket closer to the front of the 30" beam. I used 4" lag screws to secure the brackets into the beam.

After lowering the seat I was moved to add something funky to the design. We recently upgraded to a larger dining room table and had a smaller clawfoot table in storage. The ornate legs first brought my attention to the table. I decided to add this unique design to my seat. I removed the legs from the existing table and found 6" threaded rods to secure the legs to the main beam. I drilled holes into the beam and used the existing holes in the legs with excess epoxy to create a strong attachment.

To extend the dragon sculpture I added another beam, around 12" longer and attached it similarly, with a threaded rod and epoxy to the front. This would be an extension for a head.

To carve out the shape of the dragon I used an angle grinder with some of my favorite carving attachments from Arbortech. They're not cheap, but they handle well and carve quickly. I started out with the 4" turbo pane to do the rough carving and then used the turboshaft for the more detailed parts.

Using the 1/2" Forstner bit I drilled out 2 eyes and then sanded down the outside to 100 grit with an orbital sander. I left the wood bare, deciding to let it age naturally.

I use the seat during our short Maine days to sit comfortably outside, about 5 months of the year and noticed some general issues which still needed to be addressed. Because I didn't treat the wood and there were natural splits in the beam, I had to reinforce some of the legs and the head with extra epoxy. I also ended up filling in some of the cracks with Titebond 3 wood glue to prevent future splitting.

As I sit on this conversation piece while burning my grill items, I sit with a piece of Maine history, a fantastical beast from childhood and a funky heirloom to pass on to my teenage daughters' future kids.