Maker Moment – Wooden Barstool

By Stacy Belinsky

Please describe your project and include materials and machines used.

It’s a 22″ high spalted maple wood barstool.

Machines used: hand lathe, miter saw, finishing sander, jointer, planer, router, table saw, band saw, drill press with forstener bit, other sanders, drill.

How did the makerspace help you plan and complete your project? (Names of people, activities, tools, etc)

Dimensions based on barstools in apartment. I bought one board of maple and cut pieces for each of the parts. The seat was rounded on bandsaw with a jig. It started out as 2 halves glued together to make a square. All of the legs and stretchers were hand lathed, which I learned to do for this project. The legs and stretchers are connected by a floating tenon.

Woodshop safety training and a lot of guidance from Don B. Richard K and Don S offered tidbits when we were in the woodshop together. I bought wood from Dan/Mark. Dan offered suggestions and answered machine use questions. Ron and Loren helped during assembly. Kevin helped run the laser cutter for my mark. Rich M held the stool when I drilled. In short, it probably wouldn’t have been a project without Kzoo Makers.

What (or who?) inspired your project?

I moved to a larger apartment in September and it came with a few barstools. Since there was room, I decided to add one or two more.

How long did it take to complete your project? (rough estimate of hours worked)

It took 5 months and there were weeks I did not work on it at all.

If you had any problems, please describe what happened and how you overcame the issue(s).

I had wood that wouldn’t disappear on the lathe. It turned out the piece was off center. I punched new end holes and it worked.

One stretcher was cut too short at assembly. I used more wood from the same board and turned a new stretcher.

There were “elephant’s feet” flares. I used a small draw knife and sat on the shave horse to round the edges of the pieces.

After struggling with a jig that was supposed to fit over the legs, I redrilled some of the drill pressed holes so they’d be deeper.

Marked each hole because pieces ended up being custom fit.

I had a rough time with the ends of some of the lathed pieces and ended up with chips. Found and reattached by glueing them.

Used lots of clamps and people to assemble and for the glue-up. It has inspired a couple of other members to create a jig to make assembly easier, especially when one person.

One of the stretchers did not attach to a second end, possibly not enough glue space. Added screws to everything to make it uniform and stronger.

If something could go wrong, it did, and I learned a ton.

What do you plan to do with your finished project?

Use it.

How did any local businesses or other sponsors help you with your project? (materials, assistance, etc)

Bought wood from Ideal Wood.