I was given old cutoffs of trees. They looked so beautiful and I hesitated to chop and burn them.

For our fireplace I thought it would be perfect to have some nice stools to sit on while you prepare food or just be together with your beloved friends. It is much more appropriate than ordinary garden chairs that tend to sink in the grass or even worse take damage by flying blaze.

Furthermore, we have installed them with the forest playschool.

What you need to build those stools:

- old tree trunks
- chainsaw
- polishing/grinding machine
- grinding paper with grain sizes 24 to 30, 60 to 80, 120 to 160
- wood preservative and bruch

Step 1: Cut and Shape the Tree Trunks

At the beginning cut your trunks with the chainsaw into size. Choose a different sizes so that they are comfortable to sit on. Take also into account to make smaller ones for the kids!

On the top side flatten them out to about a 45 degree angle. This will accelerate the grinding process afterwards.

Depending on the wood you will need a stronger chainsaw.

Make sure to wear protective devices - ear and eye protectors and cut protection trousers.

Step 2: Grind the Stools

For grinding you need a strong machine to be efficient. Also make sure to start with the roughest grinding paper. Get out all the marks from the chainsaw on the cut surface.

As soon es all the marks are out take a finer grinding paper and work your way.

Make sure to use ear and eye protection. Don't work inside because there will be so much dust!

Step 3: Smooth the Edges

For smoothing the edges slow down the rotation speed of your machine. This gives you better control and it prevents from overheating which leads to burn marks on the wood.

Step 4: Dust Broke My Machine Two Times

Don't underestimate the dust. With me it entered the machine and disabled the switches to steer rotation speed.

To fix it just open the machine and blow away all the dust with a high pressure air hose. After the dust has been eliminated the polishing machine should work fine again.

Step 5: Put Wood Preservative on the Stools.

Depending on where you want to use the stools you need to apply some wood preservative. Should you use the stools inside make sure to use indoor wood preservative.