Hand Made Toddler Stool [1617x2048 - 2.09MB]

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Hand Made Toddler Stool [1617x2048 - 2.09MB] (pic8.co)

Toddler Stool, made over about 2 months. It's for toddlers and small children to stand on to access bench height activities, such as cooking.

Alternate finished view: https://pic8.co/d/04359db9-af16-47d2-ab76-6d298c88bf9a.jpg

It is made primarily from salvaged construction lumber, most of which was fairly old (at least 50 years old or more). I'll go through the construction process roughly in reverse....

The finish is Danish Oil, I use Organoil Danish Oil and cannot recommend it highly enough. It makes a beautiful finish and smells like oranges (not like chemical solvents). Nail holes and sap veins in the steps and frame were filled with clear casting epoxy. https://pic8.co/d/801d3d2b-3335-40d2-8c94-1aeed32a09e9.jpg

The main joinery for connecting the two sides are wedged through mortice and tenon joints. I sort of stuffed up a bit and made the tapers of the mortices a bit wide. To solve this, I cut a thin strip of Jarrah that I also used for the wedges to put on either side of the tenons. This turned a mistake into a feature. https://pic8.co/d/b314673a-554d-4bf9-bf24-3aef41490215.jpg https://pic8.co/d/65f6a5d1-b112-464b-9425-7089a523569b.jpg

Top rails are joined with blind mortice and tenon joints, partially intersected by the large cross dowel hand rails. https://pic8.co/d/7dad8b12-aeda-4c91-83d6-15fa920948fa.jpg

These hand rails were turned down to fit the holes on my metal lathe. Carbide tooling doesn't make a very good finish on wood, but it's fine for a tenon. https://pic8.co/d/45256888-979d-43bf-81e2-948fc648ea1a.jpg

Here's a shot of most of the bits, at some stage of production: https://pic8.co/d/ac96e633-8cf3-46e1-b1c9-957585624719.jpg

The rounded corners of the top frame were made on the table saw: https://pic8.co/d/a8a91b9f-2b40-4317-af84-9a6be6a5a41b.jpg https://pic8.co/d/6e17982a-f64c-4482-ab01-88cd836e3266.jpg

The curved member is made by glue laminating strips about 5mm thick. This curved piece is incredibly strong. https://pic8.co/d/ddb0168a-23b5-477a-ab5b-de530acb4a71.jpg https://pic8.co/d/93063bc6-c468-4d45-bc30-e5bb4c7bc1be.jpg

The curved wood was cleaned up with my compass plane, a tool not very commonly seen these days, and a spoke shave: https://pic8.co/d/f0198daa-d14d-4851-9b62-a56aa16a4fd2.jpg https://pic8.co/d/7039151b-95af-4e97-ac3b-670054f01239.jpg

After flattening one side of these curves with a hand plane, I used a jig of questionable safety to trim them to width: https://pic8.co/d/328f5130-bfb8-4d09-9035-4f358825b914.jpg https://pic8.co/d/19473576-b441-4e7f-84a7-3dd5e4265eae.jpg

The steps were made from reclaimed hardwood floor boards. The tongue and groove joints were tightened up, then glued and the top planed flat and smooth with hand planes. Tenons on each side were cut to fit support pieces, extended for the lower step to reach the back of the stool. The top stool is adjustable, locking bolts are attached with brackets that fit in a sliding dovetail (cut on a makeshift router table). The grain of the wood in the brackets is deliberately angled to increase strength (likely unnecessary): https://pic8.co/d/78dffcdd-ffb4-4cbe-ba08-f3248ca7741f.jpg https://pic8.co/d/521a4a5a-8259-4245-9a71-f3aceffdb3d3.jpg

The adjustment slots are cut using a jig on the table saw. It probably needed to be a bit more robust, but got the cuts accurate enough. A better approach might be to cut them within a mm or so of finished and finalize the cut with a chisel for a more accurate finish. https://pic8.co/d/89bf9024-be44-433d-b204-352d30e178c4.jpg https://pic8.co/d/930931a0-5647-4681-9408-552d11b06304.jpg

