Orphaned Oak
Folding stool
This is another new idea for a folding stool, based on a medieval design. It will fold up like a modern day camping stool, and in Medieval times would have had either leather or thick linen canvas for the seat - At first I did not know which I would use, but I'm guessed that the canvas might be more practical and flexible, and easier to make.
As always, we need to start with a suitable Orphan, to provide the wood.
A lovely lady in Birmingham gave me this table, seen here seemingly surveying its new home in the Oak Sanctuary, perhaps contemplating its new life as a stool?
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The lady had been given it from a fellow Freegle member, and found it was too big for her kitchen.
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I decided it would be nice to use this table to try out my new stool design.
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First I stripped the varnish and stain from the top
After carefully dismantling the table, I created a wiggly S-shaped pattern for the legs, and cut them out
I drilled holes and made some short rods using some pieces of oak from the table framing. Using the pole lathe I turned the ends of the struts round so they could fit into the holes in the legs.
Then a miracle happened, and it somehow all fitted together like this. All I need now is to find a suitable piece of material for the seat (my daughter is on the case) and wax polish the whole thing.
While I am waiting to find a suitable piece of material to create the seat, I decided to beeswax polish the stool frame, to see what it looked like. Here is the result. I'm quite pleased with the way it looks.
OK some weeks have gone by, and my daughter has come up with a perfect piece of linen canvas to make the seat from. Now it just needs final assembly and some fixing pegs to hold it all together
First I offer it up to make sure it all fits together nicely
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Yep, that looks good.
Then I drill little holes in the turned ends of the cross-rails, to take a small round peg.
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... and cut pegs to length
The pegs are a good snug fit in the cross-rail holes. This kind of fixing will allow the rail to rotate in the hole, to allow the stool to be folded and unfolded.
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And finally a couple of pics of the finished stool.
