Scrap Lumber Step Stool

I built my son a kitchen tower a couple of years ago, but he has grown out of it now. He's still not quite tall enough to work at the counter, though, so I built him this stool. It's a very simple design - it could easily be a first wood working project for someone - and I used scrap lumber. None of the pieces are particularly large, so if you do any amount of carpentry, you probably have these odds and ends lying around. I finished it with some stain I had leftover from another project, and joined it with fasteners I had on hand, so this was a $0 project.

Supplies

Tool List:

Table Saw

Miter Saw

Palm Sander + Medium Grit Sand paper

Drill

Kreg Pocket Jig

Clamps

Cut List / Supplies:

1 - 12'' x 24'' x 3/4'' board

1 - 5'' x 24'' x 3/4'' board

1 - 3'' x 21.5'' x 3/4'' board

2 - 12'' 2x4

2 - 17'' 2x4

2 - 17'' 2x2

4 - 4'' 2x2

Wood Glue

1 1/4'' screws

Adhesive felt pads

Step 1: Cut 3/4'' Boards

I was using boards left over from a floating shelf build (this is why they are partially stained already). I cut them to the dimensions in the cut list (12 x 24, 5 x 24, 3 x 21.5) using a table saw.

Step 2: Cut 2x4 and 2x2's

First I ripped about 1/8'' off of each side of the 2x4's and 2x2', using the table saw (see photos). I did this so that the lumber would have perfectly square corners as opposed to the rounded corners that off-the-shelf dimensional lumber has. This is not necessary, but does make projects look neater when you are butting multiple 2x4's up against each other, as I did in this project. After that, I used a miter saw to cut the 2x4's and 2x2's down to the dimensions in the cut list.

Step 3: Glue Up

I then assembled the sides of the stool. The order of pieces, from bottom to top, for one stool was: long 2x2, long 2x4, short 2x4, pair of 4'' in long 2x2's. I spaced the top 2x2's so that you can fit your hand inside the stool for easy carrying. I glued the sides together using wood glue, and let the glue dry before moving to the next step.

Step 4: Sanding

Use some sort of sanding device to sand everything. You're going to the outside and inside of the stool, so you should sand all sides of your pieces.

Step 5: Pocket Holes

I absolutely love my Kreg Pocket Hole jig. It makes it so easy to hide screws for butt joints, and I use it all the time. It wouldn't detract terribly from the stool to have visible screws, but I like to keep them hidden if possible. To do that for this project, I used the jig to prepare the cross piece (the 21.5 x 3 board) and the sides of the stool as shown in the photos.

Step 6: Assembly

I assembled the stool upside down, since I was using the pocket holes. The full assembly is shown above.

Step 7: Stain

I applied leftover stain. Follow the instructions on the can of whatever you are using for your wood coloring/treatment. I just painted it on, waited a few minutes, then wiped the excess off with a rag.

Step 8: Felt Pads

I used adhesive felt pads like what you put on the feet of furniture on the bottom of the stool. My 3 year old is going to be dragging this stool all over the place, and I'd like to minimize the damage to our floors.

Step 9: Final Product

Here is the stool from both the front and back.