Step Stool

Very Nice!!!

I really like the walnut pegs- they contrast beautifully with the pine!

The finish looks great.

-- "Preach the gospel always. If necessary use words" -St Francis of Assisi

Looks great. Orders just came down from On High (my wife) that my “Big Boy” (28 months) needs one as well.

Questions -

Do the Walnut pegs cover screw heads, or do they function holding the steps on? I have never done anything with pegs, and looking at this project I like the effect it gives.

Also, what are the general dimensions?

-- Derrek L.

I’m not Patrick but you can use pegs to hold it on…some people (the late Tage Frid for one) suggest angling them so they perform like a dovetail for adding a little structural strength. In other words, they would look like this (sorta) V

Just like the legs of the V, your pegs will be angling towards each other. The V was added when the program kept changing half of my first several attempts.
This supposedly is harder to pull out.
Edit: I am not sure why but it keeps changing what I have typed so that half of it is missing. I will try it inside parentheses. That does not work either. So, one more time..
PS: Patrick, that really looks good. I used a stool this a.m. that someone else had built and it was out of very thick lumber which made it too heavy for a child to use. Yours is much more stable looking than that one was in actual use.

-- jstegall

wonderful stool for a wonderful “Big Gril” I’m sure.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Derrek – The pegs cover screws, however I think that for a project like this one, just glued pegs would work fine. Another option would be a stepped peg (these are sold in conjunction with a drill bit). I like the way they look more than I worry about the structure of them. I kind of think a screw is not much more than a metal dowel in this case. The dimensions are 11” high, 11” wide both ways, with 5 1/2” steps. I experimented around and this seeemed to work well for a toddler-sized person. On this one I probably should have run the grain on the steps side-to-side rather than front-to-back, but I thought it would be alright with children using it.

-- Patrick