Shop stools/chairs – Current State of Practice
user-6001446
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I searched on shop stools and got some very old posts. Needing/wanting a shop stool……thinking about making one. Did you make or buy? Any super favorites for a bench stool? One old post emphasized making the seat as large as kitchen chair for comfort/support…don’t see stools like that often. I’d love to make one – have never made a chair, but will my back be happy vs buying something “not wood”? What do you all have by your bench and what advice might you offer?
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I recently made a shop stool with a scooped seat, wedged mortise and tenons, and splayed legs (see photo). It was so comfortable that my wife wanted some for the kitchen - with additional stretchers for her short legs. The entire construction is discussed in a 1991 Woodsmith (#76). With a few shop made jigs, these are easy to build. I would suggest using tite bond 3 for the increased open time during glue up. The stools are light, extremely sturdy, and very comfortable.
Looks great! Thank you for the reference and inspiration!
Kitchen one with additional stretchers. 3MB cap on photos prevented me from attaching both pics in 1 post.
Apparently, WS #76 is still available for purchase on Amazon and other places. The Amazon link is below.
https://www.amazon.com/Woodsmith-Magazine-No-76/dp/B000N8SR2W
Shop stool, made from Pine. in use for about 10 years now ..
Regards from Perth
Derek
These are bar stools I built from Rock Maple, inspired by Esherick, but my design.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Thanks Derek - the pine model is very appealing, very intriguing seat. Your Esherick inspired design is a beautiful set, maybe should be a FWW article!
FWW #303 (May/June 23) has got an article "Classic Kitchen Stool" by Charlie Durfee. It features a back but can be made w/o one. While not how an experienced Windsor chairmaker would built one, it is a good design with good instructions that don't require too many specialized tools.
Chairmaking goes as deep as you want to go, with many specialized methods and tools. If you like this project, you might be inspired to go deeper.
I saw this one in my search…..a great riff to go backless. Regarding your comment, be honest, I am a bit afraid that chair-making might be too much fun! Hoping to do just the stool for the shop space and get onto some other furniture pieces and not get consumed by chair-making -seems like a risk! I am hoping I build a chair or two - maybe a rocker, someday.
This Three Clawed Dragon Stool is on my long-term to do list..
https://www.woodsmithplans.com/plan/three-clawed-dragon-stool/
I wouldn't and didn't pay 70 bucks for this. I forget where or how I got it. If I had paid, it would have been no more than 20. It could have been a promo with a BST order.
I think it's a sexy design. I got halfway through the build and ended up having to set it aside for now.
https://bluesprucetoolworks.com/products/wicked-smaht-studio-stool-woodworking-plans-pattern-templates?srsltid=AfmBOoqsQZb9NJ_MguYDLl6eVuru5u7P8zQgqU_DbOIk-cae-C2m6yZV
I also went over to Curtis Buchanan's website to see if he had any stool plans. He does. See below. Once you master that, you can try his Comb Back Rocker ;)
https://www.curtisbuchananchairmaker.com/store/p33/PDF%3A_How_to_Make_a_Bamboo_Stool_%28digital_download%29.html
You can try Peter Galbert's Perch stool in FW edition 275 or off his website. https://www.petergalbert.com/books-and-plans
I bought mine, ~1984. I had purchased a used pedal steel guitar and learned how to sorta play it sitting on a kitchen chair at home, but when I got to the point of being able to gig with it, I had to buy a portable stool; can't remember where I bought it. It's the perfect height for me to cut dovetails at the bench now. It had a half-peeled repaint job, it still does four decades later.
My two nuggets of wisdom:
- a metal seat is cold when you first sit down, this can be good or bad; and more importantly:
- a four-leg stool wobbles, even if a little bit, over half the time; a three-leg stool NEVER wobbles!
I designed and built the stool out of Cherry. It sits on 3 points of contact, is comfortable, and stable.
Very classy. Thanks for sharing this.
Thank you for the compliment.
To put my stool concept in context, it was built to accompany the "shelf stand" that I had previously built. In fact the cutout from the shelf stand lower stretcher was what I used for the half round stool base. I hate to waste anything!
Here's a design by Fabian Fischer I've used and modified for a number of stools. Nice opportunity to carve a seat, article and plans found in this publication in 2016 https://www.finewoodworking.com/project-guides/chairs-benches-and-stools/build-a-simple-stool
I did NOT see this one in search, maybe I missed it. Given plans and project guide, this could be the one. Like the idea of carved seat for sure…. 4 legs vs 3, need to research or maybe try one of each. Thank you for sharing this - nice piece you’ve made here.
Would like to make one someday. For the past 7 or 8 years I’ve been simply using one from the home that we have in the kitchen area.
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I built two shop stools using the finest 2 x 8 dimensional lumber from big box store. Legs and stretcher done with drawknife and spoke shave on shave horse. Holes for seat done with brace and bit. Now this is a real shop stool, notice shavings in the background.