A Simple Stool

[Isaac]

I started working on a stool a few days ago. I'm a weekend warrior with a 6 year old, so don't expect rapid progress, but thought I'd try to document parts of the process.

My goal is to generally follow the process outlined in this article, though I don't have all the specific tools the author employs, such as a travisher, so I'll be making some substitutions as needed.

The article doesn't have exact dimensions or cutting templates, but I feel it has enough detail that I can figure out the rest.

They call it a "Simple Stool", but my wife and I both thought it was quite attractive, so why not?

http://www.finewoodworking.com/woodworking-plans/article/build-a-simple-stool.aspx

I started with a single piece of 8/4 walnut that I squared up and cut in half and glued up for the seat. I'll leave it as this approximately square shape until I get the leg holes drilled, since I think it is easier to get the compound angles in place that way. 

For the legs I'll be using Red Grandis (eucalyptus wood). Never used it before, but I liked the color and they had some pieces set up for turning that were the right size at my local lumber mill, so why not? Its a four legged stool, but here are three of the legs (one was already in the lathe). I clipped the corners on my table saw for an easier time on the lathe, as this is my first time doing a project with a lathe as I just picked up a used one recently.

Began turning the ends:

Four legs ready to go. Eventually these will be fully round, but for now I want to keep the flat faces to make drilling the stretcher holes easier. Most of the extended dowel you see with eventually be cut away as waste, and I may have to fine tune the diameters a tad once I have the holes drilled through the seat. This was the first time I used a lathe outside of an introduction in a woodworking class 15+ years ago, so I am happy with the direction things are going.

Next step was figuring out how to drill the compound angles for the legs to run through the seat. I settled on rotating the table for one angle and then cutting diagonal wedges on my band saw, which I use to prop up a scrap piece that will serve as a guide for hand drilling the holes. So far, I'm optimistic with how this will go.

Drilling the guide boards. Have to make two of these because the spread and rake angles are different for the front legs and back legs. Luckily I can flip or rotate it 180 for the opposite leg, so I don't need four of them.

Anyhow, that is my progress so far.

My initial thoughts are I'm enjoying the process and taking it slow, especially because this is so different from the things I've done before. Typically I've done boxy cabinet type stuff, nothing with a lathe, round components, complex angles or what will eventually be a carved/molded seat. I will have to wait and see, but I could see myself making more of these stools if I'm happy with the results.

[wtnhighlander]

Good journal, thanks for taking us along!

[davewyo]

Yeah, this will be interesting.

[mat60]

Great..Never build a stool and will enjoy your build.

[Ryan Grondin]

Can"t wait to see it finished.

[-MattK-]

Good luck, I'm along for the ride!  I tried to make a stool about a year ago before my shop was really set up and I ended up throwing in the towel.  I didn't have plans and didn't really think it through so it's sitting in my sons room looking pretty crappy. 

My biggest mistake was making a single width hole through the seat for the legs. I should have made a stepped hole so I wasn't trying to cut the shoulder of the tenon at a funny angle and expecting a nice joint on the bottom of the seat. 

My second biggest mistake was starting a journal. 

Third biggest mistake? Calling that journal "stool on the lathe" and having to deal with juvenile poop jokes from our esteemed members here.  No, I'm wrong, that was the highlight. I think I still have a photo of a roll of TP on my lathe that I never posted!

[Isaac]

18 minutes ago, Ryan Grondin said:

Can"t wait to see it finished.

Don't get too excited. I'll do my best, but my wife and I have a running joke about how she likes my projects and I always explain that is because the things I'm not happy with never get to see the light of day outside of the shop!

3 minutes ago, -MattK- said:

Good luck, I'm along for the ride!  I tried to make a stool about a year ago before my shop was really set up and I ended up throwing in the towel.  I didn't have plans and didn't really think it through so it's sitting in my sons room looking pretty crappy. 

My biggest mistake was making a single width hole through the seat for the legs. I should have made a stepped hole so I wasn't trying to cut the shoulder of the tenon at a funny angle and expecting a nice joint on the bottom of the seat. 

My second biggest mistake was starting a journal. 

Third biggest mistake? Calling that journal "stool on the lathe" and having to deal with juvenile poop jokes from our esteemed members here.  No, I'm wrong, that was the highlight. I think I still have a photo of a roll of TP on my lathe that I never posted!

Ha that is a great story. One thing I've got going for me is that I'm not actually going to try and hide that joint at the stool/leg connection. It may not be visible in that previous link, so here is a similar stool by the same professional as in the magazine. My intent is to have a similar joint, which I think gives me some leeway.

http://www.custommade.com/tall-stool/by/ffhandcrafts/

 

[pkinneb]

Cool! This will be fun to follow along with thanks for sharing

[Isaac]

Made some good progress today.

