Show how to make beautiful legs for a stool. How to make a wooden stool with your own hands - step-by-step instructions, photos and drawings

An ordinary wooden stool is guaranteed to be in every home. Despite the fact that the simple design is noticeably inferior in terms of comfort to modern armchairs, such pieces of furniture do not lose their relevance.

The stool looks equally at home in the kitchen, garage and country house; it is ideal for small apartments and always comes to the rescue if there are a lot of guests who need to be placed at the table.

Making a wooden stool with your own hands is not difficult. There is no backrest or armrests here, so it is better for craftsmen who plan to make their own furniture to start with such designs.

Where to begin

It is immediately necessary to clarify that there are several options for homemade stools. The product can be folded or combine the function of a stepladder; there are high chairs and practical benches, complemented by drawers. If we talk about a classic stool, it consists of the following elements:

• a rectangular or square seat with a side of 300 mm; a round seat with a radius of about 350 mm is often made;
• legs - 4 pieces, made of rectangular timber 400-500 mm high;
• drawers - the upper trim of the legs in the amount of 4 pieces, giving the structure the necessary rigidity;
• The legs are additional stiffening ribs that are installed in the middle of the support posts.

Simple scheme assumes straight wooden legs. They are the easiest to cut and secure. This is exactly what the configuration of an ordinary wooden stool looks like, capable of taking its rightful place in the kitchen. The sizes vary and depend on the height of who will most often use such furniture and for what purpose, but most often the height is about 40 cm.

Before production, you must carefully study the drawing. You can take a ready-made version from the Internet or draw it yourself by hand. A simple diagram will help you not to miss anything.

Selecting materials

Having prepared drawings and diagrams of a plywood stool, which is supposed to be made with your own hands, you can begin preparing the raw materials. Of course, plywood is used as a seat only in cases where high loads are not expected. In other cases, it is better to give preference to denser wood, such as edged boards.

There are no strict requirements here, but experienced home craftsmen do not recommend choosing alder, aspen, willow and poplar for homemade products. These are soft wood species that quickly lose their original properties upon prolonged contact with a humid environment.

Good stool seats are made from coniferous trees: pine, spruce. Oak, birch or maple bars are more suitable for making legs. If there is no suitable wood, the landing part can be made from chipboard, but here you need to take into account that the fibrous structure makes the material fragile, therefore, you will have to be careful when processing.

Required Tools

Stools are made using various technologies from wood, plywood, and chipboard. In any case, for production you will need:

• roulette;
• square;
• fasteners: screws or nails;
• wood hacksaw;
• drill with a set of drills;
• screwdriver or screwdriver.

To make wood processing easier, it is recommended to use a circular saw or milling machine rather than a hand saw. It is convenient to cut plywood with a jigsaw. In order for a wooden stool to turn out beautiful, all parts must be sanded, and after assembly they must be painted or covered with stain or varnish. Treatment with a nylon sanding attachment and staining will give wooden product antique look.

Assembly steps

First you need to make blanks for the seat. It makes sense to take a board 200 mm wide and cut two pieces 400 mm long. If you put them together, you get a perfect square. The boards are usually glued together with PVA wood glue and clamped in a special clamp for boards (vamp).

Then four blanks for the legs are cut from a square block with a cross-section of 3 x 3 cm. The height of the stool is determined individually, depending on the preferences of family members, but if the length of the leg is less than 40 cm, it will not be very uncomfortable for an adult to sit on such a product.

Drawers and legs can be made from the remnants of the board, spreading it lengthwise to create parts 100 mm wide. A total of 8 such elements will be required, the length is determined by the distance between the inner sides of the legs and is about 350 mm. After sawing, all prepared parts are treated with sandpaper to remove burrs and irregularities.

To assemble a stool from prepared parts, the legs are marked at the locations where the frames and stiffeners are installed. In accordance with the markings, holes are drilled for self-tapping screws, after which the parts are fastened together. For additional adhesion, glue is used.

The stool seat boards are installed on the finished frame, which are also fixed with self-tapping screws.

At the final stage, the product is varnished or painted. If desired, the seat can be made soft by placing a piece of foam rubber and covering it with leatherette on top.

Plywood stool

If, after renovation, a large sheet of plywood with a thickness of 9-15 mm remains in the apartment, it can be turned into a small stool, which can be useful in the garage or while fishing. The advantage is that it creates a lightweight, collapsible stool that is convenient to take on trips. The chair is made according to the following scheme.

Two U-shaped posts are cut out of a sheet of plywood. The width of the legs is about 5 cm, the upper crossbar is 10-15 cm thick. The length of the legs is chosen arbitrarily, depending on personal preferences. A protrusion 15 cm long and 2.5 cm high is left on the top surface of each rack.

A cut is made in the central part of the transverse strip of each rack. The cutout should be in the lower and upper parts so that the supporting elements are connected to each other during assembly.

Two identical squares are cut out to serve as a seat. A cross-shaped cut is made in the part that will be installed on the legs, corresponding in length to the protrusion left on the posts.

The stool is assembled as follows. The racks are joined with grooves crosswise. The seat parts are glued together and installed on the seat groove.

Folding stool

A folding wooden stool is a rather complex, but more functional and practical design. It is suitable for cottages, fishing and city apartments. To make a folding stool from wood with your own hands, prepare a drawing that determines the shape of the seat and the dimensions of the main parts. Such products look most interesting if the seat has a round shape, but this point remains at the discretion of the master.

As in the previous case, blanks for the stool are cut out of wood according to the prepared drawing. However, when making legs you need to take into account 2 nuances.

When assembled, the legs will be arranged crosswise, so the supporting elements are conventionally divided into an internal and external frame. The bars that will be used to make the internal frame must have an angle of 30 degrees at the point of contact with the seat. If you do not take this point into account, the chair will turn out to be unstable.

The legs are drilled through the middle. There will be a pin running through here, connecting the posts together and simplifying the folding process.

When the blanks are cut, you can start assembling. Markings are made on the inside of the seat for installing hinges. The outer legs usually have a wide distance between them and are located closer to the edge of the seat. The internal racks are located slightly further than the center, located closer friend to friend. After marking, loops are screwed to the legs, then the posts are connected to the seat.

