tricky glue up.......
I survived the potential glue up from Hell. I would have bet a lung that because of the angled legs the step stool would have been become kindling. I was surprised by how easy and unstressful it was. The thought of flying lessons never made it into the brain bucket. All I got glued up today was the legs and the steps. I still have to negotiate with the braces and the back legs. I don't anticipate them giving me any headaches.
left dado |
Rather than chop down the walls I used the saw. I've been using a saw more and more on dadoes and then cleaning it up with chisels and a router. I still have to chop most of the waste with a chisel but the walls are done.
good fit |
Left leg is self supporting too. It is also just a frog hair too tight and I addressed that when it came time to glue it in the dado.
seated at the front |
Drat and double, triple drat. I have a chip missing on a highly visible spot. I am going to paint this and wood putty can't be used here to fill this in.
fitting the step |
The legs aren't fully seated but this gave me the ballpark for the length of the step.
the cutoff |
I'll get the dutchman out of the angled cutoff.
done |
The dry fit looks good. There are some gaps due to fuzzy edges but the paint will fill them in.
back leg layout done in pencil |
I knifed to the inside of the pencil lines before I chiseled the blind mortises.
look at what I found |
I don't remember what I got from LV in this box but it is almost a perfect fit for the 3 planes. I hope to get these cleaned up, broken down, wrapped, and ready to go this weekend.
outlined |
I chiseled the perimeter of the mortise before I chopped the waste in between them.
nice and clean |
Chopping the perimeter I find is most helpful for keeping the chisel between them so it doesn't stray outside them.
right one fitted |
Snug fit and it is self supporting. One down and one to go.
3/8" |
I eyeballed this depth and this is what it went down to. The plan at this point was to use two #12 wood screws through the top and into each leg. With bracing this should be strong and sturdy step stool.
an hour later |
The dutchman is good enough to leave natural IMO. It is on the left side.
guesstimating |
Trying to get a rough idea for the length of the back legs. The full scale pattern says 16 1/4" without accounting for the depth of the blind mortise. This came out at 15 15/16" for both legs.
brace stock |
There is 5/8" from the back edge of the top to the back of the rear legs. I decided to make all the braces 5/8" thick. This way none of them will stick out past the top overhang.
hate angles |
The back legs aren't going to be sufficiently strong enough being in blind mortises. I could put a through tenon but I nixed that. I like the idea of a cross brace on the rear of the back legs. I like the visual look of it and I wanted to make one. Angles and me don't usually get along and I made about 12 test angles before I got it right. The X brace goes from the top of the back legs to an inch above the bottom of them.
Lowes run |
I didn't have any stock in the shop long enough to make the braces. A hop and a skip later I had three 1x4 by 6 foot pine boards for the X brace as well as the other braces.
not in the book |
I can't see in the pic how the back legs are attached in the book. I can see that there isn't an apron like this. This apron will provide some structural strength to both the front and back legs.
kicked my arse |
My biggest me-steak doing this angle dance step was assuming that both angles would be the same. That would be true if the X brace was a true square but this one isn't. The angles were close but one was a wee bit smaller than its sibling.
step length |
I got both of the front legs dry fitted and seated so I could get a length for the step. Come glue up time the step will get glued first and then the front legs in the stopped dadoes.
hmm...... |
I was basing the size of this off of the top and I should have used the step. It is less than 12" between the ID of the legs. I wanted this to be more in the 16" neighborhood.
like the look |
I cut the back legs to a rough length adding 3/16" of inch for a fudge factor. Based on how it is sitting here on the workbench I don't think I'll be shaving much off of them.
inside or outside |
The book has the front to back side braces on the inside and the back one on the outside of the back legs. I don't like the look of the inside one not to mention having to chop mortises for them in the back legs. I think I'll go with the outside all around with glue and screws. And maybe a shallow dado to show off with.
still sane |
The left leg seated ok but the right one froze on me. I had momentary flash of panic mode but I pulled the steps out and reseated both of them together. Changed lanes on screws and instead I'm using wooden nails. I wasn't overly fond of using screws, even big ones for the legs (screwing into end grain). I'll put the screws I ordered in the screw cabinet.
back legs |
I think this is a much better choice for the back legs. I keep forgetting that I have two sizes of these wooden nails to pick from.
ebony experiment |
The ebonizing didn't work out. The glue squeeze out and subsequent clean up killed it. Since I'm painting this stool I will use these for the securing the back legs.
didn't forget the step |
Two each from each side should do the trick nicely.
sigh |
This came during my mini panic mode. As soon as I hit it I knew I had made a faux pas. Thinking I might do a round over on the bottom here to hide this sin.
hmm...... |
I might have to redo the X brace. These are cut to fit the back legs dry fitted. That might change once the legs are glued in place. I'll deal with this when its time in the shop comes.
accidental woodworker