The Chair/Stool

I’ve made these pieces of me for my grandchildren (and now for Primrose, a remarkable young lady who will join them as our hope for the future) because years ago I came across a simple little step stool with my name on the top. My dad made it for me in those days when, being a toddler, I often needed a small boost to reach things like the the bathroom sink.

It was quite simple, just four pieces of two by eight butt joined and nailed together with 16 penny finish nails. After we moved to Soldotna, I came across it among a box of my parents things that I had kept after dad died. It triggered such great memories and I was grateful (and surprised) that it had survived all our moves.

At the time I was setting up my garage shop and looking for projects. If you know me, you know that I’m always looking for my next project or two. It seems that most of them require a new tool and several jigs to insure accuracy and save time in case I need to make more than one. Making the jigs is half the fun. Most of them become storage issues and get discarded.

I found the plans for the chair/stool in a woodworking magazine and decided to make some for the first grandkids, Jake and Annie. I figured there would be more and that would provide some projects in the future. Each of the following chairs were from the same plans but I made some changes in the joinery.

The last one I made was for Louis and I made it in my Redmond shop. The wood is Juniper Pine.

So far I’ve made them for Jake, Annie, Molly, Spenser, Nina and Louis. If any of them haven’t survived the years, I haven’t heard of their demise. If any of them have disappeared, let me know, I’ll try to make a replacement.

Primrose’s has no metal and the only material not wood will be the UHMW washers I’ve added to the one moving part. The wood was supplied by a local cabinet maker and is Sapele, a little harder yet lighter than red oak and comes from the southwest portion of the African continent.

The washers will go on the pivoting dowel shown above, the other dowel will be the stop for the backrest. The washers are not necessary but enable me to assemble the step/back arms a little tighter to the main body.

Glue ups were challenging.

Some of the lessons learned when making the previous chairs had to be relearned. But that is half the fun. Kind of like one of the benefits of getting old, you can hide your own Easter eggs because you’ll never remember where they are.

The sequence of assembly is tricky. With no screws all joints are permanent and there are no do overs. I like to sand and finish as I go so glue squeeze out is less of a cleanup issue and some spots will not be accessible after final assembly.

The whole process is a wonderful time for me.

The time for chair and child to meet finally happened.

First, I had to arrange for treats. The Wild Honey has been has been trying out some new seasonal goodies.

Here’s the finished chair/stool.

And last but most importantly, the reason for everything. She was more interested in the camera than anything else.

This is actually the beginning of a yawn.

I sensed some skepticism.

Finally, acceptance! Proud parents, and they should be.

The best part is that rumor has it that Bob and Savanna plan to keep procreating for a while. Job security!

The weather is perfect for it.