First I drilled the holes for the seat

 

Locating the holes vertically and horizontally went pretty well, but In retrospect, I should have used a alternate drill bit with a longer shank and a longer guide. Plugging the legs in for a dry fit, I can tell the angles are noticeably inconsistent .

However, I decided to proceed, knowing the result may be less than ideal, but figuring it would be good practice.

So, bandsaw time to get the seat's rough shape established.

 

Drawing in some general contour lines to get an idea of how the hollow will be shaped.

Just because, I decided to do a half-assed job of carving some of the hollow by hand, using straight chisels.

 

Then I moved onto a grinding wheel, spokeshave and sander to form the seat.

Assembled as a stool like object (The legs are more out of whack angle-wise than they might appear here.) I'm also starting to question the design here, I gave it a quick test sit and it was really uncomfortable with those for poles sticking up. I'm wondering if I missed a step somewhere along the way...

Now, time to drill the holes for the stretchers. So, how to line up the holes from one leg to the next adjacent? I took the authors suggestion and.... Giant auger bit to the rescue!

Since the bottom of the seat was still flat, getting a parallel line just required using a piece of plywood of the right vertical dimension. The author used a series of string, which I think he also used to play around with the exact stretch height before making a decision, but for me, using this piece of plywood seemed simpler and it served as a nice visual guide. It also served as a clamping surface so that I could make sure I was drilling into one of the flat faces of the legs. Eventually I turn them all round, but leaving flat surfaces has made these steps easier. A stroke moderate intelligence told me use my extra large doweling jig as a starting guide, which guided the direction/angle of drilling and made sure I was drilling through the center of the leg.

That is just a random, smaller dowel I had laying around, just to confirm the holes are aligned.

I haven't actually made the stretchers yet and I'm tired so that is where I'm calling it for today. I'm actually debating whether to use the red grandis or walnut for them. what do you think?

Based on the alignment issue with the seat/leg alignment, this might end up being my new shop stool, However, correcting the drilling issue, Probably with an auger bit similar to the one I used for the stretcher holes, I'm fairly confident I can make a satisfactory stool the next time around.

 

 

 

 

[shaneymack]

Issac, this is looking great man. I checked out the article and it is a really cute little stool ! I will be following along.

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[pkinneb]

Wow you're knocking that out quick!! Nice job

[Elroy Skimms]

"half-assed"

I see what you did there. Well played.

-E

[Isaac]

2 hours ago, Elroy Skimms said:

"half-assed"

I see what you did there. Well played.

-E

Ha! thanks! I was wondering who would play along and catch those lines. I threw a couple in there :).

[Isaac]

Some progress on this guy. Took me a while to get back to my lumber yard to get the right thickness walnut for the stretchers. While I was there I was able to get more material for a second run at the same stool, so I'm considering this first one my trial/learning run. 

I had hoped to get all three turned and drilled, but a detour to lathe repair school occupied a good chunk of time and now I'm beat, still, it was nice getting one turned and in place. 

Next I've got to turn the other two stretches. My plan is drill the holes for these starting from the back legs. The front legs are now locked in place (not glue), but the back legs can still rotate, giving me a little play to get them aligned. As on the front legs, I'll use a monster auger bit to ensure they are co-linear. 

Per the original design, I don't intend to have a back stretcher, which saves me the worry of having to make a dead shot on that one. 

After I finish the fitting the stretchers, I'll disassemble and turn the legs to their final round shape. For now, the octagonal shape is better for drilling.

[Ryan Grondin]

Good job! looking good. Looks like a fun project!

[Isaac]

More progress shots. Got the two sides stretchers drilled, turned and installed. Here is a dry fit up:

At this point I decided to forgo turning the legs round, I'm going to stick with the octagonal shape, it has grown on me as the project has progressed. On the next stool I'll consider rounding them out.  

Using a laser line to level the legs.

After cutting the legs and using a flush cut saw on the peg extensions.

My son giving it a test sit. Still no glue, but the thing is so naturally tight I had no fear of it not holding up to his or my weight. 

I'm thinking I might take another inch off the final height, but other than that it is mostly just glue up, final shaping/sanding of the seat, and finishing to go. I did manage to break the ends off one of the stretchers during disassembly. I'm going to attempt to repair it, but if not, I will just turn a replacement, which won't be too hard or time consuming now that I've got the process down.

One of the challenges is threading the legs into the seat and getting the stretchers installed at the same time. Requires a bit of jockeying back and forth. I'm sure if there is a better method.

[shaneymack]

Looks great, Isaac. The picture with your son sitting on the stool, it looks like the rear left leg is sticking out way further than the rear right. Is that just the picture or you need to make an adjustment? Also, what will you finish it with ?

[Isaac]

2 minutes ago, shaneymack said:

Looks great, Isaac. The picture with your son sitting on the stool, it looks like the rear left leg is sticking out way further than the rear right. Is that just the picture or you need to make an adjustment? Also, what will you finish it with ?

