I was going to document the full build of this little project but my camera battery died after just a few beginning shots and by the time it had charged up I had completed most of the build. Needless to say its very similar in concept to my Traditional Saw Bench if you are interested.

The spare off-cut from my large Coffee Table top and the last remaining budget  2"x2" from my Saw Bench were dying to be introduced and the simple lap jointed Stool you see below is a result of their union.

I am calling it rustic as the Pine that forms the simple lap jointed frame is so knotted and wild its almost unworkable. There is sap wood, reversing grain and knots but I couldnt bring myself to waste the wood. I was going to attempt lap jointed dovetails but I figured that would probably end in disaster at my skill level with this wood.

To be honest, this project almost didnt make it to completion as I nearly threw the whole lot out of the window in a temper several times. I had the whole thing completed bar the glue up. I did my final planning of the joints to get everything nice and flush and tight and did several dry fits with clamps to check everything was perfect before gluing it up. I was actually quite proud of my accuracy and the tightness of the joinery.

I aborted the first glue up as the top would not fit into the frame once glue was included and I frantically tried to get things apart from their half assembled state before the glue dried. This resulted in my pieces all getting mixed up - yes once again I didnt mark each component and its position - Doh!!!

After cleaning up the glue and waiting for it to dry, I re-sanded the joint faces making them a little looser and clean. However, I couldnt seem to get the pieces in the same order as originally intended and the joinery wasnt as tight. Attempt number two failed and resulted in glue over everything - Aaarrggh!!!!

Luckily my sanity allowed attempt number three - a charm! However, despite wiping all the glue up with a wet cloth and re-sanding everything again, the liquid Bees wax finish shows several glue stains. They could be sanded out with wax reapplied but Im going to leave them and wait for everything to just age.

This stool is going to be used to stand on for easy access to kitchen cupboards and as a general useful item around the house so its going to get marked regardless... and I simply cant be bothered!

I may not be able to build fine furniture yet, but its useful furniture none the less! ... 

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Lack of Motivation

Another post ...at last!... Sadly again without in any real useful or interesting content.

Lately (as regular readers can probably tell), I have been lacking motivation in the wood working department - for a number of reasons. 

Firstly,  I dont have any wood around thats suitable for any of the things Id actually like to make - such as a tool chest. My Timber Investment is still drying out in the shed and wont really be ready for anything other than really rustic work and gardening projects for a little while and I am too tight to purchase more premium cost wood from the timber yard.

Secondly, in my quest to escape the timber merchant, I have been trying to process the raw billets of Oak and Walnut with a lot of frustration! While my little bench was fine for pre planed wood, its simply not man enough to handle the rough scrubbing of the billets down to usable dimensions. The poor thing racked so violently, it almost fell to pieces!

The base twisted so badly that the bottom shelf fell out and I swear the bench tried to escape from me by smashing through its supporting wall! Anychoice, ... I will try and brace the bench up and bite the bullet and make it as low as possible to see if that helps with planing, while I try and ignore the obvious - Make a PROPER BENCH!

And I thought everybody was building Roubo benches just because they were just fashionable!

Lastly, being as OCD as I am, I find it really hard to obsess about more than a single topic of interest at any one time and lately that topic of interest has been gardening.  The gardening obsession was born through my overall interest in Self Sufficiency, which in turn has led me back to wood working, albeit of a slightly different nature this time. As I have cut down a few small trees in the garden lately, I find myself  staring at their small trunks and wondering if theres any usable wood inside...

I found a guy selling really cheap (less than £30 inc P&P) Froes on Ebay. Its not hand forged or anything fancy but its certainly good at its job. I really wish Id had this tool while in France playing with the Oak and Walnut logs. I carved a mallet for it from one of the small trees, to save my Beech chisel mallet from being ruined. I have also invested in a really nice Wetterlings hatchet, which is hand forged and lovely. 

A Hook Knife is still on the shopping list.... Spoons, Bowls and Kuksas here I come!... And, you dont need a bench!

More to come...

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This week Steve makes a rustic side table from free pallets

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