Upcycled Oak Chair Into Ukulele Stands

I made this radiator chair when my kids were little so they could have a cozy seat to read or watch TV. But they have outgrown it now, and it’s time to repurpose the solid oak boards.

Supplies

1 Oak Radiator Chair, masking tape, glue, paper, varnish

Tools: Thickness Planer, Table Saw, Dado Set, Bandsaw, scissors, ruler, sandpaper

Say Goodbye to the Old Chair

Say goodbye to the old chair. Make sure no-one wants it anymore.

Retrieve Raw Materials

Strip off the felt. Knock the glued bits apart.

Plane the Wood

This gets rid of the old finish and glue. I planed it to ⅝” thickness. Note: It’s not safe to run pieces shorter than 13” long through the planer and I found out why when I tried. The small piece broke up and part of it flew out the front of the planer. Luckily no-one got hurt.

Cut Out Templates

Cut out some templates of the parts needed, and use them to get an idea of how many you can make with the wood. I tried to get 4 uke stands out of it, but there wasn’t quite enough wood, so I settled for 3.

Make the Angled Cuts

Layout the parts carefully on the wood, and use the miter gauge to cut the angled parts.

Make the Square Cuts

Use the rip fence and/or crosscut sled to make the square cuts.

The Round Cut

Use a 2” hole saw to cut the round part. Center the bit 1/2" in from the edge. Clean up on the bandsaw.

The Dados

Set the dado cutter to ⅝”, then do a test fit. Mine was a little loose so I adjusted the stack with some shims until I got a nice snug fit. I taped the parts together and clamped them to the sled for safety. Then I made several passes to reach the final depth.