Warming stool

Dec 14 with 8 Coats of Finish and a Coat of Wax

The finish really brings out the grain in the seat.  The legs have 3 coves which fit my fingers perfectly, and the bottoms of the legs are angled perfectly to sit flat. 

Dec 14 First finishing coats

Dec 9  This weekend I rounded off the cherry blanks and turned the tenons that will fit in the seat of the stool.  I turned the legs this morning, trying to give the legs some taper, without limiting the strength of the legs.  It is a delicate balance and I think I got pretty close with these legs. 





Dec 5

Cherry blanks cut down and run on the lathe to take off the edges of the blanks.  Now the legs are cylinders awaiting a bit of design, some special cuts, and tapering.

A parade of 3-legged stools

Update:  Christmas Day as Elise was enjoying the cedar stool by kneeling instead of sitting, she fell off and broke the tenon.  Paul drilled it out and replaced it with a locust peg from the house.  After more gluing, sanding, and polycrylic finishing, it was a good as new.  Note to all:  these stools are for sitting, especially the soft wood leg.

The four new stools for the grands lined up next to the original stool from my wood turning class last year.  The new stools have 7 or 8 coats of water-based polycrylic satin finish and I waxed the tops of the stools with Renaissance micro-crystalline wax polish.

Nov 23

Put a coat of sanding finish on the seats of all the stools and then sanded them with 400 grit sandpaper.  On the underside of the stool I put the first initial of the grandchild who will eventually own it--probably overkill as the boys' stools are 3 inches taller than the girls' and the legs of each stool are made out of different wood, but the initials can't hurt.

The water-based polyurethane satin finish I am using recommends 3 coats of finish, with a light sanding in between coats, so I will probably aim for that level of finish.

Nov 19

I have the major parts of the 3-leg stools all ready for assembly.  For the stools with the darker spindle legs (red cedar and walnut) I need to make some lighter colored hardwood wedges.  I have enough walnut wedges for the two stools with the lighter spindle legs (ash and hemlock).  I just finished trimming all those walnut wedges to size (1 inch wide) to fit the through tenons at the top of the seats.  Once I have the wedges and tenons glued and set in place, I will drive the wedges into the tenons to make a permanent fit.  For the half inch part of the tenons that extends over the seat, I will be saw them off with a flush cut saw.  Then sanding and a polyurethane finish will complete the project.