| Project by SwedishIron | posted 339 days ago | 1866 views | 1 time favorited | 17 comments |  |
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I received my new Fine Woodworking Magazine today in the mail and noticed Tommy’s (a.k.a. tchisel) article about building his Shaker step stool. Over the summer I had the opportunity to built the same project from the plans he has available and posted on his www.tchisel.com site. I noticed that he recently posted the same plans on Lumberjocks. Hopefully a few of you Lumberjocks will give the project a go and build it. I took me around 20 hours total, and that includes using mostly hand tools for the entire build.
The step stool uses contrasting walnut and hard maple and is finished with two coats of Natural Danish Oil and three coats of blonde shellac. In between each finishing step I sanded over the surfaces w/ 0000 Steel Wool and 600 grit W/D sandpaper. The maple turned out to be a crazy grained curly/blistered hard maple with a light sprinkling of birdseyes.
I deviated from the original plans a little bit since I cut the back cleat a 1/2” short of the proper length. I modified the design and joinery to incorporate a 1/2 blind dovetail instead of a through dovetail to attach the cleat. I’m happy with the way it turned out.
-- Scott, Colorado
17 comments so far
mgradwohl
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189 posts in 706 days
posted 339 days ago
Gorgeous! Nice work!
Gary
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443 posts in 1217 days
posted 339 days ago
Absolutely Beautiful!
-- Gary, Florida
lew
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4481 posts in 648 days
posted 339 days ago
If a Shaker could get jealous, he certainly would after seeing this!
Fantastic Job!!
David
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1982 posts in 1032 days
posted 339 days ago
Scott -
Awesome! I love the wood selection and those crisp dovetails.
David
-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com
Douglas Krueger
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379 posts in 616 days
posted 339 days ago
A functional beauty, nice work.
-- I can so I wood but why are my learning curves always circles
kenn
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217 posts in 613 days
posted 339 days ago
SWEEEEET! What a great job.
-- Every cloud has a silver lining
CharlieM1958
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7608 posts in 1111 days
posted 338 days ago
Beautiful piece of woodworking!
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
Thomas MacDonald
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101 posts in 354 days
posted 338 days ago
seeing this makes it all worth it…..i hope some of you guys build this lil beauty…its a great one…thanks sweedishiron!!!job well done
-- For free woodworking video tutorials and contests, check out Woodworking with Thomas MacDonald & Friends at http://www.mlwwoodworking.com/index.html
John Gray
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1751 posts in 778 days
posted 338 days ago
Very, very, very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-- Only the Shadow knows....................
Hutch
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91 posts in 790 days
posted 338 days ago
That’s a great looking stool!
-- Hutch ...Montana ___ Life is a mystery to live, not a problem to solve! ___
Tomcat1066
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776 posts in 689 days
posted 338 days ago
I love the look of walnut and maple together. Great job.
-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!
Dusty56
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3458 posts in 581 days
posted 338 days ago
This is certainly a gorgeous piece but I could never use it as a stool : ) Happy Holidays !
-- You know you're getting old when you know the difference between you're (you are) and your (belonging to you) AND how to use them in a sentence .
dustygirl
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767 posts in 621 days
posted 337 days ago
Great looking stool.
-- Dustygirl..Hastings,Ontario.. How much wood can 1 gal chuck if 1 gal can't cut wood?
sharad
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705 posts in 697 days
posted 337 days ago
A very good step stool with perfect dovetail joinery. Just one doubt. Is it not likely to topple when you stand on top unless it is kept against a wall? I may be wrong. Pl correct me if it is so.
Sharad
-- patanjali
woodyone
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234 posts in 484 days
posted 337 days ago
Wow, very nice, Well done.
Woody.
-- Woody, UK
SwedishIron
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80 posts in 534 days
posted 337 days ago
Thank you for your kind words. The project was really fun and I’m glad that I was able to put to good use the special maple board I had been hoarding for years.
Sharad,
The picture was taken with the stool positioned merely for the lighting, it was away from where it would actually be used. As with most step tools, it is top heavy and would most likely tip over if it were not used against a cabinet or wall. :)
-- Scott, Colorado
Mllong
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16 posts in 287 days
posted 275 days ago
Very nice!!