Perch Stool - Walnut

[Prashun Patel]

I have been making a couple perch stools this Spring. Got the design from Peter Galbert's blog.

I didn't turn the legs. I rived them from a board. I really love this technique. You waste a little, but the grain comes out perfect. It's faster, and less dusty than using a bandsaw. I was able to split these all with a simple hatched and rubber mallet. The tapered tenons were turned on the lathe. I used a drawknife to do the rough shaping on the legs. The drawknife, block plane, and spoke shave behaved so wonderfully, without having to deal with any grain direction/run-out.

I did use an angle grinder to scoop the seat.

PG's method of work really appeals to me. He uses mirrors to align the drill angles, and has a really neat trick for drilling angled holes in the legs for the stretcher.

Apologies in advance for my picture-taking ability.

I did misjudge the wedges. I was not careful about their taper, and did not account for the fact that the front hole has the potential (for the drilling-impaired) for more slack than the rear holes by virtue of it's increased angle. One of them appears to have even split. At least people will know that *I* made it

I've been doing a good bit of reading on Windsor chair design and technique. If anyone's interested, I recommend highly Galbert's blog, Curtiss Buchanan's videos, and (reluctantly) Mike Dunbar's book.

I've read Dunbar's book cover-to-cover about 3 times now, and once you get over his style, there are wonderful gems in here - especially about the genius of Windsor chair design.

[Howard Pollack]

Prashun, very nice work. I think that the design is quite lovely and I usually don't like the looks of Windsor chairs. Your work makes me want to investigate more thoroughly. Thanks for posting it.. -Howard

[Jim Koepke]

Nice work.

jtk

[Bob Glenn]

Prashun, I'm just getting ready to start on a perch myself. I was going to turn the legs, but I like the look of the legs you made better. The walnut you used is really adds to the piece. I'm curious, Galbert talks about how comfortable it is to sit on. Do you agree? Your thoughts? Bob

[Prashun Patel]

Bob,

It is surprisingly comfortable. I have this stool in my office. EVERY visitor has had the same, "wow, I wasn't expecting it to be this comfortable" exclamation when sitting in it.

The tops of the legs have to be tapered, round tenon. This creates an aesthetic challenge when transitioning that taper into the body of any leg that is not also round / turned. My legs here are the result of laziness; I am not so good yet at turning spindles.

[Todd Zucker]

Nice job. The grain on the shaped walnut seat looks really good.

[ken hatch]

Prashun,

I've started wondering down the staked stool/chair path myself. It is interesting with more to learn.

Your stool is very nice. BTW I'm still playing with cheaper woods before digging out the good stuff.

ken

[Dave Anderson NH]

Nicely done. I particularly like the piece you chose for the seat.

[Bill McNiel]

Prashun, as always you have shown a great aesthetic eye.

[Mel Fulks]

It kinda looks like a leather seat. Nice idea and work, Andy Williams ( singer of olden days) brought the last stool rage.
The thing I find most interesting about the Windsor stuff is how fast they cranked the stuff out. Shops with just several guys were making cart loads often.

[Prashun Patel]

Come on, Ken! Life's too short to work with cheap wood!

It's surprisingly straight forward to 'freehand' the leg mortises. You can adjust the angles to perfection (to your eye) during reaming.

The tapered tenon is surprisingly easy to get extremely close. The wedge in the tenon fixes minor sins in the fit. It's not designed to flare the ends, but to make the tapered parts match perfectly. The wood conforms and the socket is extremely tight - even without glue. Each time you sit on it, it reinforces the joint. I didn't play with the moisture on these, but one technique is to 'super dry' the tenon in a kiln to bring it below ambient moisture. When inserted in the socket, it would swell as it equilibrates.

This style of construction ( get your parts about right, and then fit/tweak them one-by-one during assembly) is very much my style.

I started out using the Veritas tapered tenon cutters, but after one or two, it becomes quicker to just turn them on the lathe using a disected block with a reamed hole as a gauge. I still use the Veritas reamer. I have both the standard and pro versions. The pro version works in a brace, and is slower, but easier to control and sharpen. The standard one is quick and works in a power drill but lacks a removable blade. It dulls a little quicker and isn't so straightforward to hone. I do the rough reaming with that, and then tweaked with the brace.

[Prashun Patel]

I have heard that makers started productionizing these by buying parts like spindles, posts, and seat blanks.

[Mel Fulks]

I have heard that makers started productionizing these by buying parts like spindles, posts, and seat blanks.

They have a long history. At least in the early 19th century most were making all the pieces on site but they probably used pre cut blanks. We had a couple of early shops here that also made things with spindles; baby cribs etc. But great numbers of chairs were also "imported" here from the North. For years when I saw a chair with a big chunk gone from a leg I would wonder about how someone managed to break it. Not knowing that turning the many defects inward was just practical business.

[Chuck Nickerson]

Like Dave Anderson I really like the natural edge seat. Maybe I don't get out enough but I haven't seen that before.
I have a few natural edge planks laying around...

[Brian Holcombe]

Nice work Prashun! The tapered tenon is liberating!