Making a joined stool from a tree

Again.

It was a busy week in my shop - I finished one (long-overdue) project, made 2 more and started another.

the spectrum

Finished the dressing box prototype. So I can now start one “for real.” I lied too, there’s one tiny drawer to make for the inside, a little bigger than a matchbox. But the lid’s on, it’s oiled, etc. Made the two carved boxes - one for someone, the other will be for sale next week. And began the walnut joined stool.

It’s been a while since I made a joined stool - especially in walnut. I dug out 4 2x2s for the stiles, planed them to finished dimensions. They’d been planed in the winter and sat drying til I could get to them. Then I laid out & chopped the mortises.

chopping mortises

It was fun to be mortising again - it’s been a long time. I have a chest to build later this month (into the next…) so this was a good warm-up. Then I turned the decoration and today carved the aprons so I could start tenoning the rails.

sawing the shoulders

I’ve photographed the steps in making a joined stool so many times it’s ridiculous. About 1992/93 Jennie Alexander and I began talking about writing a book about making the joined stool - as an introduction to 17th century joinery, working from a log to the finished product. So we shot photos year after year as the book got written, changed, rewritten over and over again. Finally we scrapped all that work and did it start to finish with Lost Art Press - I think it came out in 2012.

https://lostartpress.com/collections/books/products/make-a-joint-stool-from-a-tree

I haven’t changed what I do very much from what we wrote in the book - after sawing tenon shoulders, I split the cheeks.

splitting cheeks

Only because I’ve split/riven all the stock, so I know it splits reliably. Then pare them with a broad chisel.

paring

And test-fit them one by one in the mortises. I tilt it this way & that - it helps me see where to go next with the paring chisel. I want a pretty easy fit. A friend says you should only have to use your hat to drive the tenon into the mortise. Anything heavier is too tight.

testing thickness