Key to achieving authenticity and critical to green woodworking is the ability to get straight grained stock for turning the component of the stool. This minimizes the distortion normally associated with drying green wood.

To render the stock components we will use a froe. I have had the froe I use for over 20 years and was an antique when I bought it at an estate auction. A froe is a tool for riving wood by splitting it along the grain. It is used by hammering its blade into the end of a piece of wood in the direction of the grain, then twisting the blade in the wood by rotating the haft (handle). Th woodworker uses the haft as a lever to multiply the force upon the blade, such that it possible for wood to be torn apart by even a small froe with remarkably little force applied to the haft. There are several sources of froes available on line and well worth the investment if green wood working is in your future.

The next couple of tools you can and should make yourself. The first is a simple V-block. We use the V-block to firmly stabilize the turned legs when drilling the first set of holes for the tenons on the rungs. The V-block is an 11” length of 2×4 with a v-channel cut using a table saw.

The next tool is a dibble stick. Usually associated with gardening we will use our dibble stick when weaving the seat of our stool. My dibble stick was turned from a scrap piece of teak I had in my “I can’t seem to throw this wood away” box. Approximately 4 inches along pointed on one end and rounded on the other. The last tool you will need is a story stick. A story stick is a simple device that allows you to repeat measurements and markings without the variations of measurement. Our story stick is a 1/2” wide by 1/4” thick piece of handy scrap stock. I transferred the key point of the stool leg and then use it to begin each stool. I also have a 1/2” hole drilled in one end to permit hanging the story stick near my lathe and of yes it is the size of the tenon on each end of the rungs.

Also appearing in the above picture are two examples of materials that can be used to weave the stool’s seat. As in our previous post, the walnut stool has a seat woven from fiber rush. The poplar stool in the first post has a seat woven from sea grass braided into a cord. All of these materials come in several diameters and there are several good online or look in the yellow pages in your town for seat caning supplies. A one pound hank of this material will do one seat of the style and size I am presenting in this blog and generally should be less than $5.00 in cost.

Well here we are – start gathering and making the special tools you will need to begin working with green timber turning. While you are doing that I will be searching the roadside and yards for some new logs for our stool project. In the next installment I will go over stool dimensions and riving the components from the green log and preparing to turn our stool pieces.

Cheers
Mike
www.thewoodenquill.com

The first stool I made – pictured here – was as a student in an intermediate woodturning class where Temple wa s one of the instructors. As a aside no matter your skill level join a local chapter of the AAW near you. I have learned more in a short time from this giving community than is possible from years of trail and error on my own.

Back to the project at hand. The turned frame components for the stool uses basic wood turning techniques and only 3 or 4 different turning tools. Preparing the stock for the turned components will draw on techniques that have been in use since the 17th Century. So as a final tease here is another example of the turned wood stool that I made from a poplar log I found laying on the side of the road after the electric company trimmed some trees near my house. Total material costs for this stool was $4.00 for the one pound of sea grass I used for the seat.

So enough tease for now I’m off to the shop to work on the next segment. Coming up – “Preparing the Stock for the Turned Components”

Cheers
Mike
The Wooden Quill

I selected Ron Trout (TreeBones on this site) to supply the turning lumber. We settled on walnut and a very nice tiger oak. About a week ago all 100 lbs. of timber arrived – I’m sure my postman will never speak to me again. Ron provided 4 pieces of oak 3.5×3.5×36 inches and several pieces of beautiful walnut.

While waiting for the supplies to arrive I began turning some prototypes of the bases in some maple stock I had on hand. There is a reason we do prototypes. First 3 attempts I cut right thru the stems trying to get the shape just right. Turns out the holes drilled in the end grain for the stem were drilling at an angle – oops. Got a better drill bit at Sears last weekend and the last prototype in the picture below – labeled #1 turned out to be much better and met with the approval of my quality inspector – LOML. Right now she prefers the base on #2 and the lines of prototype #1 so back to the lathe tonight for prototype #6.

Last night I cut one of the oak stock and one of the walnut timbers into blanks and rough turned 4 of the oak and one of the walnut blanks. Moisture content of the walnut is 9% but the oak was reading at 25%. So I going to rough turn the oak, put a tenon on the base end and put they in brown paper bags of a bit to dry them out before turning the the flute bases to size.

Next part of the planning phase is to evaluate responses from turning stock supplies and order the turning stock.

Last piece to the puzzle is to find a local shop to etch the champagne flutes and then let the turning begin.

Stay tuned next report will hopefully be from the shop.

Cheers
Mike