Felicity is walking and climbing now and soon she'll need to get up to a sink or countertop. So I was asked to make a small stool. I've made a lot of stools and just love these small projects. I didn't take many photos this time, so here's a quick post.
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| Here's one that my wife painted for her daughter many years ago. I'm copying the main dimensions of this one. |
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| Here are the sticks for the undercarriage: 4 legs, 2 rails, 1 stretcher |
I'm not doing fancy leg turnings like in the first photo. But I did make them tapered octagonal (with bulge in center), then 16 sided, then tapered round using planes and scrapers.
When time came to bore holes in the seat, I made a jig that I had seen in Aldren Watson's book, "Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings". Great book.
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| Bored a hole through squared-up stock, then cut the bottom at a 17.5 degree angle (resultant). Cut out top right portion for clamping. |
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| Here's that jig in action. Stick your auger bit through the jig and put it's point at the boring location. Then line up the jig with the sightline, clamp it in place and bore the hole. |
I tapered the 3/4" holes in the top and made tapered tenons at the ends of the legs. The legs were wedged into their mortises with walnut. The mortises and tenons for the rails and stretcher are all 5/8" and cylindrical. The 8 1/2" x 13" oval maple top is 7 1/2" off the ground. The legs, rails and stretcher are pine (or some other soft wood). The legs max out at 1 1/8" diameter, while the rails and stretcher are 1" at their thickest.
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| The completed stool |
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| Top view |
The plan is to paint this stool, but my wife has to finalize just what she wants. I'll probably give a sealing coat of shellac before that. Hopefully that will happen soon.
