Rustic Stool

I was going to document the full build of this little project but my camera battery died after just a few beginning shots and by the time i...

I was going to document the full build of this little project but my camera battery died after just a few beginning shots and by the time it had charged up I had completed most of the build. Needless to say its very similar in concept to my Traditional Saw Bench if you are interested.

The spare off-cut from my large Coffee Table top and the last remaining budget  2"x2" from my Saw Bench were dying to be introduced and the simple lap jointed Stool you see below is a result of their union.

I am calling it 'rustic' as the Pine that forms the simple lap jointed frame is so knotted and wild its almost unworkable. There is sap wood, reversing grain and knots but I couldn't bring myself to waste the wood. I was going to attempt lap jointed dovetails but I figured that would probably end in disaster at my skill level with this wood.

To be honest, this project almost didn't make it to completion as I nearly threw the whole lot out of the window in a temper several times. I had the whole thing completed bar the glue up. I did my final planning of the joints to get everything nice and flush and tight and did several dry fits with clamps to check everything was perfect before gluing it up. I was actually quite proud of my accuracy and the tightness of the joinery.

I aborted the first glue up as the top would not fit into the frame once glue was included and I frantically tried to get things apart from their half assembled state before the glue dried. This resulted in my pieces all getting mixed up - yes once again I didn't mark each component and its position - Doh!!!

After cleaning up the glue and waiting for it to dry, I re-sanded the joint faces making them a little looser and clean. However, I couldn't seem to get the pieces in the same order as originally intended and the joinery wasn't as tight. Attempt number two failed and resulted in glue over everything - Aaarrggh!!!!

Luckily my sanity allowed attempt number three - a charm! However, despite wiping all the glue up with a wet cloth and re-sanding everything again, the liquid Bees wax finish shows several glue 'stains'. They could be sanded out with wax reapplied but I'm going to leave them and wait for everything to just 'age'.

This stool is going to be used to stand on for easy access to kitchen cupboards and as a general useful item around the house so it's going to get marked regardless... and I simply 'cant be bothered!'

I may not be able to build 'fine' furniture yet, but it's useful furniture none the less! ...