Wooden stool

I created a small stool from pine wood as part of a follow-up course on last year's craft woodworking project. The stool has a height of about 32cm (1 foot). For this furniture-building project, a combination of industrial machines and hand tools was used.

Starting with a single chunk of rough wood, smaller planks were cut using cross-cut and rip saws. The planks were then flattened to the right size with a planer and thicknesser. For the finer cuts and some of the joint making, a large panel saw was used. A variety of joints were cut with hand tools, including Japanese saws and chisels, ensuring tight fits. The stool top consists of five planks glued together, planed, and cut into a circular shape with a bandsaw. For finishing, I used regular electric handtools for sanding and milling, and I oiled the final piece. The original design was given, but I remodelled it in Blender to export different perspectives; since I now had a 3D model anyway, I also 3D-printed a scale model.

I'm very happy with the final result; the joints feel pretty tight and neat. The industrial machines are beasts, making it possible to achieve tight results with arbitrary dimensions, even when starting from very rough materials. I found it quite empowering to learn to use a range of large professional machines. Since these machines are too expensive for a hobby woodworker to buy, it's great to have access to a workshop nearby that can be rented when needed. Combining these machines with electric and craft tools feels like having the perfect mix, allowing me to utilise the full range of tools available.