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Thread: Four legged stool

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Fairbanks AK
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    1,566

    Four legged stool

    I like this more than I should, it warms something inside me. Based on the saw bench in Chris Schwarz' Anarchist Design book, I did make a couple cosmetic changes.

    One, it is a little too tall to be a bench for handsawing, though I can cut it down later. It is a good height for drying knee high winter boots in the room with the wood stove, though much further away than pictured. It is also about the same height as my old three legged stool. A bit too tall for sitting to relax, but at my bench I can essentially clamp myself to my bench at this seat height with the sole of my foot on the front stretcher and my knee wedged under the bench top. Works better in boots than flip flops, but I think you can see it.

    Top is 8/4 poplar, nominal 9x17 inches. Legs and wedges are hickory, PVA glue. I did cut a relief around the bottom edge to lighten up the look a little bit. Also, the designer has the legs tapering from 1.5" at the top to 1.75 inches at the foot. I kept the dimensions but flipped the taper.

    Sight lines at 64 degress, resultant angle 14 degrees, all that stuff right out of the book.

    I did make one error (well, several errors) when turing the legs. On the first billet once I had it to round I was cutting with a parting tool to get to the major diameter, lowered the handle just enough to accidently get the parting tool to make a planing cut instead of a scraping cut, and overshot. On the others I got to the finished diameters in several places with my duplicator, then roughed with a gouge, cut in matching mistake lines with the parting tool and "finished" shaping with planing skew cuts. Once it was together I was able to clamp the top down and smooth up the legs quite a bit with a spokeshave, so they look round but have a nice sort of faceted surface in hand. Some day I will be good at planing cuts with a skew, I think it is sort of like directions to Carnegie Hall, practice, practice, practice.

    Finish is three coats of thick soap paste.

    I will give it a few days to grow on me and then put a new/ different picture in my office furniture thread.

    20210106_193701[1].jpg20210106_193640[1].jpg20210106_193616[1].jpg20210106_193558[1].jpg

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    South Coastal Massachusetts
    Posts
    6,824
    Most excellent boot rack.

    Soap paste finish?
    Wazzat?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Fairbanks AK
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    1,566
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Matthews View Post
    Most excellent boot rack.

    Soap paste finish?
    Wazzat?
    I am over clear film finishes. They are pretty to look at, while they last, but eventually they chip or crack and refinishing sucks. For me.

    13 minute video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiJ3qsdPTUo

    Alternatively you can internet search "soap finish wood" and get a link to a 90 second clip within the same video.

    I have tried the "lots of water and a little soap" and the "equal parts soap and water" variations on the theme, on probably a dozen different wood species. The thick paste version on hickory is my favorite of the lot, the main thing is it will be safe for future grandchildren to chew on and I don't need a respirator to apply it. For hardwood flooring I will probably start with lots of water and a little soap so I can apply it with a mop. For figured hardwoods I prefer oil and wax. I don't mind a little pop here and there, but I don't want French polished door stops cluttering up my home either.

    One thing I haven't been able try is a soap made entirely of olive oil. The husband of one of my wife's friend girls is a hobby soap maker. I asked him about making some from just olive oil with no palm oil in it. He laughed so hard he spit his bite of food out. If you find some on amazon please do PM me a link to the product.

    Among grandchild safe oil/wax finishes I am leaning towards hemp oil and beeswax but open to other contenders. I don't think turpentine is a tool of Satan, I am just at a point in my life where high status stuff like clear glossy finishes are not interesting or attractive to me. For outdoor stuff like BBQ cooker handles I still immerse shaped red oak in a mason jar of equal parts paint thinner and BLO and leave them for 48 hours after they sink.

    I can't get flaked soap local and went a little nuts soap shopping, jeez, a year ago or so. Off the shelf at Kroger I just tried some of the Castile brand (palm oil), ran it through a cheese grater and was hooked. Many of the bar soaps that say "olive oil" on the front list palm oil before olive oil on the ingredient list. All of them local to me. If you want to try it, just grab a bar of Castile brand at Kroger and try it on hickory, white oak and American Beech to see if there is hope. You can try maple too, but keep your expectations low. If no hope, use the rest of the soap in your shower and move on.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Fairbanks AK
    Posts
    1,566
    The finish really is "soft, like a bunny." Really.

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