Neander Stools

ken werner

Member
Messages
3,377
Location
Central NY State
No, not something left behind in the back of the cave....

I'm making a pair of white oak footstools. One is a wedding present, the other a Mother's Day gift for LOML. And yes she knows it's late. Actually it's a project we're both going to work on, as my wife is going to weave the Shaker webbing tops.

Anyway, the parts are rived from my white oak log, [which is also making my Windsor chairs.]

The photos show the progress from rived to squared [using drawknife and plane] and tapered. Then octagon, and finally a tapered round. I'm going to leave tool marks, rather than sand them completely smooth. I'm also planning to ebonize the oak, which should turn it a rather deep black.

The rungs are now octagonal, and have been drying for about a week or more in my little kiln. More on them later.

IMG_8960 small.jpg


IMG_8959 small.jpg
 
I like the rustic look, showing the tool marks.

The rungs are now octagonal, and have been drying for about a week or more in my little kiln. More on them later.

I think I understand, the rungs need to be dryer so the legs will shrink around them, right? Will the seat need to be wetter than your legs or can you wedge them into the seat socket and get around that?

I wish I had a nice old log of oak.:)
 
Bill, the seats in this case will be Shaker tape - woven over a simple frame of rungs. In a Windsor, the seat is air dried, wetter than the very dry and tapered leg tenons, so it shrinks a little around the tenons, which are also wedged.

Actually, a new log is better, easier to work. I'm so darn slow that the log is somewhat dry now though. I still have lots left. Best $80 I ever spent on wood. Here's what it looked like when I bought it, 2 years ago:
http://familywoodworking.org/forums...-little-wood-today&highlight=bought+some+wood
 
I looked back over your other chair build, but could not find any post on your kiln, have you shown it yet on the forum?

I owe my wife a trip to NYC, where she has always wanted to go and where I lived and worked for a few years. How can I explain why we are flying out there but driving a U-Haul back, full of old tools and logs?
 
Bill, I can't remember, so here it is. Made out of a shipping box - the one we shipped the chair bottom, all parts and tools home in. Insulated with 1/2" foil backed foam, and heated with a single 100 watt incandescent bulb. Gets to about 130 degrees

.IMG_4583.jpg IMG_4584.jpg

As for the Mrs., all the advice I can offer is to promise to make her whatever she wants. And if you get to NYC, I'm only a 5 hour detour away. You are always welcome.
 
Picking up where I left off...

So, I left the rung parts in the kiln for several days, maybe two weeks, and today went back to work on them. The rungs shrank some, and had to be made 11/16 across the octagons. Some of the rungs shown in this picture are already rounded.
IMG_9254.jpg

I made a simple 11/16 gauge, which also has 3 holes. Hole #1 is reamed on each end, and blackened with a pencil. You'll see why in a bit.
It is important that the same bit is used for the gauge as will be used to drill the posts. Typically, an auger bit is 1/64 over. I have to confess, I am going to use a forstner bit and my drill press. Shame shame on me. Holes 2 and 3 are identical, and when #2 gets a bit worn [loose], we go to #3.

jig.jpg


jig oblique.jpg

Here is the result:

spot on.jpg

Time for a little more spokeshave action. From octagon to nearly round. Keep rotating the piece, taking small bites. The shavings will be used later to pad the cushion, so I keep collecting them.
Many are in little spirals.

IMG_9261.jpg

Here's why the hole is widened and blackened. The graphite marks the high points for further removal.

marking.jpg

A little sanding, using a narrow strip of 120 grit completes the task.
The end result:
end result.jpg

Now, I did this 16 times, for one stool. 8 rungs, each with 2 ends.

Next step will be boring the posts and assembling the frame.
 
Assembling the stool

So today I bored the holes in the posts. Interestingly, Drew Langsner recommends marking the tangent, not the center of the mortises for marking.

The reason becomes clear in a bit. But first I just want to show a neat way to chamfer the end of a rung.
My left hand is moving towards me, rolling the rung on my lap, while the coarse file is getting pushed away from me.
chamfer.jpg

I bored the first holes using drill press and cross vise.
drill press.jpg
I made a dummy rung to help align the second hole with the first.
guide pin.jpg

Here is the dummy helping to align the first and second holes
jig lined up.jpg

Once the 4 holes are bored, the side frames are assembled.
As you know, I am on Robin Lee's payroll, [NOT]
and I have to put in a plug for a LV item. Old Brown Glue is liquid hide glue that keeps at room temperature for months.
You warm it up to about 120 degrees to use. Great stuff.
Anyway, this is what the 2 side frames look like after assembly.
The fit was tight, and it took a surprising amount of force to get the frames all together.
half way.jpg

Back to the boring and tangent lines. Once the side frames were together, I bored the holes for the other rungs. Now I used the tangent lines again, but overlapped the new hole with the previous rung by 1/16". The result is that the new rung locks the old one in. I tried to show this in the next image. Look in the hole carefully, and you may be able to see the end of the previous rung.
inside mortise.jpg

Well, just some more banging and gluing, and here we are. Next is to allow drying time, then ebonization, followed by weaving the Shaker tape for the top of the stool. More later.
first stool.jpg first stool outdoors.jpg
 
Back to the boring and tangent lines. Once the side frames were together, I bored the holes for the other rungs. Now I used the tangent lines again, but overlapped the new hole with the previous rung by 1/16". The result is that the new rung locks the old one in.

That is interesting. It is surprising how many little nuances of design and technique that you need to learn to master any craft.
 
Bob, I'm a glutton for punishment I guess.

Just thought black would go nicely with the blue and green tape. We wanted to try it that way. Not sure if #2 will be ebonized or not. With ebonizing, the grain still shows, though it is hard to see in the photos.
 
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