wood plans bar stool

this video is sponsored by volusion a great way to help you get started selling the cool stuff you make. public service announcement: if you're going on a road trip this summer don't forget to bring an extra microjig. maker of the grr-ripper. work safer.work smarter. guess what you can make from a single 2x4?

this cool, sturdy stool with fancy joints. cutting this 2x4 down to slightly oversizedlengths will make them a lot easier to manage. before i rip these to their final widths, i need to trim off the rounded over edgesof the 2x4s. i want these to be as wide as they are thick, so i'll set that on its edge and move my fence over to size it. all of the angles and bevels in this projectare 15 degrees.

i'll start by cutting the four upright piecesto their lengths. i've installed a set of dado blades in mytablesaw that will make cutting the half-laps go alot faster. if you don't have any dado blades, you can do the same thing, just by making multiple passes with your regularblade. as soon as i've got that to the width of anotherboard, i can set my fence to stop at that location. i should point out that i would never usethe fence like that

as a stop if i was going to cut all the way through the wood. that could pinch this piece and cause kickback. but since this is only going through halfof the board, it's safe. when cutting the angles for the horizontalpieces, you just want to make sure the angles are opposite of each other, not parallel like they are with the upright pieces.

i've got my dado stack back in place and i've got the fence back where it was before. i'm going to cut the notches on these bottompieces a little differently. they get a notch onone side, then i'll flip it over and do a notch on theopposite side. and i'll cut out these little top supports and cut their half-laps. i'll set my miter gauge back to zero. and i'll cut a notch in each of these bottomcross braces.

now i can glue together the two sides. the way these interlock creates really strongjoints. i'll square up one edge of the remainder of my 2x4 board. i just resawed this board into two pieces. unfortunately, that was the first time mycamera has ever stopped working right in the middle of an important shot. so let me just recreate what i did.

first of all, i set up a featherboard on mytablesaw to keep the 2x4 pressed against the fence. then i took the board and i ran it on itsedge through the saw...my dull saw... and pushed pushed pushed all the way to about here. then i was able to grab a couple of push sticks and push it all the way through. with my dado stack back in place,

i've set up a sacrificial board on my fence that the blades can cut into. now i can move my fence over just a little at a time and keep testing it until this board i cut fits into those notchesflush. the top boards will be easier to cut to size once i glue this cross brace in place. now i can cut this board into three equal length pieces for the top.

to make the edge bevel on the two outsideboards, i'll tip my blade 15 degrees. i can glue these two boards into place and then cut the center board to size. i'm drilling a finger hole to make it a littleeasier to carry around. i'll give this a little bit of protection by applying a couple coats of danish oil. {advertisement}

of course i'm going to give it a strength test! aww..now it's all dirty. by the way, the first person to make the tired stool sample joke will be asked to leave theroom. bet you didn't know you could make that witha 2x4. by the way, this isn't the first stool i'vemade. i assembled the other ones in a playlist, including this favorite: don't forget to check down below

for a free set of plans to build your own. and please visit the formeremortals.net where you can post pictures of your own projects and view tons of projects that other peoplehave made and download lots and lots of free plans.