The structure is brought into the assembled position, a pin is passed into the drilled groove, which is fixed on both sides with nuts. The finished chair is varnished or painted.

Children's bench

A small high chair will be useful not only for kids, but also for adults. The attractiveness of this model lies in its compact dimensions and light weight, so even a child can move his bench to a place convenient for playing.

It is recommended to use linden for production. This array has a beautiful natural texture and low density, which allows you to reduce the weight of a small stool without losing strength. The bench consists of only 3 elements: a seat and two racks. The optimal starting material is a board 30-40 mm thick. It is better to make the legs carved, which will give the chair an original appearance.

It is important to understand here that products for children should not have sharp corners, so it is recommended that all components be given a rounded shape. The parts are fastened together with dowels; additional fasteners are usually not required. After assembly, the product must be carefully sanded so that the baby does not get a splinter.

Stool with drawer

This model is made by analogy with a classic wooden stool, but has a small drawer that can be used to store various household items. To do this, the drawers are made from a full-size board, the width of which will determine the depth of the box. It is better to place additional stiffening ribs not in the middle, but in the lower part of the support posts, so that the finished product has a symmetrical shape.

The seat of the stool is made of chipboard or thick plywood; a curved hole is cut out in the middle part, which will be convenient to grasp with your hand when opening the lid. The seat itself is placed on 2 hinges, the bottom wall of the box is filled with a sheet of thin plywood, cut to the size of the walls.

Some home craftsmen create more complex options. In particular, the top cover is made monolithic and tightly attached to the legs and drawers. The box is made retractable and installed on metal guides.

Step stool

Quite an interesting option, which consists of two articulated parts. During production, the general concept of a folding stool is retained, but with some differences. In particular, a high bar stool with long legs is made. The structure is assembled according to the standard scheme: seat, drawers and 4 legs.

Then a small ladder of 2-3 steps is made from thick plywood, depending on the height of the stool. The total length of the ladder is calculated so that when folded it fits completely under the seat. Holes are drilled in the two legs of the stool through which two pins will be passed connecting the stool and the ladder.

Wicker seat

To create a stool with a wicker seat, you only need to assemble a frame from bars: four legs, upper and middle crossbars. To give the structure a more elegant look, it is better to make the support posts carved, like a figured bas-relief. The frame can be made square, rectangular or round.

The function of the seat will be performed by belts: leather trouser belts or synthetic ones, which are used for safety in cars. The straps are stretched along the length of the frame, the edges are folded to the inside, secured with decorative nails. Then, according to a similar pattern, a transverse row is stretched. Thus, the belts are intertwined with each other, forming a pattern.

Even an ordinary wooden stool, made by a skilled craftsman, can turn into a real work of art. A little work - and the wooden block left after cutting down the trees turns into two spectacular stools on 3 legs. For those who love original things, you can make a homemade chair seat in the shape of a puzzle. Three or four of these chairs, placed in a row, will form a bench; if necessary, the structure can be easily divided into separate seats.

There are no standard solutions in handicraft production, so the shape and size of the product depend only on the imagination of the craftsman.

There are several options for making this piece of furniture, including wood.

We will focus on the process of making a familiar wooden stool with our own hands. How to choose the right material, process it, correctly draw up a sample drawing - the article will offer detailed recommendations on all points.

All the stool drawings below are just examples. The process of their manufacture is not accompanied by precise calculations, as is required when designing load-bearing parts of any structure or those that are in one way or another subject to significant loads.

Therefore, below is only a recommended algorithm of actions for self-production stools, that is, general instructions. Which model to make is up to you, dear reader, to decide. After all, it is clear that you can build anything with your own hands. The main thing is that the resulting sample fully corresponds to its purpose, which, again, is determined by the master.

Choosing a stool design

The given drawings and drawings clearly show which stool options are most often assembled for domestic use.

A more original option is a stool and a bedside table at the same time.

There is only one explanation - the more complex the configuration, the more time it will take to make the stool. But this is not the main thing. For various shaped elements, you will have to look for the appropriate tool, or even resort to the services of a person (or workshop) who has a machine, cutters, and the like for personal use.

A simple example: to make curly cuts, exactly along the radii, with just a hand jigsaw you can only make it out of plywood. And it is not a fact that the result will be satisfactory. If you plan to make the legs from a solid board, then if you have only the simplest household tools, it is better not to try - this requires many years of experience in processing wooden blanks.

Selection of materials

The fact that you will have to work with wood is understandable. But what kind of products can you use?

Solid wood in the form of boards and beams is suitable for the manufacture of any parts of the stool: seat (1), fastening bars (2), crossbars (3), legs, drawers and the legs themselves (4). A more simplified version is with a cover made of multilayer plywood. By the way, this solution has the advantage that it is easier to laminate the furniture panel (another name for this structural part) and, if necessary, replace it.

Type of plywood

It must be moisture-repellent. Water will definitely get on the stool during its operation. FBS products are the best in all respects, but their cost is such that not everyone will want to purchase such plywood. In everyday life, as a rule, products of the FSF and FK brands are used. To save money, you can buy cheaper sheets of these series, category Ш1.

This means that only one side of the sample was subjected to grinding. The condition of the second (wrong, back) stool seat does not matter. There is also a multilayer one with ready-made lamination on sale, but it will naturally cost more.

Wood species and material grade

Let's start with plywood. If the stool will be located indoors, then the FC brand is better suited. It is less moisture resistant, but the glue used to hold the veneer together is not so toxic. But for this reason, FSF is recommended mainly for external use. In addition, its moisture resistance is higher. So if the stool will always be in the utility room, garden or somewhere else outside the building, this is the best option.

But you can write quite a lot about the choice of wood. Without going into details various breeds, the author recommends using larch for the stool. Firstly, it is easy to process it with your own hands. Secondly, the cost of the material is quite reasonable. Thirdly, unlike many other species of coniferous trees in this price range, larch becomes even stronger when wet. Therefore, if you handle the stool carefully, it will last for decades. Fourthly, you will not need to constantly treat it with preparations against decay and biological pests. Other inexpensive options are acacia and ash.

