Popular Post Chestnut Posted March 21, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted March 21, 2018 I've seen asked a few times a good stool for a shop and this is the perfect stool for my shop. One that is made from scraps but doesn't quite look like it. I've had an idea for a nice looking shop stool for a long time with the idea that I'd make the legs from bent lamination using different species of wood. I only kind of achieved my goal. The over all design is 3 curved legs that are through mortised through a circular seat. Pretty simple. I set the height to roughly 10" below the top of my work bench or roughly 24" stall. The original design i wanted the legs to be a lot more curved. I initially planed for a center support half way down the legs as well but after i felt how strong everything was i abandoned the idea and like it better with out visually. Original plan. When i made the arms for the Morris chair i used some thin strips i had laying around for a practice run. I figured these arms were a perfect leg for a stool. Instead of throwing them away i decided to make the following. Mortise layout. I just balanced the leg on top for 2 (mortise I and II) of the through mortises but didn't have good luck keeping the gaps at bay. The 3rd leg (mortise III) i did layout with a square and ruler and had a far tighter joint. The mortises were far for perfectly strait up and down. I was ok with that but i needed a way to keep the legs strait ish. So i had some wedge shaped offcuts that i used to wedge the leg in the position i wanted it in. I later trimmed the wedges flush with the bottom. I used epoxy to fill the gaps and glue the legs in place. This worked wonderfully. I just had the legs set in place with the wedges and then poured epoxy in the gap. With the stool upside down this filled the gaps on the top and made everything look a lot better there as well. Still not perfect but it's a shop stool. Final finish is shellac. This is going to get beat up knocked over you name it, so i wanted a finish that is easy to fix. If it looks like it's floating above the table it's because i put epoxy feet on the bottom of the legs with the left over epoxy to stop the legs from splintering when slid on my concrete shop floor. As you can see above my idea to have multiple species make up the legs didn't work out. I had a large amount of red oak left over from cabinets. The 3 main species are Cherry Oak and maple. There also is 1 small strip of purple heart. The curve in the leg isn't nearly as sever as i'd like so it's not as interesting visually. This was a fun fast project, I will make another one the way i originally envisioned it but for now this is perfect. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Crawford Posted March 21, 2018 Report Share Posted March 21, 2018 Better not let your wife see it or it will end up in the house not the shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keggers Posted March 21, 2018 Report Share Posted March 21, 2018 I think it looks fine. A great addition to you shop. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted March 21, 2018 Report Share Posted March 21, 2018 Nice job Drew! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted March 21, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2018 53 minutes ago, Tom Crawford said: Better not let your wife see it or it will end up in the house not the shop. She has seen it and wasn't all that interested in it. She's all about matching, consistency and orderly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtairymd Posted March 21, 2018 Report Share Posted March 21, 2018 I like the look of it. Nice job! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted March 21, 2018 Report Share Posted March 21, 2018 1 hour ago, Chestnut said: She's all about matching, consistency and orderly. OCD??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted March 24, 2018 Report Share Posted March 24, 2018 On 3/21/2018 at 2:11 PM, Chet said: OCD??? Sounds like my wife, more like a PITA... at least when her version of matching, consistency and orderly is different than mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted March 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2018 On 3/21/2018 at 2:11 PM, Chet said: OCD??? Yeah kinda, more just obsessed with organization and symmetry. It doesn't really bother he to the point that it upsets her it's just what she likes. I like it because i'm somewhat the same way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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