Stool Mania

I recently watched Rex Krueger's video below on how to build a three-legged stool and got inspired to build one myself. We could use another stool in the garage.

Video sourced from YouTube here.

Selecting a piece of Monterey Cypress left over from my veggie garden build, i rewound the video and followed along on my workbench (not on a log). The cypress was easy and pleasant smelling to work with and in a few hours i finished the assembly. A dose of tung oil and paste wax finished the piece beautifully in a light-orange, satin sheen. A bit chunky, but nice. Too nice for the garage, though.

Still enthusiastic, i made another stool the next day, this time out of scrap pink framing pine and on the lathe at my local community workshop, trying to learn to turn. I received beginner's instruction at the machine and shaped the legs and seat tolerably well. A bit skinny and pink, but also nice and better befitting the garage. (You can see my sneaker marks on it already.)

Now for my masterpiece stool, i thought the following weekend, the Goldilocks of the group, made from rescued rimu. I will make the legs octagonal with a hand plane, i will make the seat wider for greater comfort then round it perfectly on the lathe, and at the end, it will be just right.

Yeah, the lathe was a bad idea. Nothing catastrophic, but my noob technique tore the seat's end grain, which i couldn't fix by sanding. Should've rounded it by hand, i mumbled, but look at those proportions! They're just right and that finish pretty pretty.

Here are some family photos.

Look up, everyone!

What a fun project, and now we have so many stools to stand and sit on! But you know what would be more comfortable for long-stretch sitting? A scooped seat. Back to the workshop...

Update 2024-08-05: I made a rimu stool with a scooped seat.

Not having a travisher, the right, rare tool for the job, i scooped the seat with a hand plane, flat-bottom spoke-shave, and orbital sander. Then i finished the stool with boiled linseed oil and paste wax.

After several days of computering from home on it, i can confirm that it is indeed comfortable for long-stretch sitting, at least with a cushion on top, and my new home-desk stool.

Update 2024-10-25: I made a redwood stool following the same comfortable design as the rimu stool above. And this time i scooped the seat using a lovely Alan Williams travisher my friend brought me from the USA. Do recommend.

The stool is for a tall friend of mine.

This Bunnings-bought-batch should be called "pinkwood" rather than "redwood". It's all-natural color matches almost perfectly the artificial pink dye of the boron-treated sawbench it sits on.

I tried tanning the redwood in the sun to get a browner color.

That worked some, but i left it in the sun too long and it cracked. Nothing structurally serious, though.

Adding a boiled linseed oil finish darkened the stool slightly more and highlighted the lovely sapwood streak i doubled up when laminating the seat.

Contoured for his comfort.

This was my first time working with redwood, and i like its grain and color (when it comes from a darker batch). Being softwood, it's easy to work but also easy to scratch and dent, easier than pine, so you need to be careful when shaping and handling your piece. For that reason i wouldn't make a tabletop out of it, or any other object that takes a beating, unless you don't mind dings.

I like this stool design and have now formalized it into a template for future production. In the Auckland, New Zealand area and want me to make you a similar stool? Definitely maybe. Email me via the comment link below.