Having chosen a specific type of wood, you should study all the features of working with it. But there are nuances, and it is this approach that guarantees that problems will not arise later. For example, does everyone know that acacia can be easily processed only after it is soaked? Dry wood from this wood is not much inferior to stone in hardness.

Wood moisture level

Basically, all wood must be properly dried. In construction it is prohibited to use these materials with an indicator of more than 20%. As for the stool, you don’t need to be an expert to understand that if you assemble it with your own hands from raw materials, after a while everything will have to be redone. The reason is trivial - the entire structure will “lead” after the wood shrinks.

Technology selection

There is often advice not to use tongue-and-groove joints. The main argument is complicated. But if you think about it, is this so?

In order to make grooves in the legs, the author used an electric drill with a small cutter. I first drilled holes along the marked lines, which I then combined, choosing “partitions” between them. No matter what anyone claims, this type of connection is the most reliable.

It is much easier to assemble all the elements with your own hands using self-tapping screws. The heads can be made secret and disguised. But such a design will soon begin to creak - it’s been checked. It turns out that the common element connecting the 2 workpieces is just a thin and short metal “pin” - the leg of the fastener.

Hardware can only be used as an additional (to glue-on) method of fixing parts. Elements such as corners, staples, and plates are also used for reinforcement. The master himself will understand what is more convenient for one or another version of the stool. And then, this is done mainly for bulky structures. If the product is small, then one glue is enough. Although the reader may have a different opinion, the author does not insist.

Manufacturing of components

The main parts of the stool are shown in the pictures (see above). If the drawing is ready, everything else is a matter of technique.

Assembly of the structure

This is, so to speak, a preliminary installation, a kind of “browsing” of the stool. At this stage, the accuracy of all dimensions, the correct fit of parts is checked, defects are identified (if any), and so on. Here you can still redo something, improve it without unnecessary costs and loss of time.

Processing of structural elements

After checking the readiness of the entire structure for assembly, the wood is “finished” - impregnated with special compounds, dried, and so on.

Assembling the stool

• It is advisable to start work from the seat. All crossbars, support bars and the like are attached to it - depending on the model.
• Installation of legs. They can be attached directly to the lid or assembled into a separate frame, with the installation of crossbars.
• Final assembly of the entire structure.

Grinding

After the stool is mounted, it needs to be given a “marketable” appearance. How and with what to treat the surfaces is determined by the master. This is done with your own hands mainly with sandpaper or using a special attachment that is inserted into the chuck of an electric drill.

Exterior design

Here the main advisor is your own imagination. Varnish, stain, paint – there are plenty of options.

The author deliberately did not indicate what specific cross-section and length the block would be needed, did not recommend a certain thickness of plywood sheets or boards, and so on, so as not to limit the reader in any way. If the meaning of the work - where to start and how to finish - is clear, everything else is unimportant. After all, when something is done with your own hands, it is a priori implied - AS I WANT, and not someone else.

Good luck with your home building!

There are some activities for which a small chair is simply necessary. At the dacha, I’ve needed a compact folding chair for a long time. However, the chair with a back seemed too bulky to me. After considering several projects for sliding furniture, I decided to make a folding stool with my own hands. The main advantage of this design is that when assembled, such a transformer is a small wooden object with a convenient handle for carrying and storing it in the trunk of a car. Those who use such stools highly appreciate their convenience during outdoor picnics and fishing.

Tools

To make a folding stool with my own hands, I needed the following tools:

• jigsaw;
• hacksaw;
• drill;
• screwdriver;
• vice;
• development ø 1 cm;
• sander;
• head with a knob for nuts;
• die for thread cutting M 6;
• tape measure and ruler;
• clamps;
• pencil.

Materials

Almost all the materials needed to make a folding wooden stool with your own hands were purchased at a building materials store. I had some little things in stock. Total materials obtained:

• pine beam 300 x 4 x 2 cm – 1 pc.;
• board 234 x 4 x 1 cm – 1 pc.;
• screws 4 cm – 16 pcs.;
• emery wheels – 2 pcs.;
• bolts ø 6 mm, length 4 cm – 10 pcs.;
• nuts, washers, groovers (spring washers) - 10 pcs. of each type;
• metal tube with internal ø 8 mm, length 195 mm;
• piece of reinforcement ø 6 mm, length 31.5 cm.

Step-by-step instructions on how to make a folding stool with your own hands

1. The crossbars were secured with clamps, placing a temporary spacer between them.
2. Laying 6 boards on the upper surface of the crossbars. with gaps between them of 10 mm, secured them with screws. The result is a seat measuring 390 x 290 mm.
3. From the ø 6 mm reinforcement I cut a piece 315 mm long with a hacksaw.
4. The fittings were clamped in a vice. At the ends of the segment I cut threads for M6 nuts with a die.
5. I threaded the pin through the hole in one of the inner legs. I put a metal tube (tsar) on the hairpin.
6. The other end of the pin was threaded through the hole in the second inner leg.
7. The ends of the studs on the outer side of the legs were secured with nuts, having previously put on washers and groovers. I tightened the nuts with a head and a wrench.
8. I inserted bolts into the remaining holes of the furniture parts, which were secured on the other side with nuts. I placed groovers and washers under the nuts. Grovers are necessary to ensure that the nuts cannot unscrew spontaneously under the pressure of the springs.

After checking the reliability of the connections, I finished assembling the furniture.

Video tutorial on assembling a high chair:

At the end of the work, I summed up how much it cost to make this furniture. Calculated the cost of materials and time costs.

Cost of materials

• pine beam 300 x 4 x 2 cm – 1 pc. = 30 rub.;
• board 234 x 4 x 1 cm – 1 pc. = 15 rub.;
• screws 4 cm – 16 pcs. in stock;
• emery wheels – 2 pcs. in stock;
• bolts ø 6 mm, length 4 cm – 10 pcs. = 10 rub.;
• nuts, washers, groovers (spring washers) - 10 pcs. of each type. = 10 rub.;
• metal tube with internal ø 6 mm, length 19.5 cm = 15 rub.;
• hairpin ø 6 mm, length 31.5 cm in stock.

