Square peg, round hole

It’s been a long time since I’ve built a joined stool. I finished one yesterday, making and attaching the seat. This one started out as a demonstration piece that I worked on in 2 different presentations. Then it got to the point where it was better to finish it than to store it in pieces…

Joined stool, red oak, Oct 2024

This one is a mish-mash of things, stiles’ turning patterns from one stool, proportions and dimensions from another. The carved apron is something we don’t see in New England stools, though it’s common in English work. Not sure why it doesn’t show up over here. The frame is all riven stock, but the seat is a quartersawn board. I did the thumbnail molding with a smooth plane and a moving filetster plane. After marking out the moldings’ width I generally round it over by tilting the smooth plane and working the shape by eye.

first step in shaping the molding

Then to “set it off” with the rabbet/filetster plane is simple. I used to do the reverse, start with the rabbet or filetster - but in those cases I was forming a rabbet that was mostly then going to get cut away. Now the rabbet is quite narrow - and a lot cleaner and easier to plane. (especially important on the ends of the seat.)

step 2