These stool legs are getting the better of me - what am I doing wrong?

[MoorzKK]

Hi All

I'm trying to make the stool in the pictures 1 and 2. It's my first time making stools. I probably should have started with a simpler stool but I'm all in now so too late for that! I'm not far from getting the legs right, and this stool is all about the legs. The seat is easy (I've got help with fasteners on another post) and once the legs are correct the apron is easy (in theory).

My problem is that the distance between the legs should be 350mm on all sides (pictures 3 and 7) which it isn't. Two sides are (picture 5), and and two aren't (picture 6). I'm using pine to get the design right and then will use ash for the finished stools. I saw a post on this forum with a similar design (but had a carved seat) but I can't find the post to query the author.

The top (starting 45mm square) and bottom (25mm square cut to size on the taper jig) are at an angle of 5.4 deg cut with a table saw. I then put the leg on a shop made taper jig to taper two sides to 25mm. Creating the flats for the apron is tricky, I've used a shop made jig also (I can share lots more pictures if necessary!).

Any help would be great. What am I doing wrong? What should the process be? Are there any books that explain all the different techniques for making stools / chair / table legs etc etc. Apologies for the very long post. I thought it best to be more descriptive.

Thanks
Owen

 

[niall Y]

I can't quite get my head around what could be going wrong. If the top of the stool is correct, in that all the sides at this point are equal, and all the legs are the same as each other. Then the only thing that could possibly be wrong is the length of the rails. Obviously the lower rails will be longer than the higher ones. It might be best to draw out a template of a stool side and make sure that all 4 sides fit this template before gluing up.

 

[Oscar43634]

Looks to me from the photos that the legs aren’t tapered the same between photos 4 & 5

 

[heronviewer]

On one side view the legs are splayed out and on the other they are not. So I don't see how the distance between the legs at the bottom can be the same. Have you got your required measurements correct ?

 

[MoorzKK]

Looks to me from the photos that the legs aren’t tapered the same between photos 4 & 5

Yes you're right. Is it just a matter of figuring out the correct sides of the legs to taper? I've tapered two adjacent sides and left the other two sides untouched.

 

[MoorzKK]

On one side view the legs are splayed out and on the other they are not. So I don't see how the distance between the legs at the bottom can be the same. Have you got your required measurements correct ?

Correct yes. I have 350mm on parraller sides but only about 250mm on the other two. I'm not getting the correct taper.

 

[MoorzKK]

I can't quite get my head around what could be going wrong. If the top of the stool is correct, in that all the sides at this point are equal, and all the legs are the same as each other. Then the only thing that could possibly be wrong is the length of the rails. Obviously the lower rails will be longer than the higher ones. It might be best to draw out a template of a stool side and make sure that all 4 sides fit this template before gluing up.

Interesting idea. I can see how it could help. I only have the right looking taper on one side of the leg. If I can get both outside tapers correct (ie viewed from the outside as you rotate the stool) a template would confirm correctness.

 

[Oscar43634]

You could make a template of the taper on some thinner sheet material and trace it out onto the 2 adjacent sides then setup your taper jig to cut that shape out so they all exactly the same.

 

[MoorzKK]

So taking the advice of people above I started to draw a template onto a blank piece. Doing so, I can see how the approach I was taking was never going to give me the desired result. Knowing this I can rethink my cutting and use a template to get me going. Thanks all.

 

[MoorzKK]

I got sorted thanks all, the splayed legs are perfect.

The compound angle on the top and bottom of the legs was obviously important.

And drawing a template on a sample leg showed me which sides I should have been tapering (which I had wrong).

 

[Fitzroy]

All we need now are the photos of the finished stool, we like photos. Great that you got this sorted and came back to tell us you did!

 

[MoorzKK]

I will post finished pictures once done. No pressure.