Total costs were: 80 rubles.

Labor costs

The time spent making this furniture was about 8 hours.

This wooden furniture, simple in design, brings many benefits and convenience for working in the garden, renovating premises, fishing and outdoor recreation.

A stool is the most common piece of furniture in apartments and houses. It is not known for certain whether this is due to the cramped living space or the versatility of this backless chair. But it’s rare that a family can get by without a couple of durable and good quality stools. Thanks to its mobility, this piece of furniture is loved and appreciated, because it can be used not only as a chair, but also as a stepladder, serving table, bedside table, the limits of use are limited only by the owner’s imagination. And the best part: a fairly presentable and durable stool can be made with your own hands, this will save money, increase self-esteem, and simplify the everyday side of life (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. A simple version of a stool has 4 legs and a seat measuring 30x30 cm.

If you are looking for information on how to make a stool, you are new to the difficult task of making furniture. To ensure that the final result of your efforts fully meets your expectations, choose simple models, follow the instructions, and listen to the advice of experienced craftsmen.

Figure 2. The tongue-and-groove connection is resistant to rocking, shearing, and compression, but not to tension.

1. Do not choose models that have a tongue-and-groove connection (Fig. 2). Without sufficient skills, you will not be able to assemble such a stool correctly, and you will end up with an unstable and, therefore, non-functional item.
2. Do not use chipboard for manufacturing. This material is quite fragile, does not hold screws well and crumbles upon contact with hard surfaces.

So, after a short educational program has been learned, you can begin to make an important piece of furniture yourself.

Materials and tools

Figure 3. Drawing of a stool.

To make a stool quickly and efficiently, you will need the following tools:

• hacksaw;
• drill;
• drill;
• Phillips screwdriver;
• corner and ruler;
• pencil;
• furniture varnish.

We can talk endlessly about the quality of the tool, and everyone selects models according to their own needs. All tools must be durable, comfortable and suitable for working with wood.

The best material for making stools and other pieces of furniture designed to withstand significant weight is solid wood.

Figure 4. Stool design.

It will withstand the load and will delight you with its naturalness and beautiful natural pattern. So, you will need:

1. Beam 30*30 mm – 4 pcs., for making legs.
2. A board of any size, but not too large, 20-25 mm thick - the future seat. To make the instructions clear, take a board 145*300 mm. - 2 pcs. or 300*300 mm – 1 pc.
3. Plywood 12 mm. For connection plates.
4. Pack of screws 40 mm long.
5. Furniture glue.
6. Coarse and fine sandpaper.
7. Acrylic varnish of your preferred or suitable shade.

You might be interested in: Connecting an electric stove to different types of electrical networks

If this is your first time encountering the need or desire to make a stool or other furniture with your own hands, do not rush to immediately get to the fun part. Check your calculations several times, compare drawings and mark joint locations in advance, this will help you avoid repeating the same actions multiple times and damaging the material.

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Instructions for making a stool with 4 legs

Figure 5. Sketches of chairs and stools made of plywood.

So, all the tools have been prepared, the materials have been purchased or found in bins, you can begin the creative and practical part (Fig. 3).

1. If you have one wooden beam, you need to make 4 legs from it or bring all existing ones into line. The optimal height is 430 mm.
2. At the next stage, it is necessary to prepare the future seat. If you manage to find a board 300 mm wide, you will greatly simplify your task; cut a part also 300 mm long, that is, you should have an almost finished square-shaped seat. If you couldn’t find a wide enough board, cut out 2 pieces 145*300, they will serve as a seat.
3. From plywood you need to make 4 parts measuring 100*270 mm - these are the fixing strips. On the long side of the part, using a hacksaw, you need to make 2 grooves 12 * 50 mm. The distance to the edge of the bar is 30 mm. This design will serve as a stiffening rib, securely fix the legs and make the stool stable.
4. With the blanks in your hands, you can proceed directly to assembling the stool. Assemble the plywood pieces into a single square structure, connecting them using grooves.
5. Using screws, connect the legs and frame, after drilling the guide holes. To better fix the joint, you need to coat it with glue.
6. Attach the seat to the frame with legs according to the proposed scheme, not forgetting to coat all joints with glue (Fig. 4).
7. Using sandpaper, first coarse, then fine, carefully sand all parts, paying particular attention to Special attention connections and places with which the sitter will come into contact.
8. Cover the stool with 2 coats of varnish, leaving enough time in between to allow it to dry completely. And your new, hand-made stool is ready.

The world of stools is vast and varied; photo in fig. give only a general idea of ​​its range. It is with the stool that many amateur carpenters begin their creative path: you can make a simple, but practical and pleasant-looking stool with your own hands in half an evening, and in the future, stools of other types will allow you to master the essential subtleties of furniture craftsmanship, and not a single product will be superfluous in the house.

Other pieces of furniture do not have such amazing properties; This is explained, on the one hand, by the fact that the stool is essentially extremely simple, purely practical and comes from ancient times: the wooden logs on which cavemen sat around the fire are already stools. For the same reason, a stool must endure everything, be strong, reliable, and durable.

On the other hand, the simplicity of the form and design allows the stool to fit into any interior and generally be at home in any environment. Over the centuries and millennia, this certainly had to be appreciated, and was appreciated, as a suitable basis for the embodiment of certain aesthetic concepts in the material. Such an exquisite piece of furniture as a banquette is also nothing more than a stool. Ornate design and decor require the use of complex technological techniques, so to make a luxurious stool, you will need a fair amount of skill and experience. It is much easier to purchase both when working with a familiar base, and here the stool provides a full range of products from the completely primitive to the most technologically sophisticated.

Stools are made from a variety of materials, from rope to stone. Plastic stools have long been commonplace, and forged or welded metal ones are also not unique, but in this publication we will figure out how to make a stool from wood. The reason, in addition to the “originality” of the material, is that it is a wooden stool can be extremely simple, durable, reliable, and at the same time have high aesthetic merits. How so? Well, let's go!

