Bench Stool: Episode 4

Posted 18 December 2013

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In this episode, Paul glues up the frame, using wedges to apply even pressure. He then glues up the top of the seat in preparation for the shaping.

Previous: Bench Stool: Episode 3

19 Comments

  3. Oh yeah, this is really coming together nicely. Thanks Paul and Crew foe another very informative episode.

    I am hopes of at least getting started on one of these during the Christmas Holiday’s.

    Thanks again !

    Steve

  4. I believe the biggest value I have gleaned from these videos is the consistent thoroughness and dedication to quality performance. It is showing up in my own work. I recently built four tables for a merchant and realized that I took more patience, adjusted small mis-alignments and looked more closely at each completed stage. In the past I’ve allowed small errors to get past me to be discovered in the end product…..but Paul is definitely making a difference for my work. Thanks to all.

    Don

  5. I could be the only person with 4 clamps, I was thinking I must go buy more clamps (which I will eventually) before trying to make this stool. Thanks for taking that 30 extra seconds and explaining it can be done with less clamps.

    I will try to build a stool in January. I am looking forward to a comfortable seat.

    Thanks.

  6. I was wondering about the seat glue up. I noticed also on the coffee table top, Paul did not use biscuit joinery. I watched on the New Yankee workshop, Norm Abrams used biscuit joinery on the mission desk I built from the show. I used biscuits as well. Is there any benefits for using biscuits?

    1. Glue is all that you need…best way I know of to convince you is to edge glue two boards tother, just as you normally would. Joint, glue and clamp. Let it dry. Now try to tear it apart. You will be able to break the panel but not the glue joint.

    2. I always thought the biscuits’ purpose was merely to hold the alignment of parts. At least when Norm glued up boards to make a wider, that’s what I took from it. I never thought those little biscuits were doing all the work holding the joint together. That’s silly. 🙂

  7. I’m with Greg, glue is all you need.

    There’s been a lot of positive and negative discussion about biscuit joinery in wood forums over the past few years. I’m not sure which argument is correct as to whether they are really worth using or not.

    The negative argument is that they tend to swell in high humidity and fail. Anyone know more about this? Maybe a separate thread.

    Joe B.

    1. I asked Paul and his reply is below:
      Didn’t (drawbored and pegged)- everytime you remove wood either be drilling or mortising there will always be some compromise of strength somewhere. The only advantage of drawboarding a mortise and tenon is it alleviates the need for clamping. Modern glues such as PVA with a well fitting tenon is very unlikely to come unglued if it does, you simply re-glue it. On timber framed buildings drawboard methods are wonderful because it is very rare to have a clamp, in his historical days that would have been long enough to clamp a building.

      1. “Modern glues such as PVA with a well fitting tenon is very unlikely to come unglued if it does, you simply re-glue ” I wonder about this. My experience is that regluing PVA does not produce a robust joint and the reglued joint fails rather quickly with use. This was the case when regluing spindles in a chair, for example. Hide glue, on the other hand, can be reactivated / reglued.

          1. Thanks, Larry. I’ll see if I can learn more about this. I’m wondering how practical this is, though. The article you cited comments that PVA sets very fast as it cools, so I wonder if you really would have time to assemble. I must confess, though, that I just bailed on a glue up with hide glue because it was setting up too fast, so I switched to PVA. I thinned the hide glue, but things are cool in the shop now and I didn’t go the next step of warming the wood to extend the open time.

          2. Anyone of my considerable age is bound to raise an eyebrow or two when asking shop attendants for a baby bottle warmer; an item that works well with both Old Brown Hide Glue and Titebond Liquid Hide Glue. The Lee-Valley glue pot can be an alternative when only small volumes of glue – and no other reactions – are required.

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