Japanese Stool (Inspired by Adam) WIP

[wizer]

One of the most influential pieces I have seen on this forum was a Japanese Stool created by Adam a few years back. I love Japanese art and furniture and I liked Adam's modern take on a classic design. Since carving a walnut bowl with Waterhead37 a couple of years back, I have been desperate to do some more carvey shapey work. The workshop is at the stage now that I can get on an actually do some woodworking, so I gave myself a kick up the butt and made a start.

So here is my take on Adam's stool:

Yep, it's fairly similar. The seat is Ash and the legs will be Ash and either Walnut or Yellow Balau. I am going to have a play with the LN Dowel plate for the slats.

To shape the seat I would have preferred to use the bandsaw but it doesn't cut that deep. I considered carving it from square but got nervous. So I used Adam's idea of graduating saw kerfs.

My only tweak was to make a cut every 5mm which resulted in thinner material to chisel away.

I left 10mm of wood at either end to support the board later when I turn it over to work.

One half done, so I turn it round, re-clamp it and go again.

After I removed the bulk of the wood, I used a block plane and sur-form to remove the very high spots. My spokeshave is a bit too small for this work so I used chisels to work away at the raised sections.

I moved on to cabinet scrapers and after a bit of practise started to get some good results. I need to remind myself the methods of sharpening scrapers. But I was getting some shavings towards the end. The seat top has a fair bit of work to go yet.

I finished up by working out the angle of the legs. In the end I used the angle of a softwood dovetail marker. It seems to work well. I haven't fully worked out the joinery of the legs. I am considering through mortices, but not sure if I should drill out the mortices now while the underside is flat, or wait until it is fully shaped.

...and that's it for now. I can't do any of the leg work until my new P/T arrives in a couple of weeks. I will slowly work away at the seat shaping.

Adam: I hope you don't mind me stealing your idea

 

[PowerTool]

Looks good so far;the graduated saw kerf idea seems to work very well.How much time did it take ?

Andrew

 

[wizer]

A good couple hours. It's slow work and it's not easy on the Triton. Plus I don't have a depth gauge, so I had to improvise with a square, ruler and spring clamp :wink: A couple of the graduations where a bit too severe, which has left me with lots of scraping work to do. It's quite wasteful too, I filled up the Triton dustbag. Would also be better to use a blade which leaves a flat bottomed kerf. Gets the job done though.

 

[Waka]

Coming along nicely, that seat sure is time consuming.

 

[Anonymous]

Would it not be easier to bend a thinner piece of wood?

 

[wizer]

yes you're probably right, but having never done it, scares me a bit. I'll have a go on the next one

 

[Anonymous]

I understand. All I have ever bent was stuff less than 5mm thick. I would probably bend thinner stock off the same plank, but then you're back at the resawing issue that made you go the way of the saw kerfs initially.

 

[Anonymous]

Looking good Wizer. Have you seen the machine used in Wycombe to make chair seats (recent British Woodworking article)? It's like planer/surfacer but has a cambered blade on it.

The only other way I can think of to do this is to have a router fixed to some sort of pendulum. This idea sounds just as scary as a cambered blade on a planer.

Dave

 

[wizer]

No I didn't catch that article Dave. I have thought about the router on a pendulum idea and also arbortech. I definitely want to do more work like this, but better get on and finish this first

 

[Chris Knight]

Tom,

There are several ways of doing a seat of this kind. My preference is to use a sled for a router that runs on shaped side bearers. I still have one from some job I did that might be about the same sort of radius if you want to make another stool!

 

[wizer]

Thanks Chris I will keep that in mind. I did also consider that method. Adam's saw kerf method actually works very well and suited my burst of activity on that particular day.

Since this thread has stirred up a bit of interest, a quick update:

I have done a bit more smoothing of the top and it's nearly there. I have also knocked up a jig to get the angle of the mortices in the seat at 90 degrees for the drill press:

My back has gone doo-lally again this week so i'm resting up in preparation for the P/T delivery this Friday. That will enable me to get the timber prepped for the legs.

 

[wizer]

Lots of fun in the workshop today with my new P/T. I managed to get the legs planed up ready for a contrasting wood to be joined. Trying to make my mind up between Walnut or Balau. I was intending to go for the Balau until I planed it up today and am not not sure if it is enough contrast?

What do you think?