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20K views 78 replies 23 participants last post by  offseid 
#1 ·
Starting from Scratch

Today I had my first real shop time since Mothers Day. I finished my wife's box just in time to give it to her, but I still hadn't put any finish on it. So today I started by putting on the first coat of oil/varnish/mineral spirits. Once I did that, I figured I'd start something new. I had no idea what I'd do. It was a good feeling, one of anticipation.

I decided that I wanted to take a little break from the kempas I'd been working with since the beginning of the year. My buddy is a runner, and occasionally picks up old furniture he finds by the side of the road. He found this mattress platform from Ikea that someone was throwing out, and passed it on to me. I'm assuming it's pine:

Ikea Mattress Support

I decided to rip all the staples out and then figure out what to do with the boards. With a potential move in our near future, I needed to do something that I would be okay with giving away, should we not have room for it in the move. I decided upon a step stool for the kids. My idea is a very simple stool, with dovetailed joints and a middle support (what's that called?) that will be joined to the legs with wedged tenons. This way I can do as little wood prep as possible, speeding up the project and still giving me some challenges in the way of joinery.

One other thing that was fun about beginning this project was that with so many boards available to me, I got to practice selecting good boards for the piece based on grain pattern. I don't know how well I did, but I was fairly happy with it. Here's what the top of the stool will look like (before glue-up):

Top of Stool - before glueup

I could have picked a more similar piece for the middle, but I dunno, I kinda liked the pattern so figured I'd sandwich it between the other boards. Fun to actually have quartersawn boards for once. There's a first for everything!

Today I was able to glue up the top, and then I glued up three more boards which will be the legs (after the glue dries I'll cut the board in half for each leg). I've been pretty much following the Golden Ratio for the dimensions, so the top is 8" x 13" and the legs will be 8" x 8".

Question: When dovetailing the legs (would it be more appropriate to call them 'sides'?) to the top, should the top have the tails or the sides?

More to follow as I make progress!
 
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#3 ·
looks like a fun project. if i understand you correctly you are joining the sides (legs) of the stool to the top slat to make a top step. i would put the tails on the step and the pins on the side. my reasoning is because usually the tails are bigger than the pins and you want more support for the step. if you put the tails on the board also it will prevent the step from behind pulled up because that is the way that the dovetails holding strength will be oriented and i wouldn't think that the step would be pulled up much. if you put the tails on the step the holding strength will be oriented to stop the sides from being pulled away from the step and since also there will be pressure applied down on the step it would be beneficial to have the bigger tails there to provide more mass on the steps down against the sides. hope that makes sense. thanks for the post!
 
#4 ·
Denis,

Yes, I think you've described it correctly. Thanks for your input - that's where I was leaning, and it's good to get confirmation on that. Having the center support in the middle (under the step) will also add some extra stability.

Thanks!
 
#12 ·
Slight Design Modification

This one's for you, Betsy!

Commenting on my latest entry and picture, Betsy pointed out that step stools normally have angled legs. And it didn't take too long browsing the step stools posted here to show me that yup, the legs really should be wider at the base than at the top. Makes sense. So I glued one more board on the legs and here's what I've got:

Redesign of Legs

After I do the dovetails, I'll cut a nice gentle curve from top to bottom on the outsides of the legs. I think I'll also cut a curve out of the middle of the base, too.
 
#24 ·
Making Progress

For most woodworkers, especially those with the convenience and expedience of power tools, a step stool is a weekend project, if not a half-day project. For me, it's looking like it will be a 2- or 3-weekend project, if I'm lucky. But I am really enjoying the process and continue to learn every time I approach the piece.

Today I cut the dovetails. I had already marked them last week so it was just a matter of putting saw (and chisel) to wood. I was quite pleased with how they turned out:

stool dovetails

I then started on shaping the legs. I only had it in me to do one side, since my coping saw is a real piece of junk and I don't know if it can do any more. After cutting a squiggly line with the coping saw, I cleaned it up with my spokeshave, and here's what I got:

stool dovetails

You can see the little arc on the bottom that I will cut out next. Then to repeat all that on the other side, and finally to do the wedged mortise and tenon for the center support.
 
#25 ·
Eric,

This is coming together pretty well. Even though this is not a complicated furniture project putting together something like this using only hand tools and skills is pretty impressive.
 
#32 ·
First Hand-Cut Tenon

Today I was able to do both tenons for the supporting rail (rail? stile?) for the step stool I'm building. It'll be a through tenon and have wedges when it's done. I also had time to do one mortise today.

tenon

This one looks pretty fabulous, if I do say so myself. However, TOTAL DISCLOSURE: The other one didn't go as well. My line on the cheeks weren't very straight so the tenon narrows at it nears the shoulders. This, my friends, is not good. I might not need to fix it, though, since there probably won't be any wobble. The direction it would wobble will be held in check by the dovetails. The only force really being put on this rail will be along the top and bottom of the tenon, and not on the cheeks.

Still, if I sense movement once I've done the second mortise and dry-fit it together, I may glue a shim on at least one of the cheeks and re-cut it to be more square.

All in all, a good day in the shop.
 
#42 ·
Hand-Chopping a Mortise (with Video)

After I posted about doing my first hand-cut mortise and tenon, Scott wanted to see how I chopped my mortise. He said, "The only time I tried to chop a mortice I left most of a 1/4" chisel broken off in the wood." Well, when I read that, I kind of freaked out because I hadn't considered that I could have broken my blade! But I decided to trust in what I was taught, and to remember that I had, indeed, done one successfully. So I decided to keep at it for my second mortise.