Tool

Making a stool begins with preparing the tool and workplace. Don't worry, we won't immediately advise spending a decent salary on a wood milling machine, drilling machine, planer saw and lathe. Let's try to do without even a carpentry workbench. Maybe it will come to all this when a taste for work appears and income from it appears. For now, we will limit ourselves to the minimum that will allow us to work from a table on the balcony or in the garage, laying a film on the floor so as not to spread sawdust. And this minimum of tools should be useful on the farm in general, in case (everyone has their own inclinations) the first stool turns out to be the last.

So, to begin with, in addition to an electric drill, you will need a pair of C-shaped carpentry clamps for 180-220 mm (top left in the figure), one (preferably 2) F-shaped for 400-500 mm, at the top in the center, and, preferably, clothespin clamp, top right. They are inexpensive, and their range of applications besides carpentry is very wide.

Buying a jigsaw, of course, would be a good idea; it is not that expensive and is suitable for a wide variety of jobs. But at first, you can use it instead... a frame hacksaw for metal; These are also sold as mini hacksaws. Just don’t take entirely plastic ones (bottom left in the figure, pos. a). This is a tool for rare occasional use. Such a miracle can be found on the Internet for as much as 18 rubles, but the plastic sponges are quickly eaten up by the steel of the blade, and an “ultra-cheap” hacksaw is not enough for a good stool. You need to take a mini hacksaw with a steel frame, pos. b. It will cost about 50 rubles, but you can work with it for a long time and regularly.

To work on wood, the blade is inserted into the frame hacksaw “incorrectly”, with the cutting edges of the teeth towards you (upper insert in pos. b). Then, using a section of the canvas in the frame, you can saw across the grain, along and obliquely. In any case, the cut comes out even and smooth, literally mirror-like; When sawing layer by layer, only under-dried or newly damp coniferous wood becomes a little shaggy. In this way, for example, the tenons for the groove are filed, see below. Again, the “wrong” way to cut wood with a frame saw is to start from the corner, because wood is softer than any structural metal.

Using a protruding section (cantilever) of the blade to make a curved cut is slower than with a jigsaw, but, with some attention and accuracy, just as accurate. When working at home, it is advisable to thread the blade, as it should be in a mechanic's fashion, with the ridges of the teeth away from you, so that the sawdust falls down, clogging the markings. In this case, you also need to saw like a metalworker: hold the tool level, without tilting it along the cut, do not lean too hard, and allow a swing (working stroke) of no more than 1.5-2 widths of the blade. Also, with the “wing” of the blade, the protruding ends of dowels and through tenons are sawed off no worse than with a special flexible saw, which is several times more expensive.

Next, wood files - rasps. You will need 2 of them: straight semicircular 200x20 mm, pos. in, etc. cabinet, also semicircular (250-300)x30 mm, pos. d. A cabinet rasp differs from a straight rasp not only in its narrowed end, but also in the method of notching. Both of them have a notch, of course, that is not at all the same as that of metal files; those on the tree instantly become clogged with sawdust. Depending on the properties of the wood and the area being processed (end, edge, face), it may be more convenient to work with one or another rasp.

Then, chisels. We will need simple straight wood chisels with a width of 6-8 and 20 mm. It would also be a good idea to purchase a set of 6-40 mm chisels, consisting of 3-5 samples. Often a set of chisels comes with a wooden mallet, which otherwise needs to be purchased separately. However, you can make a mallet, like a clothespin clamp, with your own hands from hard, fine-grained wood.

About the sizes of stools

The dimensions of the stool seat, as a rule, are taken in the range from 300x300 to 450x450 mm or, if the stool is round, of the same diameter. Minimum – 250x250 mm; sitting on a 200 mm board is already uncomfortable; after 5-15 minutes, the edges of even a soft, but too narrow seat crash into the vast elastic “fifth point”.

The total height of the stool is taken, according to height, in the range of 420-480 mm. The height of a children's or utility stool can be reduced to 260-280 mm; in this case, the seat is made approximately 260x260 mm or with a diameter of 270-280 mm.

Note: When designing a stool yourself, you should remember that the contour of its supporting surface must be no less than 280x280 mm or a diameter of 320 mm for a stool of normal height and no less than 250x250 mm or a diameter of 290 mm for a stool of reduced height, otherwise both will turn out to be unstable. For decorative and folding stools, these values ​​can be reduced by 1.25 times.

Three parts

Yes, a good stool, incl. decorative for the living room, can be assembled from just 3 parts. Drawings of a product of this kind (stools-cabinets) are given on the left in Fig. The version of 4 parts is unsightly, but very durable, therefore it is more suitable as a working stool: you can attach a removable vice on it, drill, saw, chop, etc. In this case, it is better to take the overall dimensions of the 4-piece stool to be minimal, see above.

The sample on the left in Fig. – one of the very few types of stools that can be made entirely from chipboard with a thickness of 20 mm or more; The width of the connecting grooves in the parts corresponds to the thickness of the material. The base is assembled with glue (carpentry glue, nitro glue for wood, PVA or polymer for tiles like bustylate). Seat fastening – wood self-tapping screws or confirmatory screws (60-90) x 6 mm. Screw connections are also glued.

The fact is that chipboard really “does not like” loads on the layer and fastening at the end. In this design, the loads concentrated at the attachment points spread well and, if assembled correctly, delamination of the material is unlikely. But it is still highly advisable to glue pads made of hard, dense wood (oak, beech, hornbeam) with a thickness of 10 mm or more onto the heels of the legs. No need for rubber, it will stain and ruin the floor.

From 3 to 5

The version of the supporting structure of the stool, shown on the right in the figure, allows, on the one hand, to get rid of the rather labor-intensive and responsible cutting of long, even grooves, which is especially important when working with a hand saw. On the other hand, it allows you to get legs of a rather bizarre shape without a significant increase in material waste, because workpieces are marked with minimal technological gaps on a board 200-250 mm wide.

