Anyone know of a good so0urce of information for making a four leg stool with four rungs? I'd like to try but intimidated by splay and drill angles. Thanks.
-
It's time to cast your vote in the January 2026 Turning Challenge. (click here for details) -
Congratulations to Ric Taylor for "Black Ash Burl" being selected as Turning of the Week for January 26, 2026 (click here for details) -
Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.
Make A 4 Leg Stool?
- Thread starter Don Stephan
- Start date
Lost Art Press will have no shortage of talk about stools and chairs, here is an example:
blog.lostartpress.com
LAP's Christopher Schwarz is now offering all of his authored books for free as PDF documents. One of those titles will be shown in the above article. See all the book titles at their website.
Here is Richard Raffan making a 3-leg stool as part of their 4-way series (links to 3 other turners making their stool versions are shown in his video details)-
View: https://youtu.be/SGozOdWDWeo
Chairmaking Practice: Make a Low Staked Stool - Lost Art Press
The following is excerpted from "The Anarchist’s Design Book," by Christopher Schwarz, an exploration of furniture forms that have persisted outside of the
blog.lostartpress.com
LAP's Christopher Schwarz is now offering all of his authored books for free as PDF documents. One of those titles will be shown in the above article. See all the book titles at their website.
Here is Richard Raffan making a 3-leg stool as part of their 4-way series (links to 3 other turners making their stool versions are shown in his video details)-
Mike Peace has a video and explains some details:
View: https://youtu.be/IR9x9YUHEoQ?si=TzwMIWQddBgS5DTm
The example is a child’s stool.
I have a friend who makes all his chairs and probably has a good way to calculate angles. I could ask next time I see him. I know how I’d do it but he might have a better way.
The example is a child’s stool.
I have a friend who makes all his chairs and probably has a good way to calculate angles. I could ask next time I see him. I know how I’d do it but he might have a better way.
I'm a stool and chair maker. I seldom make 4-leg stools, but hardly any difference in the build from a 3-leg stool. For some reason, all of my chairs have 4 legs.
Go to the Lost Art Press book store and buy The Stick Chair Book by Chris Swartz or download the pdf for free. Second book might be Chairmaker's Notebook by Peter Galbert from the same source. For ideas, do a search on IG, and Pinterest.
I do not strictly adhere to the accepted build practices; for example, most of my stool seats are saddled and drilled on the lathe.
Go to the Lost Art Press book store and buy The Stick Chair Book by Chris Swartz or download the pdf for free. Second book might be Chairmaker's Notebook by Peter Galbert from the same source. For ideas, do a search on IG, and Pinterest.
I do not strictly adhere to the accepted build practices; for example, most of my stool seats are saddled and drilled on the lathe.
After making a prototype from some Sitka Spruce I had, I made a set of four stools almost ten years ago from cherry. I had one to copy that our daughter had bought years before and we liked. This is extracted from my post from Wow made then. “The design is copied from some stools our daughter or son in law bought 15-20 years ago. We liked the design and could not find anywhere so they became a project. Turning was actually the easiest part. Very complicated to cut the various 6 1/2° angles, drill dowel holes and assemble. Holes were drilled in legs for stretchers while still square and I got carried away making them all the same. Reality set in when I looked at them after completing and I had to re-drill some and turn face grain plugs to fit. Such is the life of a septogenerian. Finished with boiled linseed oil which I let cure for a couple of weeks and then three coats of satin WOP. These are for our kitchen and each stool has been designated for one of our four grand kids and each will get one when we move on, whenever that is.” I could give you some basic measurements and additional detail photos if you are interested.
Attachments
3 leg stool will never rock and looks way better to me. Almost all the woodworking magazines have run a story on stools at one time or another. https://store.woodsmith.com/product...gital-plan-065178?_pos=2&_sid=acc9a3b97&_ss=r
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2021
- Messages
- 1,791
- Likes
- 1,604
- Location
- Roulette, PA
- Website
- www.reallyruralwoodworks.com
Did mine by the seat of my pants.. I just figured somewhere close to a 5 degree angle and rigged a platform on my drill press to get that angle on the 4 points so I could get them all to about the same splay (seeing it as a "tall" stool I wanted my splay centered.) (though my shop stool was made of a rectangular slab rather than rounded, I still turned the legs) And then just dry fitted the legs in to mark the spots for rungs /stretchers - all without any plan to hand.. it does nicely for shop duty, and I'd probably just use the same process if I was making a "commissioned" piece , just probably nicer looking (than unsanded turned oak spindles and card scraped chair seat)
This linked posting below has no relevance to this discussion, but in this reply post from @Don Wattenhofer, he shows a very nifty drilling jig that mounts into your toolrest banjo for drilling repeatable holes. I've not made one for myself, yet, but I'm guessing the adjusted height of the jig puts the tip of the drill bit at the dead on height of the center of the headstock spindle. Line up the drill bit tip to tip with a drive center, adjust the banjo for a desired angle, pick three or four indexing points on the spindle lock, and Bob's your uncle. Drill stool leg holes to your heart's content.
Post in thread 'End grain bowl from a cookie' https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/end-grain-bowl-from-a-cookie.23360/post-254167
[Edit- Don has a milling operation, so making this jig from steel is easy for him. For casual use, making one from a sturdy hardwood should be quick and easy. And once the drilled holes of the jig get sloppy from repeated use, toss it on the firewood pile and make another one. If you are drilling holes with a forstner or spade bit, the hole through the jig needs to be sized for the shank of the bit. Then, back the bit shank-first through the jig, and then fit it into the drill. This is the only way to assure some level of accuracy, by the shank guiding the path through the jig into the piece being drilled.]
Post in thread 'End grain bowl from a cookie' https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/end-grain-bowl-from-a-cookie.23360/post-254167
[Edit- Don has a milling operation, so making this jig from steel is easy for him. For casual use, making one from a sturdy hardwood should be quick and easy. And once the drilled holes of the jig get sloppy from repeated use, toss it on the firewood pile and make another one. If you are drilling holes with a forstner or spade bit, the hole through the jig needs to be sized for the shank of the bit. Then, back the bit shank-first through the jig, and then fit it into the drill. This is the only way to assure some level of accuracy, by the shank guiding the path through the jig into the piece being drilled.]
Last edited:
I would draw it out full scale and then measure from the drawing. I have done that before, and it worked. I made a concrete mold once for a cap stone for a brick column. I drew it out full scale, and a finish carpenter made one as well. Mine was far cleaner and better fitting than his was. When he asked me why mine was better, I told him that I had drawn it out full scale. He didn't think of that one.... I guess the hard part will being able to make sure the legs are cut to the proper angles, and the feet meet the floor at the same height and flatness. I have seen some that would make the legs long, and then use a piece of 1/4 inch plywood to scribe a cut off line all the way around and then use a pull saw to cut them off at the mark. 80 grit will even out the feet pretty well. One thing about a 3 legged stool is that it will sit steady on any surface. If you remember high school geometry, or as a teacher used to say, "Gee, I'm a tree", 3 points make a plane. I have also seen one legged stools for milking cows and for autistic kids who have problems sitting still.....
robo hippy
robo hippy