I made the stool in evening class, we have to make three pieces this was my first. A guy on the course brought in some books and I saw this oak stool, it looked pretty strait forward but I would soon learn that nothing is in woodwork :shock: .
We have to use two different woods on our projects, I had some wood in my house that was left over from renovation work we were having done.
We had an old fire place taken out and the wood that was around it was painted, so I never knew what it was. The builder said it was old cheap wood and that he would take it away, so just to be shure I took some in to show my tutor. As you can guess I had a bit of a shock :shock: .
He told me it was mahogany so I use some of it with some oak to make the stool. I made templates for the sides out of plywood, I would rarther mess those up than the real thing. Even though I had made the templates I still made some big cock ups, I don't know how but I managed to cut the mortices to low on the one side. But my tutor showed me how to patch it up and it came out alright, you can still see it but the joint is still strong.
I also set the wrong depth on the thicknesser, so thats why the bottom piece is thinner than the top
.
The two large sides have a groove in them for the lower top to slide along, it has a dowel set in it, and the bottom step has a groove that runs along the dowel. There are little stop blocks at all four corners of the bottom step, this made the final assemble a bit tricky.
I haven't tryed many different finishes I used danish oil on this stool. I put on about five or six coats with a light sanding in between. For the final coat I dipped a flat scourer pan in the oil and rubbed it down. The finish was like glass and it still feels smooth today. I like a natural finish so if any of you have any tips and different products I can use I would be most grateful.
I have some working progress pics of my table, if you would like to see them let me know. Hope I haven't sent you all to sleep I can go on a bit.
SCOTT
