Hearth Stool | Popular Woodworking

This stool is a simple little seat that combines traditional chair building techniques and good woodworking.

When it comes to furniture, one of the most basic things is a place to sit down. However, building chairs is intimidating for many woodworkers. With all the angles and curves to get right, it can seem a bit complicated. So let’s scale that back to a chair with no back, shall we? Well, that would be a stool. And if you take away a leg, it becomes a three-legged stool. Let’s start there.

When choosing a species, anything reasonably strong will do. Some common choices would be Oak of any type. Ash, elm, cherry, walnut, and maple work too. The piece for your seat its only requirement is that it’s tough, as the legs in a stool act as wedges, so you just don’t want it to split. As long as the seat is free of voids and cracks, you should be fine, and crooked,…