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I asked my best friend what he wanted for birthday and he said something to rest his feet on while sitting at the computer would be nice. Just something quickly thrown together. Not that I could ever do that, quickly do some simple thing and call it a day. So I came up with a design that had a few new things for me. Like Dovetails, or more precisely angled ones. It might sound easy, but while the ones on top were straightforward, I had to think long and hard about how the bottom ones work so I can put it all together properly. After too much thinking back and forth I finally figured out how to make me some paring blocks and how to mark and cut those bottom dovetails.
Then there was the task of cutting the groves for the inlay. Some bad choices and dumb mistakes made work harder than it would've needed to be, but that's part of learning to plan ahead better and take care I guess.

The main wood is european walnut. Initially I had another design planned(working on that now), which featured an inlay in the middle, but the beautiful black core of this board made me come up with a second one that would not hide most of it. The inlay strips are cut from Padauk I veneered with maple on both sides. Planing this was horrible, as it was the first wood that tore out no matter how fine a cut I took or how sharp the iron was. Guess I should've tried another angle on that micro bevel. Wonder if all exotics are as hard to work with as Padauk or Wenge?

Glued as usual with Hide and Bone glue and finished with a few coats of walnut oil. Another "nice" surprise from the Padauk was getting that red color bleeding into the maple or onto anything it touches.

Anyway, my friend hasn't seen it yet and if I get the other footstool done before he comes around, I'll let him choose whichever he likes more and try to sell the other one sometime.

Thanks in advance for any comments and sorry for not replying more to all those great projects of yours, but I try to push myself to spend more time working on stuff rather than being on the internet, although I still fail at that most of the time I'm afraid.

Gallery

Comments

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45 Posts
Love the joinery! Inspiring even. That really is some beautiful wood for the top. The inlays match the main wood nicely.
 

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205 Posts
Like the design and the wood choices
 

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8 Posts
It looks nice, neat and robust, both for the footstool, and all of the joinery in it!
 

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24 Posts
Great project. I also like the joinery.

I have made other footstools but like your design. Thanks for sharing.
 

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367 Posts
this is amazingly beautiful… great design, congrats!
 

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810 Posts
NICE job!! It looks like I could park my truck on top of it, with that kinda joints..
 

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18 Posts
Beautiful stool Peter, great design and proportions!
 

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I love the "pieces and parts" shot. Oh, and I love the stool itself as well!

This appears to have excellent proportions and your choice to use dovetail joinery, along with the inlay really shows your attention to detail.

I'll be curious to see how the other stool turns out.
 

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Gorgeous footrest design…the inlay really adds a nice touch and brings the Walnut to life : )
Those dovetails are so awesome and tight . How much do you plan on selling it for ?
 

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367 Posts
Excellent design, and different from anything else I've seen here. Bravo!
 

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Really sharp looking
I like the picture with all the pieces cut, sanded and ready to assemble
 

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Oh my gosh. That is stunning.
I can really appreciate the work that went into that. Zowie.

Thanks for posting this,
Steve
 

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It bet it wasn't quickly thrown together. Too much detail for that! I especially like the darker grain in the top. The joinery and accents are top-notch! Thanks for sharing.
 

· In Loving Memory
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That's very unusual and makes a very interesting footstool. I like it.
 

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Beautiful!! Great choice of woods and outstanding craftsmanship!
 

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Nice job on this one. It looks kickass!
 

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Man this is Great Work. The joints are perfect and the inlay is so good I thought it was lamianted together. He will LOVE this no doubt! This is a real beauty!
 

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Thank you for all the great comments! So many so quickly too.

@Eagle1
Yeah I thought it looks pretty robust too, but I actually had a lady ask if it would be sturdy enough to carry her. Now she might not be a lightweight, but I'd assume she's not quite as heavy as a truck.

@Jonathan
Believe me, I am even more curious how the next design will turn out. Planning and imagining is all nice and dandy, but when it actually slowly comes together it often looks quite different. Especially if I get some ideas for improvements in the process of building and decide to implement them right away.

@Dusty56
Good old pricing, one thing I have yet to learn properly. Since I really just started out making things and am still thinking about where and how to sell them, I need to count my hours better and do a lot of research on prices for one of a kind designer pieces like this. I tend to sell myself short in a lot of areas, but slowly with the help from some comments from people I might overcome that. Maybe I can get some pieces into high class stores in our only big city, Vienna, some day, but for now I'm trying to get more done and build a homepage and everything so I can represent myself and what me and my pieces are about.
I always feel a bit weird talking about how I want to design and build and sell one of a kind pieces of high quality for decently (or even outrageously if possible) high prices, but I probably have to learn to get rid of that feeling too. Just don't want to come off as that arrogant artsy guy who throws some stuff together, slaps on a big price tag and thinks he's all that. Although it seems to work fine for some people.
Anyway, long story short, I do have a price tag in mind, but it'd be more interesting to hear some thoughts from other people first, especially from craftsmen and designers and artists here. Always good to get some input. (I'll send you a PM on this topic later, maybe someone will chime in on the pricing issue meanwhile if I don't mention anything right now).

@TheGravedigger
Thank you very much, this is probably what makes me smile the most, as having something nice AND different from anything else is always hard to achieve and very rewarding in my opinion.

@twokidsnosleep
Glad that the pieces and parts pictures are appreciated. They do also help to give non-craftsmen an idea just how much work and complexity can be in a simple thing like a footstool. Oh and by the way, none of my pieces are sanded anywhere, it's all finished with my so far one and only handplane, the Veritas low angle blockplane. Ever since I got my hands on that I can't get enough of smooth finely planed surfaces. Really helps when using water based hide and bone glue like I do as well, as there is no grain raising and the planed surfaces stay perfectly fine no matter if they get rather wet a few times.

@SPalm
It seems the real challenge is to have people that do nothing productive or creative whatsoever themselves realize the work behind such a piece. Quite amazing in a bad way how some would devalue someones work and effort, because they have no appreciation for anything much. As much nice comments as I got in real life on this, there's been a few that bothered me rather much by how they were voiced. Not that they would be potential customers, but it still stings me that there are quite so many that have an easy time telling another person that their time and effort should be valued at almost nothing.

@ken90712
I do hope he does, or at least if not this one, then the next design. Even though he is my best friend I have a very hard time estimating his reaction. Maybe that is why he's still my best friend though.

Thanks again everyone, it is very reassuring to get such uplifting feedback from this community. Especially for someone like me who just teaches himself with the help of the internet and what all you people decide to share on it. Couldn't do this without all of you.
 

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Great design. You should be selling your plans! I have saved this to my "favorites."
 

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This is beautiful Peter. Very unique design and so well crafted. Not easy making a new and unusual footstool and you sure did it. Looks as sturdy as a rock too. Gotta love gems like this. Thanks for sharing it with us.
 
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