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Thread: "Shed" Stool

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
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    Default "Shed" Stool

    Hidden away in page 26 of Issue 52 (April/May 2007) of Australian Woodsmith you will find plans and step by step instructions for this little beauty:

    Stool.jpg

    It's not announced in the cover of the magazine, and the author describes it as a "Shed Stool" i.e. not really fit for use around the house.

    I had rescued a 3000 mm x 42 mm wooden curtain rod from a skip and had some 3"x2" pieces of pine that I rescued from a busted up coffee table that would do just fine for the seat and foot rest. The angled legs and rebated round tenons seemed to make it a challenging and interesting and since I had the recycled timber lying around I decided to give it a go. That was several years ago, and this was the result. Unfortunately the perpective does not show off the elegant 10 degree angle that the legs make with vertical towards the center of the seat, you'll just have to trust me that apart form the colour it's very close to the one pictured in the magazine.

    Finished stool.jpg

    Well the stool never made it to my shed. It's a well loved and well used piece of kitchen furniture and on occasions doubles as an armchair side table where it's known to support a cuppa tea and a plate of biscuits or a sandwich. The large 410mm diameter seat is a hit with those who prefer a little more support around that area.

    All in all, a challenging project that involved recycling, some new techniques and has received much use and accolade.

    More recently, I had a $100 1000mm x 600mm x 50mm slab of Camphor Laurel twist badly on me, rendering it useless for a table top that I was building. To cut a long story short I cut the slab into shorter 75x50 mm strips and laminated a few of those to make the seat of "Shed Stool II". I decided to post some WIP pictures in the posts that follow... I recommend the project highly but be warned - the large angled holes on the seat, footrest and legs will require a lot of layout, some jigs and a degree of precision.

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  3. #2
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    Default

    Nice job especially on the recycling.


    FWIW one of my shed stools is a wooden one pretty similar to yours which I picked up during council pick up day. It also happens to be almost exactly the same height as my saw horses so it often gets used as the 3rd leg when breaking up large sheet goods. In the course of this use it has suffered a few "saw injuries" but nothing a bit of glue has not been able to fix. I also have a vinyl covered steel legged bar type stool but that seems to spend most of its time next to my lathe with a couple of chucks, tools and bits of sand paper on it.

  4. #3
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    Here are the plans for the seat and foot rest. I used a CAD program to draw them as I did not want to get into trouble with copyright

    The timber thickness and the diameter of the holes can be adjusted to suit your preference/timber - the ones shown are not the same as the ones in the original plan. But I think that its important to be precise about the position of the holes and the and the angle at which they are drilled (10 degrees with respect to the diagonal layout line - more on this later).

    Blank for seat and footrest.jpg

    You will need to make a drill press base insert like the one shown below to drill the holes on the seat and foot rest. The drill press insert provides a 10 degree ramp (35 mm rise over a 200 mm run) from the front to the back of the drill press.

    Stool - 10 degree drill press base.jpg

    Some pictures of the Camphor Laurel seat and foot rest being drilled - note the alignment of the diagonal layout line with the line that connects the center of the press post and the drill bit. IMPORTANT: The FOOTREST is trimmed to shape with a bandsaw or a jigsaw AFTER drilling the large leg holes (otherwise you will not be able to drill the holes). The SEAT is trimmed to shape BEFORE the round mortice holes are drilled (This allows the work piece to be manouvered under the drill press)

    Stool - leg holes being drilled.jpg Stool - foot rest hole being drilled (2).jpg

    More pictures on making the legs and assembling etc another day.

  5. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post

    ... In the course of this use it has suffered a few "saw injuries" but nothing a bit of glue has not been able to fix. I also have a vinyl covered steel legged bar type stool but that seems to spend most of its time next to my lathe with a couple of chucks, tools and bits of sand paper on it.
    Sometimes the cheapest tools are the most valuable and useful...

    This time around I was not able to recycle so much - Even though it was bought for another purpose and is now looking for another use, the Camphor Laurel cost about $50, and the Victorian Ash rod for the legs and rungs another $120. That's an expensive stool! So Shed Stool II will not be seeing angry saw teeth or experiencing the dust of the shed... ;-) - It will be a kitchen bar stool, where I hope it will be used and admired as much as its predecessor.

    Thanks for the post!

    Jorge

  6. #5
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    Default Finished!

    Finished! It took a while, as I only work on projects occasionally and for short periods as a busy life allows.

    Here is Shed Stool II standing next to Shed Stool I.

    Shed Stool I has legs made of a discarded curtain rod (Meranti?) and rungs made from 30 mm Tasmanian Oak Dowel, the seat and step were made from discarded 75 x 50 mm pine house framing timber laminated together.

    Shed Stool II is made from all new materials: 42 mm Tasmanian Oak dowel and 30 mm Tasmanian Oak rungs, the seat and step are made from 50 mm Camphor Laurel that I had left over from another job, cut into 75 mm wide strips and laminated together (the original slab had developed a twist). I think that the grain in Camphor Laurel looks amazing!

    Due to the origins of the materials of Shed Stool I, I stained the legs black using a black stain and top coated with a satin polyurethane finish. Since the two stools will be used in close proximity, I did the same with Shed Stool II although in the latter case the quality of the timbers were worthy of a high quality oil finish.

    I hope members enjoy the posts... It's an interesting and deceptively challenging project... The stool is comfortable and also gets used as an arm chair side table on occasion. Recommended

    IMG_3116 (2).jpg

  7. #6
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    Did you have much trouble with final assembly? Doesn't look like it would be easy with every part at an angle to everything else.

    The final result justifies the effort though - they are nice stools. The only problem now is that you still have nothing to sit on in the shed - does this mean shed stool III is in the wings?
    Cheers, Bob the labrat

    Measure once and.... the phone rings!

  8. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by labr@ View Post
    Did you have much trouble with final assembly? Doesn't look like it would be easy with every part at an angle to everything else.

    The final result justifies the effort though - they are nice stools. The only problem now is that you still have nothing to sit on in the shed - does this mean shed stool III is in the wings?
    Assembly is a bit tricky (not too much). The legs go on first and the side rungs then the back rung and finally the center rung and step. I "dry assemble" everything before gluing, and therefore the snags are worked out and rehearsed before the glue is applied.

    I find that there is enough "play" in the dry assembled piece to allow the legs to be pulled gently apart to allow the rungs to be installed.

    Glue is applied to the mortises only. Oh and the step is screwed into place (not glued) through the leg with a decorative 14g screw. Pre-drilling the pilot hole is an exercise in engineering and planing all in itself.

    But all of these make the job worthwhile and fun!

    Shed Stool I has been popular in the kitchen that it never made it to the shetd, and now it never will... Even though it could, Shed Stool II was never intended to experience the dusty environment of a shed ). I don't think there will be a III... Too many other projects, too little time, and too much other junk in the shed anyway!

    Thanks for the post!

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