Thread: Single step step stool

Originally Posted by Johnnz

Been working on this stool today and got quite a bit done (always easier to keep focused on working when I am in the swing of things rather than the beginning of a job for some reason). The stool is made of NZ silver beech and the dovetailed inlay is from an old totora fence post. I made a box with this combination earlier in the year and the two woods bring out a very pleasant pinkish red glow from the timber. Will finish this project with mirotone lacquer again too.
Just have to make the two rails now and fix them into position with a beech peg each end that slides in through with the dove tail again. ( then is held in place by a shorter piece of totora each end)
The top will be screwed to the legs. Three countersunk screws will be hidden underneath the top inlays. Not sure if I will dowel it as well for extra strength?

Nice work Johnnz, i see your a fan of router work too. I'm a sucker for round-over bits as well. Should be a nice piece when completed, please post more pics when you've made more progress.

Cheers
Mat

Originally Posted by Lplates

Nice work Johnnz, i see your a fan of router work too. I'm a sucker for round-over bits as well. Should be a nice piece when completed, please post more pics when you've made more progress.

Cheers
Mat

Thanks for the comments Mat. Yes, the router is definitely a versatile tool. Funny how I can remember when I first heard about them/ saw one in the shop when I was younger and thought what possible use can it have when I already have a battery drill?!! Now I am using my little makita 1/4" for all sorts of jobs in different projects. I have a very basic melamine base with removable fence that I use as a router table clamped to two saw horses but it gets used very often.

Challenges so far:
I used a spade bit in my drill press to drill out the corners of the mortices that accommodate the round-overed rails. The problem was the holes overlapped enough to mean I had to either clamp or work very slowly to prevent the bit jumping into the neighbouring hole. In the end I clamped a straight edge behind the work piece and went back and forward between two holes slowly making each deeper.

Unfortunately the first dovetail bit I was using was a cheap one out of a set and snapped off halfway through a cut. Lucky it didn't damage the surface but the new bit I bought had a slightly different profile and so there is a bit of a gap at the ends of one of the inlays on the seat. Should fill with glue when its done and not be too noticeable.

My Router jig ended up a half mill too small width ways on the finished slot. I just bevelled the inside of the legs to fit.

I have just drawn up the rails outline onto the timber they will be cut from. I have a new tennon saw that I will try to use for the cut where the rails shoulders touch the legs. Not sure how I can keep the saw perpendicular to the timber though? Anyone know any good tricks to get a nice sqaure cut? I dont want to use my bandsaw for this cut as it would be too rough.

I drilled holes to screw the legs into the top to fit them temporarily while I got the measurement between shoulders, pic attached:

Like the design and the timber pairing John!!!

Should look the goods when finished.

Thank you Artme.

So, I had the idea to cut the shoulders straight using the trenching feature on my SCMS while the rails were still inside their square dressed board. That worked pretty well. After that I cut the curves out on the bandsaw and tidied them up on a sanding tube on my spindle moulder before doing roundovers.

After getting less than ideal results using the spade bit in the drill press I realised the best way has to be using a router. Fortunately the second hand hitachi I recently picked up at an auction came with a variety of bits including a 19mm plunge straight bit which was a perfect match for the 9.5mm roundover. It was the first time I used this machine - quite a beast compared to my little makita 3620, but a treat to use with its slow spool up and plenty of power. Didn't even chip out underneath even though I didn't replace the sacrificial board underneath on each mortice.

Not much left to do now, just do a bit of work on the pegs, do a final sand, assemble and glue in inlays.
2012-12-07 09.29.00.jpg2012-12-07 12.44.29.jpg2012-12-07 13.23.34.jpg

Thank you. I am pleased my project has been of particular interest to you. Now I am nearly finished except for spraying on the sanding sealer and lacquer.

If I was building it again I would have bought a 12.7mm plunge bit to match the 6.3mm radius roundover on the rails as using a spade bit for the corners and chisel on the straights wasn't quite satisfactory. I could have made the pegs a bit tighter as I didn't quite allow for the final sand but they are a lot tidier than they would have been if I had used a spade drill still. Still, I guess that is one of the many challenges of woodwork - to make your work more accurate with each project along with learning and applying new techniques along the way.

Bewdy!!!

Very Nice.

So, spraying on lacquer turned out to be a tricky affair again. Seldom have I had brilliant results first time using it (as I use it only a few times a year), so I ended up doing about 4 coats of top instead of the 2 that are necessary on top of the sanding sealer that was pretty simple.

The first problem I had was what I think is described as cobwebbing where the spray dries before it contacts the wood. I had the pressure set at 50 psi and it was a hot day. I ended up with a coating of what looked like dust beside the area I was spraying. I got a fair bit of orange peel too and even a tiny bit of bubbling in one area.

After running out of lacquer I got some more today and turned down the pressure to 30psi. Opps! that was a mistake as I ended up spraying too thickly and got runs down two surfaces. After scraping that off and resanding (using fine steel wool) yet again, I upped the pressure to 40psi and repaired the mess I had made finally getting a reasonably consistent smooth coat. Good enough to convince myself I wont risk making things worse to try and get a fraction of a degree better by trying yet again anyway!

Great result on the stool. Thank you for sharing the work in progress.