There's a few photos in this album that aren't included here: https://pic8.co/a/3f72579e-5985-4d5a-b4a6-6087f408a9e9/

Toddler Stool, made over about 2 months. It's for toddlers and small children to stand on to access bench height activities, such as cooking. Alternate finished view: https://pic8.co/d/04359db9-af16-47d2-ab76-6d298c88bf9a.jpg It is made primarily from salvaged construction lumber, most of which was fairly old (at least 50 years old or more). I'll go through the construction process roughly in reverse.... The finish is Danish Oil, I use Organoil Danish Oil and cannot recommend it highly enough. It makes a beautiful finish and smells like oranges (not like chemical solvents). Nail holes and sap veins in the steps and frame were filled with clear casting epoxy. https://pic8.co/d/801d3d2b-3335-40d2-8c94-1aeed32a09e9.jpg The main joinery for connecting the two sides are wedged through mortice and tenon joints. I sort of stuffed up a bit and made the tapers of the mortices a bit wide. To solve this, I cut a thin strip of Jarrah that I also used for the wedges to put on either side of the tenons. This turned a mistake into a feature. https://pic8.co/d/b314673a-554d-4bf9-bf24-3aef41490215.jpg https://pic8.co/d/65f6a5d1-b112-464b-9425-7089a523569b.jpg Top rails are joined with blind mortice and tenon joints, partially intersected by the large cross dowel hand rails. https://pic8.co/d/7dad8b12-aeda-4c91-83d6-15fa920948fa.jpg These hand rails were turned down to fit the holes on my metal lathe. Carbide tooling doesn't make a very good finish on wood, but it's fine for a tenon. https://pic8.co/d/45256888-979d-43bf-81e2-948fc648ea1a.jpg Here's a shot of most of the bits, at some stage of production: https://pic8.co/d/ac96e633-8cf3-46e1-b1c9-957585624719.jpg The rounded corners of the top frame were made on the table saw: https://pic8.co/d/a8a91b9f-2b40-4317-af84-9a6be6a5a41b.jpg https://pic8.co/d/6e17982a-f64c-4482-ab01-88cd836e3266.jpg The curved member is made by glue laminating strips about 5mm thick. This curved piece is incredibly strong. https://pic8.co/d/ddb0168a-23b5-477a-ab5b-de530acb4a71.jpg https://pic8.co/d/93063bc6-c468-4d45-bc30-e5bb4c7bc1be.jpg The curved wood was cleaned up with my compass plane, a tool not very commonly seen these days, and a spoke shave: https://pic8.co/d/f0198daa-d14d-4851-9b62-a56aa16a4fd2.jpg https://pic8.co/d/7039151b-95af-4e97-ac3b-670054f01239.jpg After flattening one side of these curves with a hand plane, I used a jig of questionable safety to trim them to width: https://pic8.co/d/328f5130-bfb8-4d09-9035-4f358825b914.jpg https://pic8.co/d/19473576-b441-4e7f-84a7-3dd5e4265eae.jpg The steps were made from reclaimed hardwood floor boards. The tongue and groove joints were tightened up, then glued and the top planed flat and smooth with hand planes. Tenons on each side were cut to fit support pieces, extended for the lower step to reach the back of the stool. The top stool is adjustable, locking bolts are attached with brackets that fit in a sliding dovetail (cut on a makeshift router table). The grain of the wood in the brackets is deliberately angled to increase strength (likely unnecessary): https://pic8.co/d/78dffcdd-ffb4-4cbe-ba08-f3248ca7741f.jpg https://pic8.co/d/521a4a5a-8259-4245-9a71-f3aceffdb3d3.jpg The adjustment slots are cut using a jig on the table saw. It probably needed to be a bit more robust, but got the cuts accurate enough. A better approach might be to cut them within a mm or so of finished and finalize the cut with a chisel for a more accurate finish. https://pic8.co/d/89bf9024-be44-433d-b204-352d30e178c4.jpg https://pic8.co/d/930931a0-5647-4681-9408-552d11b06304.jpg There's a few photos in this album that aren't included here: https://pic8.co/a/3f72579e-5985-4d5a-b4a6-6087f408a9e9/

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