First, I marked out the mortise. I figured out where I wanted it, and then measured the top line with a pencil (exactly 3" down from the base of the pins). I marked that spot with the chisel by pressing it firmly into the wood. After measuring the height of the tenon, I did the same thing on the bottom. Then I connected those outer borders with a marking knife:

mortise 1

I then positioned the chisel slightly in from one of the edges, with the bevel facing the other direction.

mortise 2

Next, I raised the chisel to 90 degrees and gave it a good strike with the mallet. I levered the waste out by lying the chisel down toward the bevel. Here's a pic:

mortise 3

And here's the video of me doing it:

http://blip.tv/play/AcOocAA

After going the whole length of the mortise, I turned the chisel to face the other way and went back, doing the same thing. Then I flipped the board over and started on the other side of the mortise, doing two passes. Before too long I punched through:

mortise 4

At this point, it's probably safe to hog out the waste by chiseling down the side walls, although I just kept going as I was, ending up with this:

mortise 5

You notice that the side walls need to be cleaned up, and also the length of the mortise extended all the way out to my marked lines. In the next pic, I've cleaned up the sides and just needed a little more on the top and bottom.

mortise 6

And there's my mortise! You can see in the last pic below that it's far from seamless perfection. But considering that the tenon will be wedged, and that decent-sized dovetails are securing the sides to the top, I don't think this joint will experience much stress.

mortise 7

Thanks for following along!
 
#55 ·
I Don't Need No Stinkin' Jigsaw

When I was contemplating my curves and complaining about my coping saw, Marco suggested that I could easily make a curve by first making a series of cuts, and then cutting the waste away with a chisel.

I had learned that technique at Homestead Heritage (Waco, TX) but hadn't yet had enough confidence to try it. It seemed too easy. But doing the curves for the supporting piece, I decided to give it a go. So here is the piece after I've made my cuts:

curve 1

And here it is after my chiseling:

curve 2

I pretty much just chiseled until the kerfs were barely noticeable any more, and then I took out my trusty spokeshave and smoothed it out. Outside of really needing to watch the grain flow, this was a pretty simple technique!
 
#63 ·
Giving the Tenon a Wedgie

I know, I know. Juvenile title. I can't help it.

So it's time for the wedges. By the way, I followed Ian Kirby's technique as described in Woodworkers Journal (October 2007) and in a bit less detail on this website. First, to cut the kerfs in the tenon. Kerfs should be less than 1/4" from the edge of the tenon, and should stop about 1/8" from the shoulder. Likewise, when you open the mortise so it angles out, the opening should begin 1/8" in from the inside of the mortise, to better support the angled tenon.

10a

Next, to cut the wedges. Wedges should be the same width as the tenon, and the length should be that of the kerf you just cut, plus 1/3. The gradient of the wedge should be 1:8. If you've got a sweet ryoba like mine, these tiny wedges aren't hard at all to cut. By the way, in keeping with the spirit of the contest in which I'll be entering this piece (One Man's Junk), the wedges were cut from this block of wood which used to be a supporting rail for a drawer on my "bench" (really just some cabinets). Dug it out of the scrap heap for this project.

10b

Now I'm ready for the glueup. As always, I did a dress rehearsal first. Good thing, too - I realized that when I wanted to set the stool on end to hammer in the wedges, I needed a well to house the tenon on the opposite side, which was about 1/2" proud of the side. Thus my little setup there.

10c

Glueup accomplished, though not quite as quickly as I would have liked. For the wedges, I applied glue on each side, pushed them in as far as I could with my fingers (not very), and then tapped them in with a hammer, using light taps at first and alternating between the wedges. When the wedges are all the way in, the striking sound changes to that of hitting solid wood.

10d

After several hours, I went back into the shop to trim the wedges. After my last experience trying to flush cut with my ryoba (where I kept grazing the project with the saw), I used this cereal box to protect the piece as I cut the excess off the tenon. The thin material helped me get pretty close to flush. I then followed up with my chisel, paring carefully while keeping the back of the chisel flat against the wood.

10e

And there we go! You can see in the following picture that I opened the mortise a bit unevenly, the bottom showing more of a gap; at least I did it the exact same amount on both sides so it's uniformly off. I can live with that. Ian Kirby's wedged tenons show the same amount of gap in every single one, and I actually liked the gap and tried to do it. He never does say in his article how much to open the mortise, only to open it "a given amount." Thanks dude. Very helpful.

10f

So that's it! I've since done my final sanding and have applied my first coat of finish (oil/varnish/spirits). I'll do another coat or two of that before finishing up with a couple coats of just varnish. And then I'll post it in my projects section!
 
#67 ·
I'm #21!

So the big news of the day is that the results are out!

I really didn't expect to win, or even to come close, with my step stool. I did have a secret desire that I would get a vote. If I got just one vote, I would have been ecstatic. Instead, I actually got 10 votes, including one vote for 1st place. Thank you!

No, don't worry, fellow Jocks, I don't have any delusions of grandeur. I can see the entries below mine just as well as you can, and that the originality and/or craftsmanship of many of them is far superior to that of my little stool. But I appreciate the support that so many of you have given me in my journey so far, and these few votes just made my day.

Now if only I can register my kids as LumberJocks, I can jimmy a couple more first-place votes as their voting custodian…

step stool
 
#75 ·
Hey Brother, Can You Spare a Vote?

I've entered my step stool in a contest on SmartFlix (think NetFlix for DIYers). While I do believe in "May the best man win," I'm no fool: all the other contestants are probably trying to get votes just like I am!

So how about it? Click on the link to go to the contest page. Thanks in advance for your vote!



P.S. I plan to do a write-up on SmartFlix in the near future, so stay tuned for that.
 
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