Yeah, I've know about the issue with the leg splay since early on. My method of drilling the guide holes through the seat allowed too much play and that one in particular got out of distinctly out of whack. Its a pretty big issue, difficult to repair a 1-inch diameter through hole at the wrong angle. However, I decided to just move on and finish it out as a learning experience. My assumption was that this wouldn't be the only error before I was done. 

I plan to build another stool after this one, applying all the lessons I've learned and hopefully getting this corrected. This stool will probably wind up in my shop or gifted to some place I don't have to look at my failure... This project has about a dozen first times for me. First time using a Lathe, first time making a stool/chair/seat, first time using a grinder to free hand grind out the curves of a seat, first time using such compound angles, etc. 

Probably just a clear coat finish, I'm thinking ARM-R-SEAL, based on the rave reviews I've read here. I think the two woods will provide all the contrast,so no need for anything more elaborate.

 

[shaneymack]

1 minute ago, Isaac Gaetz said:

Yeah, I've know about the issue with the leg splay since early on. My method of drilling the guide holes through the seat allowed too much play and that one in particular got out of distinctly out of whack. Its a pretty big issue, difficult to repair a 1-inch diameter through hole at the wrong angle. However, I decided to just move on and finish it out as a learning experience. My assumption was that this wouldn't be the only error before I was done. 

I plan to build another stool after this one, applying all the lessons I've learned and hopefully getting this corrected. This stool will probably wind up in my shop or gifted to some place I don't have to look at my failure... This project has about a dozen first times for me. First time using a Lathe, first time making a stool/chair/seat, first time using a grinder to free hand grind out the curves of a seat, first time using such compound angles, etc. 

Probably just a clear coat finish, I'm thinking ARM-R-SEAL, based on the rave reviews I've read here. I think the two woods will provide all the contrast,so no need for anything more elaborate.

 

Don't get me wrong, you've done great work, ESPECIALLY with so many firsts. Not trying to discourage you at all. Keep up the good work, bud ! 

[Isaac]

Just now, shaneymack said:

Don't get me wrong, you've done great work, ESPECIALLY with so many firsts. Not trying to discourage you at all. Keep up the good work, bud ! 

O no problem. Thanks for following along. I've been enjoying it, so if the end result is a little bit irregular stool, it is not so bad. That is how they know it didn't come from a factory .

[shaneymack]

O no problem. Thanks for following along. I've been enjoying it, so if the end result is a little bit irregular stool, it is not so bad. That is how they know it didn't come from a factory .

You could make that leg a little better if you wanted. You could file down the tenon where it won't be noticed inside the mortise. If you relieve some material off the tenon you will be able to get a bit better angle. It wont take much. Just glue up that leg with epoxy. Not sure I'm explaining myself well but it's not too difficult of a fix.

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[Isaac]

36 minutes ago, shaneymack said:

You could make that leg a little better if you wanted. You could file down the tenon where it won't be noticed inside the mortise. If you relieve some material off the tenon you will be able to get a bit better angle. It wont take much. Just glue up that leg with epoxy. Not sure I'm explaining myself well but it's not too difficult of a fix.

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Darn, should have run this by you earlier. I'm only hesitant about giving it a shot now because moving that leg will alter its relationship with the other leg and the angle of the holes that that the stretcher runs through. They have to be co-linear.

[shaneymack]

Darn, should have run this by you earlier. I'm only hesitant about giving it a shot now because moving that leg will alter its relationship with the other leg and the angle of the holes that that the stretcher runs through. They have to be co-linear.

I think it's doable but you would have to modify the angles on the bottom of the 4 legs once the splay was to your liking on the offending leg. You could be stuck with this same issue next time you build it and will need to be able to adjust. A little material off that tenon will go a long way to changing that legs angle.

If you aren't comfortable trying it right now, don't. I don't want you to mess up your stool and blame it all on me. Lol

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[Isaac]

I'd be ok re-leveling the feet, that was pretty straightforward, I just made sure the seat was level and drew a line using a bubble laser level and cut with a hand saw, I'll probably put leveler pads on the bottom anyways to make up and tiny differences. My issue is that the holes for the stretchers are already set, if the leg moves to a different spot the stretcher would need to become shorter/longer and the angles would change, or the stretcher would bind as it tries to enter the holes. I appreciate the thought though, if I'd have made the correction before I drilled the stretchers It sounds like that would have worked well. Live and learn I suppose.

[Isaac]

More progress on this guy. I glued everything up, flush cut the excess stretcher length and took it back to the grinder, rasp and sander to continue molding the seat. I'd say I'm about 90% of the way done with the seat, just a few trouble areas before I'll be ready to wrap it up and apply my finish. It is a lot more comfortable now with the hollow closer to finished.