Introduction: Stool Made at TechShop (Roundrock)
This is an Intractable detailing how to make a simple stool. The stool I am making I made at TechShop
Things you will need:
Materials:
1. Wood ( I used scraps)
2. Glue
3. Biscuits (for joining beveled edges)
4. Screws (to attach base to top)
Tools:
1.Table saw
2.Band saw
3. Miter saw
4. Drill
5. Clamps
6. Chisels and Mallet
Things you will need:
Materials:
1. Wood ( I used scraps)
2. Glue
3. Biscuits (for joining beveled edges)
4. Screws (to attach base to top)
Tools:
1.Table saw
2.Band saw
3. Miter saw
4. Drill
5. Clamps
6. Chisels and Mallet
Step 1: Building Box That Will Serve As Stool's Top
So as the title states I built a shallow box to serve as my stools top. Steps to build a box with mitered edges
1. Cut plywood roughly down to size using table saw then miter saw. Keep in mind that you are going to get all four sides of box out of this one piece of wood)
2. Now set the table saw up so that the blade is at a 45 degrees to cut the miters. Before you make the first cut think about how tall you want the sides of your box to be and set the fence up accordingly. For my box the fence was set at 1.5" as that is how tall I wanted the sides of my box to be.
3. Run your board though so that you are cutting the longest side first then rotate and flip board over and run board though table saw again. Remeber that the mitered angles have to relate so ensure that they are pointing the same way.
4. Take the board to the miter saw and cut both the miters on the end of the board. Once again I wanted my walls to be 1.5" so I marked out 1.5" on each end of the board before cutting.
5. Take a look at your boards. The two that we last cut should be the correct size while the two cut on the table saw will need to be cut down to correct size. To do this I suggest the following:
A. Set the miter saw at 45 degrees and lock the blade in the down position. Insert the rectangular board against the blade and
make a guide stop with a scrap piece of lumber and a clamp. (See picture) With this guide in place you will be able to cut
both boards to be exact same size.
6. Dry fit the boards and check that all pieces line up.
1. Cut plywood roughly down to size using table saw then miter saw. Keep in mind that you are going to get all four sides of box out of this one piece of wood)
2. Now set the table saw up so that the blade is at a 45 degrees to cut the miters. Before you make the first cut think about how tall you want the sides of your box to be and set the fence up accordingly. For my box the fence was set at 1.5" as that is how tall I wanted the sides of my box to be.
3. Run your board though so that you are cutting the longest side first then rotate and flip board over and run board though table saw again. Remeber that the mitered angles have to relate so ensure that they are pointing the same way.
4. Take the board to the miter saw and cut both the miters on the end of the board. Once again I wanted my walls to be 1.5" so I marked out 1.5" on each end of the board before cutting.
5. Take a look at your boards. The two that we last cut should be the correct size while the two cut on the table saw will need to be cut down to correct size. To do this I suggest the following:
A. Set the miter saw at 45 degrees and lock the blade in the down position. Insert the rectangular board against the blade and
make a guide stop with a scrap piece of lumber and a clamp. (See picture) With this guide in place you will be able to cut
both boards to be exact same size.
6. Dry fit the boards and check that all pieces line up.
Step 2: Biscuit Joint Some Miters!
While pieces are dry fitted together go ahead and lay out your biscuit joints by marking biscuit center lines on both joining boards. I chose to use two biscuits on the long side and one on the short. After you have marked your biscuite centers you can double check your lay out by taking the size biscuits you are going to use and laying them on the corresponding center marks to double check that none will be sticking out of ends or overlapping biscuits. Now remove all pieces set your biscuit jointer's guide fence to 45 degrees and double check that you have selected the correct size number that corresponds to your biscuit ( I used size 20 biscuits so my biscuit joiner depth guide was set on 20). Do a test biscuit cut on some scrap wood to make sure you have right depth. I made a quick jig to get my wood off of the work table and to serve as a type of clamp as I cut the biscuits. Now cut the biscuits on all sides using the center mark as .... you guessed it a center mark. Do a quick dry fit to check that everything looks good. If dry fit looks good then glue up ( you need a surprising large number of clamps)
Step 3: Make a Stool Base
To make my stool base I used some scrape 2x6 that I joined and planed down to square and desired thickness. Now decide on the height of your stool, ranges from 7"-14". My stool is 7" tall so I cut the legs 6.25" as the top is 3/4" thick. Take your board and cut it down the finished size on the miter saw. Do a quick dry fit to make sure your happy with scale and proportions. To attach my legs to the top box I chose to use two runners that would be mortised and tenoned into the two legs.
