Foot Stool
This is a project I originally completed in 2018.
Figure 1. Finished foot stool.
After I finished the workbench, I made my first major purchase for woodworking in the form of a stack of 10 foot long cherry lumber, and a few pieces of walnut.
The walnut was 6/4 (ie. 1.5 inches, or 35 mm), a perfect thickness for creating a solid foot stool. It was a pretty straight-forward project to attempt, and I wanted to keep it simple for my first furniture project. This one is also a Paul Sellers project.
Figure 2. Parts cut and shaped.
The legs were all shaped by hand using a spokeshave. I found an old Stanley 151 for sale at Hyperkitten Tool Company, probably made in the 1910s. Using a spokeshave is very pleasing; it is a very minimal tool. It’s very light and moves without much pressure.
The holes in the base were made with a brace and bit, and it was the first time I’ve used one. It wasn’t as challenging to use as I expected; with the 1" (26 mm) drill bit, it didn’t take very long.
Figure 3. My Miller’s Falls brace and a few bits.
Figure 4. Gluing the parts together.
The legs go through the base, with glue on the mating surface. Wedges are then tapped in with some more glue to create a mechanical joint in addition to the glue. It’s a very strong joint.
The protruding parts of the legs were then trimmed and the bottoms leveled by scribing them on a flat surface. Finally, the stool was finished with shellac.
There are quite a few small imperfections on the stool: the legs don’t splay evenly, the tops of the legs have indentations from scribing a sizing guide, and some tearing is visible in the wood. They are fairly minor though, and certainly don’t detract from its function.
I made a similar stool about a year and a half later, and it was clear how much my skills had improved. The second stool was sized to fit a cat bed so our cats could sit up above the table and watch us play board games.
Figure 5. The first stool on the left and new on the right.
Figure 6. Newer stool in use.
Thank you for reading.