The “highlight” here is that 2 of the 3 parts of the previous design (namely, the legs) “halve” lengthwise. The base is assembled in a cross (diagram at the top right) similar to the previous one. option, i.e. with gluing all connections:

• Drill holes for self-tapping screws; You don't have to select holes for the fastener heads.
• Dry assembly is carried out and, if necessary, parts are adjusted.
• Inject 3-4 drops of glue into the holes under the fasteners and spread it inside with a thin splinter.
• Apply glue to the mating surfaces.
• Maintain parts until the glue sticks to visible surfaces.
• The entire assembly is assembled quickly and tightly using hardware.

Also pay attention to the side surface, marked with the letter A. Before installing the seat, you can put on it a round shell, rolled from thin fiberboard. The shell is installed using glue and small hardware (screws, nails). After assembling and finishing the entire product, the shell can be decorated, incl. very impressive stucco molding from polymer clay and get a truly luxurious stool.

4 parts

Stools-benches of a box-shaped design made of 4 boards (a seat, 2 side panels-legs and a vertical longitudinal insert-support beam, on the left in the figure) are widely known and have been described many times. However, such a stool is simple and cheap only in appearance: for proper strength and reliability, its parts need to be cut from a block of durable wood or chipboard with a thickness of 40 mm and a width of 250 mm. Both materials are not cheap; scraps suitable for a stool most often do not go to waste, and it is not easy to find them for sale or in your own pantry.

Meanwhile, a utility and work stool-bench can be made literally from scrap materials, scraps of timber from 30x30 and plywood from 2.5 mm as follows, on the right in the figure:

1. Sections of timber are welded into panels (leg blanks) end-to-end with glue, as described below;
2. One side of each panel is covered with plywood under pressure (compression with clamps);
3. Cut out corner grooves in the leg blanks for the same beam and use a chisel to select holes for the screed from the same beam;
4. Cover the front sides of the legs with plywood in the same way as in step 2;
5. Assemble the supporting box of the stool using glue and self-tapping screws;
6. The seat is attached, which in this case can be made of plywood from 6 mm or boards from 12 mm. You can simply install the seat on the glue; all operating loads are already taken care of by the box.

Simple kitchen

A simple full-size utility stool can also be made from scraps of timber, plywood or chipboard, see fig. It is more suitable for a seasonal garden. When used in the kitchen of a residential building, the design turns out to be rather weak, where this stool lasts for 3-5 years. The second option for using the same design is a smaller children's stool, see above; the dimensions of the parts are then proportionally reduced, except for the width of the connecting grooves.

Spreader

A step stool with 2 pairs of X-shaped legs is also quite popular due to its low material consumption and good decorative qualities. However, in reality it turns out to be not so simple.

Take a look at the subassembly marked in red in the fragment at the top left of the figure. Performing a strong and reliable insertion of 3 beams in 2 mutually perpendicular planes is not an easy task even for an experienced carpenter; putting a dowel there would be unreliable, and the self-tapping screw in this case is outright hackwork: the double crosshair is heavily loaded and the steel hardware will tear the wood.

These problems can be circumvented by combining the beam and box-type load-bearing circuits of the supporting structure. We will leave the openwork of the beam frame in the most noticeable place - at the bottom - and we will achieve overall strength with an “oak” box-shaped top. Technically, this is achieved by reducing the angle between the legs to 60 degrees. Then, in order to maintain the overall height of the stool and the width of the contour of the supporting surface within acceptable limits, the crosshairs of the legs move upward. The V-shaped part of the now asymmetrical X is high and wide enough that a strong box can be made from 20 mm or thicker pine boards, chipboard or plywood, see left in figure.

Note: the missing overall dimensions can be taken from the figure; it is drawn to scale.

The longitudinal walls of the box do not have to be inclined; This is done to reduce the visibility of the box while maintaining maximum volume. If the longitudinal walls of the box are straight, it can be made narrower, as long as the V-shaped part of the legs fits inside. It also doesn’t hurt to deepen the box by moving its bottom down; the whole stool will only be stronger. In this case, 1-2 attachment points are added on the Λ-shaped parts of the legs, similar to the V-shaped part, marked in green in Fig. The box is assembled on dowels (see below) and glue or on steel corners applied from the inside. In this case, the box is first glued, and after 1/4-1/3 of the time the glue has completely hardened, it is finally fastened with steel.

The bottom of the box is sewn up with fiberboard; a spacious drawer for useful rubbish is formed under the seat: the supporting structure provides the stool with full strength and its seat can be removable or folding. The last option is better, because... When rearranging the stool, take it by the seat. Fastening the folding seat is a piano loop or a pair of small card loops. The latch in the lowered state is any suitable: a tight ball latch, a hook and a bracket on the underside of the seat, even a secret lock, if you so choose.

When making this stool, you will have to master at least one carpentry joint - cutting into half a tree, this is how the parts of the legs are connected. As they would say in America, President Obama’s youngest daughter (Jane Psaki’s grandmother, they say, is a smart and skillful lady) can cut two pieces of wood into each other using a router. Using a simple hand tool, a half-tree cut is made by making cuts according to the markings and selecting the excess between them. Working “only with your hands”, you need to take a closer look at how the layers of wood go on both sides and place a chisel to knock out the excess, so that the chip does not go deep into the mass of material, see above in Fig. The remainder is removed with the same chisel, acting as a chisel, without hitting with a mallet, and, if necessary, the bottom of the groove is smoothed with a rasp. There is no need to smooth it clean with sandpaper; rough surfaces will stick to the glue more tightly.

Note: Please note that the details of the legs of the step stool are a mirror image of each other both horizontally and vertically, at the bottom right in Fig. If you do not have experience in design work or have a naturally developed (convex, as they say) spatial imagination, it will be useful to first model the legs to scale or life-size, assembling their models from 2 layers of cardboard.

More connections

So we have already stumbled upon a dowel connection, one of the most commonly used in carpentry. In the future, we will need an equally common tongue-and-groove connection. How they are performed is shown in Fig. There is little left to add to it.