To create mortise and tenon joint:
1. first cut the two runner boards. Using scrape from my shop that I cut down on the table saw (width 1.75" x height 1.25" ) Once the pieces were cut from table saw I measured from furthest side of one leg to the other to find out how long each runner would need to be.
2. Cut runners to final length using miter saw keeping in mind that you want a through tenon, the finished tenons will need to pass through the stools leg. Cut the tenons alittle long so that you can trim them flush later.
3. Take stool legs and the two runners and lay out were you want the tenon to pass through on the legs. Mark the layout for tenon with pencil on one leg.
4. Take the two legs to band saw and line up the first tenon cut using band saw fence, set a wood stop to ensure that the same depth will be on both boards. As all legs will be the same and all tenon holes will be the same you only have to set this up twice to cut both sides of the mortise for all legs.
5. Run one leg against fence until it hits stop then pull board back from blade. Flip board over and repeat. Take second board and do the same.
6. Know reposition fence so that you are cutting the inner side of mortise channel. Repeat step 5.
6. You have now cut both walls of the mortise so we need to clean out the wood that remains in between the two walls. Remove guide fence but leave stop and cut out the middle using as many passes as necessary.
To create mortise and tenon joint:
1. first cut the two runner boards. Using scrape from my shop that I cut down on the table saw (width 1.75" x height 1.25" ) Once the pieces were cut from table saw I measured from furthest side of one leg to the other to find out how long each runner would need to be.
2. Cut runners to final length using miter saw keeping in mind that you want a through tenon, the finished tenons will need to pass through the stools leg. Cut the tenons alittle long so that you can trim them flush later.
3. Take stool legs and the two runners and lay out were you want the tenon to pass through on the legs. Mark the layout for tenon with pencil on one leg.
4. Take the two legs to band saw and line up the first tenon cut using band saw fence, set a wood stop to ensure that the same depth will be on both boards. As all legs will be the same and all tenon holes will be the same you only have to set this up twice to cut both sides of the mortise for all legs.
5. Run one leg against fence until it hits stop then pull board back from blade. Flip board over and repeat. Take second board and do the same.
6. Know reposition fence so that you are cutting the inner side of mortise channel. Repeat step 5.
6. You have now cut both walls of the mortise so we need to clean out the wood that remains in between the two walls. Remove guide fence but leave stop and cut out the middle using as many passes as necessary.
Step 4: Dry Fit Then Glue Up
Dry fit mortise and tenons and check for square all around. If everything square then you can go to glue up phase. Take stool's base apart add glue the tenons and reassemble. I used two clamps in this step to help ensure squareness. Clean up any exrta glue with a tooth brush and water wipeing everything down with a wet cloth.
Step 5: Sanding and Drilling Out Holes to Attach Base to Top.
After 24 hours we can unclamp and proceed to finish this bad boy. We need to cut the through tenons so that they are flush with the leg. I used a fine toothed Japense saw but you could also use a band sander... its mildly faster. Once the tenons are flush we need to finish sand the base and top. As I used scrape wood for the base (they are two diffrent species) I'm going to paint the base black. For a quick sand grab a roatary sander and start with 150 grit then finish with 220 grit. You should hand sand afterwards if useing a stain but I'm painting it black so I skipped that step. After sanding is finished we need to drill out holes to attach the base and top together ( in hindsite do this before glue up). With penicl and measureing tape mark out center on both horizontal rails then mark off center from center hole to legs. Drill these holes out with a hand drill.
Step 6: Paint Base
I used a can of spray paint to finish out the base. To paint something with spay paint hold can 7" to 8" from surface you wish to paint .Start the paint stream off of the surface you wish to paint and then pass it over in even horizontal lines. Don't try to paint the whole thing at once, it looks best when you do atleast three even coats to biuld up the finish. Once I was done I didn't like the flat black finish a whole lot so I hit it with the sander to let some of the grain show through and for the most part I like it better. So thats how to biuld a fairly simple stool.
