3 Legged Stool Build

I’m long overdue for an update here, so I thought I’d share some photos from a recent spec piece I made.  Initially I set out to make a chair, but after struggling with the design I decided to take a break and work on something a little simpler.  The result is this 3 Legged stool with a set of curved stretchers.  The stretchers are bent laminations, that merge together at each leg, and form a tenon that joins with the leg.  Unfortunately I don’t have pictures for each step of the build, so the few that I do have will have to suffice.

Overall this was a fun piece to make and challenging.  I’m really hoping to make more in a few different species of wood.  More pictures of the final piece can be seen here.

Each leg was turned on the lathe, after cutting a tenon into the end of each leg to go into the top, as well as a mortise for the stretcher connection.  I used a Japanese hand plane to clean up the surface after turning.  The hand plane leaves a lot of little facets which makes for a textured surface that’s really pleasing to touch.

I also scooped out the seat, first on the lathe, then with a carving gouge.  I eventually sanded this off though… it was too busy.  You can also see the stretchers assembled in this photo with tenons cut on the ends.  The shoulders of the joints were scribed to fit each leg.

I also shaped and carved the edge of the seat on the lathe.  Carving on the lathe is great, especially with an indexing/locking headstock.