This custom red cedar stool was a wedding gift from a mother to her daughter and son-in-law on their happy day. She wanted something functional and useful, but with a natural beauty to it, so she asked me to build this stool.
The stool is about 17″ tall and wide. I used old growth red cedar driftwood I salvaged to create all the pieces I needed to make the stool. First I shaped all the pieces with my froe and drawknife then sanded them. I often start furniture pieces with 2 of the legs and fitting a rail between them. In this case I used the curvy pieces as rails for the front and back of the stool, and straighter pieces for the shorter sides. I lay out the legs on the floor or workbench and place the rail overtop in the position I want it to be and mark out all the angles where they meet on either side. I have learned over the years to make the place where they will attach a bit flatter so the butt joint is a bit easier to scribe. I used a Festool Domino Joiner to create floating tenons at each joint. I repeat this process with the side rails and then glue up the stool base. Then I fit the seat on top of the base, marking out the joints where each leg will attach to the seat with a floating tenon. Once it is all glued up, I can finish sanding and prepare for carving.
The client wanted simple but stylized initials carved into the top, and the date of the wedding carved into the underside. After hand drawing the design, I used a Foredom 1/2hp flexible shaft carving tool to carve the lettering. Then I painted the lettering with OneShot black enamel. The stool is finished with 2 coats of OSMO PolyX oil.
The clients brought the newly-weds over to the island and to my shop without giving any reason for the visit. They were wonderfully surprised to find they were there to pick up and recieve this custom, hand made gift.
