Small stool
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Projects / Small stool
- This topic has 31 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by BrianJ.
-
AuthorPosts
-
I need a small stool (is that what we call this piece of furniture?? I’m not a native English speaker) beside my bed. In fact I need two of them, one for the wife as well. So, I sketched a bit in my note book, and made a 3D CAD model.
Next step was to make a prototype. So I found a small pile of construction wood (spruce), and this is what I made so far.
This is my first attempt at real furniture, and I’m not all that disappointed. The joints are pretty tight, but a couple of the through tenons was a but rough. It was quite difficult to chop the spruce without damaging any edges in the process. The wood is so incredible soft, and the knots are rock hard. I find oak easier to work, since everything is pretty hard.
Anyway, I think I will make them using cherry or oak.
- This topic was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by kjellhar.
- This topic was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by kjellhar.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.A good beginning is half the battle.
As for through mortise and tenons, I tried to use the following technique to make the tenons look nicer. When I am close to thickness I use a hand router but don’t go the whole surface with it. I start near the shoulder and gradually advance towards the side that is going to be seen. I stop about half an inch to the edge, switch to a freshly sharpened chisel and trying to read the grain slice the rest very carefully.
7 February 2016 at 9:56 pm #134611I think that’s a very nice looking piece of furniture, Kjell. Congratulations. It looks like you used elements from Paul’s coffee table and other projects in this construction.
It’s great what can be made with a few types of joints and some imagination.
You’re right Matt. The joinery is mostly based on the coffee table. Only difference is the center beam, which is housed in dados in the short beams in addition to the through tenon.
I drew the cutouts in the apron myself using the CAD tool. Very similar to Paul’s coffee table, but not quite the same.
I plan to make the seat just like the dining chair.
A simple guide for mortising will help I think.
https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/2015/08/mortising-without-a-guide/Yup, used that too. Still managed to mess it up a bit. I think it was because I didn’t pay attention and let the chisel twist a bit a couple of times. Also, I did accidentally lever on the edges a couple of places. I have done much better mortices in oak. I think it’s easier when the wood is a bit harder. In spruce, a single blow with the hammer would send you half way through, so a small mistake would end up very big.
- This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by kjellhar.
I just made the seat using Pauls method from the dining chair. I used some upholstery fabric instead of leather as it was easier for me to get, and much cheaper.
I was in a bit of a hurry, so I only compressed the foam by kneeling on the plywood while stapling the fabric down. It worked ok, but I think it would have been better if I did it the proper way.
Now that I have had this prototype around a few days it amazes me how rock solid it is. I have almost no experience with anything but modern furniture (from Ikea and similar), and they are all so wobbly and loose. Even if you tighten the bolt ever so often. This little stool feels like it is milled from one solid piece of material.
Right now I am shopping for some nicer wood. I’ll make some small adjustments to the design and then I will make two of them out of cherry.
- This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by kjellhar.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.13 February 2016 at 9:36 pm #134768That’s an impressive woodworking result and even if the upholstery isn’t 100%, an easy thing to do again when and if needed.
Thanks for your nice words Susan and Johnny.
The good thing about this piece is that it is a prototype destined for the fireplace in a few weeks from now, so any mistakes will disappear with it.My hope and ambition is to leave out at least the biggest mistakes in the final pieces.
I would highly recommend making such a prototype when doing a new project. It was very useful to test all the joinery, and to see how it looks in real life. It cost me close to nothing as I used spruce. I think I spend the equivalent of £5 in wood. The foam was probably the most expensive material. If I’d gone directly to cherry, I would have wasted 10 times as much on the wood.
- This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by kjellhar.
Got myself a couple of nice boards of cherry today. Black cherry imported from USA. They look beautiful. Very straight grain and no knots. One of the smaller boards, a 2x4inch, was so straight and nice it begged to become a couple of bows.
Looking forward to start using them. Haven’t used cherry before, so I’m pretty excited.bow making was my entry point to furniture making. I realised I needed a decent work bench, and I started searching the internet. I finally found Pauls youtube videos where he made the work bench in his back yard. The rest is history, as they say. I must have watched pretty much every second of video that man has published, and I have learned so much in very little time.
- This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by kjellhar.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files. -
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.