[Note: the following has a lot of details about this build. Feel free to just look at the pictures.]
I've been working on a Moravian stool. Such stools are distinguished by a pair of battens attached to the underside of the seat in sliding dovetails. The legs are mortised through the battens and through the seat, and then wedged.
There are a couple advantages of this construction, as I understand it. The seat can be made of thinner wood, since it is reinforced beneath. And if the seat is made of two boards edge-jointed, the seam is susceptible to cracking but will still be usable because the boards are held in place by the battens. Both advantages can result in a more economical piece. There is an excellent article about them in Popular Woodworking here.
I used cherry for the seat and legs and maple for the battens, because I like contrasting woods. But after finish was applied, the contrast was much reduced. The woods posed a couple of other problems too.
First, I had never purchased cherry or maple. Almost all my other pieces have been in softwoods, along with some walnut gifted to me by generous friends. I went to a Woodcraft store but was daunted by the size and price of the available cherry stock. The staff weren't particularly helpful either. About this time my wife and I attended a "meet the maker" event at Strathmore Mansion in Rockville, MD. One of the makers was Dick Ratliff of Heartwood Creations. Dick retired from tree service to become a superb maker of furniture and other goodies. As we chatted and I described my stool project, he revealed that he has a large stock of wood he saved from trees during his career. I emailed him what I needed and in a few days I picked up both cherry and maple from his shop (added bonus: I got a shop tour). He has a large number of species. Look him up if you need something...he probably has it.
The second problem was my inexperience with hardwoods. Planing the cherry for the seat and legs was time-consuming but not too difficult. Cutting the dovetails into the cherry and especially into the maple was a challenge. I followed plans from YouTube creator Rex Krueger, who has you build a "scratch stock" to help finish the dovetail profiles, after you've sawn them approximately. Many hours went into those, and the finished dovetail joints aren't beautiful. But it was good experience. It's nice to be able to make a useful tool too. Speaking of that, I also used a router plane built from a Rex Krueger kit that worked well smoothing the bottoms of the dovetail slots.
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| Scratch Stock |
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| Router plane from kit |
I like using hand tools but I'm not a zealot. I cut the stock to their rough sizes using my friend Bruce's bandsaw. I've bored leg mortises with a handheld drill in the past and never quite got the angles right. So I ordered a drill press. The Wen 4214 has a twelve-inch swing, decent reviews and a very attractive price. After clearing some junk from the garage I bought a tool stand from Harbor Freight, made a plywood top and a shelf, and I was in business. The mortise holes were easy to drill.
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| Drill Press on stand |
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| Drilling leg mortises |
For finish I chose shellac. I've used it on other projects and been happy with it. I've heard that the premixed brands have a limited shelf life, and the only cans I had were past their prime, so I decided to buy shellac flakes and mix my own. That way I know it's fresh and I can mix up only as much as I need. The downside is finding it (not at Woodcraft; I got mine online from Lee Valley Tools) and mixing it. It takes a couple hours to dissolve the flakes in the alcohol, even using a coffee/spice grinder to reduce the flakes first. But you save so much time with shellac because it dries so quickly. I put three coats on in less time than it took the flakes to dissolve. I was happy. The surface of the seat wasn't completely smooth despite my best efforts with plane, card scraper and sandpaper. That caused a less-than-perfect finish, but hey! I'm still learning!
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| Moravian style stool in cherry and maple |
