Bar Stools

These last few weeks I finally finished milling the pieces for my stools and buying the materials for my upcoming desk project. I ran into many complications I wasn't expecting in creating the pieces for the stools. I have never built any kind of chair before. I understood the engineering behind spools and supports, but didn't have a tangible representation of that until now. I also cut the legs at custom angles similar to the bar table, and left the rough edge. It took me a while to get the supports just right. At first I wanted them to be octagons, but it just didn't feel right with the design of the chair. After a lot of fiddling and testing, I decided on rough circles.

To better visualize the final product, I created a full scale drawing of the stools. Once I finished the first stool, and got it how I wanted, I machined the next two identically at about 2 inches smaller diameter than the first. I drilled holes with the custom jig into the legs. I then drilled out the ends of the spools to create a perfect fit with the legs, using the ban saw to remove the edges. The rings pictured on

the table above show the left over from cutting out the spools. It was a fun and long learning experience, but I couldn't be happier with the finished product. I milled down the walnut seats, leaving the rough edge but softening the top edges and seat top. To attach them to the legs I carefully drilled at a right angle into the legs and seat top and attached them with dowels. With how many mistakes and small inconsistencies I made along the way with the angles, I was scared the stools wouldn't come out sturdy enough.

Yet luckily, after the glue up job, the stools all settled out, without me even needing to plane the bottoms of the legs! They were very sturdy, and looked great with the bar table. The inconsistencies ended up coming together and adding a personal feel to the stools that I love since it's exactly what happens when I paint or make designs. The stools felt like a true product of my process, jumping in, ready to make mistakes then build and grow from there. I had a lot of fun learning and understanding the mechanics of chairs, and can't wait to make a custom one for my desk in the future.