Round, flatwork...

Hi Folks, I thought you might be interested in my shop stools.

They are an exercise in router and template use. This basic stool is made from five pieces of MDF. A disc for the seat and four identical pieces for the legs. The whole thing is held together with dowels.


Lots of dowels all the way up the leg joints...


...and under the seat.

In fact the dowels make such a strong joint that it has not been glued. I thought I would see if it would work loose. 18 months later it is still in one piece. The design of the stools can be varied by making more elaborate templates or simply altering the height.


The finished stool.


Hmmm...Looks like I will have to make another one now

Ralph

Looks great Ralph!

I think MDF is perfect for this type of application, thanks for the reminder that we don't always have to use "designer wood" in our projects.

Jay

The pictures are staged.... Where is the dust? I've used MDF before and no way is there that tiny collection of drill swirls the only mess.

BTW... Nice Bench tryer-outer you got there...


D-I-L wants a couple of stools for her classroom, although not as tall as your's I may cobble a similar variety and use your methodology if you can show me how to cut the stuff w/o dust and if I can borrow you stool tester to make sure mine are satisfactory.

Thanks for the posting and pictures.

Hi Ralph,
That is a great project with an attenton to the details. A seriously accurate project. Nice work and thanks.
Shaz

Really like that stool!! Am going to be using this in my woods class next semester.

I know, I Know, Its MDF but it works for these functional shop stools.

Sue took a laminate trimmer, fitted with a roundover bit, to hers as a 'comfort modification'. Me, I'm thinking about an upholstered seat

Hey Bill,
All you have to do to keep the dust down is do all the routing inside a mega-size model of Stu's VACUUM CHAMBER

Jonathan or anyone else,
Want some plans? ... PM me and I'll e-mail you some.

Ralph

Alan DuBoff said:

Ralph,

MDF...??? no comment.

Click to expand...

It always amuses me when people get sniffy about MDF.

As a substrate for veneering or a painted finish it is the perfect material - far superior to solid wood.

And for a couple of stools for in the shop - why spend the money on anything else?

When do you get a chance to sit down, though?





Edit - Ralph, I only just noticed you're a fellow Brit! Hi!

May I suggest you try green, moisture-resistant MDF next time? It's far superior for all work to the fluffy stuff.

And it rains a lot more up here!