Thread: Bar Stools WIP

That's looking really stunning.

What grit were you using on the ROS. Were you pushing down on the ROS?

Originally Posted by Christos

That's looking really stunning.

What grit were you using on the ROS. Were you pushing down on the ROS?

Thanks Christos, I was using 80g -> 120g -> 180g -> 240g progressively and i was applying mild pressure, i wasn't standing on the thing but just keeping it planted. Could it be caused by the ROS we moving in a circular pattern? In any case i will finish future pieces by hand (after the heavy work is done by machine). That's essentially what i ended up doing with the seat tops anyway, it was just more annoying because the oil was clogging the paper instantly. As for the bases, they were all hand finished anyway because of their shape.

I applied the last of the finish over the weekend so i will be assembling tonight and will post pictures soon.

The project has come to an end yesterday with final assembly going smoothly. All i had left to do was drill the screw holes for the bearings, drill out a positioning hole so that i could screw on the tops, glue on some felt pads onto the feet so that the stools slide nicely on the tiles and finally apply a coat of wax to the tops just for the hell of it.

The stools are a pinch too tall for my bench and possibly for some shorter people as the lower rung is a tad low but it's all something i can live with. Turns out the final waxing has made them nice and slippery too so that you can just slide off them when you want to get up.

Pic1 - Inspection hole to allow attachment of tops to the bearing
Pic2 - bearing mounted on the seat base with inspection hole visible
Pic3 - Finished set pre waxing
Pic4 - Finished set in the house (sorry about the low res pics)

2012-09-17 18.39.20.jpg2012-09-17 18.39.57.jpg2012-09-17 18.44.34.jpg2012-09-17 19.41.02.jpg

Overall pretty happy with the build and happy to see the garage go back to normal (for a while). Definitely need to look into getting a proper workspace together, will need to move house first though. Also in retrospect i probably should have made the slant of the legs a bit more noticeable, 2 degrees doesn't even register on the eyes, they look square. Another thing i could have done better would have been the position of the joinery biscuits that have shown up on the seat tops when i cut out the circles. At least their visibility shows that this was a hand built (and unique) set.

Lots of lessons learnt.
Thanks for watching.

I am going to say well done. It has been a pleasure to watch this build.

I am also guessing that from what you are saying been a pleasure to build. You might have made some unplanned design changes but these are part of the fun. We all do them.

In regard to sanding swirls from the ROS, I have experienced the same when using a 'generic' type replacement pads for my little Bosch sander. I put it down to the manufacturing quality of the sanding abrasives and the glueing to the paper sheet being less than flat. So if you can picture the high points on those sanding pads basically carving those little lines / swirls when any pressure is applied to them. For the most part when using a new sanding pad the timber will quickly dull the high points but some are glued on better than others.

In short, the genuine ones cost a couple of bucks more per pack, but generally gave a much better result. Also found the hook and loop to be much more resiliant.

Might be relevant in your case.

BTW, fantastic looking chairs.