| Project by rausrh | posted 453 days ago | 350 views | 1 time favorited | 15 comments |  |
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Here are a couple of step stools I made for my son. They are mostly made from lyptus, but I ran out of that so I used some maple for the tops of one. I used maple for the tenon wedges.
This was my first time using through tenons as well as my first time with wedged tenons. The mortises could have been better. There were a couple places where the lyptus tore out at the exit. I used a mortise machine to do the mortises and found that to prevent blowing out the back side I had to use a fresh area of the backer board for each plunge. This may have been because lyptus is so splintery. I also made the mortises a little too big and they required some thin shims to clean them up.
My mortise chisels were sharpened with the cone sharpener and the outsides were hones up to 2000 grit, but the still didn’t give me the clean mortise I wanted. I think next time I use though tenons I will use the machine to hog out most of the waste then pare to the line by hand.
The 1” lyptus just about killed my little 9” delta band saw cutting out the curves. I had broken a blade and the only one I had left had far too many teeth I think. It gummed up and burned quite badly. I used 1/4” MDF as a template for the router to make the final shape.
They are finished with several coats of MS thinned poly.
They may be a little fancy for bathroom step stools, but I enjoyed making them.
15 comments so far
CharlieM1958
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7608 posts in 1111 days
posted 453 days ago
Great craftsmanship! (better than one is likely to ever see in a stepstool!)
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
mcoyfrog
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809 posts in 487 days
posted 453 days ago
Looks great, i’ve been wanting to try something like this forever…
-- Wood and Glass they kick (well you know) Have a great day - Dug
Ads
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posted 453 days ago
I think they look really nice. So the lyptus was kind of hard to work with? I couldn’t tell from the pictures!
jcees
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posted 453 days ago
Very nicely done. Great use of available materials.
always,
J.C.
-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein
Partridge
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posted 453 days ago
wow.. I am going to try this on my next stoll
-- Do it right the first time. Becuase fixing it is a wast of time.
trifern
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posted 453 days ago
Very nice step stools. Thanks for sharing.
-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.
GaryK
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posted 453 days ago
Very nice!
I just finished designing one for my daughter.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
Patrick Jaromin
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posted 453 days ago
These look beautiful…I may have to try your design! Thanks for sharing!
-- Patrick, Chicago, IL http://www.TenonAndSpline.com/blog
Pathpounder
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posted 452 days ago
Very nice. I like the through tenons too.
-- http://ragtimewoodwork.blogspot.com/
sharad
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posted 452 days ago
A very nice design of a step stool. The curves add to its beauty.
Sharad
-- patanjali
cheller
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posted 451 days ago
I like the way you’ve arranged the wedges on the steps, nice design detail.
-- Chelle http://artsgranddaughter.blogspot.com
thetimberkid
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posted 451 days ago
Great job!
Thanks for the post
Callum
-- For wood working podcasts with a twist check out http://thetimberkid.com/
rausrh
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posted 450 days ago
Thanks for the complements.
Budgie
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posted 448 days ago
Nice contrasting woods. Are the tenons on the tops of the steps raised up, like arts & crafts?
-- Bud, NY, http://tpww.libsyn.com/
rausrh
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6 posts in 454 days
posted 445 days ago
Budgie-
Thanks.
Yes, the tenons up a little bit.