First, when choosing excess from the groove (pos. 1d), there is no need to bring it to complete rectangularity. It is better to leave the edges (short sides) of the groove rounded, and accordingly round the edges of the tenon, so the entire connection will be stronger.

Secondly, the tenon does not have to be made on a router; it will not take much longer to cut it out by hand with the same frame hacksaw. First, at the level of the base of the tenon, the workpiece is sawed across the contour 0.5-1 mm less than the required depth, retreating from the markings to the end of the workpiece by 0.5-1 mm. Drilling down to the full depth is also not a big sin, but then a shallow narrow groove will remain along the contour of the base of the tenon. If you don’t finish sawing a little, then the base of the tenon, due to the elasticity of the tree, will be slightly wider, and the whole connection will again be stronger.

The tenon is finally cut out from the end along the fibers, retreating 0.5-1 mm outward from the markings. Here, for the same reason, the cut is also not completed by 1-1.5 mm, and the excess is simply broken off. If the wood is straight-grained coniferous, the excess will at some point crack on its own and hang on the fibers or fall off. Adjust the tenon to size and round its edges with a rasp.

Note: When developing wooden structures yourself, do not forget - all tenons should be directed only and only along the layer! The thickness of the tenon for ordinary industrial wood, unless otherwise indicated on the drawings, is taken by default at 1/3 of the thickness of the thinnest of the mating parts.

As for dowels (round connecting bosses), it is better to buy ready-made wooden ones. The cost of ready-made dowels is cheap; they are already chamfered and grooved, which makes the glued connection stronger. Plastic dowels do not dry out along with the wood and therefore the connection weakens over time.

The main rule when choosing dowels is that their wood should dry out a little slower than structural wood or at the same speed; this condition is almost always met if the wood of the dowel is harder. Drying out the dowel is difficult because its contact with air is limited. As the part dries out, it will compress the dowel; The lignin between it and the dowel is gradually “soldered together” and the connection becomes stronger over time.

The diameter of the dowels is taken to be 2.5-3 times less than the thickness of the narrowest part to be connected; its length is 1.75 times the thickness of the thinnest part. The last dowel (if it is not through) should fit 2/3-3/4 of its thickness, and the rest of it should sit in the thicker part.

Note: holes for blind dowels in thin boards are selected so-called. with a Forstner drill, see below, leaving behind an almost flat bottom.

Also a useful stool

Well, are you going to make a tenon and groove with your hands? Then it’s time to start making a simple folding wooden stool, see picture, for a summer house, garden, picnic. 2-3 of these stools will not take up much space in the closet and will fit in the trunk of a car. Material: board or plywood. It is highly advisable to impregnate all parts from the latter with a water-polymer emulsion before assembling the product; it will not only protect against moisture and rot, but also strengthen the structure.

How to make a grab

Taking a folding stool with a round seat simply by the seat is not entirely convenient, so the hand grip on the sample above is not a whim. In a solid board, the grip is cut out as usual: using a feather or core drill, holes are drilled along its edges (diameter - 24-36 mm; distance between centers 95-115 mm, depending on the hand), and the excess between them is sawed out. In this case, it is also convenient to use a frame saw.

It’s another matter if the grip is at the junction of the boards; This most often happens in classic kitchen stools, see below. Here the beak of the feather or the pioneer drill/guide pin of the crown when working with a hand drill will definitely go along the groove and the drill will lead to the right. A jig made of thick plywood or cutting a board does not help, the thin side of the feather or the teeth of the crown tear it, and they themselves catch on the steel jig.

It is for such cases, as well as for drilling holes with a flat bottom, that the Forstner drill is intended, see Fig., its side surface is smooth. When making a hand grip in the seat of a stool, first drill holes in the jig according to the dimensions indicated above; there is a surplus left! The jig is then placed in place, securely secured with a pair of C-clamps, and the edge holes are drilled. The excess in the part is chosen as always; the gap between the boards is not a hindrance for this.

Real kitchen

Now we have classic stools for the kitchen. During use, they suffer more than others, so their design is carried out according to all the rules of strength: a rigid beam frame, capable of withstanding all operating loads, and a seat that must be held firmly in place, but in such a way that, if necessary, it can be easily repaired or replace. Therefore, the seat of a kitchen stool is made of panel boards from cohesive planks (see below) and attached to biscuit stands or directly to the frame on dowels.

The option with breadcrumbs is shown in rice; pos. A – its general diagram and names of its components. The advantage of this design is the low requirements for the quality of the seat shield. By installing a pair of crackers on each drawer (this will not reduce the overall strength of the product), you can make the seat out of separate boards, and on the original 4 crackers - with plywood or chipboard.

Pay attention to the drawers, these are not just boards, they are all over the furniture, and not only in furniture. In general, a drawer is a part that properly distributes loads in an assembly unit and is itself capable of bearing the load. Drawers can be found in the still, pipelines, etc., which have nothing to do with furniture.

Also pay attention to pos. E, it shows a way to check the evenness of pairs of legs using diagonals; it is basically the same as checking the squareness of the foundation. When assembling a classic stool, the evenness of the pairs is checked three times, see fig. right: in pairs assembled separately (left pose and red lines), between pairs (orange lines on the central pose) and the overall rectangularity of the frame (brown lines in the center). The seat is installed only after complete check of levelness; filing the legs of a finished stool is complete unprofessionalism.

Below in Fig. – drawings of a stool for the kitchen with a seat mounted on dowels. This design is less labor-intensive and material-intensive, because operations for the manufacture and installation of crackers are eliminated, but the seat panel must be firmly solidified, see below. If the frames are installed on the legs, they should not reach the floor by 20-40 mm, so as not to scratch it.

Note: The cuts of the tenons at 45 degrees in both cases are made with the same frame hacksaw. A fixed miter box (device for sawing at an angle) at fixed angles of 90, 45 and 60 degrees costs no more than 50 rubles.

How to join boards into a shield

The boards that will now be the plots of the set (package) are usually joined into boards with glue using special clips - weims, top left in Fig. In weims, small additionally secured shields, like for the seat of a stool, can be simply joined together end-to-end. Large panels, say, for a table top or the side of a cabinet, are joined together (middle row from left to right) with a tongue and groove, in a rebate, on dowels, dowels (lamellas) and other methods.

In handicraft work, clamps are sometimes replaced with various homemade devices on the same principle (compressing the set with pairs of wedges), at the top right, and now more and more often with large F-shaped clamps. In this case, a rather labor-intensive preparation of the plots is necessary for consolidation using methods a, c or d. However, there is still no guarantee that the set, when compressed, if it does not rear up all like an accordion, will go in a wave, because It is impossible to achieve absolutely precise mating of wooden parts under load due to the low local strength of the wood.

However, there is a way to attach the shield to the seat of a stool end-to-end, completely even and without complex devices, this is the so-called. twisted rim with cheek liners; its diagram is given below in Fig. Step-by-step bonding of the shield in a twisted wire is carried out as follows:

1. The lower (according to the diagram) plywood cheek is placed on the table;
2. The table with the cheek is covered with plastic wrap;
3. Glue is applied to the edges of the plots and kept until tack-free or according to the glue instructions;
4. The plots are placed on the lower cheek on top of the film and, if possible, squeezed tightly with your hands;
5. Wrap the set in film;
6. Apply the upper cheek;
7. The entire package is carefully, without lifting or turning over, moved to the edge of the table so that some part of the set hangs above the floor;
8. Begin winding the cord, applying the turns as tightly as possible, but not too tightly;
9. When the bag is wrapped about 1/3 or more, it can be removed from the table and wound by weight;
10. The ends of the cord are tied;
11. Insert wedges under the winding, tapping with a mallet. You need 4 wedges, they are inserted evenly from 4 sides (2 from above and 2 from below), tapping alternately;
12. When the wedges pull all the turns of the winding tightly evenly, the bag is left until the glue dries completely;
13. After the glue has dried, the winding, cheeks and film are removed, and the set is cut to size.

The cross section of the wedges does not have to be rectangular; it is possible to use round sticks cut obliquely; There is only one condition - the wedges need to be smooth. It is advisable to use a slippery propylene cord; packaging twine will do. The thickness of the wedges is determined based on existing experience. If there is none, then the package is first assembled dry, without glue, and the thickness of the wedges is selected so that they fit completely under the winding, pulling its turns tightly.

How about softer? DIY stool covers

Sitting on a hard one for a long time is understandably unpleasant. A comfortable stool on a classic kitchen frame can be made with a wicker seat, without bothering with breadcrumbs, dowels and a shield, see fig. The seat material is colored propylene twine and smooth linen cord.

It is highly desirable for decorative stools in the living room to be beautifully soft, and it wouldn’t hurt to give a kitchen stool some shine. But there is not and cannot be a stool on which no one would ever stand. Or, at least, he did not feel a strong desire to do this for completely objective reasons caused by the prevailing circumstances. Hence the conclusion: the stool needs a soft, elegant pad on the seat - a seat - which, if necessary, could be removed without fiddling for a long time, and just as quickly put back.

The first thing that comes to mind in this case is a decorative pillow, see for example. video below. But the pillow can be accidentally dumped on the floor, and it itself will slowly slide down there. Another option is a case with a soft liner. A cover for a chair or armchair is a rather complex sewing product, but with a stool the situation is simpler.

Video: decorative pillow on a stool/chair

Covers for stools are made mainly of the following types, see fig. Pos. 1 – cape with ties. This is the easiest thing to sew, but the ties stick out in plain sight, and there is a lot of fiddling around with them, especially if the stool is for children and the baby has figured out something of his own with the knots.

The next option is a cape with an elastic band. She can look great, pos. 2, and you can remove it by simply pulling it off. The structure of a stool cover is generally the same as permanent soft upholstery: from bottom to top, foam rubber, synthetic padding and upholstery fabric, but there are a couple of tricks here.

Firstly, it is better to take foam rubber from PVC, yellowish soft, pos. 3. It is not suitable for permanent upholstery of furniture, because... relatively short-lived. But in the case of a stool, another feature comes to the fore: it adheres well to wood, incl. varnished, so that the cape will not slide to the side and under the angry rider.

Secondly, it is better to cut the cover for a square stool diagonally, i.e. The warp and weft of the fabric should go from corner to corner. In this case, there is no need for cutting as such: the cut is thrown onto the seat (the folds create beautiful and smoothly fitting corners), where to cut is marked, cut and sewn.

Note: the cover for the round stool needs to be cut; an example of its manufacture - see the video below:

Video: simple do-it-yourself cover for a round stool

An option that is also quite soft, original, beautiful and grippy to wood is a rug for a stool using the patchwork technique, i.e. patchwork, pos. 4; see e.g. plot:

Video: seat-mat on a stool using patchwork technique

Finally, a knitted cape, pos. 5. This option is labor-intensive and almost exclusively decorative. It allows you to achieve a magnificent visual effect, but, alas, a knitted cape will retain its appearance for a long time only on a stool that is not sat on.

In conclusion: immediate aerobatics

Stools with diverging legs are very elegant. It is generally accepted that they are not for everyone. The reason is drilling holes at a precisely specified angle; see fig. for example. drawings of details of a stool with turned legs. Here, firstly, you cannot do without a drilling machine. A relatively inexpensive benchtop stand for a drill does not help: the shaft cage in it is too short, which is why, in combination with the plastic body, the drill moves by half a degree, or even more. Such an error is enough to make the stool crooked and shaky.

Secondly, adjusting the parts of a stool of this design during the assembly process is excluded; everything must be done immediately exactly to size from solid, high-quality wood. See the steel plate at the bottom right in the picture? This is a gauge for checking the diameter of studs. In this case, regardless of the design and overall design, they must be round, i.e. You also need a wood lathe.

Now let’s go back to the “3 to 5” stool. Let's reduce the size g to 100 mm, this is acceptable. Is it now possible to make this stool with spreading legs? Quite. They will, of course, not be chiseled and not quite round, but the grace and lightness of the stool will be preserved. This is what the aesthetic potential of a stool means in practice.